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ARTS & (HOME) ENTERTAINMENT RECOMMENDATIONS
Since being stuck inside, which shows have you been watching? Which movies? Have you read any good books lately? Any new music releases have you dancing in your living room? StreetWise vendors, readers and staff are sharing what is occupying their attention during this unprecedented time.
To be featured in a future edition, send your recommendations of what to do at home and why you love them to: Creative Director / Publisher Dave Hamilton at dhamilton@streetwise.org
Holiday Laughs!
'That’s Weird, Grandma: House Par-Tay' - Holiday Edition
]From Christmas to Hanukkah to New Year’s, PlayMakers Laboratory rings in the holidays with all new performances of its popular online revue, "That’s Weird, Grandma: House Par-Tay," a creative series of stories written by elementary school students, adapted and performed by PML’s professional actors and directed by Artistic Director Brandon Cloyd. PML’s holiday edition of "That’s Weird, Grandma: House Par-Tay" streams Mondays at 8 p.m. via Patreon, with a completely new show released on December 14, 21, & 28. $2-4 per week at https://bit.ly/36wRJ0d
Local Poets
Open Door Series: Beth McDermott & Maya Marshall
Join the Poetry Foundation on December 15 at 7 p.m. for a live virtual reading with Beth McDermott and her student Eva Bruno, and Maya Marshall and her student Katharine Grace de Jesus Flores. The Open Door series presents work from Chicago’s new and emerging poets and highlights the area’s outstanding writing programs. The event will feature readings by two Chicagoland writing program instructors and two of their current or recent students. FREE. Register online at poetryfoundation.org
Giving Back!
NYCE Network for Women Toy Drive
West Austin and Pill Hill Development Centers along with Child Care Advocates United (CCAU) will host a Christmas “Toys for Kids” toy collection and fundraiser December 15-17, at the West Austin Development Center, 4520 W. Madison Ave. and at the Pill Hill Development Center, 8802 S. Stony Island Ave. 2 - 6 p.m. These deliveries will take place on the West and South Sides of Chicago to underprivileged children whose parents are unemployed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hauukkah Giggles!
Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins
Will Hershel of Ostropool outsmart the goblins who haunt the old synagogue so that villagers can celebrate Hanukkah? In this virtual adaptation of the Caldecott Honor-winning book, the story comes to life with music and a little bit of magic for families of all ages to sing along and enjoy. As part of its efforts to support neighboring organizations in the greater Chicago community, Strawdog theatre will share part of the proceeds from this production with The Jewish Council of Urban Affairs. Tickets start at $25 for performances on Saturdays and Sundays at 1 & 4 p.m. through December 20 at strawdog.org
A Christmas Classic Reimagined!
Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol
In this world premiere online event created for audiences of all ages, interdisciplinary performance collective Manual Cinema takes on Charles Dickens’s holiday classic with a visually- and musically-inventive adaptation made to broadcast directly to your home. An avowed holiday skeptic, Aunt Trudy has been recruited to channel her late husband Joe’s famous Christmas cheer. From the isolation of her studio apartment, she reconstructs his annual Christmas Carol puppet show over a Zoom call while the family celebrates Christmas Eve under lockdown. But as Trudy becomes more absorbed in her own version of the story, the puppets take on a life of their own, and the family’s call transforms into a stunning cinematic adaptation of Dickens’s classic ghost story. Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol is a live-performed, live-streamed event using hundreds of paper puppets, miniatures, silhouettes, and a live original score. Tickets start at $15 per screen. Playing December 16 at 10 a.m., 17 at 7 p.m., 18 at 7 & 9 p.m., 19 at 3 & 7 p.m., and 20 at 3 & 6 p.m. For more info and tickets, visit www.manualcinema.com/christmascarol. Closed-caption and audio-described tickets are available.
History comes Alive!
Franklin Vagnone’s 'One Night Stand’ at Paradise Garden In part two of a special two-part series, co-author of "Anarchist’s Guide to Historic House Museums" Franklin Vagnone joins Intuit to recount his “One Night Stand” at Paradise Garden, a fantastical art environment constructed by outsider artist Howard Finster. As part of a blog series, Vagnone spends the night in the bedrooms of historic houses and sites and writes about his interactions with the buildings. Through his "One Night Stand" series, Vagnone attempts to shift our understanding of historic house museums away from the perception that they are solely public venues to a more intimate appreciation of these museums as places of private, domestic life. FREE on December 17 at 6 p.m. at https://www.art.org/franklin-vagnones-one-night-stand-at-paradise-garden/
Chicago Traditions!
CTA Holiday Train and Bus
The six-car holiday train is decorated with multi-colored lights and features a flat car in the middle that carries Santa and his reindeer. Car interiors are decked with bows, garland, red and green lighting and hand poles wrapped to look like candy canes. Festive holiday music is played and Santa’s elves are on hand to greet customers and spread holiday cheer. The train will run between approximately 2 and 9 p.m. on weekends and 3 and 7 p.m. on weekdays (schedules for each individual line will vary, see transitchicago.com), and will make stops at all stations along the respective routes. For 2020, trains will run "out of service," without passengers and photo ops with Santa, to allow social distancing. December 18: Purple Line; December 19: Red Line; December 20: Orange Line. The Holiday Bus exterior features Chicago's skyline one snowy evening with “Ralphie the Reindeer” leading the way, his nose aglow and Santa’s sleigh in tow. Festive strings of lights outline the bus and its windows, along with sparkling snowflakes that light up at night. These buses will run in the afternoon on: December 15 & 16: #62 Archer; December 17: #49 Western / #X49 Western Express; December 18: #79 79th Street; December 19: #3 King Drive. Normal CTA fares apply.
Music to my Ears!
'Zoot Suit'
Chicano playwright Luis Valdez masterfully uses the Sleepy Lagoon murder case to examine the Chicano "Zoot Suit" Culture of the '40s. Passionate and provocative, Zoot Suit pulses with the beat of big band music and traditional Latin songs. This is the original Audio Theatre broadcast of the complete performance recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles in July 2001. The performance includes a conversation with Alma Martinez, an original cast member of Luis Valdez’s "Zoot Suit," both on stage and on film, in the role of Lupe. Since then, Alma has appeared in countless films, television performances, and stage credits, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theatre, and the Mexican and American stages. $25 suggested donation at porchlightmusictheatre.org
-Compiled by Dave Hamilton
