Anytime there is a production mounted with people and subject matters not regularly seen on stage or screen, it gets the carp running and audiences flowing (see: Tyler Perry, both stage and movie incarnations). Except, the audience looks "different" than the regular attendees, and is "coming out" to see themselves reflected in spaces normally not reserved for their stories.
During the '88 Miss Saigon on Broadway debacle, producer Cameron Macintosh defended his "reverse color blind," stating the two reasons why white performers were the predominant hiring preference over performers of color (particularly Asians): 1) their weren't many "qualified," and 2) most theatrical productions are about families, and of course families are made up of one race, and the overwhelming majority of playwrights, August Wilson the exception, are white (and male). The answer to the conundrum as defined by Macintosh, people of color must write, produce and present their own work, and market to their own communities.
Seventeen (!) entries make up the review That's Weird, Grandma (TWG), presented by the Neo Futurists and staged by Barrel of Monkeys (BOM), an education-arts theatre company whose mission includes fostering and supporting the creative voices (in an open teaching environment) Chicago Public School students since 1997.
Including public performances, including the staged works held at Neo Futurists, BOM sponsors as six-week residency in creative writing for grades 3-5. At the end of each residency, a collection of stories is selected for performance at Neo Futurists.
This season's collection included vignettes from the sublimely ridiculous to the poignant reflection of loss:
Gerhard Richter Painting, weeklong run at the Gene Siskel Film Center (ends Friday!)
In Gerhard Richter Painting, documentarian Corinna Belz trains her lens on one of today's most celebrated contemporary artists. Richter, who has long held a reputation for being withdrawn and reserved, allows the cameras full access as he labors in his studio on a new series of abstract works. A rare opportunity to see Richter in his natural habitat, the film captures his signature process, which involves using an oversized squeegee to apply thick coats of paint that he later wears away to achieve a unique texturized look. Richter's meathod is simultaneously spontaneous and calculated, and it's unclear (even to his assistants) why he favors one brushstroke over another. Despite Belz's attempts to prompt rumination on Richter's part, specifically about the meaning of his paintings, he is no less of an enigma at the film's conclusion. Interestingly, memory and the passage of time, themes commonly attributed to Richter's work, are equally central to both his abstract and photorealistic paintings.
Cher Horowitz walks down a hallway wearing a yellow plaid skirt and matching cropped jacket. The outfit -- part schoolgirl innocence, part precise tailoring and professional realness -- is a perfect summary of a film (and a decade) that can be best defined by its lack of classification. Clueless, a film more often recognized for its banter and "Before They Were Famous" celebrities, was radical because it refused to play by the rules. Director and writer Amy Heckerling's film based on Jane Austen's Emma was less a contemporary update and more of an independent, one-of-a-kind "world creation" of youth, debauchery, language and style.
In their first collection as THE MALL, Ready-to-Stare jewelry designer Alysse Dalessandro and vintage seller Matt Kasin (aka the Gaudy God) created and curated a an Etsy-based concept store of highly aesthetic and idea-driven handmade accessories and vintage clothing inspired by the film as well as other '90s teen cult classics such as Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion and Spice World. This is not nostalgia, for nostalgia elicits a desire to return to the emotions born in a past era. Rather, THE MALL understands and utilizes the films as important cultural references that are as valuable and inspirational now as they were more than a decade ago. The two will debut their collection this Friday at a launch event at ZaZaZoo Nail Salon.
Whenever you hear the name "Madea," the hilarious, no-nonsense, advice-giving matriarch in Tyler Perry's plays, you immediately think of--Tyler Perry; however, when it comes to his productions, there is definitely another name you should also know: Cheryl Pepsii Riley. Here, the New York-born singer and actress, who co-stars alongside Perry in Tyler Perry's Madea Gets A Job, discusses messages, music and of course, Madea.
Cheryl Pepsii Riley; photo: Steven Williams.
You're coming to town this week for Tyler Perry's Madea Gets A Job--how has the tour been going so far?
It's been wonderful; actually we were there at the beginning of the tour a couple of months ago and we're coming back. Chicago has always been so good to Tyler Perry; you guys always come out and support.
Humor Me Podcast is what happens when you get one comedy nerd and her friends together before, after and during shows and events. Each month, I will crash my talented friends and peers and force them to talk with me about, well, whatever I want. Listen to us nerd out about comedy, music, entertainment, life, and everything in between. Because forcing people to Humor Me is fun.
For my first podcast, I hung out with Kelsie Huff in the bathroom backstage at Comedy Sportz after 100 Proof Comedy. She headlined that night, and her bits about troll dolls and Moms resonated with me -- so much so that we called my own mother to talk about her new cookbook. We also talked about her new short film, Lucy, her frozen yogurt addiction, and her long-running, all-female show the kates.
Themesong by the Swimsuit Addition. Post-production by Cold Bones at Swingset Sound. Special thanks to ComedySportz for the use of their bathroom.
This Friday Chicago Slam Works presents "Dead or Alive," an event where dead poets (played by living poets) go head-to-head with live poets in a bizarre twist on the traditional poetry slam. CSW Director J.W. Basilo answered a few questions to help clarify Friday's activities.
So, people will be impersonating dead poets?
To an extent, we're doing what we can to embody those dead poets, but not forcing anybody to copy the mannerisms -- the person being Frank O'Hara is going to have a Frank O'Hara-esque energy, but not necessarily impersonating.
Why dead poets vs. living poets?
We've all been indoctrinated with dead poets, and sometimes the stuff you're taught in school doesn't really convey what's going on -- are those dead poets really that much better (than current poets)? Can modern poetry stand up to the canon? What would it look like if you got bonafide performers to read poems written 100 or 200 yrs ago, what would it look like? Marc Smith [founder of the Uptown Poetry Slam] frequently performs Sandburg and Yeats, and all of a sudden it becomes a whole new ball game, he gets it (the poem) in his body, brings it to life.
How will the show be set up?
We're staging a mock team slam, with living poets vs. dead poets battling it out, there will be judges who vote for either Dead or Alive, and the competitive thing is just kind of a wink to slam roots.
The whole idea behind CSW is to try to take poetry and performance poetry and put it in venues it doesn't often get represented. A lot of people think performance poetry can't work in a theater setting or appeal to people who aren't poets, and by putting it in theaters and giving it production value we're not tricking people but saying: "see, if we give it as much energy and respect as a Becket play, we're able to be just as engaging and emotionally important."
For parishioners, the church serves as a place of praise--a sanctuary for salvation--where people go to receive support from the pastor and the congregation; however, sometimes unbeknownst to the congregation, the pastor may need a little support, too.
In Carla Stillwell's Bodies, the latest production by the MPAACT, Rev. Joseph Black successfully manages his "church family" but within his own family, things aren't exactly running so smoothly. With questions surrounding the reverend's brother's personal life, the play tells the story of just how far a family will go to protect its name.
Bodies opens tonight at 7pm at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln; regular shows run Thursdays through Sundays through June 24. Tickets are $21-$30; for more information and show times, call 773-404-7336.
Mother's Day has come and gone; however, for many, when it comes to moms, as the saying goes, "Every day is Mother's Day."
Through spoken word, dance, and videos by poets and performance artists including Boogie McClarin, Patience Rowe, Maya Odim, Sandra 'La Pixie' Santiago, and Nikki Yeboah, Sage Morgan-Hubbard's "interactive, multi-media choreopoem" Mixed Mamas, highlights the peaks and valleys of the various aspects of motherhood, infusing "humor, beauty, movement and oral histories" along the way.
Morgan-Hubbard, a respected poet in her own right, will also perform an excerpt of her one-woman show, an autobiographical work that explores a range of societal differences and experiences via the ethnicities of the four women who comprise her own mixed heritage.
See Mixed Mamas May 25-27 at Links Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield; Friday and Saturday shows are 8pm and 7pm on Sunday. Tickets are $5-$10; for more information, call 773-281-0824.
On Monday, May 21, Northwestern University's Evanston campus will host a fleeting work of art, erected by students, staff, and faculty and removed by nature. The construction is a recreation of conceptual artist Allan Kaprow's seminal sculpture/performance work, "Fluids," and will entail stacking approximately 375 blocks of ice to build a monumental structure on the Plaza outside the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art at 40 Arts Circle Drive.
Kaprow coined the term, "Happening" to describe an event or situation performed in the name of art. He first conceived of "Fluids" in 1967 and intended it to be staged again by others--creating a shared experience in art through separate happenings. This will mark the first time the project has been reenacted in the Midwest.
The cool cats over at FugScreen screenprinting studios have a conundrum (albeit a pretty good one to have): too much art, not enough space. So they're opening a gallery in Logan Square this July to exhibit the best work that's run through their hands by their cohorts. With a focus on poster and street art, Galerie F has a unique ethic: fully functional six days of the week, all day long, with no appointments required. In other words, an "open door gallery". This is important to them because they want to be accessible -- they want people to be able to wander in and browse at their own pace. And as cool as Chicago's plethora of artist-run, DIY spaces are, you just can't do that at most of them.
(L to R) Bear Bellinger, Adrian Aguilar and Jenny Guse. Photo by Jeremy Rill.
Rent will forever be defined as playwright Jonathan Larson's magnum opus, to date the ninth longest running stage production in history. Sadly, the night of final dress rehearsals for its off-Broadway debut, Larson succumbed to an aortic dissection, the direct result of a misdiagnosis of Marfan's syndrome. Larson's anthem, "Seasons of Love (How Do You Measure...)" certainly confirms his awareness of time itself-ticking, moving and sifting through the grates of this lifescape we cling to so tenaciously; it makes perfect sense that Larson would scribe the pebbles of his own (shortened) hourglass.
Hey everyone. First a note of apology. Due to my insane travel schedule this week and next, I'm going to be missing a fair amount of press screenings of some of the bigger and/or more important films being released this month. For example, this week I don't have reviews for Battleship or What To Expect When You're Expecting (I know how broken up most of you are about the latter; probably no more so than I am). Next week's big release, Men In Black 3, I actually will get to see for review, but there may still be one or two that escape my grasp. Anyway, there is still plenty to choose from this week. Let us continue...
The Dictator
While I would never call myself a Sacha Baron Cohen apologist (the guy doesn't have to apologize for his style of humor), I will say that I've liked most of what he's done in the TV and film world, which includes everything he did with his Ali G character on both sides of the pond to Borat to his supporting work in Talladega Nights, Sweeney Todd and Hugo. Cohen isn't always going for the big laughs in his work, but when he does, he tends to try harder than just about any other comic actor today. He doesn't always succeed, but I don't think he'll ever be accused of phoning in a performance.
Humor Me Podcast is what happens when you get one comedy nerd and her friends together before, after and during shows and events. Each month, I will crash my talented friends and peers and force them to talk with me...
This Friday 
Hey everyone. First a note of apology. Due to my insane travel schedule this week and next, I'm going to be missing a fair amount of press screenings of some of the bigger and/or more important films being released this month. For example, this week I don't have reviews for Battleship or What To Expect When You're Expecting (I know how broken up most of you are about the latter; probably no more so than I am). Next week's big release, Men In Black 3, I actually will get to see for review, but there may still be one or two that escape my grasp. Anyway, there is still plenty to choose from this week. Let us continue... 
