Illinois news

• Downstate weirdos Max Load brought punk to Belleville

  09-11-2023 19:39 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Secret History readers often ask about my criteria for including an artist. Sometimes they want me to cover an early-90s band, but I’m still reluctant—that’s when I started going to shows myself, so it seems too recent. I definitely felt that way when I launched this series in 2005, but I guess we’ll see.  I’m […]
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• This year is getting old, but Monday Night Foodball is brand-new

  09-11-2023 18:45 via chicagoreader.com
  
  I spent nine mornings last month in Portugal eating every possible pastry I could: among them pastéis de nata, pastéis de feijão, croissant brioche, travesseiros, Jesuítas, and the infamous pudim Abade de Priscos, aka bacon pudding. That was for work. And for work, I mean training in preparation for Cadinho Bakery’s debut on the new […]
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• Witch casts half a spell at Artistic Home

  09-11-2023 17:18 via chicagoreader.com
  
  In Jen Silverman’s 2018 play, Witch, the devil goes down to a quiet English village and finds a lot more than he bargained for, including a supposed witch who is surprisingly resistant to selling her soul. Loosely based on The Witch of Edmonton, a 1621 play by Thomas Dekker, William Rowley, and John Ford, Silverman’s […]
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• Stupid F#@*ing Bird makes Chekhov both timeless and contemporary

  09-11-2023 16:56 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Stupid F@*#ing Bird is my kind of play—the kind that plumbs the depths of despair as if it were a vaudeville skit. “I’m in mourning for my life,” says Mash, quoting a line straight out of Chekhov’s The Seagull. Presented by Bluebird Arts and directed by Luda Lopatina Solomon, not every line is directly translated […]
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• Once on This Island illustrates the beauty of storytelling

  09-11-2023 16:35 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s 1998 Tony Award-winning score for Ragtime (book by Terrence McNally) has many virtues—strong songs, strong characters, moments of great drama—but for my money, it cannot hold a candle to Ahrens and Flaherty’s earlier, less complicated, but no less ambitious musical, Once on this Island. First produced on Broadway in 1990, […]
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• Oh, the Places You’ll Glow hits the switch on warmhearted comedy

  09-11-2023 16:20 via chicagoreader.com
  
  This was the first time in a long time that a Second City performance didn’t seem to be an audition for Saturday Night Live. The company of four women and two men (a refreshing change of balance) were right there, engaging with the audience and each other in the moment—the very definition of genuine improv. […]
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• Jackson Junge Gallery’s fix for an insatiable visual appetite

  09-11-2023 16:19 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Works by over 300 of Chicago’s emerging and seasoned artists are on full display in “TEN by TEN” at Wicker Park’s Jackson Junge Gallery. Spanning styles, mediums, and themes, the exhibition features over 400 bold and intricate pieces.  Guidelines for submissions were limited to only two requirements: each piece must be 10 inches by 10 […]
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• Assassins at Theo examines the real national pastime: violence

  09-11-2023 16:07 via chicagoreader.com
  
  I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve seen Stephen Sondheim’s appallingly timely tale of U.S. assassins (and wannabe assassins) since it premiered in 1990. I can tell you that Theo’s production hones in on the pure, unadulterated rage that defines the show with a fervor I’ve never encountered before.  In director Daryl Brooks’s staging, […]
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• Chicago’s Finest Black Artists Shine at the 23rd Annual Black Excellence Awards

  09-11-2023 16:00
  
  Black Ensemble Theater Founder & CEO Jackie Taylor at the 23rd Annual Black Excellence Awards presented by the Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago on November 6, 2023. Photo Credit: Out The Box Creative Group
  The best, brightest and most dynamic Black artists in dance, film, literature, music, theater, visual art and digital media received their flowers at the 23rd Annual Black Excellence Awards, held on Monday at the venerable Black Ensemble Theater. 
  Since the Black Arts
  
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• This Week In Black History Nov. 8-14, 2023

  09-11-2023 15:00
  
  WILMA RUDOLPH
  November 8
  1898—The Wilmington Massacre occurs. A mob of Whites launched a terror campaign against Blacks in Wilmington, N.C. They destroyed a Black newspaper plant, seized control of city government and officially left nine to 11 Blacks dead. However, the unofficial death toll was said to be closer to 100.
  1932—Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president. During his 16 years in office Roosevelt instituted a series of New Deal programs designed to pull the nation out
  
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• Cherelle Parker Makes History, Elected Philadelphia’s First Female Mayor

  09-11-2023 15:00
  
  Photo: GC Images
  Democrat Cherelle Parker made history Tuesday night (November 7) after she was elected to be Philadelphia’s mayor, making her the first woman to hold that office, according to NBC News. The former Philadelphia City Council member will also serve as the city’s 100th mayor after defeating Republican David Oh.
  Before her historic win, Parker triumphed over five other candidates in the competitive Democratic primary back in May. She will succeed Democrat Jim Kenney, who
  
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• Gabo Amo Makes History As Rhode Island’s 1st Black Congressman

  09-11-2023 01:08
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  Former White House aide Gabe Amo (D) has made history in Rhode Island.
  On Tuesday (November 7), Amo defeated Republican challenger Gerry Leonard, winning Rhode Island’s first congressional district seat, per the Guardian.
  Amo, the son of Ghanaian and Liberian immigrants, is the state’s first Black candidate to be elected to Congress. Amo said his political career has been inspired by the drive of his parents.
  “Just because my parents were born in two differe
  
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• Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear Defeats Daniel Cameron In Kentucky Election

  09-11-2023 00:56
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) has won re-election.
  On Tuesday (November 7), Beshear defeated his Republican challenger, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, in the race for Kentucky governor, NBC News projected.
  As he sought a second term, the Kentucky governor emphasized the state’s economic progress over the past four years along with his response to the pandemic and natural disasters, including devastating floods.
  Meanwhile, Cameron, who made history in 2019 a
  
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