Time to plan the week. Here’s some of what we recommend:
Mon 4/18: SlutTalk and Alicia Swiz host Amelia Bonow, Lindy West, and Kimberly Morrison, the founders of Shout Your Abortion, to share their personal stories at the Whistler (2421 N. Milwaukee). 8 PM
4/18-4/22: More than 100 Chicago and Chicago-area restaurants—including Blackbird, Duck Inn, and Lula Cafe—offer lunch and dinner prix-fixe menus for Chicago Chef Week. Make reservations early, as spots fill up quickly.
Tue 4/19: Half Acre is taking over the kitchen at Crossroads Restaurant at House of Blues (329 N. Dearborn) for Hopped Up Beer Dinner, a five-course meal inspired by and paired with Half Acre beers. 6:30 PM
Tue 4/19: Host Ian Belknap pits local writers against each other in Write Club, a composition competition at the Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia): two players have seven minutes to write about two opposing ideas, and the audience picks each round’s winner. 7 PM
Tue 4/19: The Laugh Factory (3175 N. Broadway) hosts its third annual Open Books and Laugh event, featuring a night of stand-up comedy—including comics Kelsie Huff, Adam Burke, and Martin Marrow—to benefit Open Books’s reading and writing programs. 8 PM
Wed 4/20: The Whistler (2421 N. Milwaukee) is allowing you, the patron, to get creative with cocktails at the second annual Whistler Cocktail Challenge. Guest cocktails will be on the menu for one night; $1 from each drink bought will be donated to the charity of the drink creator’s choosing. 6 PM
Wed 4/20: Grammy-nominated producer and Tompkins Square label founder Josh Rosenthal reads from his first book, The Record Store of the Mind, at City Lit Books (2523 N. Kedzie). The event includes a performance by local musician Michael Vallera. 6:30 PM
Thu 4/21: Comics artist and filmmaker Lyra Hill presents three pieces at the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State) that use “multiple film projectors, looping audio effects, and pulsating hand-drawn images to create super-sensory environments of light, color, and sound.” Hill will take part in a postscreening discussion. 6 PM
Thu 4/21: Kristina Isabelle Dance presents Three Rooms, a progressive dance performance that takes place in three different rooms at High Concept Laboratories (2233 S. Throop). 7:30 PM
For more stuff to do this week—and every day—check out our Agenda page.