Film Return To Center from documentary, observational beginnings to cleanly, keenly devised work. Gillian The Modest Journey Of Kris Rey's I Used To Go Here Jacobs plays a debut novelist in her mid-thirties whose life is akilter on its way to By Ray Pride akimbo even from the opening shot along Western Avenue in Lincoln Square. We South by Southwest 2020 was one of the and possible purchase are finished and quickly learn that a marriage that would have AUGUST 2020 Newcity first great catastrophes to be averted. finding their way to the marketplace, even as been celebrated at Revolution Brewing is the potential for other, smaller American dashed, and portent lines up eagerly for Kate With only a few days’ notice, as the horizon pictures to get produced in coming months Conklin from there. Momentary distraction grayed with potential for mass disaster, and years remains in an imagined, even lies in an invitation to read from her novel in hopes for the vast fest were let go. On the imaginary place. Carbondale, where she had been an film side alone, dozens of features and shorts undergraduate. Gentle complications and a were orphaned from aspiration, their debut, Here’s a terrific palate cleanser left on that teeming ensemble cast ensue in Rey’s their celebration, their long-held hope to rise Texas platter: Chicago filmmaker Kris Rey’s “I knowing enlivening of the limitations of the above the programming and distribution fray. Used To Go Here” is a college comedy, kind John Hughes template, but also an extension That was so long ago, those five months, as of, and grown up, very much so, grounded in of her work that came before. today we tally postponements (Oscars, Olym- the world of several generations who lived in pics) and outright cancellations (Telluride over 2019 yet looking toward a future, moving “I Used to Go Here” is Rey’s fourth feature as Labor Day, the Rose Parade in 2021). past emotional shellshock, assembled with writer-director (after 2009’s “It Was Great, But the understated, even serene confidence of I Was Ready to Come Home,” 2014’s But those movies that were ready for perusal an experienced filmmaker who has moved “Empire Builder,” and 2015’s “Unexpected”) and she served time as actor and producer at the forge of the clumsily dubbed “mumble- 51
Newcity FILM TOP 5 core” early-century movement of chatty body language and line readings, thematic low-to-no-budget movies of deceptively throwaways land, including Kate’s walk 1 Tesla. Opens August 21. austere production values. (The many listed through town capturing a cute banner on a Michael Almereyda's longtime producers of the more expansive “I Used To light standard: “CARBONDALE: Find Your Go Here” include the Lonely Island crew: Style Here.” Did she? Are these students past arrives in a stilled present: the Jorma Taccone, Andy Samberg, Akiva story of alternative energy, starring Schaffer and Becky Sloviter.) Cellphones and text messages and lopsided Ethan Hawke, at the top of 2020 memories poke through the anxious jabber of releases. Like Rey’s “Unexpected,” “I Used To Go Here” characters who are sometimes high and who is laudably brief (each runs just under ninety forage dramatically, to little success, for that 2 I Used To Go Here. Opens minutes). That’s a virtue drawn from two elusive cleanly parsed thought. The little is August 7. C decades of experience, as well as an large. Rey is a miniaturist who has found an Kris Rey's understated fourth feature unprepossessing, direct visual approach. apt canvas: an ensemble comedy of a is a sly comedy about stasis and From the very opening, when the camera standstill in several other guises: it makes its gentle moves, pulling back to elasticates its college-town characters. gets to live here. appraise a street, a stairwell, an apartment, it does so with grace. It’s a lovely style, a The ending—sex is the sound of two sets of 3 The Personal History of serene economy that suits the summery, lips in the envelope of near dark—wakes to a . Opens simmering settings that swaddle her quizzical sky of stars Kate herself glued up nearly two August 14. Armando Iannucci's spirit- characters, readily confounded, young and decades before, a gesture of transposition ed feature follow-up to \"The Death Of older alike, from ground-zero Chicago to and transport as bittersweet as a bit from Stalin\" is vivacious comedy with a small-town Carbondale. Kate needs a “Groundhog Day.” It’s a return to the room for star turn by Dev Patel in the lead role. crossroads instead of a pile-up of crisis, and Kate Conklin but Rey goes beyond that she arrives at her next mess reading a simple symbol to characters talking to each 4 Let Him Go. Opens August 21. paragraph from her novel that tumbles other, expressing feelings of hopes dashed, \"The Family Stone\"'s Thomas directly into cringe. of failure acknowledged, spoken aloud, and Bezucha returns with a powerhouse aired in sunlight and breeze to blow the past cast—Kevin Costner, Diane Lane and Her mentor, a professor of low odor played few nights away. Lesley Manville—in the story of by an agreeably rumpled and mumbly grandparents retrieving a child from a Jemaine Clement, invited Kate. He tells a “It’s all like possibility for you…” Kate says, family off the grid. student to lop off an opening page: “We exhausted and envious, weighted by should just—be in it. Be in it already,” a taste 5 Tenet. August 15; or August 15, of 1970s “Be Here Now” that the roundelay succession of tentative endings, each with 2021; or 1/21/21. Someday we of characters struggle and largely fail to live. undertow, and arriving at a single, sneaky will remember the time fracture when The actors are lovingly cast and given their wave that crests exquisitely. Christopher Nolan's most expensive moments to pause as much as to shine. movie was eventually released. They're effortlessly funny. \"I Used To Go Here\" is on video-on-demand beginning August 7 52 Along with shaggy-dog laughs drawn from
Lit Photo: Dominique Chestand A Jolt in the Gut An Interview with Xandria Phillips By Darshita Jain Xandria Phillips is a poet, educator, visual artist and an extremely generous mentor. They are the poetry editor at Honeysuckle Press and a teaching artist for Winter Tangerine’s New York City workshops, where I met them for the first time. Their collection “Hull” came out in late 2019, published by Nightboat Books. The sense of time in “Hull” is fragmented—each poem is a surprise, every title a jolt in the gut. It is built on reimagined histories and trauma erotics. Historical and mythological figures make frequent cameo appearances. Verses weave into each other laying bare the historical and current threats to Black and queer bodies. Trying to build a narrative between the colonial and post- colonial, the collection plays around with words, language and using the page itself to deconstruct and decolonize. Astounding and utterly necessary, it felt only right when “Hull” won the Lambda Literary Award for Trans Poetry in June 2020. So “Hull.” Can you tell me a little bit about the name? How did that come about? I wanted to evoke a body with the name of on their imagination. And then I thought, I love it so much, I love that you can AUGUST 2020 Newcity this book, like a figure or a boat and most maybe it’s just on me to paint this. I wasn’t see the hand, the marks you left behind. importantly, the holding compartment of the a big fan of the mockups and I was having I feel like poetry books have the most boat, especially for the Middle Passage series a hard time communicating what I wanted. creative covers these days. Fiction of poems in the book, where I am talking Eventually, I sent them an image of the paint- books have gone into this weird trend about bodies within a cavity. So I guess that ing and I said, “I painted it and I like it con- of looking the same. compacted images encompass a lot of things ceptually more than anything else we have.” that I am talking about. I knew I wanted either I have noticed things like layering, you a slightly long title, or extremely small. When Did you paint this specially for the cover? can see them everywhere. But what is cool the word “Hull” came about, I liked the way is that poetry books now have no rules. that one word could branch out. I made it specifically for the cover. I felt like I am so excited about that. There have I commissioned it. I treated it like—the client been some common motifs, but there’s How was it working with Nightboat needs it. The client was me, but I treated it not really a standard of how a cover should Books, since this is your first book? with a close deadline. look and it is so exciting. It allows you to It was great. They have a great balance of being really supportive and challenging me. They were helping me with decisions that I simply can’t make because I’ve never made a book before, like they let me put the art on the cover, which for me, was a big risk. I had already been going back and forth with the designer. It’s hard to translate what you want on your book cover. I was relying too much 53
Newcity AUGUST 2020 ONE explore possibilities, like putting your own Writers like Ntozake Shange and Toni Morrison RECOMMENDATION art on the cover. and Audre Lorde became the big three for me. These folks were a part of my formative years In lieu of the regularly scheduled There are fifty-seven poems in “Hull.” in college. I lived in a house one summer, Lit Top 5 events, we are sharing I imagine that must have taken a long and all of us were mostly people of color— six books worth checking out that time to build. How long has the collection within Blackness, there was so much in that are due for August 2020 release been in the making? space. Someone was researching Jamaican by dynamic writers across genres. dance music, someone was researching I don’t even remember how many poems church mothers in Cleveland, someone was “The Death of Vivek Oji” there are. Fifty-seven! Holy smokes. That’s doing research on homeless queer youth. We by Akwaeke Emezi a lot. I’ve been working on it spiritually, I would just sit down and these are the people (Riverhead) August 4 don’t mean just inside my head, but I mean you meet in a setting like that. I was literally conceptually I’ve been working through these sharing food and thoughts and I was so well “If I Had Two Wings: Stories” fed, more than I have ever been. That is what by Randall Kenan themes since I am always trying to get back to, this feeling (Norton) August 4 2012. I’ve of comfort and academia, which doesn’t really been thinking come by often. We loved each other so much “Finna: Poems” a lot about because we were outside the harsh reality of by Nate Marshall dissolving the academia. That is the kind of culture I want to (One World) August 11 relationship foster in my work, in my classroom—one of to a certain ease and safety, but also immense rigor. “The Queen of Tuesday: degree bet- People called me out, people fed me, and A Lucille Ball Story” ween indig- I am so grateful. by Darin Strauss enous and (Random House) August 15 Diasporic What is the writing process like for you? Black people, “This Is The Night Our House not in a way My writing process has warped and mutated Will Catch Fire: A Memoir” to oversimplify a lot when I think through where I am in my by Nick Flynn it, but just in life. It says a lot—the form you are writing in. (Norton) August 25 this way of In grad school, I wrote with a lot of density. thinking about, I would write a lot of heavier pieces like the “Superman’s Not Coming: we really boil things down to that. I like to think encounter poems. These were also a little Our National Water Crisis about the splendor of the universe and that longer pieces. When I graduated, I was and What We the People I could have been born any person. And I worried about not having consistent feedback, Can Do About It” just wanted to think about personhood and but I realized it’s the best possible thing by Erin Brockovich Blackness and the absurdity of Blackness, that could happen. But I started writing (Pantheon) August 25 how wild and absurd our trajectories are sporadically. I was in awe of this city and I 54 and how where we are born influences that. was writing on the bus a lot, and suddenly short lines came to me. I started writing these I was thinking a lot about an attempt to short lines that felt a lot more personal— write your own version of history. Was it oftentimes more romantic. For me, that was something you were doing deliberately? coming from this place of being scattered. The need to write your own history by These short things that came in one stream rewriting the trauma of the past. were very new to me. Now I have a lot more stability than I have ever had in my life. I love the speculative mode even though I Anything that happens in my life, happens never really thought of it that way. As I was because I want it to happen. Now that I am writing something, like, for instance, someone a teacher, life feels more like I am in control. like myself would be talking to Anarcha, to I am writing a lot more prose and I have time Admoia Luis, to Sarah Baartman, those pieces to cultivate a long line. But yeah, I am so are highly speculative. Growing up, I read a drastically changed by setting, I cannot lot of fantasy and sci-fi. Things I am really escape that. drawn to are worlds like ours but with a twist, and also fan fiction. This idea of, if you are Last question. What is your favorite writing you can build a world of anything, poem in the book? reigns true. It is a ruse, but I really enjoy it. It felt like a tool I could use for good. I would say the ones that you know when you read a book and one poem sticks out to you? There are some people in history who hadn’t it is like an artifact from that big thing you are gotten a fair shot—either for being under-com- reading. It’s hard for me to say my favorite. plicated and overly praised or for something I got to choose all of these poems! But when around the exact opposite—being niche or I think of the soul or the emotional stakes of unknown or under-complicated. You will read this book, for me, two poems come to mind— about it, but it feels so dry—like this woman ”Poem Where I Refuse to Talk about—” and was kidnapped, but what was she like when “Nativity.” There is an old pain carried into a she woke up in the morning? new pain between those poems: around gender, being gendered, having to confirm What are the people in your life that the strictures of that. I was so tired, but those you have loyalties to? They exist in a poems are when my identity was feeling way you conduct your life. undermined and I had to do some deep thinking. I am a lot more critical of myself In my undergrad, I fell into my modality. and that is where those poems come from. I knew the people I am going to upload.
Music “COh-iold-”h The Chicago Birth of an R&B Anthem By Dave Hoekstra The city’s soul is wounded. Crime is up, children are being killed and the simple lights of summer are shadowed by orders of distancing. Some rules are too much to remember, but this should never be forgotten: The summer of 2020 is the fiftieth anniversary of the hit Chicago pop-soul ballad, “O-o-h Child.” It is a song of healing. “O-o-h Child” was recorded by The Five Stairsteps, a South Side precursor to The Jackson 5. The group consisted of five of the six children of Betty and Clarence Burke, Sr. Clarence, Sr. was a detective for the Chicago Police Department. He also played bass and later managed The Five Stairsteps. The young-blood harmonies are so soothing and so hopeful on “O-o-h Child.” “Some day, yeah connection is how the iconic soft soul hit oldest brother had turned sixty-four the day AUGUST 2020 Newcity We’ll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun wound up on Buddha. The song has since before his death, the cause of which was Some day been covered by Nina Simone, The Wonder- not disclosed. Cubie Burke joined the group When the world is much brighter…” mints and Dusty Springfield. It has become a when he was three years old when they staple of the live sets of the popular Chicago morphed into The Five Stairsteps & Cubie. I’ve heard the song a thousand times and it band Expo ’76, fronted by Dag Juhlin. Cubie died in May 2015 in Smyrna, Georgia. still makes me cry. The cresting horns hit all He was forty-nine. the hopeful notes of Chicago soul music and It took a few weeks for me to track down the the chorus honors a universal possibility. Burke family. My friend Joyce Moore (married Besides Keni, surviving siblings are Alohe, Rolling Stone listed “O-o-h Child” as number to Sam Moore of Sam & Dave) unlocked the seventy-two, (contralto) who now goes by 402 of its 500 greatest songs of all time. key. She is friends with bassist Keni Burke the name Rami; James, sixty-nine (first tenor); through his post-Five Stairsteps affiliation with and Dennis, sixty-eight (baritone). The entire The soul ballad was written by Stan Vincent the late keyboardist Billy Preston. family is in the Atlanta area and Keni is the only (Stanley Grochowski), a New Yorker who one still active in the music business. began his show-business career as a kid Keni, sixty-six, is doing fine in Atlanta, Georgia. actor on the Chicago-based mid-1950s Burke’s parents are in Marietta, Georgia and Keni keeps a photograph of Chicago soul Saturday morning TV series, “Watch Mr. they are celebrating their ninety-first birthdays great Curtis Mayfield on his dresser. Mayfield Wizard.” He later wrote hits for Connie in July. “We just celebrated Father’s Day,” signed The Five Stairsteps to their first deal. Francis and managed a couple of New York Burke says. “Both of them were up dancing. doo-wop groups. They’re mentally sharp, just amazing.” The Burke family grew up in a four-bedroom brick house on East 99th Street and King Vincent fell into The Five Stairsteps orbit after Clarence Burke, Jr. died in May 2013 at his Drive. The kids sat together on the living room pop artist Lou Christie had a smash 1969 hit home in Marietta. He sang the Stairsteps’ couch and bounced their heads to the rhythm with Vincent’s “I’m Gonna Make You Mine.” lead in a sultry Smokey Robinson style. The of soul music. The children were lined up on Christie recorded for Buddha Records, then a pop-bubble-gum imprint. The Vincent 55
the couch in such a way that their mother “The time was right for that song,” Burke says. said they looked like stairsteps. The Burkes “‘Things are going to get easier. Right now.’ sang along to early Miracles and Marvin Gaye It made sense. The tunes that make it are the songs. “My dad would give us some pointers, tunes that have a message. When a prayer can be answered because of a message, MUSIC TOP 5 but it was more Clarence, Jr., who kept us moving cohesively,” Keni says. “He taught the you have a hit.” Lockdown—self-isolating—sheltering in place—goes easier with these outstanding choreography. And he never danced in his life!” album releases by stellar Chicago artists, Clarence, Jr. and Alohe attended Harlan High Keni says, “My dad was on the front line. available now. School. “I was in the seventh grade when our He dealt with the promoters. Without him, careers blew up,” Keni says. “I didn’t make it especially with us being children, there would 1 Twin Peaks. The venerable have been no way we would have made it. band’s first EP was recorded to high school at all.” after the pandemic broke out— And being a policeman our parents were which goes a long way to prove that nothing stops rock ’n’ roll. Clarence Burke, Sr. became a Chicago aware when we were growing up. That’s when It also features guest appearances by Ohmme, V.V. Lightbody, Lala Lala policeman in the early 1950s. His late brother the Blackstone Rangers and the gangs were and Tom Reeder. (Side A) Marcellus was also a Chicago cop. Burke, Sr. starting to emerge. When my dad started 2 Makaya McCraven. seeing the gang initiations he was like, ‘Okay, “We’re New Again”? Billed always wore a black trenchcoat and a black as a reimagining of jazz and funk maybe I will let my children go into the music poet Gil Scott-Heron’s final album, Dobbs fedora. He retired in 1966 after 2009’s “I’m New Here,” this session business.’ That was a way to get away from sees McCraven collaborating with The Five Stairsteps signed with Mayfield. stellar Chicago-formed talent all that.” The Five Stairsteps ascended to new including Jeff Parker, Ben LaMar “I remember seeing my dad on the news Gay and Junius Paul. when I was little,” Keni says. “He was shot in heights after “O-o-h Child.” 3 Zehsan B. In his second the lower back. He was laid out on a stretcher. album, the first-generation Another time my mom and dad were driving “O-o-h Child’,” Keni says with a laugh, and Indian-American and Muslim singer he pauses. “Wow. We were performing at the lends his stellar R&B sensibility together and he saw a taxi driver being held and gorgeous, crooning tenor to Apollo. We were introduced to Stan Vincent. original songs with an emphasis up in front of them. My dad went into a on civil rights and gender equality. Here we were this R&B group who had shoot-out with the robber while my mom (Melismatic) worked with Curtis Mayfield. And here’s this was in the car. He told her to hit the floor. 4 Polo G. The rapper who white kid coming up the stairs of the Apollo. hit gold with the powerful “My dad was no joke.” “Die a Legend” goes for a more We’re like, ‘Cool.’ We were always rockers reflective vibe on his latest. It’s still an unstinting exploration of life, Burke used his connections to get his kids to anyway. Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles. We knew death and violence, but with a Stan wrote the Lou Christie hit. It was a more expansive palette—both perform on Chicago radio shows. Then in sonic and lyric. (The Goat) 1965, The Five Stairsteps won the three-day challenge doing Stan’s songs because they talent show at the original Regal Theater. They were different for us. At the time, we never 5 Dehd. The sophomore knew ‘O-o-h Child’ would be what it became.” release from indie-rock trio sang Smokey Robinson’s “Ooh Baby Baby.” Emily Kempf, Jason Balla and Eric McGrady finds them riding Keni recalls, “Even the Jackson family was on Buddah first released The Five Stairsteps’ edgy, their neo-surf wave onto unfamiliar shores, with moments ranging from the show. We were friends with them. Their post-punk to torch-and-twang. father Joe Jackson confided in our father. But funky cover of the Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” as the A-side of the 45. “O-o-h Child” was the (Flower of Devotion) we were first. And we paved the way.” The B-side. “Dear Prudence” flopped. A Philadel- 56 Five Stairsteps were known as “The First phia DJ flipped the 45 and “O-o-h Child” took Family of Soul” before The Jackson 5 was off. “It was all a fluke,” Keni says. known as “The First Family of Soul.” Newcity AUGUST 2020 Before moving to their house on East 99th, “O-o-h Child” was recorded at Allegro Studios the Burke family lived in a townhouse on East in New York City, where Dion recorded his 87th and South Park. Fred Cash and Sam 1968 civil rights hit “Abraham, Martin and Gooden of the Impressions lived about five John.” Vincent assembled a crack band with doors down. The elder Burke kept telling Bernard Purdie (Aretha Franklin, James Brown) Cash about his family group. Cash finally heard on drums. Hugh McCracken on lead guitar them sing in their 99th Street living room. (that’s his guitar fills on Van Morrison’s “Brown They sang the ballad “World of Fantasy,” Eyed Girl”), Richard Tee (Aretha, Donny written by Burke, Jr. and Gregory Fowler. Hathaway) on piano, Clarence Burke, Jr. on “Fred listened to about twelve bars,” Keni says. guitar and Keni on bass. “He stopped us and said, ‘Can I use your phone?’ He called Curtis (Mayfield). We were How does Keni explain the everlasting spirit ushered off to Marina City to meet Curtis.” of “O-o-h Child”? “The lyrics are on point,” he says. “They speak to everyday life no matter Mayfield had an apartment in Marina City. where you are in your own life. People are In 1966 he signed The Five Stairsteps to his going through struggles. The Vietnam War short-lived Windy C label. Mayfield also saw was ending when it came out. There was his younger self in the group, writing ballads social change. But the record also has a feel like “Stay Close To Me” and in 1968 giving to it. Something about it brightens your day. them “I’m the One Who Loves You,” which And when my dear sister sings the first verse, he had written for Jerry Butler in 1962. her voice is so soothing it puts everybody in this mood. It’s like a warm blanket to the soul.” Burke shepherded his children around the country to sing their uplifting songs. A couple Clarence Burke, Sr., the beloved patriarch of months before the 1968 assassination of of Chicago’s Five Stairsteps soul and rock Dr. Martin Luther King at the Lorraine Motel in group died on July 16, following a seizure in Memphis, the Burke family had occupied the an Atlanta area hospital. He would have turned same room that would be given to Dr. King. ninety-one on July 17. Two years later, “O-o-h Child” was a hit Go to music.newcity.com for an extended across America. version of the interview.
Stage Lara Filip The Kids When it comes to theater summer camp, “We are trying to be as versatile as possible, Will Play there are a lot of tropes. so no kid feels excluded for the parameters of the activities,” says Filip. “We are even Digitizing Theater Camp The biggest trope is that the camps are engaging [with] nonprofit groups for group full of dramatic, spotlight-ready kiddos who homes with no parents per se. So we’re By Amanda Finn are looking for their chance to shine. An careful not to say, ‘Talk to your parents.’” audience of young, soon-to-be dramatic personas take the stage for the latest Rather than spending the summer doing AUGUST 2020 Newcity rendition of “Honk! Jr.” or “Annie” or other Walking Plays performances at The Morton child-friendly musical or play. Little attention Arboretum or Jessamine County Public is paid to anyone who doesn’t fit that Library in Nicholasville, Kentucky, Filip has archetype. Atop all that, the students must created a free, online theatrical experience be present for nearly all the sessions. for families. By combining her love for all kinds of theater, she has created something But then came the virus, a ban on group new from a difficult situation. gatherings and a death knell for in-person summer camps. But Lara Filip’s camp The four-part video series, geared to students isn’t switching to digital from a traditional from kindergarten through fifth grade, is physical summer-camp experience. It is a presented through DuPage Children’s Museum new venture, borne out of the necessity to and Jessamine County Public Library. The first keep children engaged. video launched July 3, but kids don’t have to 57
ONE watch right away to take advantage of what By creating a free, virtual theater camp, RECOMMENDATION the camp offers. Filip and her artists can reach even more Dance for Life 2020: United as One students. Anyone can watch from anywhere The Dancers’ Fund, established by Chicago Dancers United to “We talk about technical theater, too,” Filip in the world, which is a great opportunity to provide financial assistance for dancers with critical medical says. “If a kid isn’t a singer-dancer type spread the joy of theater. And, although the expenses, has played a crucial role in the health of Chicago’s dance they can learn about being a set designer camp has not launched, she is already hoping community for almost three decades. With employment in the arts at a or costume designer.” With a background that it becomes an annual event. “With or near standstill—forget about health insurance—this support is all the in performance and direction, she knows without social distancing, this is a great more crucial. The annual Dance For Life concert, traditionally held that not everyone is interested in the option for students,” says Filip. “In a theater at the Auditorium Theatre with performances by Chicago’s top performative aspects of theater. She hopes camp type of atmosphere, the students and the artists don’t have to deal with the issues companies, raises the bulk of the to encourage kids to be who they are, proceeds for The Dancers’ Fund that other art forms are encountering in the and, like many mission-critical galas, regardless of their interests. moved online with a donate-what- digital switch.” you-can price. The 2020 program is comprised of footage from past DFL “Some children are just shy and don’t want concerts, including gems from sorely to have the attention on them, but there is so “What’s difficult with those is figuring out missed companies who closed shop technology with [an] audio delay,” she says. long before the pandemic including much they can enjoy about theater besides Luna Negra Dance Theater, River that.” Inclusive programming meets students’ “Music, dance and voice lessons with Zoom North Dance Chicago, Joseph has everyone dealing with that.” The solution Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre individual needs but doesn’t leave students and Thodos Dance Chicago. Visit in the camp’s case is the use of prerecorded chicagodancersunited.org August out. It’s especially good for kids who might 10-15 to catch the program and material. And, since students can ask keep Chicago’s dancers healthy. not otherwise get to participate due to other commitments, or even things like a broken leg, questions through the platform, the artists Above: River North Dance Chicago which could prevent them from participating in can answer when the video is first shown, in “Eva”/Photo: Cheryl Mann but also later on, encouraging interaction the more traditional camp atmosphere. 58 between students and teachers. Filip paid a handful of Chicago-area theater Creating this camp has been a joy for Filip, artists like Sawyer Smith to send in videos who refers to herself as “a fairly silly human for the students to watch as part of being.” Although it takes the place of live the programming. performances that Filip and the other artists “For my specific video I wanted to speak to thrive on, this digital experience is a fitting the kids about being different and how as a placeholder. Students can still learn and young kid, being different can feel like a bad everyone can dream together of the day when theaters are full once again. thing, but truly what makes us different is Newcity AUGUST 2020 what makes us special,” Smith says via email. “It’s like a superpower. As a queer artist who For her final segment, Filip returned to the stage at Paramount Theatre in Aurora to is trans femme non-binary, navigating the world can feel very difficult at times. But when remind everyone watching that artists must continue to hope. The ghost light won’t I live my truest self vibrantly and publicly, shine indefinitely. it allows me to go deeper as an artist. Being myself and shining bright gives others permission to be themselves and shine bright “I stood onstage to say we’re all going to be back in the theater sometime soon,” as well. And that is a power. That is a gift. she states. “Don’t forget that these spaces And if we accept those gifts and we share are still here for us when we can be here.” that power we are all stronger together.”
2020 Celebrating Chicago’s creative economy with a new kind of AUGUST 29-SEPTEMBER 19 local film showcase for a year like no other. THREE WAYS Virtual Film Festival TO SAFELY Outdoor, Limited-Capacity Screenings* ENJOY: Drive-In Movie Events* MORE INFORMATION: www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/onscreen *Outdoor and Drive-In screenings will be held in accordance with current City of Chicago health and safety guidelines, and are contingent on the city remaining in Phase IV of the city’s reopening plan. City of Chicago | Lori E. Lightfoot, Mayor This program is presented as part of the Chicago Park District’s Night Out in Chicago Park District | Board of Commissioners | Michael P. Kelly, General Superintendent & CEO the Parks. Arts programming in neighborhoods across the city advances the goals of the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Cultural Plan. Learn more at: www.nightoutintheparks.com For more information about your Chicago Park District, visit www.chicagoparkdistrict.com or call 312.742.7529 or 312.747.2001 (TTY).
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