Posted inArts & Culture

Women’s Performance Art Festival

The Stockyards Theatre Project’s fourth annual showcase of woman-centered drama, coproduced with Link’s Hall, features storytelling, dance, improv, stand-up comedy, and other forms. The festival runs October 24-26 at Link’s Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield. Performances are at 8 PM; each evening features a different lineup of seven to nine pieces with one intermission (latecomers will […]

Posted inArts & Culture

Gorey Stories

When I saw this show in its first run a year ago, I was overwhelmed by Blindfaith’s fidelity to their source. It’s no mean feat to bring something as distinctively pagebound as the chilly humor of Edward Gorey across onstage, but making it sing with the master’s voice is truly remarkable. Now as then, immense […]

Posted inNews & Politics

Playing by the Rulings

Posner’s opinion isn’t great for reporter’s privilege; on the other hand, Pallasch’s situation isn’t Novak’s [Hot Type, October 10]. There [Pallasch’s] source is known and wanted, the reporter notes turned over. Posner specifically notes: “When the information in the reporter’s possession does not come from a confidential source, it is difficult to see what possible […]

Posted inArts & Culture

Children’s Humanities Festival

The Children’s Humanities Festival starts nearly a week earlier than its parent fest, the Chicago Humanities Festival. Events run October 24 through November 2 at the following venues: Art Institute, Michigan and Adams; Chicago Children’s Museum, Navy Pier, 700 E. Grand; Gallery 37, 66 E. Randolph; Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State; Merle Reskin […]

Posted inArts & Culture

Loudon Wainwright III

“In love or in cyberspace, everything’s fair / And it’s OK to steal, ‘cuz it’s so nice to share,” sings Loudon Wainwright III to Dylan-esque acoustic accompaniment in “Something for Nothing,” a mocking commentary on Internet music piracy from his latest CD, So Damn Happy (Sanctuary). It’s a classic Wainwright move to simultaneously inhabit and […]

Posted inMusic

Ab Baars

Dutch reedist Ab Baars knows how to play the sly games that his country’s senior jazzmen–especially Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink–have made a stock-in-trade. As a longtime member of Mengelberg’s ICP Orchestra he’s developed an instinctual ability to turn on a dime, and his occasionally comic decisions–like dropping a surprising snort or sourly intoned quote […]

Posted inNews & Politics

Bears Need a Doctor

Barnaby Dinges [“Teachers or Touchdowns,” October 17] was brought in to give the $560 million spent on Soldier Field a positive spin. If that money had been spent on schools there’d be no need to hire a publicist; wise investments need no PR spin doctors. I agree with Mr. Dinges, we need a great city […]

Posted inArts & Culture

!Veracruz!–Cirque de Salsation

!Veracruz!–Cirque de Salsation, !Salsation!, at Teatro Luna. In scenes addressing white privilege, the California election results, underfunding of Chicago schools, cultural appropriation, and the importance of embracing one’s heritage, this Latino ensemble aims to be political and timely. However, their sometimes sharp insights are buried within sketches too keen on easy laughs. Surprisingly, the ensemble […]

Posted inArts & Culture

Misery

Misery, Pyewacket, at Heartland Studio Theater. The writing in Stephen King’s 1987 best seller is frequently overwrought, amateurish, and metaphorically jumbled. With its tissue-thin characters, creaky plot conventions, and enough descriptive prose to make Dickens look like Hemingway, Misery earns its title several times over as romance novelist Paul Sheldon is rescued from a car […]

Posted inArts & Culture

The Balsa Heart

The Balsa Heart, Side Project, at the Side Studio. The fifth and final one-act in this collection is the evening’s best, though that isn’t saying much. Stephen Cone’s November Boy is a lovely, honest look at two aging men coming to terms with mortality. The script can be vague, and Liz Warton’s staging is awkward, […]