Friday 6/26 – Thursday 7/3
JUNE
By Cara Jepsen
26 FRIDAY The recent German film Beyond Silence focuses on the conflicts that arise between a girl who can hear and her deaf parents when she decides to take up the clarinet. It’s not an unusual situation–90 percent of deaf parents have offspring who can hear. Tonight storyteller Bonnie Kraft, who grew up in such a family, will discuss her experience in a presentation called The Coda Dance: Stories About Life in a Deaf Family. Deaf comedian and actor C.J. Jones headlines the event, which commemorates the fifth anniversary of Columbia College’s Interpreter Training Department; the school is the only one in the state to offer an undergraduate interpreter-training degree. It’s at 7 at the Getz Theater, 72 E. 11th. Admission is $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Call 312-663-1124.
27 SATURDAY The 1996 fire that razed a CTA bus barn on Broadway between Montrose and Wilson left four acres of open space. Surrounding undeveloped lots bring the total to eight acres of prime real estate. Since the fire a number of community groups and developers have been eyeing the tract, which is still owned by the CTA. Today Alderman Helen Shiller, representatives from the CTA and the Uptown Community Development Corporation, and others will sit down to learn how to push their respective agendas at an informational meeting called The Wilson Yard Area Planning and Development Process. Despite the good intentions, my guess is that the area will end up condo-ized, like the adjacent space that once housed the Paris Dance nightclub. The free meeting, sponsored by LaSalle National Bank, takes place from 9:30 to 2 in the cafeteria at Truman College, 1145 W. Wilson. Call 312-409-8077 for reservations.
28 SUNDAY The decorative concrete planters plopped down in the middle of West Randolph Street for the 1996 Democratic National Convention have turned out to be both a blessing and a curse. They’ve spruced up the neighborhood, but traffic accidents have become commonplace. Be careful at this weekend’s first annual Taste of Randolph Street, featuring upscale versions of the usual grub, suds, and crafts, plus a vintage auto and motorcycle show and a band lineup that includes Galactic on Friday, Morphine on Saturday, and Leftover Salmon tonight. It’s from 5 to 10 Friday and from noon to 10 Saturday and today on Randolph between Peoria and Morgan. Admission is $5, $7 after 5; proceeds benefit the West Loop Gate Association. Call 773-472-9046 for more.
29 MONDAY The fascist pig Napoleon in George Orwell’s Animal Farm justified his actions by claiming that “some animals are more equal than others.” The U.S. government has adopted a similar tack when it comes to the Bill of Rights and foreign-born Americans, says Kit Gage, coordinator of the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom. She’s targeting two pieces of 1996 legislation, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, that she says threaten immigrants’ rights. At tonight’s event, Repression ’98, Gage will give a talk followed by a panel discussion with Standish Willis from the Chicago Conference of Black Lawyers, Jose Lopez of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, and others. It starts at 7 at the United Electrical Workers Hall, 37 S. Ashland; a $7 donation is requested. Gage will also lead an informal discussion on what the legislation has meant for Palestinian, Middle Eastern, and Puerto Rican segments of the population Sunday morning from 9:30 to 10:30 at the Unity Temple, 875 Lake in Oak Park. Call 312-939-0675 for information.
30 TUESDAY Filmmaker Alexander Rosler was born in 1947 in Dachau, Germany. That’s where he and his parents, both concentration camp survivors, waited until they found a country that would take them in. They ended up in Norway–just like the family in Rosler’s 1997 film, Mendel. It focuses on a nine-year-old boy who must adapt to a culture of cod liver oil, cold, and Christmas trees while his parents relive the horror of the Holocaust and compete with other Jews over whose Judaism is more kosher. But Rosler claims the film isn’t autobiographical. It’s at 7 and 9 tonight (and runs through Thursday) at Facets, 1517 W. Fullerton. Tickets are $7. For more information, call 773-281-9075, or see the Critic’s Choice in the Section Two movie listings.
JULY
1 WEDNESDAY They say nothing in Spain is Spanish. It took the contributions of a slew of cultures over many centuries to create the hybrid of song and dance known as flamenco. The castanets, hand clapping, and flamboyant arm and body movements that are the form’s hallmarks have been traced back to drawings made by Greeks around 550 BC, when they controlled southern Spain. The Romans arrived 350 years later and introduced the zither, which evolved into the guitarra Latina. Gypsies came onto the scene in the 1440s and refined the form, and so on. Tonight Old Town School of Folk Music instructor Micaela Soroya will host guest musicians and dancers for Flamenco Night. It kicks off the school’s La Pe–a Latin-music series, which will continue every Wednesday through the end of July. Tonight’s fiesta starts at 10 at the school, 909 W. Armitage. It’s free; there will be a cash bar, and empanadas will be served. Call 773-525-7793.
2 THURSDAY “It’s not just a parade of feminism,” says writer and performer Jennifer Ostrega about the four one-woman shows that make up 4 From the Girlz Room. “There’s something in each of these pieces that anyone can identify with.” In her piece, “Perm-a-Lance,” she plays four kinds of bosses she encountered while working as a temp. Stephanie Kulke’s “Waiting for Dad” begins with a two-year-old child awaiting her father’s return from the Vietnam war. “The Blackness Becomes Her” is Kristi Lynn Johnson’s account of her experience as the only white girl in an all-black high school. And Anna Wagner’s “One Up” deals with adolescent sexuality, male-female relations, death, and racial issues. The four unrelated pieces–which were developed in a women’s theater workshop–are part of Live Bait Theater’s Fillet of Solo Festival. The show starts tonight and tomorrow at 8; after that it runs Thursdays and Saturdays through August 1 at Live Bait Theater, 3914 N. Clark. Tickets are $8; call 773-871-1212.