successively throughout the evening. Visit ticketsweb.uchicago.edu for tickets. General $5 Presented by the Classical Entertainment Society (CES) Sam Shepard’s Fool For Love Thu, Feb 13–Fri, Feb 14, 7:30pm; Sat, Feb 15 at 2pm and 7:30pm Logan Center, Theater West
28 THEATER, DANCE & PERFORMANCE | arts.uchicago.edu
GRAY CENTER LAB Chicago’s best new venue for experimental arts – Newcity BY SUSIE ALLEN Since its founding in 2011, the Richard & Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry has provided a forum for collaborative experiments that bring together artists and scholars at the University of Chicago. Now, those collaborations have a new home. Earlier this fall, the Gray Center opened the Gray Center Lab, a 1,100 square-foot space located in Midway Studios that can be configured to serve as a classroom, studio, collaborative workspace or exhibition and performance space. It features professional sound and lighting systems in order to accommodate the diverse forms of work taking place at the Gray Center. “We wanted to leave the space as open to redefinition as possible, without prescribing the forms of that possibility. I hope that when our fellows walk into the space, they can reimagine it in ways that line up with
GRAY CENTER LAB EVENTS Tell Me The Truth Jan–March, various times Multi-media artist Chase Joynt and UChicago sociologist Kristen Schilt explore the construction of public narratives about transgender identities in a year-long project including multi-media installations, screenings, and artist salons. Free See page 31 9 Beginnings: Chicago Jan 23–25, 7:30p Chicago-based performance company Every
their aspirations for their projects,” said David Levin, director of the Gray Center. That strategy seems to be paying off. In response to the quality and variety of projects presented in the brief time since the Gray Center Lab opened its doors, Newcity recently named the Gray Center Lab Chicago’s best new venue for experimental arts, calling it a “a much-needed incubator of the local creative culture.” The Gray Center’s inaugural exhibition in the Lab, Unfurling: Five Explorations in Art, Activism, and Archiving, featured new works from five artists with an interest in local and socially engaged research and practice in the arts. “Never the Same,” a collaborative project supported by the Gray Center, presented Unfurling. It’s one of the many innovative projects sponsored by the Gray Center through its signature initiative, the Mellon Residential Fellowships for Arts Practice and Scholarship. The Gray Center seeks out challenging projects with the potential to have a lasting impact upon participants, according to Levin. “If we’re successful, what happens at the Gray Center today will differ from what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow.” Visit the Gray Center Lab at Midway Studios For more information, visit graycenter.uchicago.edu
house has a door restages the beginnings of nine performances by nine different artists or companies, reimagined as a single new composition. Free See page 26 Making a (Re)Entrance Wed, Feb 5 and Wed, Mar 12, 8-9:30p Bringing together halfway house residents with UChicago students and staff in two whimsical evenings of theater, music, and food, this series explores the status of entrances and re-entrances while radicalizing the aesthetic and social parameters of civically engaged performance. Free See page 27
In a cheap motel room on the edge of the Mojave Desert, old flames May and Eddie struggle to quit their love affair. Theater & Performance Studies lecturer David New plays the Old Man, who may or may not even exist. Together they search for the difference between what is truth and what is remembered. Grab your Valentine or UChicago Crush and head over to the Logan Center’s Theater West to catch Pulitzer Prize winner Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love. Directed by Julia Santha. Tickets available via the Logan Center box office, 773-702ARTS, and ticketsweb.uchicago.edu. Advance $6 / door $8 Presented by University Theater and Theater & Performance Studies Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House Thu, Feb 27–Fri, Feb 28, 7:30pm; Sat, Mar 1, 2pm and 7:30pm Logan Center, Theater East Reality and fantasy ebb and flow in Macarthur Fellow Sarah Ruhl’s work, The Clean House (2005 Pulitzer Prize Finalist). Matilde, a recent immigrant and housekeeper, is searching for the perfect joke. Lane is frustrated by the uncleanliness of her house and the unwillingness of her housekeeper to clean. Along with her husband Charles and his lover Ana, they live in a shifting world where apples are infinite and cancer can be cured by “you medicine.” Life is complicated in The Clean House. Directed by Sasha Ayvazov. Tickets available via the Logan Center box office, 773-702-ARTS, and ticketsweb.uchicago. edu. Advance $6 / door $8 Presented by University Theater and Theater & Performance Studies Global Girls Cultural Showcase Sat, Mar 1, 1–3pm International House, Assembly Hall An international performance showcase honoring individuals and organizations that empower women and girls locally and globally. Highlights include a variety of traditional performing arts demonstrations including Capoeira, Indian, African, Kuttu, ballet and the Global Girls Everyday People Theatre Company. Awards recognizing individuals and organizations will be presented throughout the event. Tickets available at the door. General $20 Presented by the International House Global Voices Performing Arts Series
