Dance Making An Artivist Red Clay Dance Moves Chicago’s Incarcerated Youth By Alyssa Motter Red Clay Dance director and founder Vershawn Sanders-Ward performs in “Say Her Name”/Photo: Johanna Austin The role of the artist in society is one of individual and collective levels throughout the an observation is to have an obligation.” In a AUGUST 2019 Newcity perennial debate. Perhaps it’s to hone Chicago community. recent interview, Sanders says that she is attention to the innate beauties of the world, “always looking for ways to bring out to challenge established aesthetic sensibilities Red Clay director and founder Vershawn professional artists and the engagement that or to imbue greater meaning of the ordinary or Sanders-Ward, who was recently named as a we do on the stage into all of our education extraordinary. Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist, programming. Artivism is a term that Red employs the term “artivist” to describe the Clay has amplified in Chicago. We see our Or, as in the case of Red Clay Dance, it’s to specialized role that she and her company work as artivism and our performers are wage art as a change-making tool against members play within their capacities as artivists. We think about what does it mean to injustice and oppression. Whether Red Clay performers, educators and community be an artivist and how do you make or shape mobilizes on the stage, in the community or liaisons. An artivist “merges commitment to someone into that?” in the classroom, their mission to catalyze freedom and justice with the pen, the lens, progressive action through social justice art the brush, the voice, the body and the In Red Clay’s signature educational initiative, and performance creates awareness and imagination,” according to artist and scholar “Making An Artivist,” company members provokes significant engagement on MK Asante. “The artivist knows that to make embody Asante’s call by engaging program 51
DANCE TOP 5 participants to analyze and employ their “We took some time away to brainstorm about 1Rennie Harris: LIFTED. sense of self, personal agency and intrinsic what a curriculum based on that would look MCA Stage. Hip-hop choreographer Rennie Harris power to become future artivists themselves like,” Red Clay educational program manager takes us to church with this as a means to connect to and inspire positive Sara Ziglar says. “We ran a pilot program for House music and dance change within their respective communities. about four weeks to see how the residents adaptation of “Oliver Twist,” Employed within a range of settings, including would respond to the program. It went very featuring local dancers and the well. Based on that, we decided to launch a choir from St. Benedict the recurring workshops at Fuller Park on the African in Englewood. full program discussing the seven guiding August 23 & 24 city’s South Side, this movement-based program’s distinctive impact is perhaps best questions: what is justice? What is the justice 2 Dance for Life. Auditorium felt in its implementation at the Cook County system? What role do I have inside of that Theatre. The annual benefit Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) system? What is my relationship inside of that for The Dancers Fund features system to myself and to my community? How favorites by heavy-hitting in the Tri-Taylor neighborhood. Chicago companies, including am I able to use art and my voice to tell the Joffrey Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance, Giordano Dance Cook County’s JTDC is one of the world’s stories and affect positive change in this Chicago and Chicago Human Rhythm Project. August 17 largest youth-incarceration facilities and system that I live and move inside of?” 3 Lil Pine Nut: The Learning houses kids age ten to sixteen who are Curve of Pinocchio. awaiting trial or who have been convicted of a Each group, or “pod,” consists of six to Ruth Page Center for the Arts. crime and are by law too young to serve time twelve residents of similar gender, who work Chicago Dance Crash gives the together and independently through a series classic tale of a wooden puppet, in an adult prison. According to the Cook who longed to be a real boy, their County Court website, women of the Chicago of exercises using movement, other expres- signature high-energy, hip-hop Hull House and the men of the Chicago Bar sive arts, and dialogue to explore relevant treatment in this show for all Association joined to reform juvenile justice in themes. These simple exercises allow the ages. August 23-25, 30-31 participants to understand the roles inmates the city when it was established in 1899. 4 SummerDance When a formal, three-story residential center typically face in the detention center. In the Celebration. Millennium workshop, the participants are given Park. The culminating event was erected in 1907, the Chicago Juvenile of the six-week outdoor Court building was the first facility of its kind opportunities to develop self-agency through SummerDance series is a in the nation. A larger building was construct- experimentation and problem-solving, in daylong party of performances, contrast to their daily lives as detainees, workshops, contests and ed in 1973 and the facility has since been showcases and is, as always, which are dictated by the power dynamics free of charge. August 24 known as the Cook County Juvenile within the center. Red Clay teaching artivists 5 Doing Fine. the grey Temporary Detention Center. After the space. Joanna Furnans’ take subtle measures to promote equity in yearlong project as a Chicago American Civil Liberties Union filed and Dancemakers Forum Lab the classroom and amongst all those present Artist uses dance and settled a class-action lawsuit against the autobiographical writing to in the workshop, including the guards, who explore ideas of memory, county citing inadequate conditions of anxiety, injury, isolation, love are invited to participate in each exercise and community. August confinement in 1999, the center underwent 22-September 8 significant leadership changes and since then, along with the residents. After the ten-week program, Ziglar and her fellow teaching 52 a series of infrastructural and programming artivists have observed how the participants improvements to enhance living conditions begin to embody the lessons taught, become and well-being of residents. As part of its more open to sharing their stories and 2017-2020 strategic plan, the center prioritized its arts programs and its collabora- feelings, and take on more physically relaxed body language as they realize that their tions with community groups such as Red words and actions matter. Clay Dance, which augments the center’s programs and services to improve the outcomes for youth housed within its facility. According to Sanders-Ward, Red Clay is making plans to stay connected with “Making Newcity AUGUST 2019 The partnership between Red Clay Dance the Artivist” participants after the workshops and JTDC grew out of a performance by the conclude, to ensure the application of the company at the center for National Women’s lessons learned outside of the center. The Month in 2013. After the engagement and at company hopes to augment the JTDC program with a continuation program for the request of female residents inspired by the performance and conversations surround- participants from ages eighteen to twen- ing it, Red Clay collaborated with the center ty-four by way of community workshops in hopes that those released can continue to to establish a program to build skills that develop their artivism and become active prepare detainees for life after their release and to keep them from returning to the center. members in the greater Chicago community.
Design Photo: Silverscreen to Mainstream, Chicago History Museum, by Sean Su A Fashionable History Costume Council of the Chicago History Museum. The final exhibition, “Silver Screen to Beyond the Old Hollywood Glamour Mainstream: American Fashion in the 1930s and Forties,” includes garments worn by By Kaycie Surrell Chicago women from Parisian designers such as Gabrielle \"Coco\" Chanel, Madeleine Vionnet The Wall Street Crash of 1929 marked a Eddie Cantor and “Ain't Misbehavin'” by Fats and Valentina, and Hollywood costume AUGUST 2019 Newcity dark time in our nation’s history. It kickstarted Waller were hit records, and Hollywood stars designers Adrian, Irene, Howard Greer and an economic crisis felt around the world that like Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford attended Omar Kiam. “I started thinking in terms of would last until the mid-1930s and be forever the first-ever Academy Awards. The status influences and what the time period was known as the Great Depression. It was a associated with haute couture designs from known for,” says Heaven. “Movies had a tough year, for sure. But from the ashes rose Paris soon gave way to a demand for profound effect, and when I talked to a few some of our nation’s proudest achievements. Hollywood-influenced costume design. colleagues, we all liked the idea, so then it With unemployment rates rising and industry became about how films influenced fashion in shortages across the market, fashion and style Virginia Heaven, guest curator and associate the thirties and forties—a profound time in our were the mothers of reinvention. It was the professor of fashion design at Columbia nation’s history.” year that gave us the opening of the Museum College Chicago, started by selecting over 300 of Modern Art (MoMA), “Makin' Whoopee” by pieces from an existing collection held by the The exhibit opens with an absolute stunner, the crown jewel of the show. A Howard Greer Hollywood evening dress of scarlet and beige 53
DESIGN TOP 5 Photo: Silverscreen to Mainstream, Chicago History Museum, by Sean Su 1Virgil Abloh: Figures crêpe that closely resembles one he designed coat set of rayon, wool and leather and sold of Speech. Museum of for Irene Dunne in “My Favorite Wife,” featuring by Bernice Mottz Distinctive Clothes. Bernice Contemporary Art. The much- a playful starburst design that snakes across Mottz established her custom dressmaking anticipated exhibition on the the torso of the gown. Greer got his chops as business in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge Louis Vuitton Men’s artistic and catered to middle-class women who director, whose influence and a designer at Lucille in Chicago and after creativity rises beyond media, wanted something fashionable and well-made. merging visual arts, music, serving in World War I, he stayed in France fashion, graphic design and where he began a costume-design career that The intricate red bird and tree pattern on the architecture. Through would take him to Hollywood. This particular mustard yellow dress looks like something September 22 design is a prime example of silver screen to you might see at a vintage boutique today. 2 Luftwerk: Parallel mainstream. A bit of Chicago history lines the Necessity is the mother of invention, of Perspectives. Elmhurst Art Museum. Last chance to walls leading up to a mini-movie theater course, and women with very little money to see the Mies van der Rohe’s McCormick House in— showing a two-minute short on America’s spend still wanted to stand out. Not dissimilar literally—a new light in this site-specific installation created economic decline and the public’s growing to today’s thrifty shoppers, these women by Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero. Through August 25 fascination with the movies. They were an used what materials were available to them to 3 Setting the Stage: escape, and according to the placard, Objects of Chicago “afforded a brief respite from hardship and the make gowns and outfits that rivaled anything Theatre. Design Museum of high-end designers could produce. Three Chicago. Celebrating the tantalizing chance to bathe in the flickering Year of Chicago Theatre by dresses on display were listed as “maker showcasing design objects glow of good times.” including costumes, lights, sound, unknown” and showcased the fine sewing props, sets and more, on loan from local theater companies. Some may have been able to afford fine and design skills of middle-class women who Through January 2020 fashions from overseas before the war and relied on department store patterns and a bit 4 Wired to Wear. Museum of Science and Industry. before the stock market fell, but Americans of creativity to create their own “silver screen Futuristic fashion and cutting- edge technology come together began to look to their favorite big-screen to mainstream” pieces. in the first-ever exhibit dedicated to the future of wearable superstars for style inspiration. One of the technology. Through May 2020 exhibition’s photos shows a crowd of people The final frock in the show is a must-see for its leaving the Bronzeville Regal Theater in 1941, intricate details and beaded fringe bowtie that 5 Charles Radtke: lines the neck of the dress. New York designer Contained. Milwaukee Art dressed to impress in fashionable hats and Museum. Wisconsin-based furs after a showing of the James Stewart and Norman Norell co-founded Traina-Norell and Charles Radtke creates studio designed the rust and black gown featuring furniture with interiors that Katharine Hepburn film, “The Philadelphia demand your attention—think Story.” Further along there’s a striking orange black and orange rayon faille, a high neck and cabinet of curiosities. Through narrow collar, short puffed sleeves, and August 25 gown on display made of silk, an incredibly expensive material at the time, and designed buttons down the front. An advertisement for 54 Norell featuring a model wearing the dress by Sally K. Greenbaum. Greenbaum was a buyer and stylist in New York City before she hangs on the opposite wall and adds a touch opened an apparel store in Chicago in 1932. of surrealism. The sleek silhouette of the dress is reminiscent of many silver screen stars of the decade and “Most of the people who go through the show can see themselves in that style—it’s a classic displays the experimental combination of style that was created in America for plastic and glass used to make the belt. Nearby, it’s impossible not to stop and admire American women and the style established Newcity AUGUST 2019 the purple silk evening dress designed by Paul itself as a ready for anything, always prepared, beautifully put together look that has stayed du Pont, a designer for stage, film and the same since that time period,” says mainstream fashion. According to the Heaven. “These designers created a exhibition, du Pont boasted an impressive high-profile clientele in Chicago including Mrs. recognizable style that’s lasted more than a hundred years.” Edward Byron Smith and the internationally renowned dancer Ruth Page. “Silver Screen to Mainstream: American Other pieces from the collection included a Fashion in the 1930s and Forties,” Chicago tomato red and yellow matching dress and History Museum through January 21, 2020.
D&iDnirningking The One Off Donnie Madia/photo: David Hammond Donnie Madia Talks Elvis, His Mother, a Favorite Punishment and a Leather Jacket By David Hammond Many have interviewed Donnie Madia That, I thought, is interesting. public school system—treatment that would AUGUST 2019 Newcity about his stunning string of successful now result in a lawsuit and maybe prison time restaurants—Blackbird, Avec and others—all After dinner, I chatted with Madia. We for the overly zealous teachers. It was a operated under the auspices of One Off arranged to meet later in the week at Publican different time, and I was interested in that Hospitality, owned by Madia and his partners, Quality Meats. On the day of the interview, formative period in Madia’s life. and about the James Beard Awards he and Madia seemed apprehensive, perhaps his team have won. vulnerable because he knew I wanted to Madia remembers most clearly the time spent discuss personal stuff, his non-business side. around his mother’s table, and it’s no surprise At his newly opened Cancale, Madia hustled To bring down the tension, we started by that these family dining experiences left an up to our table to say hi to one of my talking about Elvis, and Madia lit up. I was impression on him and shaped the man he tablemates. “How do you stay so slim?” the headed to the Tupelo Elvis Festival the became. Madia came back to the topic of lady sitting across from me asked him. “Well, following day. family dinners: “When we were hosting large I’m always moving, so I get a lot of exercise. I groups, which was common, dinners were can’t sit still,” Madia said, adding “I have “I liked Elvis in the beginning,” Madia says, “and typically between twelve to twenty people. undiagnosed hyperactivity… and dyslexia.” then I didn’t, and then I did again near the end of the sixties,” the period heralded by the “My mother and aunt made homemade ravioli. Madia went on to explain how he was legendary 1968 comeback special. Both My mom made her own dough while my aunt disciplined with a punch by one of his teachers Madia and I were kids when Elvis was still in made her own sauce. and eventually had to switch schools because the big time, we were both behavior problems he was having problems, mostly with in school, and we both faced corporal “My mother and my aunt always sat down last consistent tardiness. punishment at the hands of teachers in the to eat. They had perfect timing for the next 55
Newcity AUGUST 2019 DINING & DRINKING course: once people cleared their plates, they “One of my favorite punishments of all time was TOP 5 finished with homemade bakery items, kneeling on the pointer. The teacher drew a cookies, cakes, something sweet. My mother circle on the blackboard and I had to keep my 1 Bridgeport City Market. and aunt cleared the tables and washed the nose inside the circle while kneeling on the Antique Taco. Rick and dishes, seamlessly, without effort, and more pointer. How demoralizing do you think you Ashley Ortiz, the duo behind importantly to them, without disrupting what would feel, kneeling in front of your class- Antique Taco, hold a local farmer’s was happening at the table. mates? I think it made me more radical. I’m market on their Bridgeport patio, anti-authority. I wouldn’t concede to authority, with a rotating list of vendors. “The impression they left on me was that they and I believe that helps me in business today, Every Monday in August. were always available to their guests to cook to always question authority.” this incredible full-course Italian meal. They 2 Lobster Boil. GT Fish & always thought of themselves last. Making Madia reads books to his son Bronson Oyster. Giuseppe Tentori people happy. That was their only goal.” before bedtime. He believes this nightly lays out a traditional lobster boil, reading ritual is helpful for his dyslexia, and with corn, clams, cornbread and It’s easy to see how these life lessons it’s clear that he’s trying to be as good a the centerpiece crustacean. conditioned Madia’s hospitality orientation: father to his son as he possibly can be, Every Sunday. wonderful food made with feeling, flawless though during our conversations, no mention timing, unobtrusive service and an unrelent- was made of his own father. “I think reading 3 The Big Deal. Maxwell ing focus on the happiness of the guest. to Bronson not only gives me enjoyment, but Street Market. A celebration Food memories are some of the most it sets a tone for me to do something that my of a century-plus of Maxwell powerful of all our early recollections. mother probably had difficulties with. Listen, Street Market, with live art by the my mother and aunt were incredible, smart National Mexican Art Museum, “My uncle, who lived on the South Side, he women. My mother worked nights, so she food by Kimski and Maria’s and his wife had a pizzeria,” Madia remem- wasn’t available because she worked two Packaged Goods and a Maxwell bers. “ My mother had a recipe for home- jobs to take care of her family. So, I make Street Lager brewed for the made giardiniera. We would drive to the time to get home to read with Bronson every occasion by Marz Community pizzeria, and my mom and uncle and aunt night. I think presence is an important aspect Brewing. August 4. would be cutting fresh peppers and celery and also inspirational for him. Bronson has an and mixing it together with fresh olive oil, salt abundance of books next to his bed. He can 4 Act Natural: Inaugural and pepper. I had to help a couple of times reach to his shelf and pull out a book, which Wild Beer and Natural and get my hands in there to mix things he does almost every night. It’s so important Wine Festival. Sleeping Village. around. They would store everything in Ball that I am there for those moments.” “The perfect entryway for those jars. We’d drive to Michigan and she would looking to geek out on all things pick and buy bushels of tomatoes, boil them Madia is easy to spot in any of his restaurants. off-kilter or get a little loose and peel them at home, an arduous job, all He’s the most stylishly dressed man in the while enjoying Hopewell’s favorite by hand; there weren’t the same appliances room. Not showy or ostentatious, but natural wines and wild beers we have now. They would bottle all the fresh thoughtful, tasteful. His sense of fashion from small producers across the tomatoes and we’d have this cool little seems intuitive. I wanted to hear about his region and beyond.” August 10 temperature-controlled shed, filled with early experiences with clothing and, in that tomato sauce. It was such a glorious thing to way, how he created an identity for himself. 5 First Annual Trotter have fresh tomato sauce.” When I was in Tupelo talking to actual friends Project Beer Fest. Irish of young Elvis from back in the fifties, they all American Heritage Center. Home was a place of safety and comfort; said Elvis, even in high school, had a different Charlie Trotter Days kicks off school was challenging because of Madia’s look, he stood out from the crowd, with his with a celebration of the dyslexia and hyperactivity. To counter the pink shirts and wild hair, an unmistakable mentoring programs available dyslexia, he tells me he still reads and does individual. Madia, too, sees value in being his through the Trotter Project; lots numbers, twice, to make sure he gets own man, distinctive, a “one off.” “Cousin of beers provided by eminent everything right. That requires extra effort, but Willis, my aunt’s son, was ten years older than names like Lena Brava and gives him the assurance that he’s on top of me,” he recalls. “So he had some influence on Forbidden Root. August 11 everything, solid, flawless. Still, it was hard in me. He was a really sharp dresser and a school. “Trials and tribulations, school and smart businessman. I remember my mother 56 education… and my battles with dyslexia and taking me on a bus to Maxwell Street. I hyperactivity. They didn’t call it ADHD back begged her. I pleaded with her, ‘I want a black then. They called it hyperactivity. I took Ritalin leather jacket like cousin Willis.’ I think I was through my fifth and sixth grades. I needed it trying to look older. Instead of a black leather, to calm me down. I was really, really hyper. I got an olive green one. It was snappy. I thought to myself, I’ll single myself out. I “Did I get into trouble? Absolutely. guess that was the right idea.”
Film Photo: Ray Pride M-U. “It’s remarkable that a 700-seat neigh- Seeing and borhood movie theater still exists, Nothingness Nothingness. much less thrives, in this day,” Bill Schopf, who has owned the theater since The Movies Live, That is the inscription (in kanji) on the 1986, says upon the ninetieth anniversary The Industry Shifts tombstone of Japanese film great Yasujiro of the Music Box. (The marquee on the Ozu, painted for him by a Chinese monk. wired-for-sound barn was lit on August 22, By Ray Pride My view from across three-flats and leafy 1929.) Schopf believes the success of the trees from one of my first Chicago apart- edifice is simple in a time of fragmented 57 ments burned with the same thought, in consciousness, obliterated attention spans the Roman alphabet, the tip-top tip of the and the bingeing of disposable streaming neon blade of the Music Box Theatre in content: an innovative staff and “program- silent pink-to-red sizzle. ming that appeals to so many different audiences,” movies and moviegoing in M. U. eclectic profusion. The attractions during celebration week at the end of August is “A fundamental concept in Japanese not much more eclectic than the program- aesthetics indicating the positivity of empty ming you could get lost within in any given space,” Linda Ehrlich and David Desser week at the Southport city of industry. The offer as definition in their “Cinematic Music Box will include a “9 to 5” marathon Landscapes.” I like that: the description with four Dolly Parton features until dawn; evokes the endless possibilities for light a “Mary Poppins” sing-along; a Music Box playing over an always-thirsty surface. of Horrors salute with a classic horror film Nothingness into everything: cinema. and guests with “a tip of the hockey mask”; an archetypal Music Box double feature The studio apartment was filled with books chosen by the audience; a surprise 70mm (no shelves), a half-functioning Murphy presentation; a double feature of movies bed and a place of pride for an original one- from sister company Music Box Films; sheet for John Boorman’s 1967 pop-kapow and Andrew Davis presenting his 1993 “Point Blank.” The Music Box was just a few Chicago-location epic “The Fugitive.” years past a patch of darkness, showing A raft of memorabilia will be on sale, and daily double features as a repertory theater reproductions of the newsprint calendars (or “calendar house”), a pre-Blockbuster will be “published in their entirety” on the citadel for cinematic autodidacts. Music Box website. Past dusk, the skies from the bay windows The visionary filmmaker, she’s every- AUGUST 2019 Newcity would twinkle with the slow approach of where. The visionary distributor? The planes on their flight path west to O’Hare visionary exhibitor? Few; far between. and crackle to the east: M. U. Dreams of Locally, DOC Films, the Block, Facets, Siskel escape and firefly skies in both directions. and urgent eager microcinemas also swim On Southport, the Music Box ceiling against the perceived tide of the dearth, mimicked the twinkling stars and tufts of if not death, of competent filmmaking as clouds scooting above a Mediterranean contemporary commonplace, let alone garden cinema. Audiences of a type the richly dreamt and wrought distillation huddled close to the light of the screen, of the observed world that made the form faces upturned to larger faces. so fixating from its earliest permutations.
Photo: Ray Pride FILM TOP 5 The pace of journalism doubting Oscar movies and summer tentpoles,” the survival of “the movies” has Lim continued. “I watch hundreds of 1 World City In Its Teens: A Report accelerated in 2019. The center of new films from around the world every on Chicago. Chicago Film Society summer burned with the flames year, and I find it hard to be pessimis- at Music Box. Seldom-seen 1931 city of pessimism, at least in the air- tic about cinema as an art. Maybe symphony of Chicago (with live organ conditioning business known as the a more relevant and less cynical accompaniment by Dennis Scott) movie multiplex. In mid-July, upon question to ask is how an art form during “Music Box at 90” week. Writer- the release of his latest book, on the might sustain itself or even thrive while photographer Heinrich Hauser’s “Weltstadt movies of the 1980s, J. Hoberman the business around it flounders.” in Flegeljahren: Ein bericht über Chicago,” said in a Rolling Stone interview that captures lost Chicago low and high in the movies of the Reagan decade A long-gone section of slimmed- fragments lost to memory. 35mm. “certainly foreclosed the possibility to-sheets newspapers is the of Hollywood movies having an movie clock, a page or two or Saturday, August 24 ambiguous or unhappy ending. sometimes even three were filled with That’s disappeared from screens ads for Friday releases and neighbor- 2 Aquarela. Documentary master today… It’s where the endless- hood theaters and art houses, the Viktor Aleksandrovich Kossakovsky sequels concept really takes hold, bulk of them only an inch or two made a three-letter pitch for his sub- and where the notion of going after mersion into the essence of life: “H. 2. 0.” the same prefabricated experience at the movies becomes a business Opens August 23 strategy. Convergence culture becomes solidified.” 3 Brewster McCloud. Siskel. Robert Newcity AUGUST 2019 Altman’s bounty of sour whimsy “There is clearly something about square. When there weren’t enough about a boy who wants to fly like Icarus cinema that brings out the doomsday ads to fill the grid, stock phrases were in the Houston Astrodome is chockfull of rhetoric,” ace film critic-turned director popped in to finish the empty space. ideas, bad and good: as a major studio of programming at Film at Lincoln release in 1970, just after “M*A*S*H,” it Center Dennis Lim wrote in June “Take your best girl to dinner and wasn’t a career killer. 35mm. August 2, 8 about the troubles faced by the big a show.” studios and the multiplexes with their 4 Threads. Siskel. Bleak, bleak, bleak. reliance on a succession of sequels “Let’s all go out to the movies.” Black, black, black. Unrelenting. and what was once commercially Unforgiving. Restoring the end of the fireproof product. Prompted by a And the evergreen “MOVIES world: Mick Jackson’s scalding, necessary New York Times laundry list of quotes ARE BETTER THAN EVER.” 1984 BBC feature dramatizes nuclear from members of the industry, Lim holocaust at street level in Sheffield. sounded a voice of reason: “The For information on all of Music Box takeaway from the New York Times Theatre’s ninetieth-anniversary events, August 23, 24, 26 piece is not that movies are dying, go to musicboxtheatre.com. it’s that Hollywood is in trouble… 5 Our Time (Nuestro Tiempo). The people who make the most noise Siskel. Mexican auteur Carlos about the death of the movies are Reygadas goes the semi-autobiograph- usually the ones with the most to ical autobahn in trying but expressive lose… This alarmist position—which three-hour drama about a man (Reygadas) is by now also conventional wisdom— and the lover of his wife (played by bespeaks a lack of imagination and Reygadas’ wife) in conflict, shot largely in curiosity. When people say the movies the Reygadas family compound. Masculin- are dying, it’s often because they ity is on the surgeon’s table. August 2-8 aren’t paying close enough attention.” 58 Eye-opening movies are all around us. “If Hollywood is struggling, maybe it is time to reframe this tired discourse and remind us that cinema is about a lot more than
Live at The Book Cellar Storytime with Miss Jamie! Essay Fiesta! August 2, 11am August 19, 7pm Christopher Boucher Local Author Night “Big Giant Floating Head” featuring Zachary Lindner, in conversation with Melanie Weiss and G.P. Gottlieb Joe Scapellato August 21, 7pm “Made-Up Man” Lyle Roebuck August 8, 7pm “Phantom Sounds” The Kates!! August 22, 7pm August 9 and August 31, 7pm Unsupervised Concert Karen Abbott August 24, 6pm “The Ghosts of Eden Park” Author Rainbow Rowell and in conversation with Greg Borzo Illustrator Faith Erin Hicks August 10, 6pm “Pumpkinheads” Gerry and Janet Souter August 28, 7pm at Everybody’s Coffee “Selling Americans on America” August 15, 7pm Lang Varhaaal Publishing Celebration featuring Lisa Doyle, “Milked” and V. Kaci Sehr, “Unicorn in Disguise” August 16, 7pm Go to our website for event details, book clubs and more! Your Independent Book Store in Lincoln Square! 4736-38 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago 773.293.2665 • bookcellarinc.com
Lit Newcity AUGUST 2019 Amanda Goldblatt /Photo: Jordan Hicks The Complexities In her debut novel, “Hard since her own real-life father was of Grief and Mouth,” Amanda Goldblatt faces diagnosed with cancer. We sat Sadness the existential dread of loss, and down to discuss the emotional finds her characters clinging to a spectrum of experiences, in herself, Author Amanda Goldblatt discusses nexus of imaginary friends, isolated the characters and the cultural “Hard Mouth” nature, and the lessons of futility as sources that propelled her to a way of escaping, processing and complete it. By Michael Workman coping with that loss. Her use of language can veer into something This is your first novel, 60 of language-as-material, as if what prompted you to want painting a portrait or capturing a to write it? scene on film, twisting and torquing I had written some stories and meaning. Sometimes, just beyond essays prior to that and I was sure the range of sense as when she that I didn’t want to start a novel describes her protagonist Denise’s until I knew it was going to be a imaginary friend Gene as having a novel I was going to finish. And my voice made “of simple syrup and father was diagnosed with cancer, rocks.” A kind of guardian angel or he went into remission and he is other benevolent presence, Gene fine, thankfully, but the fear, this first enters her life at fifteen, during sort of existential fear that I felt, one of the early cancer scares of was big and unruly enough to feel her father, whom she calls Pop. like something I could channel into the making of a novel. In kind of the “Hard Mouth” has been on Gold- same way that my narrator figures blatt’s mind for seven or eight years, out a plan to manage things, to
manage the oncoming grief, I decided War II—which now seems outrageous, LIT TOP 5 that I could dislocate my own uncom- but also weirdly easy to get one’s head fortable feelings into a novel, which is around in the current climate. So, he 1 Karen Abbott. The Book something that’s extraordinarily really was cut out of the film and he shot a few Cellar. The best-selling author easy to get lost in. more movies after that but mostly retired discusses her latest dive into from public life, and ended up building Midwestern debauchery, “The And the struggle for survival here this hunting lodge in a remote part of Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg is an emotional one. Oregon. He lived there, except for the King, the Women Who Pursued I don’t think Denny is interested, actually, odd shoot, until getting throat cancer Him, and the Murder That Shocked in survival, as she’s going through it, and and dying eventually in Los Angeles. Jazz-Age America,” in conversation as the action is happening. It’s maybe with Greg Borzo. August 10 less about survival and more about So I was just thinking about this very processing or digesting or evading. different feeling—to be called out for 2 Iliana Regan. Women and having horrible views—then it is finding Children First. Book-launch Then there’s imaginary friend out your father’s going to die, quickly, party for Michelin-starred chef’s named Gene who wanders in and and soon. There is this similar kind of memoir, “Burn the Place.” August 1 out of the storyline. Where did the cataclysm of understanding of the world idea for this character come from? and your life in it, and who you are, and 3 Rev. Sharon Risher. It’s super-interesting. I was living in so I was inspired by, or prompted by, Seminary Co-op. Reverend Michigan at the time, I was super-under- his escape. Before I even knew that he Sharon Risher discusses her book, employed and I was watching a lot of would end up in the pages themselves. “For Such a Time as This: Hope and classic movies, which has always been So, once I got Denny on the mountain, Forgiveness After The Charleston a comfortable mode for me, it was I understood it was going to be really Massacre,” written in the aftermath of losing her mother and two difficult to sustain a solo cousins in the white-supremacist character without anyone to Bible-study mass murder. August 17 talk to, and so I went back and knit in Gene. He became sort 4 Claire Lombardo. The of her ability to speak in more Book Table/Women and nuanced terms, or to be more Children First. The Oak Park vulnerable in a less direct or native discusses her debut novel, more present way. a multigenerational story set in, well, Oak Park. In conversation something that I grew up watching. I was also struck by these with Rebecca Makkai (The Book AUGUST 2019 Newcity And I was through the oeuvres of scenes that keep recurring Table) and Elizabeth Taylor (WCF). different actors, and I was watching of Denny’s attempts at William Powell. I hadn’t remembered caretaking, which repeatedly August 5; August 8 seeing before, this movie “My Man seem to go awry. I find them Godfrey,” and was charmed and fascinating; it’s this “I’m going 5 Jim Steichen. Seminary horrified by the way they navigate class. to attempt to try to do these Co-op. Jim Steichen But meanwhile, there was this blustery, helpful, nurturing things discusses “Balanchine and big patriarch of the wealthy family in the and to try to preserve life” Kirstein’s American Enterprise,” movie, and he looked really familiar. I felt and none of it works. his history of a seminal era in like I’d seen him before many times, and Doesn’t that feel like life to you? American dance. August 11 indeed I went to see who it was and it Right? We try to do these things was a character actor named Eugene that are guided by our best Pallette, who worked from the silent era impulses but we don’t have into the late mid-century. He worked the ability to control them, or in over 200 films. He started out as a something goes wrong with it and it leading man and moved into character turns out worse than it would have if acting later in life. But one of his last we hadn’t tried to begin with. Which is films was an Otto Preminger movie, not a value I have, that one shouldn’t and during the shooting, he refused to intervene, but I am very interested in sit next to Clarence Muse, who was a when we do our best and for Denny, black actor, because he was a racist. her best is not that great. But when And Preminger also noted, as I started we do our best to care take, it some- doing research about him, that he was times just doesn’t go anywhere. also a Nazi sympathizer during World Right, sometimes life is just about futility. Yes, absolutely. Amanda Goldblatt will take part in readings at the Hungry Brain, 2319 West Belmont at 9pm on August 14 with Michael Vallera and Carol Genetti; at Volumes Book Cafe, 1474 North Milwaukee at 7pm on September 17 with Juliet Escoria, Mary Miller and Elizabeth Ellen; and as a part of the Tupelo readings series at The Martin, 2515 West North on October 10 at themartinchicago.com. 61
Music Beyond Eurocentrism Crossing Borders Music Explores Global Classical Traditions By Seth Boustead Left to right: Jagannath Roy, tabla; Gaurav Mazumdar, sitar; Maya Shiraishi, violin; Tom Clowes, cello Newcity AUGUST 2019 Chicago cellist and entrepreneur Tom of the country bears virtually no resemblance the story of how Haitians came together Clowes took his first trip to Haiti in 2000 to the Haiti I experience every year, which is after the disaster. to teach Western music to Haitian students, a country rich in history, religion, social but also fell in love with their culture, and has networks, art, music and religion.” They wanted the story told of how “people returned nearly every year since. Along the risked their lives running into collapsed way, he discovered something surprising I have to confess that prior to meeting Clowes buildings to save others; how you could about Haitian music. many years ago, I was one of those people hear people singing hymns all day and night; who, whenever Haiti was mentioned, primarily how youngsters would study by candlelight “I learned that Haitian composers of ‘art’ thought of natural disasters, Sean Penn or because they didn’t want to fall behind in music or ‘classical’ music have been around “The Serpent and the Rainbow,” which I read school. Haitians wanted their humanity for hundreds of years, that their work is at an impressionable age and has haunted recognized. And of course they were right. stunningly beautiful, and that their existence me ever since. Billions of dollars of disaster aid was wasted was virtually unknown to all but a handful of by foreigners who didn’t acknowledge the scholars,” says Clowes. “I also became Shortly after the devastating earthquake struck humanity, or the expertise, of Haitians as increasingly upset with how Haiti was repre- Haiti in 2010, Clowes was invited to go on the people uniquely knowledgeable about, sented in the media, so that it became almost WBEZ. He asked several Haitian friends what invested in and capable of repairing Haiti.” synonymous with natural disasters, poverty they wanted him to focus on; he expected and corruption. I don’t want to downplay the them to ask for food, water and help with This was a formative experience and the challenges Haiti goes through, but this image shelter, but instead they asked him to share following year Clowes started Crossing 62
Borders Music to share with Chicago used the tune as the melody for the song MUSIC TOP 5 audiences not only Haitian music, but also “If I Could,” the one where he’d rather be a stories of the people and their culture. hammer than a nail. The song was originally 1 Herbie Hancock & written as part of a zarzuela, a musical play Kamasi Washington. Since then, the organization has moved that alternates between spoken and sung Northerly Island. Hancock’s beyond programming exclusively Haitian parts. Robles’ song is a celebration of the Miles Davis Quintet-backed composers and has expanded its mission freedom of the condor, Peru’s national bird, piano chops, alongside to include underrepresented composers from which was meant as a contrast to the misera- Washington’s artful sax, many different cultures not normally associat- ble conditions of Peruvians slaving in Span- assures a genre-bent night of ed with classical music. The emphasis on ish-owned mines. jazz and beyond. August 10 promoting the dignity of people from all cultures through music, however, remains Another highlight is a piece inspired by folk 2 (Sandy) Alex G. a paramount focus. songs by Florence Price, a recently rediscov- Empty Bottle. Following ered African-American composer who, though a Thursday Lolla appearance, Their concert on August 3 is a case in point. performed by the Chicago Symphony during the lo-fi prince of indie brings Part of the city’s priceless Nights Out in the her lifetime, fell into obscurity after she was his intimate, DIY sound to a Chicago institution. August 3 systematically ignored by most classical music institutions. The vast 3 Sharon Van Etten. majority of her music was lost for Lincoln Hall. The decades until much of it turned up songstress of the moment in an abandoned house in St. Anne, tours her incisive, dreamy Illinois, discovered by a couple who new album, “Remind Me were planning to renovate it. They Tomorrow,” as she steps had the presence of mind to Google into her magnitude as a the composer and turn the scores frontwoman. August 3 over to a scholar, and Price is now, belatedly, having her day. 4 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Lincoln Hall. The Among the most poignant of offerings small-batch indie project has is “Memories,” a piece by Badie pared down to its founding Khalegian, written in honor of his member, Alec Ounsworth, father who, as a member of the Baha’i and he returns to Chicago ethnic minority group in Iran, was full of jitters, urgency and imprisoned for his religion. The Baha’i bounce. August 26 are forbidden, on pain of death, to study music or receive any other kind 5 Squeeze. Chicago of education higher than high school. Theatre. The New Wave pioneers cross the The Haitian contribution comes from pond, bringing their brainy, composer Sabrina C D Jean Louis groovy pop. Should be cool in the form of a work paying tribute for cats during the dog days to Chicago’s Haitian founder Jean of summer. August 31 Baptiste Pont du Sable, a name familiar to Chicago residents. Parks series, “Music and Stories Around the Although it hasn’t filtered up to major AUGUST 2019 Newcity World” features storytelling and music-making institutions, there is definitely an drawing on fascinating musical figures from emerging trend in younger ensembles different world cultures. toward performing the works of women and composers of color who Each piece is accompanied by a story about have been neglected by the classical the composer who wrote it. The audience music world. But Crossing Borders will hear about the legendary Armenian Music does something unique by composer Komitas, who was also an accom- not only finding and performing neglected plished singer, musicologist and arranger and works by composers who absolutely should then hear his music performed by Crossing be better known, but presenting them within Borders Music’s resident string quartet. music the cultural context in which they were created founded the Armenian national school of through storytelling. music and has no fewer than five landmarks named for him in his home country. Art doesn’t happen in a vacuum, of course. The cultural and socioeconomic conditions in The concert will feature Peruvian composer which artists live absolutely affects their work, Daniel Robles’ “El Condor Pasa,” made and the same is true of classical music. We famous years later when Simon and Garfunkel might know that the Napoleonic Wars affected Beethoven, but when we move away from our Eurocentric point of view, we find that we know a whole lot less about the art and conditions of other cultures. Crossing Borders Music is out there to remedy that. The free concert takes place in Homan Park August 3 at 3pm. 63
Stage Newcity AUGUST 2019 Leeway for Photo: Sarah Elizabeth LarsonRisk-Taking Finding Family in the Chicago Theater with Mark Larson By Hugh Iglarsh Ballplayers use the phrase “a cup of Larson and I communicated by email I asked Richard Christiansen that same coffee” to describe a short sojourn in the about “Ensemble” and his own reflections question the first time I met him and he said, major leagues. Evanston-bred-and-based on the broad and varied tapestry that is without pause, Paul Sills. I suspect that’s quite author Mark Larson, a theater-lover from an Chicago theater. This is an edited version true. Without him and David Shepherd, there early age, had his artistic cup of coffee as a of our correspondence. is no Playwrights Theater Club, which I see playwright and performer in the Chicago as the start of the movement; no Compass, theater milieu of the 1970s before starting a Why the title? Is it because of the no Story Theatre, no Second City and all that family and getting what he calls “a real job” centrality of ensembles in Chicago begat. Paul and his mother Viola Spolin’s as an educator. theater or because Chicago theater as impact, through Viola’s book, “Improvisation a whole can be seen as an ensemble? for the Theater” and her theater games, “I was infatuated with Wisdom Bridge and continues to be immeasurable. You can see Organic and the idea of starting my own Exactly. It’s both of those. I decided on the their fingerprints everywhere. ragtag theater company,” he says. “I studied title very early on when I realized how often I theater in college and left before graduating was told about how the community functions Is the ensemble aspect of Chicago to start a theater company of my own in a lot like one large ensemble. Criss Henderson, theater a goal in itself or is it basically Chicago with a small band of friends.” executive director at Chicago Shakespeare, a means to an end, such as a film or Unlike Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens and speaking about the Chicago theater move- TV career? Northlight, “it didn’t go anywhere.” ment, told me very early in the process that it was “like we were building this together.” The ensemble aspect is, I think, a means to But the fascination lingered. After Larson That idea guided me from that point forward. an end, but not necessarily to a film or TV retired in 2015, he threw himself back into career. There is a strong belief that working for the local theater scene with a researcher’s Is there a central or indispensable the good of the whole produces better work. passion. “I was deeply curious about how it person or institution in the history I heard a lot of stories from actors who had grew from the few storefronts I remembered, of Chicago theater? worked on either coast, and a distinction they plus the Candlelight and Drury Lane dinner theaters further out, to a world-renowned theater town. That question inspired me: How did this happen?” The result is “Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago Theater,” an encyclopedic chronicle of the local performance landscape from the early 1950s, when Paul Sills and David Shepherd, co-founders of the Playwrights Theatre Club and Compass Players, met in Hyde Park, to 2017 and the rise of such happening ensembles as The Gift, A Red Orchid and Steep Theatre. Larson’s book is entirely interview-based, a back-and-forth of many voices that, as Larson says, add to and respond to one another in play-like fashion. The 700-page tome is a labor of love, with the emphasis on labor. It took four-and-a-half years to arrange, conduct and edit its 330 discussions, not to mention the many shows attended by Larson and his wife during that time. 64
often draw is that, especially in LA, the seat Gift Theater, and that Simon Stephens reason to do theater is as a showcase for is an artistic associate at Steep Theatre. You can view storefronts as incubators for yourself, which produces a different level STAGE TOP 5 of work. I saw “Tiny Alice” in New York with great works and talents. Tracy Letts’ first a stellar cast: John Lithgow, Glenn Close, play, “Killer Joe,” was first performed at Next Theater in Evanston, in a converted Bob Balaban and others. They were all brilliant. But when I compare that assem- classroom. But I hasten to add that many blage of great talent (an obvious box-office storefronts will bristle at the notion of being 1 Ignition Festival of New an incubator. They like performing in these Plays. Victory Gardens magnet) with, say, the work in Steppen- Theater. This annual free festival wolf’s “August: Osage County,” where they small spaces. I’ve often asked artistic includes readings of plays by had, for years themselves, as Amy Morton directors of storefront theaters the Meghan Brown, Steph Del Rosso, told me, been “a large dysfunctional family hypothetical question, “If I came up with Erika Dickerson-Despenza, Keelay six-million [dollars] for you to build a theater, Gipson, Geraldine Inoa and Exal playing a large dysfunctional family,” the Iraheta. August 2-4 how would you use it?” Often I’m told work is decidedly and noticeably different. they’d look for ways to retain the intimacy. 2 Women of 4G. Babes With I just haven’t yet found the words to Blades Theatre Company. Part murder mystery, part space describe the difference. You must have learned a great deal thriller, this new play uses science fiction to ask questions about What would you say are the major as you did your research. Were there women in power as well as their any surprises? Did anything in leadership, responsibility and, strengths of Chicago theater? particular impress or depress you? ultimately, sacrifice. Opens August 9 Its strengths are what we have been talking 3 Peacebook. Collaboraction. about: a generous spirit, a true belief that For me the biggest surprise was how A performance festival rising tides raise all ships that they act on accessible everyone was and how readily featuring twenty-one world- they jumped in to talk about their present premiere short works about daily, a gutsy willingness to take major peace and peacemaking in or past work in Chicago. August 15-17 artistic risks and an Chicago theater. 4 The Camino Project. astonishing array of Theatre Y.Ancient practices When I thanked Ed of walking and new possibilities different options for of social life rooted in the fragility, Asner for his time at care and tempo of the body are audiences to choose explored in Theatre Y’s first mobile the end of one of performance. Opens August 18 from on any given our conversations, 5 Out of Love. Interrobang night. I’ve witnessed Theatre Project. An honest he said, “Are you and brutal depiction of and heard about a lot companionship, rivalry and the kidding me? You’re fiery bond that exists between of powerful examples women, this national premiere asking me about a bravely examines a lifelong of veteran theater friendship in all its beautiful, gory beautiful time in my complexity. Opens August 19 makers nurturing life.” That was a younger members. common sentiment. David Cromer told me Two other anecdotes about something he come to mind that heard director Gary epitomize the ethos Griffin say about the here. One is from difference between Alan Arkin, looking New York and back to 1960 when Chicago. Griffin said he joined the very that in New York it’s first Second City a for-profit model that cast, and the other carries a hefty set is from David of expectations, Schwimmer, more which—and this is me recently. “I don’t have a lot of regrets in my speaking now—can be stultifying to life,” Arkin said. “I feel like I’m in a good risk-taking. Chicago’s nonprofit model place, but one of the things I think about gives artists and audiences alike leeway for risk-taking. It’s all a chance to get better, periodically is that it might have been try new things, work with people you want smarter had I stayed in Chicago. There was a sense of us against the world, a to work with. Michael Shannon told me that when people tell him how nice it is of sense of family that was really genuine him to come back to work at A Red Orchid, when I was at Second City.” I also like the he thinks, “I’m not doing anybody a favor. moment when David Schwimmer says, I don’t feel obligated to come back here. “It hurt, to be honest, to hear you ask me what it was like for me to leave Chicago. I’m not being dutiful. Doing [Brett Neveu’s] I never left. In my heart, in my heart of ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ [in 2015] is just as hearts, I’ve never left. I never will leave.” satisfying as anything else I do.” In the vast scheme of things, is The public launch for Mark Larson’s book AUGUST 2019 Newcity Chicago theater—especially the will be at the Jane Addams Hull-House storefront variety—an important part Museum on August 12, 6pm-8pm. of the American cultural landscape? “Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago That’s one of the themes of the book: Theater” by Mark Larson, Midway Books, that in an ecosystem each element makes 687 pages the other elements possible. Consider that David Rabe workshopped and opened a Visit newcitystage.com to read an new play, “Good for Otto,” at the forty- expanded version of this interview. 65
Newcity AUGUST 2019 Life is BeautifulBy David Alvarado 66
OUTDOOR Dining + Drinking Guide City Mouse at Ace Hotel Chicago 311 N Morgan St. / 312.764.1908 citymousechicago.com Quick Fixe City Mouse lunch for here or to-go. $15 gets you a half-sandwich, cup of soup, half-salad and a really good, homemade cookie wrapped and ready. I|O Godfrey 127 W. Huron St. / 312.374.1830 iogodfrey.com I|O Godfrey, the year-round rooftop lounge at The Godfrey Hotel Chicago, offers sweeping city views from its River North perch. Thanks to the space’s retractable glass roof, guests can enjoy rooftop sights no matter the weather. I|O Godfrey’s menu showcases globally inspired shareable plates, sushi, and craft cocktails made in the kitchen by mixology-trained chefs. Refreshing summer sippers at I|O Godfrey include the Dragon Berry Mojito made with rum, mint granita, housemade lime soda, dragon fruit, and vanilla. New to the menu, guests now have the option of adding CBD oil to any of I|O Godfrey’s bar cocktails or mocktails. Happy hour at I|O Godfrey features half-off select bites and discounted wine and cocktails Monday-Friday. Streeterville Social 455 N. Park Drive / 312.840.6617 streetervillesocial.com Take the rooftop restaurant and bar experience to the next level at Streeterville Social, Chicago’s go-to rooftop terrace. Gourmet grub, crafty cocktails, and a celebration of all-things summer make this the place to eat, drink and get social in Chicago. This sun-soaked urban escape has everything for laid-back days, happier happy hours, and picture- perfect nights. The Bistro is open daily and serves gourmet summer fare alongside refreshing cocktails with unique city views. The Bistro provides a relaxed environment and offers tables for dining as well as lounge seating for drinks and snacks, all surrounded by the downtown Chicago skyline. #WeDrinkPink Wednesdays - $6 Featured Rosé by the Glass, $25 Featured Rosé Bottles. Advertising Feature
AUG 8-23 FRI, 7:30PM AND SAT, 2 PM 8-16 FRI, 7:30 PM Photo: Nikki Carrara. 8-24 MCA STAGE: Rennie Harris, LIFTED MCA STAGE: Dahlak Brathwaite,Try/Step/Trip A Def Jam veteran and poet’s dance and MCACHICAGO.ORG/LOOK Go to church with theater performance of his criminal justice legendary hip-hop system experience. #MCAMadeYouLook choreographer Rennie Free for youth 18 and under Harris in his gospel and 8-30 FRI, 8 PM Open until 9 PM Tuesdays and Fridays house interpretation of MCA STAGE:Thurman Barker & Ben LaMar Oliver Twist. Gay, South Side Suite and Hecky Naw! Angles! CCMhounicsteaeugmmopoorfary Art Two jazz mavericks unite to honor Chicago. 6-10 Virgil Abloh: ²Figures of Speech² The MCA is open Mondays throughout the 9-22 run of the exhibition. Reserve your tickets in advance at mcachicago.org/abloh.
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