Proceedings of the Betsy-Tacy Society, Greater Chicago Chapter
Tag: Vol. 22 No. 30
Issue of May. 6 – 12, 1993
Posted inNews & Politics
Our Extraordinary Lengths
To the editors: At long last, a Reader cover story worth the long, arduous read. Bravo, Michael Glab on Aaron Freeman [April 23]. And in the future, guys, the Glab piece notwithstanding, can you kindly pay just a little more attention to actually editing these weekly tomes? Tedious does not even describe the prospect of […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The City File
Loop buildings built in the 1990s have the highest vacancy rate–41 percent–according to a recent survey by CB Commercial Real Estate Group. Next are 1970s buildings (23 percent) and pre-1950 buildings (19 percent). “Everybody who talked about [Clinton’s town meetings on a recent Nightline] seemed to agree with Koppel that the town meeting was primarily […]
Posted inArts & Culture
What’s Wrong With Chicago Opera Theater?/Betty Buckley’s Not a Belter
Has the fat lady sung for Chicago Opera Theater? Founder Alan Stone says the company’s just resting.
Posted inNews & Politics
City College Macho
To the editors: Middle-aged men who have attained what they believe to be a certain degree of success in business frequently get the urge to contribute their time and “talent” to community affairs. Having engaged in the business of making big bucks, they are now overcome by feelings of altruism and are obliged–as responsible citizens–to […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Day Room
THE DAY ROOM Remains Theatre Picture one of those hilarious romps from a Marx Brothers movie–Groucho dressed up as a doctor dispensing ridiculous medical advice. Now picture a graduate seminar–a pompous, tweed-wearing prof deconstructing A Day at the Races, lecturing about Groucho’s inversion of the social order in prescribing horse pills to his patients and […]
Posted inFilm
Lies and Death
DAVE ** (Worth seeing) Directed by Ivan Reitman Written by Gary Ross With Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Frank Langella, Kevin Dunn, Ving Rhames, and Ben Kingsley Is it the prime purpose of every movie we want to see to tell us comforting lies? On some level I suspect it is, and paradoxically this may be […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Playing Doctor
To the editors: Thank you for the honest portrait of Mr. R. Gidwitz [“City College Showdown,” April 2]. I would like to correct one misimpression that was reported. The chairman of the City College Board wants to be known as no patsy–as a leader who takes a hard line on cleaning up problems at City […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Dance Notes: motion makes the music
Composer Shawn Decker has been deeply involved with electronic music since his graduate-student days at Northwestern in the early 80s. And as a member of the avant-garde group Kapture for several seasons, he came to enjoy the give-and-take of collaboration. Then, last fall, choreographer Shirley Mordine approached him about a joint venture: she wanted to […]
Posted inNews & Politics
In Defense of Gidwitz
To the editors: I am disappointed that Florence Hamlish Levinsohn, an excellent writer, chose the easy path in her article on the City Colleges of Chicago. While nominally balanced, the effect of the story is to wave away the complexities of the practical issues for a story about a business leader run amuck in his […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Eric Bogosian
Not since Lenny Bruce have I encountered a performer who explores moral ambiguity with such sardonic charm and abrasiveness as monologuist Eric Bogosian. His new piece, Dog Show (directed by Jo Bonney), is aptly titled: a slick, vigorous entertainer, Bogosian is like a show dog confidently performing his tricks for an admiring audience–but he’s not […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The All-American Diner/Table Manners
THE ALL-AMERICAN DINER Talisman Theatre at Chicago Dramatists Workshop Joe Urbanik’s The All-American Diner is one of those plays that must have looked great on paper: three long-separated siblings reunite in their hometown “somewhere in Illinois” to fight over whether they should sell the family restaurant. A nice, clear conflict–“You must sell!” “I won’t!”–with plenty […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Aaron’s Ways
To the editors: My visceral reaction to the Reader’s April 23 story on Aaron Freeman was one of sheer contempt for this seemingly handkerchief-headed, watermelon-slurping, hamboning Uncle Tom. A closer analysis of the article, however, revealed to me causal factors for his unabashed Stepinfetchit-like persona. Freeman displays a profound racial inferiority complex, not only in […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Fluid Measure Performance Company
FLUID MEASURE PERFORMANCE COMPANY at Randolph Street Gallery, April 9 and 10 Imagine that you’re having dinner with your wittiest friends and they’re telling you what they’ve discovered about their families. Your friends use wit as a scalpel, but since they love their families despite the problems their stories are humane and moving. Now imagine […]