Clik here to view.
One 4 the Road mixes history, humanity, and Malört
The new play by Leonard House takes viewers inside a south side bar in 1972. It's 1972 and Haskins' bar has been a fixture on the south side of Chicago for 30 years, passed down to Ray Haskins (Darren...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A father and daughter have it out in I'm Gonna Pray for You So Hard
In the process, we all learn, despite our initial impressions, that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Things it would be good to inherit from a famous playwright father: deep industry...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Arigato Market slings tacos with a side of beef
The West Town storefront is part butcher shop, part Japanese American taqueria. Brett Suzuki is a purist. He sells pasture-raised beef at Arigato Market but he will never serve you a carne asada taco.…
View ArticleClik here to view.
The power of Walt Whitman brings two high school students together in I & You
They sound their barbaric yawp through the living room. The premise of Lauren Gunderson's two-hander is remarkably simple: a socially isolated, housebound high school girl receives an unexpected visit...
View ArticleClik here to view.
City Lit presents not one, but Two Days in Court
The Devil and Daniel Webster and Trial by Jury make up the musical doubleheader. The two short, rarely-seen comedies on this engaging bill share a common plot point. In each, a young man is put on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Reverse Gossip, a polyphonous portrait of city life, brings theater to...
Walnut Spaceship Studio in the Bridgeport Art Center makes its debut. Barrie Cole presents a series of overheard phone calls on the CTA that add up to a beautiful, polyphonous portrait of city life....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kayy Drizz fights the power with Jersey club
Since 2007, New Jersey-born producer Kalayisa Drake, aka Kayy Drizz, has been making Jersey club, an aggressive Garden State cousin of Baltimore club—a raw, fast-paced, jittery dance sound that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Chicago art-rock jesters Woongi nail the acrobatics on Rip’s Cuts
In an e-mail interview with Dominican music site Vents Magazine, Chicago art-rock foursome Woongi claim they wrote their forthcoming second album, Rip’s Cuts (Sooper), to “sync up” with a 1993 family...
View ArticleClik here to view.
BTS move forward with grace on Map of the Soul: Persona
Seven-member South Korean boy band BTS were already fairly successful when they nonchalantly rapped about having an uncountable amount of trophies in the 2017 Steve Aoki remix of “Mic Drop.” Two years...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Philadelphia duo 700 Bliss charge political beats with spiritual energy on...
Philadelphia duo 700 Bliss is a perfect example of the kind of supergroup that can emerge from a combination of globally engaged conversation and access to affordable practice spaces. Camae Ayewa, aka...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Chicago producer Radius feeds the beat scene’s growth with Embrace the Circle
Over the past few years, Chicago has steadily grown its beat scene, and producers dedicated to instrumental hip-hop have a few monthly showcases to check out their peers, chief among them the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On their debut full-length, Water, local indie trio Dehd rise above the haze...
Chicago trio Dehd are a meeting of the minds between two singer-songwriters: bassist and singer Emily Kempf, who performs as Vail and has been in Lala Lala, and guitarist and singer Jason Balla, who...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Che Apalache find the sweet spot between Latin folk and bluegrass
Argentine string band Che Apalache play “Latingrass,” which might at first seem like a sterile hybrid, but even a few minutes of listening to this four-piece are enough to demonstrate how beautifully...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Founded as an AACM repertory ensemble, the Artifacts Trio now plays original...
The Artifacts Trio first convened in 2015 in response to the 50th anniversary of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Flutist, vocalist, and electronicist Nicole Mitchell,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mulatu Astatke continues his Ethio-jazz evolution
Vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke has a seamless way of fusing the music of his native Ethiopia with jazz and Latin music (and you can hear a little bit of R&B in that mix too). On paper this esoteric...
View ArticleClik here to view.
We can all learn a lot about water politics from the young artists who...
Plus there's an excellent joke about thirst traps. According to the Pew Research Center, Gen Z—young people currently aged 14-22—are even more liberal and politically engaged than their predecessors,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Children vividly imagines the worst-case scenario after an environmental...
Playwright Lucy Kirkwood's devastated world is nightmarishly familiar. It's comforting to regard the premise of Lucy Kirkwood's eco-thriller with a smug sense of that-would-never-actually-happen....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Too Heavy for Your Pocket weighs the cost of making a difference
A Black college student’s decision to join the Freedom Riders has unexpected consequences for his wife and friends. Eminently engaging and candid, Too Heavy for Your Pocket, now at TimeLine and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ripped from the headlines of 1957, West Side Story still has plenty to say...
The Lyric’s faithful revival addresses immigration, discrimination, and changing neighborhoods, but it’s the women who are the stars. Sometime in the 1940s, it occurred to choreographer Jerome Robbins...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Empty Bottle hosts a night of Chicago metal madness
You won’t find many tighter showcases of Chicago underground metal bands than tonight’s bill, headlined by the reclusive Indian, who’ve emerged from hibernation to blast the Empty Bottle with their...
View Article