{contents}
CHICAGO Volume 24, Issue 3
FOOTNOTES pg. 4
DINNER AND A SHOW Dining Guide and Show Listings pg. 9
{staff} Lynn Marolt
Steve Marcus
Karin Marcus
Matt Thiele
Kelly Locke
Bob Salb
George Cwiklinski
Production Specialist
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Published by Marcus Promotions, Inc. The content of any article in this publication is based solely on the opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Marcus Promotions, Inc., Footlights, or its staff. The center program content is at the sole discretion of the performing arts group. Any errors, omissions, or inconsistencies are their responsibility. Inquiries or comments should be directed accordingly.
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Footlights Performing Arts Magazine
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Chicago Footnotes January-February 2014 By Jonathan Abarbanel
LIGHT STILL SHINES
The longest-running show in Chicago theater history was honored in December with a mayoral proclamation and a resolution from the City Council, either of which will get you a grande at Starbucks as long as you also have $4.35 (plus tax). Be that as it may, it is important that our civic authorities occasionally take note of cultural attractions beyond the major institutions downtown, and so Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City Council issued a resolution recognizing the 25th anniversary of Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes.
The Neo-Futurists have been proving Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind for a quarter-century.
TMLMTBGB, as it’s shorthanded, is the signature work of the Neo-Futurists, first performed Dec. 2, 1988, created by Neo-Futurists’ co-founder Greg Allen, and written and performed by the company (as it still is). The show has played continuously every weekend ever since, and has been ensconced for most of that time in the company’s rambling permanent home, The Neo-Futurarium, above Nelson’s Funeral Parlor in Andersonville. The City Council resolution honored the Neo-Futurists “for their ongoing contributions to making the arts part of daily life in Chicago for 25 years and counting.” Used to be, the Neo-Futurists promised free pizza after each performance of TMLMTBGB if the performance was a sell-out. The way the twentysomething audiences line up for the show these days, we’re not sure that offer still stands. You can check it out at www.neofuturists.org.
Laura Molza hn
DANCING FEAT AT THE TRIBUNE
Journalists like to talk about their “ink-stained hats” as if any of us still wore hats or came anywhere near printer’s ink. The usual way the image is used is as a “tip of our ink-stained hats” to a colleague or leader on some special occasion.
Well, we missed the actual occasion several months back, but still we are offering a tip of our ink-stained hat to our colleague, Sid Smith, the longtime dance critic (and occasional theater critic) for the Chicago Tribune who retired last August after 33 years on the beat.
Sid was (and is) sharp of mind and occasionally barbed in conversation but without question a knowledgeable and thoroughly h professional journalist who earned the respect of Chicago’s arts Sid Smit community as well as his colleagues. We watched with concern and admiration as Sid fought his way back from a serious illness some years ago to return to the work for which he so clearly has a passion. He has been a model of courage and commitment. Sid’s successor at the Tribune is Laura Molzahn, longtime dance contributor for The Reader and, on occasion, for Chicago Public Radio. It’s a wonderful new assignment for her. We offer our best wishes to both Sid and Laura.
4
Footnotes
Here’s how Writers Theatre’s new building will look.
CAN YOU TREAT TO A SEAT?
Writers Theatre needs another $9 million, almost chump change when you’re talking about a $31 million project and already have $22 million of it lined up. The company has announced details of its new theater complex that will rise where the Glencoe Woman’s Library Club now stands, at 325 Tudor Court. The troupe will break ground next autumn and expects to be in the new facility by early 2016. During construction, performances will continue in the studio space in back of Books On Vernon (Writers Theatre’s original space) and, possibly, a larger location TBA. The complex will offer a 250-seat main stage (more than double the troupe’s current capacity) and a flexible studio which will seat up to 99 (depending on how the stage is configured). Designed by cutting-edge architect Jeanne Gang and Studio Gang Architects, the center will feature green technologies throughout and offer such amenities as a glass-walled gallery and a roof garden, both of which will take advantage of the park-like setting on the edge of Downtown Glencoe. We couldn’t help crunching some numbers on the relative cost of a new theatre seat in Chicago over the last 20 years or so. Steppenwolf Theatre was completed in 1991 for $10 million and has 800 seats in two theaters, for a bargain-basement cost of $12,500/seat. Chicago Shakespeare Theater cost $24 million in 1999 and also has 800 seats in two theaters for a price tag of $30,000/seat. The Goodman Theatre Center cost $54 million and opened in 2000 with up to 1,250 seats in two performance spaces, or $43,200/seat. The Harris Theater for Music and Dance opened in Millennium Park in 2003 with 1,525 seats, for a cost of just over $34,550/ seat (economies of scale, one supposes). More than a decade later, the Writers Theatre cost-per-seat clocks in at just over $88,500. Hot damn, them seats better be comfortable! Seriously, of course, this project is a dream come true for Writers Theatre cofounder and artistic director Michael Halberstam and his dedicated staff and board. Just as with Steppenwolf and Chicago Shakespeare Theater, they have had the perseverance and clear vision to build the company from extremely modest beginnings and a budget of just $5,000. Alas, we cannot afford to offer Writers Theatre even a million bucks, let alone nine million, but we inquired how much it would cost to have a shelf in the custodian’s closet named after us. Footlights Performing Arts Magazine
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Columbia’s Lit Fest Offers Diverse Sampler For Story Lovers By Linda Naslund
From March 16-21, the 18th annual Story Week Festival of Writers offers free readings, conversations, panels, performances, book signings, and workshops at venues throughout the city. Story Week 2014, themed “DiverCity: Urban Stories,” is presented by the Columbia College Chicago Department of Creative Writing and is co-sponsored by the Chicago Public Library, Metro, and Guild Complex. “Cities are built of stories as much as buildings,” says Story Week Founding Producer Randall Albers. “This year’s Story Week features a full range of voices and cultures. Together, they create a city of words that have the potential to foster unity rather than conflict in our urban areas.”
ard lissa Pritch Photo by Me
Photo by Norma
I. Quintana
Cristina Garcia
k Stuart Dybe
Story Week kicks off Sunday afternoon, March 16, with Story Workshop® mini-classes for the general public, followed by another inventive performance from 2nd Story, featuring storytellers accompanied by the music of the Harold Washington Trio. On Monday at 2 pm, Patricia Ann McNair (The Temple of Air) hosts “Why the Short Story,” a conversation and Q&A with Stuart Dybek (I Sailed with Magellan), Nation blogger Roxane Gay (An Untamed State), Katey Schultz (Flashes of War), and Christine Sneed (Little Known Facts.) At 6 pm, Booklist Senior Editor Donna Seaman hosts a reading, conversation, and book signing with Stuart Dybek. Both events are at Harold Washington Library. Author, poet, and screenwriter Barry Gifford, who co-wrote screenplays for David Lynch’s films Lost Highway and Wild at Heart, appears at Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash, on Tuesday, March 18, at 2 pm in an interview with filmmaker Bruce Sheridan and author Joe Meno. Story Week’s publishing panels, held at the Harold Washington Library, have proven to be immensely popular. This year’s panel on Wednesday afternoon includes editor Anitra Budd, Coffeehouse Press; agent Eleanor Jackson, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency; literary publicist Sheryl Johnston; Akashic Books publisher Johnny Temple; and Nancy Zafris, series editor of the Flannery O’Connor Award.
illip Roche
Photo by Ph
len Preston Al
In an experimental collaboration with Guild Literary Complex, supported by a generous grant from the Chicago Community Trust, Story Week 2014 will highlight a number of Latino and Caribbean writers. This synthesis of English and Spanish presentations includes a reading by Cuban-American novelist Cristina Garcia (The King of Cuba) at Harold Washington Library on Tuesday, March 18, at 6 pm; a Wednesday 5 pm panel, “Translation Matters,” and “Noche de Novelas/Night of Novels” at 7 pm featuring readings by Valeria Luiselli (Faces in the Crowd), and Chicago writers Raúl Dorantes and Fernando Olszanski at the Humboldt Park Fieldhouse. On Thursday night, March 20, at Metro, Story Week’s raucous “Literary Rock and Roll” presents readings by Honduran-born novelist Preston Allen (Every Boy Should Have a Man), Chicago author Eric May (Bedrock Faith), and 21st Century Award-winner Christine Sneed (Little Known Facts), with poetry by the late David Hernandez, “Chicago’s unofficial poet laureate,” read by Achy Obejas, Eduardo Arocho, Marta Collazo, and Carlos Cumpián, along with music from Street Sounds. Story Week culminates on Friday, March 21, at the Chicago Cultural Center with “Chicago Classics,” a perennial favorite hosted by the Tribune’s Rick Kogan, with local writers and other notables reading excerpts from their favorite Chicago authors.
colum.edu/StoryWeek 8
Advertorial
For more information about these free events, contact Columbia’s Department of Creative Writing, 312.369.7611 or visit colum.edu/storyweek. This program is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; the Illinois Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly; The Chicago Community Trust; and The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.
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Footlights Performing Arts Magazine
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DINNER
& A SHOW
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET Apollo Theater
Ongoing
THE SEAFARER Senachai Theatre Company
Through Jan. 5
HELLCAB Profiles Theatre
Through Jan. 12
THE LITTLE PRINCE Lookingglass Theatre
Through Feb. 2
PORT AUTHORITY Writers Theatre
Through Feb. 16
MR. SHAW GOES TO HOLLYWOOD MadKap Productions
Jan. 6-Feb. 16
A twist of fate brought Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley together in 1956 for an unforgettable jam session.
A pair of brothers are set to enjoy the holidays in Dublin with cards, booze and friends until a stranger from the past comes to collect a debt.
Return of Profiles’ acclaimed hit about one night in the life of a cabdriver who transports a bizarre, mysterious array of customers.
A pilot stranded in the Sahara Desert meets a charismatic young prince fallen from the sky who regales him with tales of life among the stars.
Lightly interlocked stories of three men at different stages of life weaves a tale that is both spirited and moving in its portrait of ordinary lives.
Fictionalized account of Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw’s real-life visit to 1930s Hollywood when big film studios ruled the roost.
Apollo Theater 773-935-6100
Den Theatre 866-811-4111
Main Stage 773-549-1815
Water Tower Water Works 312-337-0665
Vernon Ave. 847-242-6000
Greenhouse Theater Center 773-404-7336
Since 1950 Dine before or after the show See our collection of original theatre posters
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Dinner and a Show
Greektown 314 S. Halsted, Chicago 312.726.2407 Open 7 days a week 11:00 a.m. - Midnight www.theparthenon.com
Find showtimes, links to buy tickets and nearby restaurants on
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HEDDA GABLER Writers Theatre
Jan. 7-March 16
RASHEEDA SPEAKING Rivendell Theatre Ensemble
Jan. 8-17
SKETCHFEST Stage 773
Jan. 9-19
SEVEN GUITARS Court Theatre
Jan. 9-Feb. 9
OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD Shattered Globe Theatre
Jan. 9-Feb. 22
STANDING IN MATTOON Jedlicka Performing Arts Center
Jan. 10-Feb. 1
Equal parts idealistic heroine and callous antagonist, Hedda finds herself trapped by society in a world that does not fit her.
A white physician attempts to oust his black receptionist by enlisting a white female coworker as a spy.
The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival is the largest sketch comedy festival in the nation with troupes coming from across the country.
Resident artist Ron OJ Parson returns to direct August Wilson’s haunting Century Cycle play about fate, justice and the Blues.
Timberlake Wertenbaker’s adaptation of The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally examines Australia’s first penal colony and the redemptive power of art.
A funny tale about sad people who want to change their funny, sad lives, told through the lens of an ice cream vendor.
Open ‘til 4AM Nightly, 5AM on Saturdays Covered and Comfortable Smoking Area Live Music Seven Nights A Week! Business Casual Dress Code No Cover
Tudor Court 847-242-6000
Rivendell Theatre 773-334-7728
Stage 773 773-327-5252
Court Theatre 773-753-4472
Theater Wit 773-975-8150
JPAC Theatre 708-656-1800
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505 Main St. • Evanston • 847.864.3435 www.oceanique.com
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DINNER
& A SHOW
ALONE TOGETHER Big Noise Theatre Company
Jan. 17-Feb. 2
THE GAME OF LOVE AND CHANCE Open Door Repertory Company
Jan. 17-Feb. 23
TOM JONES Northlight Theatre
Jan. 17-Feb. 23
GIDION’S KNOT Profiles Theatre
Jan. 17-March 9
NUMBER THE STARS The Theatre School at DePaul University
Jan. 18-Feb. 22
MR. CHICKEE’S FUNNY MONEY Chicago Children’s Theatre
Jan. 21-March 2
CAPITOL STEPS North Shore Center for the Performing Arts
Jan. 23-26
STRANGERS, BABIES Steep Theatre
Jan. 23-March 1
A middle-aged couple whose children have finally left the nest are alone at last—but not for long as all three sons come charging back home.
Lovers navigate the 1730’s dating world in Pierre de Marivaux’s bold, fast, funny farce.
Jon Jory’s new adaptation of Henry Fielding’s classic novel is full of timeless wit and good oldfashioned, bawdy fun.
A grieving mother and an emotionally overwhelmed primary school teacher engage in a fraught conversation about the suicide of the mother’s son.
This Newbery Medal winner, set during the Nazi occupation of Copenhagen, reminds us that anyone can be a hero.
World premiere R&B musical about a highly intelligent and entrepreneurial boy who discovers that family, friends, imagination and determination are the true keys to success.
Company has been tickling political funny bones for more than thirty years, putting the “Mock” in Democracy.
Twenty years ago, three young children walked into a park and nothing would ever be the same.
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Dinner and a Show
Prairie Lakes Community Center Theater 847-604-0275
Open Door Theatre 708-342-0810
North Shore Center for the Performing Arts 847-673-6300
The Alley Stage 773-549-1815
Merle Reskin Theatre 312-922-1999
Ruth Page Center for the Arts 872-222-9555
North Shore Center for the Performing Arts 847-673-6300
Steep Theatre 866-811-4111
Find showtimes, links to buy tickets and nearby restaurants on
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SAVION GLOVER’S STEPZ Harris Theater for Music and Dance
Jan. 24
THE HOW AND THE WHY TimeLine Theatre Company
Jan. 28-April 6
A FREE MAN OF COLOR The Theatre School at DePaul University
Jan. 29-Feb. 9
ROUGH CROSSING First Folio Theatre
Jan. 29-March 2
SAINT JOAN ShawChicago
Feb. 1-24
AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’ Porchlight Music Theatre
Feb. 1-March 9
INTO THE WOODS The Hypocrites
Feb. 6-March 30
RUSSIAN TRANSPORT Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Feb. 6-May 11
Tap master Glover and his ensemble of dancers take tap dance to new heights while fusing traditional music selections of the past with the energy of the future.
Two scientists clash over differing views on evolution, feminism and generational divides in modern America in this smart and compelling new play.
New Orleans guest stars, in spirit, in this exacting tale of power, political systems and inalienable rights.
Aboard a New York-bound ship, two playwrights struggle to finish a musical despite a jealous composer, the screen star he loves and her leading man.
A simple country girl becomes the catalyst for unified France in George Bernard Shaw’s masterpiece based largely on the transcripts of her trial.
Fats Waller’s tribute to the 1920s and 1930s Harlem Renaissance, an era of exploding creativity and social changes.
James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim bring together everyone’s favorite storybook characters for a timeless, relevant piece that is a modern classic.
A comedy-turned-thriller about a Russian family striving for the American dream.
Harris Theater for Music and Dance 312-334-7777
TimeLine Theatre 773-281-8463, ext. 6
Fullerton Stage 312-922-1999
Mayslake Peabody Estate 630-986-8067
Ruth Page Theater 312-587-7390
Stage 773 773-327-5252
The Mercury Theater 773-325-1700
Steppenwolf Theatre 312-335-1650
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DINNER
& A SHOW
LIFETIME OF MUSIC HOMAGE Northshore Concert Band
Feb. 9
MOTH The Theatre School at DePaul University
Feb. 12-23
PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE: LOYOLA’S INAUGURAL DANCE CONCERT Loyola University Chicago Dept. of Fine and Performing Arts
Feb. 13-16
LOVE STORY Jedlicka Performing Arts Center
Feb. 14-March 1
CABARET Theatre and Interpretation Center at Northwestern University
Feb. 14-March 2
COCK Profiles Theatre
Feb. 14-April 6
A TALE OF TWO CITIES Lifeline Theatre
Feb. 14-April 6
MELODIC MIGRATIONS: GLOBAL JEWISH MUSIC Chicago a cappella
Feb. 15-23
Program includes selections by John Leszczynski, John Gibson, Ron Nelson, Karel Husa, W. Francis McBeth, Robert Sheldon and Thomas Duffy.
An exacting look into the minds of troubled youth, directed by Michael Osinski, MFA Directing Class of 2014.
Pick-Staiger Concert Hall 847-432-2263
Healy Theatre 312-922-1999
Mullady Theatre 773-508-8400
Classical and contemporary styles come together.
Inspired by Erich Segal’s best-selling iconic novel comes a new award-winning musical about two people from different worlds who fell in love.
Enter the decadent and dangerous world of the Kit Kat Club where desire and dreams may only drift undisturbed for so long.
This tense comedy about sexual identity explores one man’s choices about which path of love to pursue.
An epic story of resurrection and redemption in a world premiere adaptation based on Charles Dickens’ classic 1859 novel.
Program shines a spotlight on emotionally powerful and beautiful Jewish a cappella music from around the world.
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Dinner and a Show
JPAC Theatre 708-656-1800
Ethel M. Barber Theater 847-491-7282
The Main Stage 773-549-1815
Lifeline Theatre 773-761-4477
Four venues 773-281-7820
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FOOTLIGHTS.COM
PUPPET PETER AND THE WOLF Skokie Valley Symphony
Feb. 16
THIRD SYMPHONY OF GUSTAVE MAHLER Hamburg Ballet
Feb. 19-20
FROM THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA Loyola University Chicago Dept. of Fine and Performing Arts
Feb. 20-March 2
CORPUS DELICTI MadKap Productions
Feb. 21-March 23
MISS MARX OR THE INVOLUNTARY EFFECT OF LIVING Strawdog Theatre Company
Feb. 24-March 29
ALONZO KING LINES BALLET Harris Theater for Music and Dance
Feb. 27-28
H.M.S. PINAFORE University of Chicago
March 14-16
ALADDIN Houston Ballet
March 22-23
Program includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in c minor and Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with life-sized puppets.
Inspired by his great love of Mahler’s music, John Neumeier created a timeless ballet to express all the emotions and feelings that the Third Symphony’s score evokes in its listeners.
In this transformative memoir, the civil rights movement acts as a catalyst for rising above tragic prospects.
An ex-con must prove that his boss is a murderer before going back to jail himself for the crime. A suspense thriller by David Alex.
North Shore Center for the Performing Arts 847-673-6300
Harris Theater for Music and Dance 312-334-7777
Newhart Family Theatre 773-508-8400
Greenhouse Theater Center 773-404-7336
Strawdog Theatre 773-528-9696
World premiere based on the true story of Karl Marx’s youngest daughter, an actress and political activist.
Two different performances. Constellation is luminous and lucid, encompassing and intimate. Meyer is lusciously textured with a commissioned score by Grammy winner Edgar Meyer.
Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company and the University’s Chamber Orchestra lampoon the British aristocracy in the canonic comic operetta.
Making its Chicago debut, Houston Ballet presents celebrated English choreographer David Bintley’s full-length ballet Aladdin, a tale of love, trickery, and triumph.
Harris Theater for Music and Dance 312-334-7777
Mandel Hall 773-702-ARTS
Auditorium Theatre 800-982-2787
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