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Posted inArts & Culture

Roasted, with love

by Dan Jakes

Brooklynite and professional ballbuster Ashley Gavin has a nickname among her fans: “Mommy.” Or, as rudely shouted by one lady in the audience last week, “asshole.” She’s technically neither, but as a nationally touring stand-up and host of the comedy podcast We’re Having Gay Sex, that hasn’t stopped her from cultivating a significant following of […]

Posted inAgenda

Listen to theater, Above the Water, Patriarchy at Empty Bottle, and more

by Micco Caporale, Kerry Reid and Salem Collo-Julin

During the pandemic shutdown, A Theater in the Dark was one of the most reliable sources for online radio drama—no surprise, since even when they produced live and in person, the company’s aesthetic (as the name tells you) was to leave audiences in the, well, dark and let aural storytelling and soundscapes create the world […]

Posted inAgenda

Douglass Park forum, jazz, Chicago trivia, Studs and Spikes

by Micco Caporale and Salem Collo-Julin

From 5-7 PM, the Chicago Park District has organized a listening session seeking community dialogue about visions for Douglass Park. The park district’s Douglass Park Community Engagement Forum takes place this evening at the park’s field house (1401 S. Sacramento). This is an event for community input on imagining Douglass Park’s future. Maybe you have […]

Posted inArts & Culture

A Venn diagram for performance

by Nora Paul

Global displacement comes to the stage with Theatre Lumina’s Song of Home, one of many acts of the 2022 Physical Theater Festival Chicago that invites a shared humanity within the immediacy of live performance. Throughout the week, organizations will present a range of pieces including theater, music, juggling, clowning, and more. Marc Frost and Alice […]

Posted inMusic

Sam Thousand, Chicago soul Renaissance man

by Leor Galil

Multi-instrumentalist, producer, and vocalist Sam Thousand moved to Chicago from Texas in 2009, and within a year he’d joined hip-hop fusion outfit Sidewalk Chalk. He’s since become deeply embedded in several overlapping arts communities, gaining increased visibility under his previous stage name, Sam Trump—I first saw him perform solo in 2018, during a cross-genre Steppenwolf […]

Posted inTheater Review

Dictator dictation

by Melissa Renee Perry

The energy in the Den Theater last Thursday was electric, as The Secretaries, written by Omer Abbas Salem and directed by Laura Alcalá Baker, made its highly anticipated debut with First Floor Theater. The dark comedic play was first developed through Goodman Theatre’s Future Labs and marks Salem’s first full production as a playwright in […]

Posted inArts & Culture

Collective healing

by Adam M. Rhodes

Queer bars are more than just bars that happen to be queer. They can be a refuge, a meeting place, and, quite literally, a safe space. They’re also places where our history has been written: from the Stonewall riots to the Pulse Nightclub shooting. Sam Mueller’s latest production unpacks what happens when the safety and […]

Posted inArts & Culture

Get on Your Knees is about more than your average blow job

by S. Nicole Lane

There’s more to fellatio than just a climax. It’s absolutely frightening, holding something that fragile in between your teeth, and hoping, wishing, praying that you’re perfecting the act— the duty of the illustrious blow job.  Comedian and author Jacqueline Novak dives right into those anxieties in her one-woman show, Get on Your Knees. The salaciousness, […]

Posted inPublic Service Announcement

Pumpkin destruction, hot clowns, and hardcore

by Salem Collo-Julin, Micco Caporale and Kerry Reid

Looking for a little break from the spooky season? While it’s nearly impossible to completely avoid the ghouls and goblins over the next seven days, here’s some events and activities that promise a limited amount of monsters. As always, beware of the emotional vampires – some of them show up year-round!  FRI 10/29 If you’re […]