Everyone is a little Irish this month, and there is no shortage of festive events to celebrate. From the dyeing of the Chicago River to events that make you think spring, enjoy all that March has to offer (sunshine and snow included!). Please check each event’s website for the latest updates on COVID-19 closures and cancellations. Events […]
This month, there is no shortage of ways to honor African American history. From concerts and museums to opportunities to reflect and learn at home with family, here are 13 ways to honor Black History Month around Chicago. Museums Feb. 20: Adler After Dark: A Night in the Afrofuture 2.0 Time: 6 p.m. Cost: Adults […]
The process of artistic creation doesn’t occur in a vacuum. The artist, whether occupying the visual or performing arts space, may be influenced by many factors: training, personal experience, physical environment, history, and politics among them. For many performing artists, artistic expression moves beyond the visual, incorporating sound. This is especially true of the choreographer, […]
The physical distance between Providence St. Mel (PSM) — a private, coeducational college prep school in East Garfield Park — and the Auditorium Theatre, performance home of The Joffrey Ballet, is only a little over five miles, but in many ways they are worlds apart. Longtime Joffrey Board of Directors member Mary Jo Basler, a […]
How does a theatre company stick around for 45 years yet still remain vital? Northlight Theatre seems to have figured out that conundrum, and if the sold-out crowd of 330 supporters at their recent gala is any indication, their audience is clamoring for more. Full disclosure: I’m one of their biggest fans, and co-chaired this […]
In September 2019, Anne L. Kaplan succeeded Zachary Lazar as The Joffrey Ballet’s Board Chair. She’s well prepared from her work as Board Chair of Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) from 2015-2018; prior Joffrey service as Executive Committee Vice President and member of the Strategic Planning, Development, and Campaign Planning Committees; substantial other civic […]
Experience what critics are calling “captivating” (Chicago Sun-Times), “delightful and thought-provoking (Chicago Reader). High humor and human drama collide in a rollicking comedy “so clever it uplifts, so timely it hurts” (The New York Times). In 1899, legendary leading lady Sarah Bernhardt’s decision to assume the title role of Shakespeare’s Hamlet left critics and patriarchs aghast and […]
It’s an inauspicious start. You begin your visit to the mysterious Teatro ZinZanni via the nondescript entry lobby of the Cambria Hotel in the very heart of The Loop. But it gets exponentially more interesting when you are quickly ushered up to the 14th floor and enter into a once-forgotten, now reclaimed, two-story ballroom that […]
Chicago’s theater scene is just starting to heat up, with everything from a world premiere take on Jane Austen to an adaptation of an Oscar-winning movie. Here are the best shows to see around Chicago and the suburbs this fall and winter. “A Doll’s House” Sept. 25 to Dec. 15 Daring to depict a woman […]
The Joffrey Ballet opens its 2019-20 season with the Chicago premiere of Cathy Marston’s enthralling adaptation of the classic novel “Jane Eyre,” presented at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive, in 10 performances only, Oct. 16-27. Set to music by Philip Feeney, Marston’s celebrated adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel combines theater […]
