Sean Graney, director of the Hypocrites’ production of Pirates of Penzance, sits at attention for:
Deadwood
This Thanksgiving weekend, if I were responsible, I would recommend some active, bonding time with the family—tarrying into the chill and accumulating some rich Chicago culture; however, I will suggest the opposite—watch TV. Please, spend time in a manageable group (or alone), avoid crazed crowds of shoppers, and submit to postprandial somnolence. Watching a quality series in its entirety allows anyone to lose an entire 72 hours and not suffer remorse for dormancy.
Deadwood is my current obsession. With extremely complicated characters speaking elegant, amplified language, Deadwood elevates any physically passive viewer into an impression of betterment without emerging from pajamas.
So relax, eat a lot of good food (maybe take home some veggie burritos and oatmeal shakes from Irazu), and watch Deadwood.
Jamie Yates, associate editor at Instafiction.org, clicks through for:
PANK Magazine
Researching literary magazines is often an exercise in repetition. For every genuinely innovative print journal or webzine, there are, quite literally, dozens of tired attempts at “edgy writing” failing to stand out or offer anything beside the claim of being different. With this in mind, PANK Magazine has forged an impressive spot in the online literary community.
“Bios are boring,” states its Twitter description. Although this is a defiant statement, it reflects the magazine’s lack of pretense. With the exception of themed editions, the only real mission for PANK is quality short fiction. The stories are genuinely heartbreaking and compelling, the contributors work in a variety of genres, and the end products get the most out of the realistic and the mythical. Rachel Levy’s story “Becoming Deer” offers a truth lying in the soul of any great piece of writing: “Slice open a word, and it will bleed.” PANK Magazine‘s writers and editors do this with a measure of increasingly rare consistency.
Veronica I. Arreola, author of the blog VivalaFeminista.com, is excited for:
This season at DePaul Theatre School
I am hotly anticipating taking my eight-year-old daughter to this season’s trio of performances at the DePaul Theatre School. We already have tickets for the first show, The Witches, by Roald Dahl. This was one of my favorite movies as a kid. While I never read the book, I loved the story and fell in love with Anjelica Huston.
The second performance will be Nancy Drew and the Sign of the Twisted Candles, another childhood favorite. Did you know that there is an early reader series? My daughter and I can’t wait to see Nancy, George, and Bess come alive on the stage.
The last performance will be Barrio Grrrl! A Musical, written by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony nominee Quiara Alegría Hudes (In the Heights). This will be entirely new to both of us, but the idea of a Latina “superhero” is enough to get us in the seats.