Arts & (Home) Entertainment Recommendations

Since being stuck inside, which shows have you been watching? Which movies? Have you read any good books lately? Any new music releases have you dancing in your living room? StreetWise vendors, readers and staff are sharing what is occupying their attention during this unprecedented time.

To be featured in a future edition, send your recommendations of what to do at home and why you love them to Creative Director / Publisher Dave Hamilton at dhamilton@streetwise.org

Be Inspired!

A Simple Cotton Sack: A Conversation about African American Women, Trauma, and Resistance

Harvard Professor Tiya Miles and Professor of English Megan Sweeney invite you to join the conversation on African American women past, present, and future. Their discussion will revolve around ways to overcome and address adversity and trauma while exploring the beauty, meaning, and love hidden within suffering and loss. Resilience, resistance, and reclamation are the name of the game as Miles and Sweeney unpack the history behind the historic and mysterious cotton bag known as Ashley’s sack (the inspiration behind Miles’ most recent book “All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake”). The conversation will be hosted by the Newberry Library and will take place from 6-7 p.m. February 3. The discussion is virtual. Registration is free and required in advance at Eventbrite.com.

Tap! Leap! Twirl!

Trinity Irish Dance Company

Celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day early this year by heading to the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B Wells Drive, to enjoy a raucous night of dancing, culture, and history produced by the Trinity Irish Dance Company. Witness the staggering heights these dancers can reach as they tap, leap, and twirl to a unique combination of traditional and modern styles and music. Designed to empower, the performance emphasizes the power and grace of their female dancers while embracing both its cultural roots and the many innovative twists and turns that keeps each performance just as lively as the next. Performance takes place February 5 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets

Poetry a World Apart!

'COMMONground: A Collaboration with Poetry Ireland'

On February 5, celebrate the hard hitting and heartfelt prose of Irish poet Doireann Ní Ghríofa (pictured) and American poet Teri Ellen Cross Davis for their first transatlantic reading event hosted by Poetry Foundation and Poetry Ireland. The reading will be followed by conversation, moderated by Erin Fornoff. The event will kick off with an in depth look into struggle, motherhood, and the difficulties of honoring the past while pursuing the future. Each will open up a conversation about the themes in their own recent works, and together, the two will create a space for approaching the differences between their distinctive experiences and cultures through the media of art and words. This virtual event takes place from 1-2 p.m. It will include live captioning and ASL interpretation. Registration is free on Eventbrite.

Warm art in the cold air!

'Hello Helios: The Warming Suns of Chicago’s Greektown'

With 24 sculptures inspired by Greek mythology and culture (as well as some Aztec, Yoruba, Japanese, and Native American touches), Greektown’s “Hello Helios!” invites you to warm up for the winter by celebrating the sun and light in this vibrant outdoor exhibit. The sculpture collection reflects traditional Greek mythology with modern and diverse sensibilities. All art is created by professional and emerging Chicago artists as well as seven different Chicagoland Greek schools. A map of the exhibit, sculpture titles and a brief description of each work can be found on greektownchicago.org. Artwork will line Halsted Street from Monroe to Van Buren through April 30. FREE.

Through the Looking Glass!

'Alice in Wonderland'

If you happen to follow a white rabbit on your commute to work, you might just end up at the Stahl Family Theatre, 5900 W. Belmont Ave., where you can reacquaint yourself with the timeless kid’s classic “Alice in Wonderland,” but with a musical twist. Watch as the world melts away and enter into a dream as the talented and vivacious cast transports you somewhere else for an hour or two. Reminisce about the girl who taught you to disregard labels, and reunite with a cast of all too familiar faces. You’d be absolutely mad not to go. Performances through February 25 every Friday at 10:30 a.m. Other times are available at chicagokidscompany.com. Tickets are $14-$18. Children 2 and under get in free.

Drag Brunch!

A Brunch of Drag

Starting February 6, join host Jasmine Phoenix for an intoxicating afternoon full of lively performances and sass. Each session includes 3 performers, a solo act, and a closing group performance that is as fabulous as the brunch they offer. Two packages are available: a traditional package that includes your choice of brunch entree and boozy beverage ($36) or the liquid brunch that includes a mimosa bundle ($24). Admission to the performance is included in the package and can be purchased at Eventbrite. Brunches will be held at 1 p.m. every first Sunday at Simone's Bar, located at 960 W. 18th St.

Classical Lunch Break!

Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert

Slow down for a lunch hour of classical music at the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert at Seventeenth Church of Christ Scientist, 55 E. Wacker Drive, and enjoy the harmonious duet of Geneva Lewis (violin) and Sahun Sam Hong (piano). Their richly emotional and stirring repertoire will open with Clara Schumann’s “Three Romances, Op. 22” and be followed by Darius Milhaud’s “Printempos, Op. 18,” Lili Boulanger’s “Deux Morceaux,” Germaine Tailleferre’s “Berceuse,” and Gabriel Fauré’s “Trois Mélodies, Op. 7.” The concert will end with Claude Debussy’s “Sonata for violin and piano, L. 140.” The concert starts at 12:15 p.m. on February 2. Admission is free. See imfchicago.org for more information.

Houses of Tomorrow!

Exhibition Open House: Houses of Tomorrow 25th Anniversary Kickoff

The Elmhurst Art Museum invites you to celebrate its 25 anniversary Open House special event to kick off the new year. Inspiring the community through art, education, and architecture, the Elmhurst Museum offers visitors and members a sneak peak at its new exhibit “Houses of Tomorrow: Solar Homes from Keck to Today” that honors the legacy of America’s first solar architects throughout the Midwest: from the 1933 World's Fair to Mies van der Rohe, and more. The kickoff, which is free, is 4 - 6 p.m. on February 4. The exhibit runs through May 29, with admission of $15. See elmhurstartmuseum.org for more details.

Yee-Haw!

The Virginian

Grab your horse and lasso, and suit up for a night of cowboy hats and boots for City Lit Theater Company’s production of “The Virginian.” An adaptation of the novel that came to define the classic archetype of the gun-slinging American cowboy and the dusty, wild wild West, “The Virginian” opens a conversation on old western values and the meaning of honor and will in the face of adversity, outlaws, and bandits. The production will feature a diverse cast and ask the audience to examine and contemplate the national myths that lie in each scene. Come watch a herd of prancing puppet horses as they dodge tumbleweeds and swish their tails (proudly created by The Puppet Company). Shows recurring every Friday and Saturday from 7:30-9:30 p.m. until February 20, so don’t miss out. Located at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Tickets $34. See citylit.org for more details.

-Compiled by Cora Saddler