Illinois news

• Going Wilde in the 21st century

  12-06-2024 20:19 via chicagoreader.com
  
  If you’ve ever imagined how Oscar Wilde would fare in contemporary queer Chicago life, look no further than Strawdog Theatre’s sparkling and delightful adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest by Dusty Brown and Elizabeth Swanson, directed by Swanson. The Importance of Being EarnestThrough 6/30: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM; Rivendell Theatre, 5779 N. […]
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• When boy bands meet action films

  12-06-2024 19:58 via chicagoreader.com
  
  During a decade for Chicago theater that has largely felt like an endless in memoriam reel for retiring or shuttered companies, there’s something reassuring about Factory Theater—a company that’s very serious about not taking itself too seriously—crossing the incredible 100-productions milestone. Even more inspiring is that the 32-year-old company has managed to do so full-throatedly, […]
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• Tragic mundanity

  12-06-2024 19:43 via chicagoreader.com
  
  “Any idiot can face a crisis,” Russian playwright Anton Chekhov wrote in one of his cheerier moods. “It’s this day-to-day living that wears you out.” Actually, the quote may belong to another dour playwright, Clifford Odets, but that hardly matters here. I can’t think of a line that better sums up the major theme of […]
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• Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 19

  12-06-2024 19:30 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 19. June 13, 2024
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• Who Is Anna?

  12-06-2024 19:28 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Martin Crimp’s 1997 play, Attempts on Her Life, won international acclaim. But Crimp, like fellow controversial 90s Brit playwright Sarah Kane, remains more talked about than seen onstage, at least in these parts. So for that reason alone, it’s good to see TUTA return to live production for the first time since the 2020 shutdown […]
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• Unruly corpses

  12-06-2024 19:16 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Antigonick, Anne Carson’s 2012 translation of Sophokles’s Antigone, is both heavy and light, with terse language hand-lettered in black and red caps, interleaved with illustrations by Bianca Stone on vellum. You see each image twice: blurred with the words on the next page peeping through like a palimpsest—then faded and reversed against a white page, […]
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• Review: The Watchers

  12-06-2024 19:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  It feels unfair to judge director Ishana Night Shyamalan’s debut feature against the famous achievements of her father, M. Night Shyamalan. But from the first 20 minutes, The Watchers decisively declares itself part of the Shyamalan brand. The film is at its strongest when it adheres to some of M. Night’s hallmarks—namely, a fast-paced first […]
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• Review: Robot Dreams

  12-06-2024 19:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams is imaginative, bittersweet, and unrelentingly, almost unbearably, twee. Based on a graphic novel by Sara Varon, it’s set in a funny animal version of 1984 New York, where a friendless, hapless, but lovable Dog decides to purchase a Robot friend to chase away his loneliness. The two embark on a montage […]
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• Review: Queenie (Season one)

  12-06-2024 19:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Complex women characters in fiction have not always been welcomed, especially when those characters are Black or people of color. But shows like Sex and the City and Girls, and more recently Insecure and I Will Destroy You, have laid the groundwork for women on our television screens to be messy, hypocritical, domineering, and even […]
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• Review: Cora Bora

  12-06-2024 19:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Once in a blue moon, a performer comes along who is so charismatic that it’s impossible to see them as anything other than a star. In her breakout role as Kayla, the hilariously chaotic talent assistant in HBO’s Hacks, Megan Stalter is one of those people. Her career began in Chicago, where she would use […]
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• Hijinks, horror, and magical realism

  12-06-2024 18:52 via chicagoreader.com
  
  An attic is a blank canvas for artistic expression and endless imagination in the Impostors Theatre Company’s Footholds Vol. 5.  This is the fifth installment of the annual anthology series developed by ITC ensemble members as an opportunity for writers to construct and collaborate around a single limitation, or “foothold.” This volume features eight different […]
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• About Face marches on

  12-06-2024 18:29 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Stages of Survival is an occasional series focusing on Chicago theater companies, highlighting their histories and how they’re surviving—and even thriving—in a landscape that’s become decidedly more challenging since the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown. About Face Theatre was founded in 1995—the year before the Defense of Marriage Act became federal law and the same year that […]
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• Go Fish at 30

  12-06-2024 18:28 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Thirty years after its initial premiere, Go Fish proves that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Whether it’s recurring conversations in queer circles or existing in familiar Chicago locations, life goes on much as it did in the version of 1994 presented in the film—which is exactly why Go Fish has […]
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• To T or not to T

  12-06-2024 18:26 via chicagoreader.com
  
  The first time I started testosterone, I stayed on it for three months. The 2022 edition of my four-piece band was only a few months old. After I was done fishing around online for “street ’mones” that spring, a transmasculine homie gave me several months of T gel as a gift to begin my own […]
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• Patriarchy’s past, present, and future in Masc

  12-06-2024 17:56 via chicagoreader.com
  
  This Pride month will see the premiere of Masc at Lakeview’s Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture on June 15. From dancer and choreographer Keli Gunn, the evening-length dance theater work explores how patriarchal masculinity disrupts the way we relate to ourselves, our communities, and the ones we hold dear.  Guided by a blend of […]
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• The Media Mixer, plus Méliès and Go Fish

  12-06-2024 17:42 via chicagoreader.com
  
  The Moviegoer is the diary of a local film buff, collecting the best of what Chicago’s independent and underground film scene has to offer. Since 2012, the Chicago Film Archives (CFA) has hosted a yearly media mixer in which three local visual artists and three musicians are paired to create a short work with archival […]
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• What does Transvengence mean to you?

  12-06-2024 17:24 via chicagoreader.com
  
  In our age of capital “P” Pride, words like euphoria, community, and progress are tossed around to the point of platitude. “All that shit is great, but that shit sells products. That’s the [artificial intelligence] algorithm bot,” says Joss Barton, creator of Transvengence, a quarterly poetry and performance showcase for trans artists. “Vengeance is hard […]
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• Ube bismark at Somethin’ Sweet Donuts

  12-06-2024 17:19 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Reader Bites celebrates dishes, drinks, and atmospheres from the Chicagoland food scene. Have you had a recent food or drink experience that you can’t stop thinking about? Share it with us at [email protected]. Look, I understand the idiom “shock of” signifies an unpleasant kind of surprise. I also want to preface this review by explicitly […]
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• Liz Jackson Hearns, founder of the Voice Lab

  12-06-2024 17:07 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Liz Jackson Hearns wants to challenge how you think about the voice. As founder of the Voice Lab, she’s a leader in providing gender-affirming vocal coaching—and in teaching new coaches. She’s written two popular books on the subject: The Singing Teacher’s Guide to Transgender Voices (cowritten with Brian Kremer) and One Weird Trick: A User’s […]
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• Fetish media empire House of Milan was bound to please

  12-06-2024 17:05 via chicagoreader.com
  
  First, there was the Golden Age of Porno. From roughly 1969 to 1984, adult entertainment gained wider mainstream approval and enjoyed lucrative capital before home video arrived and reshaped portraying and consuming sex onscreen.  Then: there was the Golden Age of Bondage. At that time, fetish media was not as easy to make and distribute […]
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• Chris Brown Electrifies United Center with Stellar Performance on 11:11 Tour

  12-06-2024 16:30
  
  Chicago’s United Center is known for hosting sporting events, most notably the historic dynasty of the 1990s Chicago Bulls, which won six NBA Championships.
  But on Saturday (June 8), the arena drew fans from across the country to see another champion. That is Grammy award-winning R&B artist Chris Brown, who debuted in 2005 with his first single, “Run It”. Saturday was the second of Brown’s two Chicago shows on his 11:11 tour. The first one was on Friday (June 7).
  Brow
  
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• Support Illinois organizations working to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic with your purchase of the Illinois Lottery’s $200,000! Bingo Tripler Instant Ticket

  12-06-2024 16:15 via chicagoreader.com
  
  In recognition of World AIDS Day in 2009, the Illinois Lottery and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) launched a new Instant Ticket to raise funds for the Quality of Life grants, which are distributed to organizations across the state that work in HIV/AIDS prevention education, and treatment. Since its inaugural year, sales from […]
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• Prostate Cancer Screening May Lead to More Father’s Day Celebrations for Black Men

  12-06-2024 15:40
  For all men, particularly Black men, sharing and bringing awareness to their prostate cancer risk and health history may mean celebrating more Father’s Days with their loved ones. According to the American Cancer Society, talking to your family members about their medical history is one way to know if you are at higher risk of prostate cancer and if screening may be right for you.
  Studies show that prostate cancer seems to run in some families, and in those cases, there may be an inherite
  
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• The art of building space

  12-06-2024 15:10 via chicagoreader.com
  
  From May 1 to June 16, a group of LGBTQ+ artists ages 17 to 24 gathered at workspaces online and in Pilsen to discuss sexual health, identity, art, and activism as part of a new LGBTQ+ youth fellowship. The ALMA Creates x PrEP4Teens fellowship, currently in its first year, was developed as a way to […]
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• UNCF’s “A Mind Is…” Gala Features The Artwork Of Kudzai B. Mutasa, June 15

  12-06-2024 14:45
  
  As a major event during the year-long 80th anniversary celebration of UNCF (United Negro College Fund), the organization’s “A Mind Is…” (AMI) Gala, being held June 15 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, will feature the exquisite artwork of visual artist Kudzai B. Mutasa.
  The black-tie event begins with a reception at 6 p.m. followed by dinner and a program at 7 p.m. Visit www.uncf.org/amiChicago.
  “Kudzai is an incredibly talented creative whose work is vibrant and power
  
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• 88-Year-Old Grandma Honored For Fostering Over 40 Kids

  12-06-2024 14:15
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  An 88-year-old Maryland grandmother has been honored for fostering over 40 children.
  According to Today, Emma Patterson, 88, was recognized by Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich last month for her commitment as a foster parent to dozens of children since the 1980s.
  “Every time I think about it makes me want to cry, because I didn’t do something because I thought anybody paid any attention to it,” Patterson said. “This was just something that I fel
  
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• The Carr Report: Money-related stress weighing you down?

  12-06-2024 14:00
  
  Worried because your bills are piling up? Scared because you don’t have enough saved for emergencies, college, or retirement? Confused when it comes to taxes, mortgages, investments, insurance and estate planning?
  The aforementioned questions are questions I asked when marketing my financial planning and tax preparation service. It’s me appealing to what I already know. Most Americans are struggling financially. They’re worried and scared out of their minds. Consider these stat
  
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• MR. SONNY KNOWS for June 12, 2024

  12-06-2024 14:00
  
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• AG Raoul Reaches $700 Million Settlement With Johnson & Johnson

  12-06-2024 13:30
  
  Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a bipartisan group of 43 attorneys general, announced a nationwide settlement with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to resolve allegations the company deceptively promoted and misled consumers in advertisements related to the safety and purity of some talcum powder products, including baby powder and body powder.
  “Consumers rely on accurate information when making decisions about which products to purchase for their families,” Raoul said. &ldqu
  
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• How the Illinois Department of Corrections fails to protect transgender prisoners

  12-06-2024 13:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Editor’s note: This story contains references to sexual assault and suicide. Hannah Finnegan transferred to Lawrence Correctional Center in southeastern Illinois in May of 2021. She’d previously been imprisoned at Centralia Correctional Center, another men’s prison about an hour outside Saint Louis. At Centralia, Finnegan, a transgender woman, experienced harassment and abuse from staff and […]
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• Through costuming, Bill Crisafi accesses a new kind of power

  12-06-2024 02:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  When I caught up with Bill Crisafi in his Ravenswood studio, he was busy working on his latest creation, a dragged-up Pac-Man ghost costume for a Super Smash Bros.–themed bar crawl. “I had a martini when I was picking my character and so I thought it would just be funny to wear a bowl-cut pink […]
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