Even though we’re posting this on April 1, we’re not foolin’: we think you’ll find something to enjoy in this week’s list of upcoming events.
FRI 4/1
Chicago Repertory Ballet celebrates its tenth anniversary with a program called, appropriately enough, Ten. The lineup includes three world premieres: Transcending Quiet, a pas de deux and “study in texture and tone” by Kia Smith of South Chicago Dance Theatre; Birthday Fête by CRB founder and artistic director Wade Schaaf, set to a score by Felix Mendelssohn; and Hunter’s Moon by LA choreographer Mike Tyus, based on the “behaviors and physicality of wolves.” The performances are at the Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture, 2936 N. Southport, tonight and Saturday at 7:30 PM and Sunday at 2 PM; tickets are $35-$60 at athenaeumcenter.org. (KR)
Tyla Abercrumbie has achieved national attention as Nina, the loving but struggling mother of two teenagers on Showtime’s The Chi, but her profile as a playwright has also risen in the last few months with the success of her play Relentless. Originally announced for TimeLine Theatre’s 2020 season, Abercrumbie’s play (the first in a planned historical trilogy) places two Black sisters in 1919 Philadelphia as they learn more about their late mother’s life during slavery, and confront the toll of white supremacy in their own time. It was a sold-out hit this winter for TimeLine, and now returns for an encore run at the Goodman’s Owen theater, opening in previews tonight at 8 PM. It’s likely that it will be heading to more regional productions, but this is your chance to see a hometown playwright’s work before everyone else knows about it. Running through May 1 at Goodman, 170 N. Dearborn; tickets are $15-$50 at goodman theatre.org. (KR)
Are you a dyke or dyke-adjacent and looking for something to do tonight? Then check out Strapped, the dyke night at Berlin (954 W. Belmont) now running every first Friday of the month. Join hosts Irregular Girl and Siichele for an evening of themed cocktails, funky beats (courtesy of Stasney and DJ Bonita Appleblunt), and live performances (tonight featuring Po Chop, Boy Toothless, Whorechata, and Yur Unkle). If that’s not enough to get you heading out humming Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” Early to Bed is also sponsoring a sex toy giveaway for this event. This is a gender-flexible event (host and performer Irregular Girl wrote on Instagram, “It is our intention to create a party for dyk3 and dyk3 adjacent people, with no hang ups about gender,”) so TERFs and truscum: please stay at home! While masking is recommended, proof of vaccination is required. Cover is $10, and the event happens from 10 PM-4 AM. You must be 21 or over to attend. (MC)
SAT 4/2
Conventions and larger gatherings have already been back on the scene as the pandemic ranges on, but some of you might prefer only smaller versions with space between you and other visitors. Enter Pop Cats, a traveling “cat convention meets cat cafe experience” that visits Ravenswood this weekend courtesy of the Nulo Pet Food line. The event takes over the entirety of the Artifact Events Center (4325 N. Ravenswood) today from 10 AM-5 PM and again tomorrow from 11 AM-5 PM. Expect cats on hand, courtesy of local rescue agencies that need foster parents and adopters (hint hint), “cat playground experiences” (we’re reading this as selfie-ready photo backdrops), tattoo artist Hannah Steele on hand to work on cat tattoos for the committed, and pet supply vendors galore. Tickets range from $15 to $40 (the top tier will get you a full weekend pass) and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the cat rescues that participate. More information about this all-ages affair is available here. (SCJ)
Congo Square Theatre kept busy with original online programming during the COVID-19 shutdown, but they’re back live with What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Aleshea B. Harris’s play, copresented with GRAY Chicago and the Rebuild Foundation, runs through April 16 at GRAY (2044 W. Carroll), and then moves to Rebuild’s Stony Island Arts Bank (6760 S. Stony Island) April 21-May 1. Designed as a “play-pageant-ritual-homegoing celebration,” Harris’s piece invites response from spectators in its examination of the loss of Black lives and racialized violence. It’s intended to create a space specifically for Black-identifying audiences, but all are welcome. Congo Square artistic director Ericka Ratcliff and ensemble member Daniel Bryant codirect. Tickets are still available for two performances today, at 2:30 and 7:30 PM, and seating is limited to 50 per performance throughout the run. Half of all tickets are being donated to community groups. The rest are available for $35 ($50 with postshow reception for some select dates) at congo square theatre.org. (KR)
Factory Theater returns to live performance with Last Night in Karaoke Town, a remount of the last show they did before COVID-19 closed everything down. Set in a Cleveland Heights karaoke bar (between this and King James at Steppenwolf, Cleveland is well repped on Chicago stages right now!), the story (written by Mike Beyer and Kirk Pynchon) follows a band of regulars trying to resist the takeover of their joint by a hard-cider magnate. Reader critic Max Maller called the first production “a fantastic play, one that gets to the heart of so many issues that matter, such as what varieties of taxidermy should be allowed in bars (squirrels? buffalo?), who gets to sing Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Torn’ when both Audrey and Lily claim it as ‘mine, bitch,’ and whether the rusted-out factory your dad used to work in getting rebuilt as an REI is OK if you happen to like shopping at REI.” Tonight’s 8 PM show is sold out but it’s on again Sunday at 3 PM, and runs a variety of times through Friday April 30 at Factory (1623 W. Howard). Tickets are $10-$25 at 866-811-4111 or thefactorytheater.com. (KR)
SUN 4/3
South Side Projections teams up tonight with the University of Chicago’s Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, as well as the university’s Center for East Asian Studies to present a program of video and film work by pioneering media artist Mako Idemitsu, who advanced both the feminist art movement and the Tokyo video art and media scenes in 1970s Japan. A free screening of several of Idemitsu’s video works starts at 7 PM tonight at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts (915 E. 60th), and is followed by a discussion. (SCJ)
Crawl out of the house and into the Crypt at Underground Lounge (952 W. Newport). Starting at 8 PM, wayward souls can get lost to the dark synths of EBM, industrial music, and postpunk courtesy of Kevin Lux, Flores Negras, Distress Mistress, and Secret Mutilator. There will also be a dark arts market featuring Zoulee’s Goods, Lita Lu, and Strange and Unusually High. There’s a $5 cover, and you must be 21 or older. (MC)
There’s a chance to see several Reader recommended music acts on one bill tonight at Sleeping Village (3734 W. Belmont). Los Angeles band Dummy (who released a cassette EP in 2020 on Chicago’s Born Yesterday Records and follows that up with their debut full-length this year published by Chicago’s Trouble in Mind Records) headlines a show that also features Chicago indie rockers Cafe Racer and Chicago rapper-producer Malci. Sleeping Village is a 21+ venue, and advance tickets are available for this 9 PM concert. (SCJ)
MON 4/4
Monday Night Foodball features some comfort food with Japanese influence this week, as chefs Shin Thompson and Liga Sigal bring their Bokuchan’s Japanese Curry House pop-up over to ye olde Kedzie Inn (4100 N. Kedzie) for a one-night celebration of things karē and katsu. You can check out their ambitious menu here, and then pre-order on the Tock website for pick-up or eat-in. Everything gets started this evening at 4:30 PM. (SCJ)
Reader contributor Hannah Edgar writes this week that the ensemble Sons of Kemet has been “one of the most paradigm-busting groups in contemporary jazz for more than a decade.” You have a chance to see the quartet in action tonight at Lincoln Hall (2424 N. Lincoln) as they make their first local appearance since releasing their most recent album (Black to the Future) on Impulse! Records last year. Angel Bat Dawid opens, and the concert starts at 8 PM. Advance tickets are available and this show is limited to those 18 and over. (SCJ)
Experimental musician Clementine Wink is leaving Chicago, and tonight is her final local performance as Hen of the Woods. She’s warming up the Empty Bottle stage (1035 N. Western) for “composer and shortwave radio enthusiast” Hali Polombo and Nashville-based electronic composer Eve Maret. This event is free and kicks off at 8:30 PM, but you must be over 21 to enjoy. (MC)
TUE 4/5
First Tuesdays at the Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia) is a monthly opportunity for enthusiasts of local politics and justice issues to hear from Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky and former Reader senior writer (and current senior reporter at Injustice Watch) Maya Dukmasova take on pressing issues. Tonight, Ben and Maya will be joined by political consultant Alaina Hampton and WBEZ’s Dave McKinney to discuss all things Michael J. Madigan. Advance tickets are available for this 21+ evening, which starts at 6:30 PM. (SCJ)
Whether you’re an aspiring songwriter or eager to hear from an accomplished one, you won’t want to miss celebrated troubadour Rickie Lee Jones in conversation with music critic (and former Reader contributor) Jessica Hopper. In an online class hosted by the Old Town School of Folk Music, Jones will be discussing her life, career, and creative process. The class runs from 7-8:30 PM tonight and costs $50 ($45 for members), which includes a Q&A with Jones. Register here. (MC)
WED 4/6
Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? What better way to celebrate than visiting the Hyde Park Art Center (5020 S. Cornell) to check out “Whispers of a World Without Words,” an exhibition by Chicago-based artist and educator Malika Jackson. Drawing on her lived experiences, Jackson combines drawings, paintings, and sculptures with the words of poets such as Langston Hughes and Sonia Sanchez. The exhibition is free to view and open from 10 AM-7 PM today, but if you can’t make it out immediately, there’s plenty of time to catch the show before it closes on May 28. Check out the Hyde Park Art Center’s website to plan a visit that works for you. (MC)
THU 4/7
Lydia Pyne’s new book Postcards: the Rise and Fall of the World’s First Social Network (Reaktion Books) traces the beginnings of quick messaging between individuals at opposite ends of the world; and ultimately the beginnings of the kind of electronic communication that we take for granted today. Pyne will speak tonight with Will Hansen, curator of Americana at the Newberry Library, in an online presentation available to view on Zoom with free advance registration required. It kicks off at 5 PM. (SCJ)
As if you could escape poetry month without an event at the Poetry Foundation (61 W. Superior)! At 7 PM, editors Hanif Abdurraqib, Franny Choi, Dan “Sully” Sullivan, and Peter Kahn will be hosting a reading from their anthology Respect the Mic: Celebrating 20 Years of Poetry from a Chicagoland High School. The performers tonight include contributors to the anthology who are past and present students involved in the Spoken Word Club at Oak Park and River Forest High School. Writer Eve Ewing is quoted on the book’s cover as saying: “Poets I know sometimes joke that the poetry club [at this school] is the best MFA program in the Chicagoland area. Like all great jokes, this one is dead serious.” So . . . you know tonight’s going to be good. Plus, it’s free! And it’ll include live captioning and ASL interpretation. Additional accommodations can be made by emailing events@poetryfoundation.org. Please note that, while some readers may remove their masks while performing, all guests over two are expected to wear a mask, and proof of vaccination for COVID-19 plus boosters is required for everyone over five. Guests 18 and older will also be expected to show their ID with their vax cards. If you cannot make it out, a free video of the event will eventually be posted to poetryfoundation.org/video. (MC)
Bronzeville was the bustling epicenter of Black commerce and social life for many neighborhood residents (and other Chicagoans) throughout the 1950s, but it was also the nexus for what we know now as the state lottery. “Policy,” a game of chance that captivated Black Chicagoans, started in the south side neighborhood, and tonight tour guide and historian Beatrice Hardy of Ms. Bea’s Historical Community Tours visits the Chicago Obscura series to shed light on this local history. This free and hybrid event (open to pre-registered visitors at Lakeview’s Room 13 at Old Chicago Inn (3222 N. Sheffield), as well as viewers on Facebook Live) starts at 7 PM and is hosted by the local nonprofit Chicago For Chicagoans. (SCJ)
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