Don’t let the snow get you down. Go ahead, stick out your tongue, catch that drifting snowflake, then go out and do something! Here’s some of what we recommend:
Fri 12/9: The storytelling collective We Still Like You presents a show on a trolley: Shame on Wheels. Guests board from Cole’s (2338 N. Milwaukee) at 8:45 PM, and cringe along with others’s embarrassing stories while rumbling through the icy streets of Logan Square. 9 PM
12/9-1/6: Uri-Eichen Gallery (2101 S. Halsted) presents a show in honor of Human Rights Day. “A Voice for Victims” brings Syria to Chicago through drawings by Kathy Weaver and photographs by Dr. Zaher Sahloul, head of the Syrian American Medical Society. The artists write that they “refuse to accept that what is going on in Syria is normal.” Opening and artist talk Fri 12/9, 6 PM.
Through 12/11: The last installment of translator Nicholas Rudall’s and director Charles Newell’s trilogy, Electra, closes this weekend at Court Theater (5535 S. Ellis). In this Sophocles play on the classic tragic family, the princess Electra refuses to accept the events following her father’s assassination as normal. Fri 8 PM, Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 2:30 and 7:30 PM
Sat 12/10: This year Moe’s Cantina (155 W. Kinzie) hosts the River North Donut Fest for the most tenacious of stomachs, featuring some of Chicago’s best bakeries. Tickets include donut tastings and drink tickets for beer or mimosas. Noon-4 PM
Sat 12/10: Perhaps a mosh pit will warm your chattering bones. Not Normal Tapes hosts the First Annual Infestational at ChiTown Futbol (2343 S. Throop). This punk fest features such music acts as the Bug, whose “frazzled guitars screech like a rat caught in a glue trap,” writes the Reader‘s Leor Galil. 3 PM
Sat 12/10: To celebrate Jane Addams Day, the American Association of University Women Chicago (AAUWC) comes to UIC Student Center East (750 S. Halsted) to host Women, Leadership and Election Politics, a panel discussion with historian Louise Knight, professor Annie Storr, and singer/songwriter Kristin Lems. They attempt to answer the question, “how can Jane Addams inspire political participation today?” 1 PM
Through 12/11: Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Chorus revive the lost songs of It’s a Wonderful Life. The Symphony Center (220 S. Michigan) screens the film alongside the performance of the original Dmitri Tiomkin score. Fri 7 PM, Sat-Sun 3 PM
Through 12/11: Northcenter Town Square (4100 N. Damen) hosts the annual Irish Christmas Market, where guests can warm up with a whiskey-spiked hot chocolate and a round or two of Irish stepdancing. Fri 5-9 PM, Sat-Sun 10 AM-6 PM
12/11-12/12: The Poetry Foundation (61 W. Superior) hosts a holiday edition of its Poetry Off the Shelf program, a night of staged holiday poems that features Nicholas Rudall performing Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales. 7-9 PM
For more stuff to do this weekend—and every day—check out our Agenda page.