Art Around Town Fri Nov 30 2012
Art Around Town
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— Kelly Reaves
Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
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Wednesday, September 10
— Kelly Reaves
A few months ago, an editor at a newspaper I used to work for sent me a Gchat message asking me to write my coming out story for an article she was compiling for "National Coming Out Day." Coming out stories are still important, because, let's face it, no matter how "open" people are "becoming," saying you aren't straight is a thing.
My ex-editor's article was supposed to be part of a piece about LGBT writers and what it means to "come out." That's nice, I thought, as I typed "I don't think I can make the deadline." I told her that I didn't really have the time to write anything, but the real reason was that I didn't know what to say. In today's no-fat-no-soy-civil-union-app-life, I wondered what I could add to the conversation. Luckily for us, Philip Markle has plenty to say about it in his glittery one-person show Sparkle Hour! at the Annoyance Theatre.
I love a good gay comedy; I think it takes a lot of blue-balls to get up in front of an audience and queen out and not seem like a caricature.
— Tyler Gillespie
Turns out I'm not the only one who was impressed by Manual Cinema earlier this year.
This past spring, the experimental, multimedia shadow puppetry collective was adopted by the University of Chicago's Department of Theater and Performance Studies as their ensemble-in-residence. After performing a revamped version of their 2010 show, Lula del Rey, at U of C's Logan Arts Center in June, they have completely rebuilt the show from the bottom up to create their longest and most ambitious work to date.
— Jason Prechtel
For African-American celebrities, the long-running joke has always been, "You haven't really made it until you're on the cover of Ebony or Jet; and when it comes to television, the same is also true about "Soul Train."
When it comes to live shows, however, a whole other stage marked the pinnacle of one's career--the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
— LaShawn Williams / Comments (1)
Photograph by Taryn Goodge
In an independent comedy milieu that's over populated with producers and theaters trying to get rich quick by putting up shows with pre-existing characters (think burlesque shows featuring video games, or musical theater based on TV shows), Octavarius distinguishes itself by being creatively rich, stabbingly satirical and self-destructing (it's performed for one night only) in its production of The Hunger Games vs. Twilight. Octavarius are seasoned authors of amalgamating pop culture cultivations while injecting the fundamental element of what makes them the top improv-sketch group in Chicago; perpetual comedic motion. The performance on Nov. 18 answered the blogashapre's question of which young adult fiction series is better, Twilight or The Hunger Games? Spoiler alert: it's both in Octavarius' parody extravaganza.
The hour and a half long show started out with the group's viral video "Unlikely Quotes from Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (Parody)", sung to the tune of a "sh*t ____ says" YouTube archetype, where one-liners, jump cuts and subject-specific references insure white-hot laughs. The audience was vocally more pro-Hunger Games than team Twilight. The crowd itself was congregation of quirky-cute female Instagramers who most likely were all at the fun. concert held three days earlier at the Riviera, which is fitting because Octavarius mission objective is spreading fun.
— Donny Rodriguez
The art of telling a story orally is a dying one, but those who can do it well (Ira Glass, David Sedaris, the late Spaulding Gray, and the list goes on...but not that far) are some of my personal heroes simply because they keep the tradition alive. I don't know if the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel is fashioned in a similar sense, but the film version from director Ang Lee (The Ice Storm, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain) and screenwriter David Magee (Finding Neverland) is a celebration of passing an oral history from one person to another. It's also a transformative visual display, the likes of which I haven't seen in many years, combining the realistic and the surreal to the point where looking at the image of a young man trapped on a lifeboat with a tiger often resembles a painting featuring colors that appear invented for just the movie. Life of Pi also happens to be one of the finest works done in 3-D that I have ever viewed.
— Steve Prokopy
Chicago-native Jason Hodge started getting interested in improv when he was in high school. His father was a police officer whose foot-route was on Clark Street and was able to get him tickets to shows at the then-called Improv Olympic (iO, now). He started doing improv at 19 and has taken classes at iO and the Annoyance. For five years he was part of a member team at the Playground and for two years has been playing with pH -- who opened their new space in Andersonville this month. For the past year, Hodge has participated as a coach in pH's College pHarm Team program -- a free initiative that matches collegiate improvisers with pH company members and gives the teams an opportunity to play.
What made you want to coach a college improv team?
When I first started with pH I hadn't seen many of their shows, so they told me to go see shows and get familiar. The first show I saw was College Night and that show would have a couple college groups and then the coaches would perform. I had a ball, and I wasn't much older than most of the college teams... What I liked the most about it was that when I started improv I was their age, but I tried to get into it with all the twenty-somethings and the thirty-somethings, and I was very much an outsider -- it kind of caused issues -- I think -- with my development and that outlet is incredibly important, and I liked that pH has that. I basically went every night and didn't stop going.
— Tyler Gillespie / Comments (1)
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My mom has this annoyingly cute habit. While she is watching "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" she likes to text me anytime the show features a Chicago restaurant. This means at least once a week I get a quasi-cryptic text that looks something like this: "Inas 4 Breakfast? good?" "Genes, I think in your neighborhood?" "Frosted Mug in South Chicago? Is that far?"
Usually as least once a month, the featured restaurant is a hot dog place. My mum loves a good Chicago-style hot dog. And yet every time she comes to visit we end up going to the same Greek restaurant just out of sheer lack of creativity.
But I decided this fall's Mama Fritz Chicago visit would be different. This visit we would be adventurous, we would go beyond flaming cheese and gyros and we would courageously endure the line at the infamous Hot Doug's.
— Niki Fritz
It is often said that we should all follow our dreams; for film director Joel Kapity, dreaming inspires and gives hope. "Deep inside us all, there is a dream to be free, a dream to be loved, and a dream to become our potential," he said.
And it was this same spirit that filled the air at the sold-out red carpet screening of Kapity's film, Dreams, held recently at the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee.
— LaShawn Williams
Whether you have read it or not, it is no secret that E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey has taken the literary world by storm; the erotica and fantasy novel, still in the top five on the New York Times Best Seller's list, is a favorite among women everywhere. Next week, SPANK! The Fifty Shades Parody hits town; here, writer and director Jim Millan talks about the popular book and why, for him, a parody makes perfect sense.
When and how did you get the idea to write SPANK!?
I got a phone call around the middle of August. I talked to some writer friends of mine to get them on board; we all read the book and got started after Labor Day. It came together like it was meant to be.
— LaShawn Williams
The last time I visited my hometown in Florida the main thing I wanted to do -- besides see my family -- was go to the Columbia, a Spanish restaurant that serves the best deviled crabs (Cuban-breaded) and yellow rice on the beach. As I sat down at one of the restaurant's boardwalk tables, I knew exactly what I wanted to order: palomilla, a thinly sliced beef with a mountain of white-onions and an ocean of lime juice. For three months I had been dreaming of this little slice of citrusy beefed perfection.
Our waiter came around and I quickly told him what I wanted. For the next 30 minutes I ate Cuban bread and looked at the ocean and loved my life. Then, it happened, our main dishes came to the table and this isn't what I ordered, it must be a mistake. Instead of immediately flipping the table and pulling a Teresa Giudice ("You prostitution whore!"), I took a deep breath. What the waiter put in front of me wasn't palomilla -- it was some type of chicken dish. After a few minutes of my sweaty palms combing the menu, I realized that the chicken dish was actually what I had (accidentally) ordered. Somehow in the mix of salt breeze and sunshine I had lost the last bit of brains I had and made a basic tourist move.
Since this was my fault, I couldn't send it back (I've never sent anything back, but still). I begrudgingly started eating the chicken. After a few bites, I decided that I at the very least I had tried something new. Still, I had wanted palomilla and not getting it, framed my whole experience. This palomilla mix-up is similar to how I felt about i put the fear of mexico in 'em, the new play by Teatro Vista at Chicago Dramatists. The show wasn't exactly what I had thought I ordered, but I still went for it.
— Tyler Gillespie / Comments (1)
Actress and storyteller Jen Bosworth (the woman who was responsible for the live lit series Stories at the Store, among other things), has taken storytelling one step further with her one-woman show, Why Not Me: Love, Cancer and Jack White. Bosworth has a personality big enough to fill a theater, and does so handily at Stage 773, where she takes the audience through the last six years of her life beginning with her exodus from L.A., through her parents' illnesses and deaths, and who she is now for having lived through the experience.
Sharing the stage with Bosworth is musician Brair Rabbit, who underscores key moments with his skilled guitar playing and singing, and provides a satisfying musical texture to the piece.
Bosworth is disarming in her forthrightness, and lets the audience know from the very beginning what they're in for. "My story is the story of how I ended up standing right here in front of you," she begins, "and it involves a lot of death, but we're going to be alright."
— J.H. Palmer
Thanksgiving is just around the corner; and while it is indeed a holiday to spend quality time with family and to give thanks, for many people, it's also a time to do some serious eating.
But for many African-Americans, that "serious eating" can lead to serious health concerns--and not only just during the holiday season, but also on a more regular, full-time basis. In Byron Hurt's award-winning documentary Soul Food Junkies, the culinary tradition of African-Americans is examined, with an emphasis on the history of [cooking] soul food, as well as the socioeconomic conditions that are deemed contributing factors to a lifestyle of unhealthy eating.
— LaShawn Williams / Comments (1)
— Kelly Reaves
On November 30 through December 1 at the Playground Theater (3209 N. Halsted St.), local improv troupe K.C. Redheart will sacrifice their health and well-being to perform 30 straight hours of comedy as part of the third annual Playground Improv Marathon, a charity event benefiting the Illinois Coalition of Reach Out and Read.
The five members of K.C. Redheart will test the endurance of their wits, going without sleep while performing for the Marathon's entire 30 hours. Each hour will mark the start of a new show as K.C. Redheart welcomes guests from around the city to improvise with them, including performers from CIC, Upstairs Gallery, Second City, ComedySportz, the Annoyance Theatre, iO, and the marathon's home, The Playground Theater.
— Kelly Reaves
For the past few months I've been getting together my graduate school applications, because a) I'm a masochist and b) I'm a masochist. Most of the application deadlines are December 15, but being a fierce Capricorn, I wanted to get them in a month early. I've barely seen any light other than my computer screen and this whole process has been a constant flow of over-analyzing myself into self-hate (just kidding, kind of).
Last Friday I took a break from having panic attacks over my GRE scores to check out the new Chemically Imbalanced show To Thine Own Self Be Skewed. Part of CIC's Solo Series, To Thine Own Self is made up of two solo shows: "This is Me, This is You," by Patrick Rowland, and "Bede" by Brianna Baker.
Patrick Rowland -- of Barack All Night -- plays a mix of characters that he's observed while living in Chicago. That's what good comedians do, they observe, and Rowland runs through a mix of characters that are not only hilarious but real. One of my favorite characters is a grade-school boy who has to get in front of the class and read his essay about how he spent his summer vacation -- mostly watching cable (I won't spoil the punch line but it's really clever). He knows how to keep a show moving and he makes the character-transitions high-energy. In another scene he plays a father whose son has just caught his parents "practicing baby-making." For most Americans, this topic is a cringe-inducing fear and Rowland manages to make it not-so-vomit-y.
— Tyler Gillespie
There have been some very capable actors who have been a part of the Twilight films over the last five years, and I include lead actors Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. Of course, there are also some actors in these films who make make it their life's mission to suck the breath and soul out of every scene they're in (I'm looking squarely into your eyes, Taylor Lautner and Ashley Greene). Having made this five-film journey with these characters and this saga that could have easily been told in a tightly edited three-film stretch, I feel I've been more than fair to these movies. I loathed Twilight, and felt that the next two films got progressively better, only to have the first part of Breaking Dawn simply collapse in a heap on screen that no amount of vigorous, bed-breaking pretend sex could help.
The overall issues I've had with the series have little to do with how author Stephenie Meyer and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg have essentially changed all the rules about what vampires and werewolves are. I love a good overhaul, especially in dealing with supernatural creatures that have been done to death. No, my real problem with The Twilight Saga is that the love triangle that plays out between the chronically indecisive Bella (Stewart), the pussified vampire Edward (Pattinson), and the pouty wolf boy Jacob (Lautner) never felt real.
— Steve Prokopy
Whether it's through improv, sketch comedy or stand-up, Tara DeFrancisco has made her mark on Chicago's comedy scene. The Ohio native, named "Funniest Person in Chicago" by the Chicago Free Press and listed as "One to Watch" in Time Out Chicago, teaches improv and performs all around the Windy City at popular spots including ComedySportz and Second City. Currently, DeFrancisco can be seen as "Molly" in "Delusions of Grandeur," a "loosely scripted, Generation-Y" comedy series that airs on BLIP.TV.
Here, she talks about her love for improv, the impact of Internet television and the importance of nurturing Chicago's comedy and arts community.
You always knew you wanted to pursue a career in comedy; was there a particular show or a particular comedian that gave you the bug?
I knew from a pretty young age that I wanted to do comedy but I didn't have a specific kind of comedy that I watched or wanted to pursue. My brothers are older and they introduced me to "SNL," "SCTV," Monty Python, and things of that ilk. But I got a little "class clown-y" in my tween years and at that point, I started looking up to a lot of comedy heroes that everyone shares, you know, the "Gilda Radners," the "Bill Murrays" and people of that nature.
It looks like you were inspired by the legends...
I really loved Steve Martin and a lot of the other performers that were a generation or two above me. I watched a lot of stand up, too, but when I became a teenager, I really didn't know what the path was to getting into the kind of comedy I primarily do now, which is improvisation.
— LaShawn Williams
WRITE CLUB Founder and Overlord, Ian Belknap. Photo credit: Evan Hanover.
WRITE CLUB, the world's most badass competitive literary series, is making a special appearance on Friday, Nov. 16, at Hamburger Mary's, 5400 N. Clark St. The series regularly benefits charitable organizations, and this Friday, in a special appearance away from its home at the Hideout, benefits Stone Scholastic Academy.
If you're not familiar with WRITE CLUB, it consists of three bouts of two opposing writers representing two opposing ideas (Fire vs. Ice, say, or Fate vs. Free Will) assigned in advance. Performers get 7 minutes apiece to make their case, and the audience picks a winner. It's fast, hilarious, and has been hailed by New City as a Top Five Literary Event of 2011, and the Chicago Reader called it "The punchiest thing to hit literature since Hemingway."
— J.H. Palmer
The mutual relationship between music and society, as well as its undeniable cultural connection to the world, has long existed; however, for many, the relationship is even more unique when it comes from the community, specifically, public housing.
From Chicago's own soul legend Jerry Butler in Cabrini Green to rapper Jay-Z's rise from Brooklyn's Marcy Houses to Diana Ross's days in Detroit's Brewster-Douglass housing projects, some of the most talented and notable artists from the music industry hail from our nation's public housing communities. To celebrate this legacy, the National Public Housing Museum (NPHM) will feature its latest exhibit, "The Sound, the Soul, the Syncopation," at the Expo 72 Gallery, 72 E. Randolph St., beginning Thursday, November 15. This technological and interactive exhibit will feature over 50 artists from musical genres including jazz, punk, gospel, country, hip-hop and more.
For NPHM Executive Officer Keith L. Magee, public housing's impact on the nation's musical landscape is important to explore. " 'The Sound, the Soul, the Syncopation' tells the dual story of the role of music in the creation and development of community and the role of community in the creation of music," said Magee. "This exhibit will reveal that for many of today's most popular artists, public housing was--and is--a place to call home."
"The Sound, the Soul, the Syncopation" runs daily through March 15, 2013 and is free and open to the public; gallery hours vary. For more information, contact 312.996.0834.
— LaShawn Williams
— Kelly Reaves
There's a great deal to absorb in Daniel Craig's third outing as Ian Fleming's master MI6 agent James Bond. It's clear that it's important to the actor to give his take on Bond a little emotional and psychological heft without skimping on the death-defying action (which includes another sequence involving heavy construction equipment, as well as a rooftop chase in Turkey that I'm pretty sure are the exact rooftops featuring in Taken 2 — I half expected Bond to trip over Liam Neeson at one point, which would have been awesome). As a result, we get more of the Bond back story than any other film in the past 50 years has given us. Plus, it doesn't suck and it actually adds some welcome depth to the icy spy with a license to kill.
— Steve Prokopy
"We're all in the same canoe, so take the stick out of (your) ass and join us..." declares Jeanette (Liz Zweifler), one-half of the Mongolian yurt-residing couple to her bible thumping, "Jesus is Magic" visiting conservative cousin-in-law Bill (Stephen Spencer) in the flawlessly written and performed gem The Quality of Life.
Bill is politely goaded by wife Dinah (Jennifer Joan Taylor) into leaving their Ohio home to visit her hut-residing cousin Jeanette and Neil (Ron Wells) in California, Jeanette's husband of twenty-nine years. Both couples have had a tragic turn of events -- Jeanette and Bill are mourning the loss of their daughter Cindy, who was brutally murdered by a psychopath; Jeanette and Neil are facing Neil's eminent demise from prostate cancer and the loss of their home and possessions to a wildfire.
— Alice Singleton
Actor Laurence Fishburne is best known for his work on Broadway, television and the big screen, having starred in movies such as Contagion, The Matrix, Boyz N the Hood, as well as his Academy Award-nominated performance in What's Love Got To Do With It; however, what you may not know, is that he is also a playwright. Riff Raff, Fishburne's only play to date, centers on the relationship of three men who are immersed in New York's gritty criminal world. Next week, the play will have another run in Chicago, this time via Dream FIERCE Productions; here, Semaj Miller, artistic director, talks about the play and its relevance to the community.
Dream FIERCE Productions' Artistic Director Semaj Miller; photo: Terrance Pitts.
Dream FIERCE Productions is dedicated "to theatrical productions that speak directly to the diverse communities throughout the Chicagoland area." Do you feel that this is something that is lacking here?
Regarding the kinds of show that are available, I wouldn't necessarily say that anything is lacking; Chicago is blessed with some of the most talented artists in theater. My concern is that the people that need to see these shows the most are not in attendance. And that's where Dream FIERCE Productions comes in.
— LaShawn Williams / Comments (3)
(left to right) Preston Tate, Jr. and Richard Cotovsky in Mary-Arrchie Theatre Co.'s production
of Superior Donuts by Tracy Letts, directed by Matt Miller. Photo by Greg Rothman.
I had the privilege of reviewing the Steppenwolf production of Superior Donuts in 2008. A critical and financial success, the Steppenwolf version moved to Broadway, with most of its Chicago cast, including actor Michael McKean as donut shop proprietor Arthur Przybyszewski recreating their roles in New York. I was anxious to see what four years would do the play; would I have a different perspective? How would a smaller (and more local) production stand beside Letts' guided production? Well, the "lyrics" remain the same, but the "song" is personal this time. The '08 production was larger in scale, and a metaphor for the runaway and get outta my way American Dream -- if you're not corrupted by the gold rush, you're bulldozed over by it.
— Alice Singleton
SOFA is a fair of history. This is evident upon first entering Festival Hall at Navy Pier and was especially noticeable on opening night of the 19-year-old fair. Unlike the weariness masked as over-jubilant fervor of the inaugural EXPO CHICAGO, the spirit of SOFA (Sculpture Objects Functional Art + Design) is born out its familiarity for visitors and for collectors.
— Britt Julious
Alma Weiser is a clever, thoughtful encyclopedia of knowledge. One can gleam even a fraction of her intellect and curiosity for history and design upon talking to her for a few minutes. As a fashion designer for Renovar, her past influences ranged from Louise Nevelson to Elsa Schiaparelli. Nevelson, an American sculptor of the early 20th century, created large, monochromatic, and complex sculptures. Schiaparelli, an Italian fashion designer and rival of Coco Chanel, was driven by the works and ideas of the Surrealists.
In Weiser's latest collection, "On The Origin of Species," her main point of focus is Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution. Low concept, she is not. In fact, what ultimately makes Weiser such a fascinating and driven designer is her dedication to history, to conceptualism, to fashion for fashion's sake. "On The Origin of Species" premieres Saturday, November 3 at Heaven Gallery.
— Britt Julious / Comments (2)
Regardless of what you might think you know or expect about the first live-action Robert Zemeckis film since 2000's Cast Away, what you actually see will surprise you, because Flight isn't just one type of film. Above all things, the film is a hardcore, rough-around-the-edges drama that begins with a horrific but spectacular plane crash in which pilot Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) is able to put his disintegrating plane down in an empty field with minimal loss of life. He is hailed as a hero by the media almost immediately, but as the facts in the accident start to come out, it becomes clear the Whip was not in complete control of his faculties (or was he?) when he boarded the aircraft that fateful morning.
While the trailers for Flight make it look like some kind of cross between a mystery, thriller, courtroom drama about whether or not Whip was drunk while flying the plane, you'll know from the first scene that he absolutely was drunk, with a little cocaine thrown in for good measure. He'd also spent most of the night before partying and having sex with one of the flight attendants (Nadine Velazquez). So, you see: there's no mystery here at all.
— Steve Prokopy
— Kelly Reaves
Architecture critic Paul Goldberger talks about Frank Gehry's life and work in a new book.
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