Victor and I have been busy lately. We have seen so many good shows!
Most recently, we were at Garfield Park Conservatory with cousins Christel and Frank, from Germany. We took them to see a Music under Glass performance by Lester Rey. Unfortunately the mic quality was terrible, but in spite of that, the excellent neo-Latin-soul-hiphop sound and spirit came through and we felt lucky to be there with such an enthusiastic audience. A bunch of groupies in front of us were dancing in their seats, and so eagerly begged for more at the end of the set that Rey invited two of them up to the stage, where they danced, sang backup, and played percussion. Other audience members joined in the dancing during the encore also, making it a really special experience for our German guests, especially in the unique and stunning environment of the conservatory.
The other night, we took our guests to Jackalope's 10th Annual Living Newspaper Festival, which took place at The Frontier. We have been to a couple of previous iterations of this festival, which involves six of the hottest young playwrights (mostly but not entirely local, such as Ike Holter and Calamity West) and six very topical newspaper articles upon which they are each asked to base a 10-minute play. A cast and director are selected and after two weeks of rehearsal, the festival (roughly 100 minutes long, allowing for intros, breaks in between plays and the fact that many of the plays exceed 10 minutes by a little or a lot) makes for a stimulating evening of theater. Some of the plays are more successful than others, but a couple of them are stunning, and the short length means the bad ones are minimally painful.
Just before our guests arrived, we attended a wonderful dance performance at MCA, choreographed by hip-hop dance artist Rennie Harris. Called Lifted, this show told the story of a young boy raised in the church who considers the "wrong" path but ends up confirmed in his choice of the right one. Some of the storytelling was a bit simple (literal-minded) for me, but much of the music and dancing was really thrilling. As I get older, I'm more and more astounded by what young bodies can do.
And the evening before that, we were at Theater on the Lake, where we have spent many Friday nights this past summer and the summer of 2018. The renovated theater has become a real gem of summertime in Chicago. The curators of this series (this year Quenna Lene Barrett and Tony Santiago) have done an extraordinary job highlighting some of Chicago's most interesting and creative productions in these summer remounts. (Aside: I just realized Tony Santiago was a cast member in one of my favorite segments of this year's 10th Annual Living Newspaper Festival. He gets around!)
At any rate, this past Friday we saw a very moving production of Pegasus Theatre's Eclipsed, which took place in Liberia during its civil wars. The writing, by actress-playwright Danai Gurira (she was one of the king's guard in Black Panther!) was just outstanding and the acting entirely lived up to the writing. Just a gripping show.
The week before, we saw the thought-provoking and transformational Tangles and Plaques, by The Neofuturists. This play, created by Kirsten Riiber, attempts to demystify dementia. And does a darned good job of it.
The night before, we went to a show created by Dahlak Brathwaite as part of the MCA New Works Initiative. The show, called Try/Step/Trip used dance, music, and theater to tell and reflect on the story of his incarceration for possession of psychedelic mushrooms. It is amazing how effectively movement can convey the physical impact of the criminal justice system. Super compelling work.
Last week we took my brother (visiting from Buffalo) and our niece and nephew on a fireworks cruise that was a fundraiser for the Field Museum. We had never been on a fireworks cruise before and I have to say it was pretty awesome to be out on the water with such a direct view on the spectacle. We would certainly do it again sometime. Also, it being a Field Museum event, there were scientists and other Field Museum folks on the boat talking about their work. I was especially interested in a woman who works with teenagers in a program called Roots & Routes, under the Field's Keller Science Action Center. So good to know such great work is being done!
The previous weekend we saw a good documentary about Bill Traylor, the outsider artist who started painting in the 1939 when he was 85. Unfortunately I slept through parts of it, but I was really tired so I don't blame the film maker. I hope it will be on Netflix at some point so I can see it again.
That weekend we also saw True West at Steppenwolf. We had not been to a Steppenwolf show in quite some time--probably well over a year--and this production made us feel like we ought to go back a lot more often. It was really outstanding. We had never seen the play before--unlike longtime Chicago theatergoers who probably saw the 1982 Steppenwolf production with John Malkovich and Jeff Perry--but it was hard for us to imagine the previous production could have been better. Just outstanding acting.
I'll cut this off here. More later.
Most recently, we were at Garfield Park Conservatory with cousins Christel and Frank, from Germany. We took them to see a Music under Glass performance by Lester Rey. Unfortunately the mic quality was terrible, but in spite of that, the excellent neo-Latin-soul-hiphop sound and spirit came through and we felt lucky to be there with such an enthusiastic audience. A bunch of groupies in front of us were dancing in their seats, and so eagerly begged for more at the end of the set that Rey invited two of them up to the stage, where they danced, sang backup, and played percussion. Other audience members joined in the dancing during the encore also, making it a really special experience for our German guests, especially in the unique and stunning environment of the conservatory.
The other night, we took our guests to Jackalope's 10th Annual Living Newspaper Festival, which took place at The Frontier. We have been to a couple of previous iterations of this festival, which involves six of the hottest young playwrights (mostly but not entirely local, such as Ike Holter and Calamity West) and six very topical newspaper articles upon which they are each asked to base a 10-minute play. A cast and director are selected and after two weeks of rehearsal, the festival (roughly 100 minutes long, allowing for intros, breaks in between plays and the fact that many of the plays exceed 10 minutes by a little or a lot) makes for a stimulating evening of theater. Some of the plays are more successful than others, but a couple of them are stunning, and the short length means the bad ones are minimally painful.
Just before our guests arrived, we attended a wonderful dance performance at MCA, choreographed by hip-hop dance artist Rennie Harris. Called Lifted, this show told the story of a young boy raised in the church who considers the "wrong" path but ends up confirmed in his choice of the right one. Some of the storytelling was a bit simple (literal-minded) for me, but much of the music and dancing was really thrilling. As I get older, I'm more and more astounded by what young bodies can do.
And the evening before that, we were at Theater on the Lake, where we have spent many Friday nights this past summer and the summer of 2018. The renovated theater has become a real gem of summertime in Chicago. The curators of this series (this year Quenna Lene Barrett and Tony Santiago) have done an extraordinary job highlighting some of Chicago's most interesting and creative productions in these summer remounts. (Aside: I just realized Tony Santiago was a cast member in one of my favorite segments of this year's 10th Annual Living Newspaper Festival. He gets around!)
At any rate, this past Friday we saw a very moving production of Pegasus Theatre's Eclipsed, which took place in Liberia during its civil wars. The writing, by actress-playwright Danai Gurira (she was one of the king's guard in Black Panther!) was just outstanding and the acting entirely lived up to the writing. Just a gripping show.
The week before, we saw the thought-provoking and transformational Tangles and Plaques, by The Neofuturists. This play, created by Kirsten Riiber, attempts to demystify dementia. And does a darned good job of it.
The night before, we went to a show created by Dahlak Brathwaite as part of the MCA New Works Initiative. The show, called Try/Step/Trip used dance, music, and theater to tell and reflect on the story of his incarceration for possession of psychedelic mushrooms. It is amazing how effectively movement can convey the physical impact of the criminal justice system. Super compelling work.
Last week we took my brother (visiting from Buffalo) and our niece and nephew on a fireworks cruise that was a fundraiser for the Field Museum. We had never been on a fireworks cruise before and I have to say it was pretty awesome to be out on the water with such a direct view on the spectacle. We would certainly do it again sometime. Also, it being a Field Museum event, there were scientists and other Field Museum folks on the boat talking about their work. I was especially interested in a woman who works with teenagers in a program called Roots & Routes, under the Field's Keller Science Action Center. So good to know such great work is being done!
The previous weekend we saw a good documentary about Bill Traylor, the outsider artist who started painting in the 1939 when he was 85. Unfortunately I slept through parts of it, but I was really tired so I don't blame the film maker. I hope it will be on Netflix at some point so I can see it again.
That weekend we also saw True West at Steppenwolf. We had not been to a Steppenwolf show in quite some time--probably well over a year--and this production made us feel like we ought to go back a lot more often. It was really outstanding. We had never seen the play before--unlike longtime Chicago theatergoers who probably saw the 1982 Steppenwolf production with John Malkovich and Jeff Perry--but it was hard for us to imagine the previous production could have been better. Just outstanding acting.
I'll cut this off here. More later.
