Theater-Food-Music in Chicago

Mitchell Oldham

Caveman Play May Be Asking the Wrong Question

Worry, concern, indeed dread about the future may be at an all time high.  From the flagging integrity of our institutions to the failing viability of the environment, the issues facing man and womankind threaten profound consequences.  Chief among them center on the feasibility of our species continued existence.  Caveman Play, a work presented by …

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Sometimes the Best Part of the Season Arrives in Song

Bringing the joys of superlative music to appreciative audiences for over 100 years, Chicago’s Symphony Center has long been a place to enjoy wonder.  During a recent visit to the landmark venue, that awe was delivered through the voices of the young. Uniting Voices Chicago (UVC), formerly the Chicago Children’s Choir, boasts a long history …

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An Ageless Beauty, The Other Cinderella Continues to Shine

Few things are quite as gratifying as an unexpected thrill.  Sitting down to this year’s production of Black Ensemble (BE) Theater’s The Other Cinderella certainly held the promise of quality entertainment.  The theater company has been consistently delivering stellar musical productions for nearly fifty years.  Using the power of music to recall milestones of Black …

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A Rare and Remarkable Window into the Immigrant Experience

In today’s charged socio-political climate, who we consider an immigrant often depends on perspective.  Outlooks that are often weighted in judgment.  But an immigrant is simply someone who’s living in a country other than the one they were born.  That makes the 102 people who arrived on the Mayflower immigrants to a land that would …

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BTE’s Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley Delivers Delight

Often, the expectations others have for us become the ones we have for ourselves. That can be problematic when those presumptions dampen the soul by limiting a person’s horizons.  The woman at the center of Miss Bennet:  Christmas at Pemberley faces such a challenge.   Watching how she confronts that test is a journey we’ll remember …

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Deeply Rooted Dance Theater Delivers Bountiful Fall Harvest

Kicking off this season’s Made in Chicago Dance Series Friday night at Chicago’s venerable Auditorium Theatre, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater (DRDT} proved something startling.  That it could be, in its own unique way, all things to all people.  You had to recall the explosive energy that marked another of the company’s one night only visits …

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Reckoning with the Impact of Technology through Art

If you’re functioning fully in a society that depends on the speed, convenience and pervasiveness of digitized communication, it’s likely you’ve made peace with some of its costs.  Engaging with social media subjects us to unsolicited market-based scrutiny.  Shopping for anything online, no matter how mundane, turns consumers into bundles of exploitable data. We shrug …

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