BEST Things To Do In Chicago
Saturday, April 20, 2019

The Event Oracle knows ALL the fun things to do in Chicago. Select your date above then scroll down for all the Arts, Entertainment, and Events in my crystal ball...

• Thomas D. Mangelsen – A Life in the Wild

  Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
  2430 N. Cannon Dr.
  Chicago, IL 60614
  

  Renowned nature photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen has traveled the world for over 40 years, observing and photographing the Earth’s last great wild places. Featuring rare moments and vast panoramas, Mangelsen’s extensive portfolio includes millions of images of wild animals and landscapes, from polar bears in the Arctic to tigers in India.

  A Life in the Wild showcases 40 of Mangelsen’s signature, award-winning photographs of wildlife and landscapes on all seven continents. Every image was captured by Mangelsen under natural conditions and involves no digital manipulation, demonstrating his sensitivity to animal behavior and masterful skill in waiting for the “picture perfect moment” often in the face of hostile environmental conditions.

• TreeHouses

  Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
  2430 N. Cannon Dr.
  Chicago, IL 60614
  

  Hang out in the trees in our new exhibit, TreeHouses. Set foot into an indoor tree house and explore who and what is living in the trees through stereoscopic viewfinders, tracking clues, natural artifacts, and sounds. Roam from tree to tree to discover the many habitats that trees provide for animals large and small.

  How do animals adapt themselves to their tree habitats? What kinds of animal clues can you look and listen for in the forest? How do people use trees for their homes? Uncover answers to these questions and other fascinating facts while playing and investigating in this fun forest experience. You might be surprised to find out who’s living in your own backyard!

• Build It!

  Kohl Children’s Museum of Greater Chicago
  2100 Patriot Boulevard
  Glenview, IL 60026
  

  Kohl Children’s Museum of Greater Chicago celebrates the return of the popular temporary exhibit “Build It!,” a larger than life collection of building blocks that allow children to explore their creativity while learning about architecture, science, and storytelling.

  Kids are able to discover, stack, bridge, enclose, make patterns, name and symbolize using blocks, which are the seven stages of block play. Block play teaches several important mathematical concepts, including measurement, numeral awareness, part-to-whole relationships and social concepts such as sharing and collaboration.

• The Chinese Helped Build the Railroad – The Railroad Helped Build America

  Chinese American Museum of Chicago
  238 W. 23rd St
  Chicago, IL 60616
  

  The Chinese American Museum of Chicago is excited to host a new year-long temporary exhibition, The Chinese Helped Build the Railroad – The Railroad Helped Build America, beginning March 2, 2019, to coincide with the 150th Anniversary of the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit in Utah.

  The bilingual exhibit, which features photographs by Li Ju, pays tribute to the approximately 12,000 Chinese workers who completed the west coast portion of the world’s first Transcontinental Railway.

• Beyond Temporary: Art Ephemera and the Design of the Exhibition Announcement

  Art Institute of Chicago
  111 South Michigan Avenue
  Chicago, IL 60603
  

  The Ryerson and Burnham Libraries have been collecting ephemera—objects that, as one dictionary definition puts it, “last but a day”—for more than 100 years, focusing particularly on art-related pieces such as postcards, artist statements, and exhibition announcements. The latter comprises the bulk of this display.

  In years past, galleries routinely mailed announcements to a long list of interested parties in order to advertise an exhibition and its opening. Despite being designed for transience, some of these objects are artworks in themselves. This exhibition celebrates a recent substantial gift of books and art ephemera from Terry R. Myers, an art critic, independent curator, and former chair of Painting and Drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

• Amplified: Chicago Blues

  Chicago History Museum
  1601 North Clark Street
  Chicago, IL 60614-6038
  

  Southern black migrants brought the blues to Chicago, where the music helped them forge connections and transform an unfamiliar, often inhospitable city into a new home. The music was also transformed—electrified and amplified to compete with urban noise. The photography of Raeburn Flerlage captures the streets, clubs, homes, and studios where a community of musicians defined the Chicago blues sound.  Immerse yourself in the Chicago scene of the 1960s through Flerlage’s images, and experience the blues by playing guitar, designing an album cover, writing lyrics, and singing karaoke.

• A Nation of Writers: John and Cathie Estey

  American Writers Museum
  180 N Michigan Ave
  Chicago, IL 60601
  

  English is our de facto national language, a legacy of colonization. Yet today’s Americans speak more than 350 languages, a reflection of the nation’s immigrant history and the enduring presence of our indigenous people. Given such diversity, is it possible to say that there is a single American literature, a body of work with a distinctive character? In a word, yes.

  The 100 authors featured here represent the evolution and flourishing of American writing. Writers of the 1600s and 1700s borrowed forms and themes from Europe, applying them to New World settings and issues. Then, over the course of the 1800s, a new, democratic style emerged, rooted in the way Americans talked and thought. Previously underrepresented voices began to be heard, culminating with an explosion of perspectives in the modern era. Taken together, this rich literary heritage reflects America in all of its complexity: its energy, hope, conflict, disillusionment, and creativity.

• Dimensions of Citizenship: Architecture and Belonging from the Body to the Cosmos

  Wrightwood 659
  659 W. Wrightwood
  Chicago, IL 60614
  

  Dimensions of Citizenship: Architecture and Belonging from the Body to the Cosmos, the official U.S. entry at the recently-concluded 16th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, will be on view for the first time in the United States at Wrightwood 659, a new art space located at 659 W. Wrightwood Avenue in Chicago, from February 15 through April 27, 2019. Devoted to exploring the notion of citizenship today and the potential role of architecture and design in creating spaces for it, Dimensions of Citizenship comprises seven unique installations, each created by a transdisciplinary team of architects and designers. Commissioned by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and The University of Chicago (UChicago) on behalf of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the U.S. presentation of Dimensions of Citizenship on view at Wrightwood 659 in Chicago is made possible by Alphawood Foundation Chicago. The exhibition will be accompanied by a range of public programs exploring citizenship and belonging, including talks, performances, workshops, and engagement with local partners (to be announced shortly).

• Children’s Literature Gallery

  American Writers Museum
  180 N Michigan Ave
  Chicago, IL 60601
  

  The first books we read play a powerful, shape-changing role in our lives. “Children’s books are gateways to a lifelong love of literature and art,” says historian Leonard S. Marcus. “They give us the heroes we need just when we need them: at the start of our quest to discover who and what we are. They give us stories we will long remember.”

  Books for young people have been published in North America for more than 300 years – from well before the founding of the United States. Through them, writers and artists have crystallized each generation’s hopes and dreams for the next generation, and young people have learned what it means to be an American…and a human being. As Marcus observes: “To understand what our nation has cared about over time, we have only to look at the books we have given our children and teens.”

• Underground Adventure

  Field Museum
  1400 S. Lake Shore Dr.
  Chicago, IL 60605
  

  In this immersive exhibition, you’ll “shrink” to 1/100th of your actual size—smaller than a penny—to take a closer look at the soil beneath our feet.

  Once you’re down to size, you’ll meet a creepy, crawly cast of characters, including a giant mole cricket and a wolf spider. You’ll learn about the diversity of life that soil supports and how every species needs soil to survive and thrive.

• THE COLLECTION: Where Art Meets Fashion

  Fashion Outlets of Chicago
  5520 Fashion Outlets Way
  Rosemont, IL 60018
  

  THE COLLECTION: Where Art Meets Fashion, the multifaceted contemporary art program of Fashion Outlets of Chicago, will welcome a rotating exhibition by 2018 Olympic costume designer Dr. Keysook Geum to the shopping center this February. Dr. Keysook Geum’s rotating exhibition will feature three life-sized sculptural forms, entitled Enlightenment III, Nirvana in Red IV and NIGHTINGALE. Dr. Geum is an author and professor of Textile Art and Fashion Design at Hong Ik University in Seoul, Korea, and recently served as the Artistic Director for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games in 2018, designing both the uniforms and dresses worn in the opening ceremony. Dr. Geum’s dramatic sculptures of elegantly posed forms embody the fusion of timeless Asian aesthetics and philosophy with contemporary air. They are constructed of paper-wrapped or enamel coated wires, gems, beads and silk. Starting with a central focal point, Dr. Geum works outwardly in a concentric manner reminiscent of a spider. As the artist weaves, twists and bends wire two-dimensionally, intricate forms and unintentional patterns emerge. The natural tensions of interlacing wire push and pulls out until ¬-figurative shapes begin to take form.

• Remembering Dr. King

  Chicago History Museum
  1601 North Clark Street
  Chicago, IL 60614-6038
  

  Remembering Dr. King: 1929-1968 invites visitors to walk through a winding gallery that features over 25 photographs depicting key moments in Dr. King’s work and the Civil Rights movement, with a special focus on his time in Chicago.

  Chicago, like other U.S. cities, erupted in the wake of King’s assassination on April 4, 1968. While the center of his activism was focused on dismantling southern Jim Crow, the systems that kept African Americans oppressed in the American South, he spent time in Chicago and often spoke out on the realities of northern discrimination, particularly around the issues of poverty, education and housing.

• Indigenous Entrepreneurship: Tribal Enterprises & Co-ops

  Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
  3001 Central St
  Evanston, IL 60201
  

  As there are no reservations in Illinois, most tribal based businesses are not well known in this area. While many people are familiar with the arts, crafts, and casinos, there are many other products and services offered by Indigenous businesses today.

  The Mitchell Museum is proud to present the latest exhibit showcasing Indigenous-owned businesses, tribal co-ops and enterprises; Indigenous Entrepreneurship: Tribal Enterprises & Entrepreneurs about the expansion of tribal initiatives that support tribal sustainability and the incorporation of tribal values into business models.

  The exhibit also covers the challenges that many tribal entrepreneurs face, their unique opportunities based on their sovereign nation status, and the programs that offer them support. Learn about the various products and services offered by tribal enterprises and Indigenous entrepreneurs, from Ioway Honey to buffalo meat Tanka Bars!

• Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa

  Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University
  40 Arts Cir Dr
  Evanston, IL 60208
  

  Travel with the Block Museum along routes crossing the Sahara Desert to a time when West African gold fueled expansive trade and drove the movement of people, culture, and religious beliefs.
  Caravans of Gold is the first major exhibition addressing the scope of Saharan trade and the shared history of West Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe from the eighth to sixteenth centuries. Weaving stories about interconnected histories, the exhibition showcases the objects and ideas that connected at the crossroads of the medieval Sahara and celebrates West Africa’s historic and underrecognized global significance.

• Christien Meindertsma: Everything Connects

  Art Institute of Chicago
  111 South Michigan Avenue
  Chicago, IL 60603
  

  Since graduating from the Eindhoven Design Academy, Christien Meindertsma has become known for her research-oriented work that explores the potential of raw materials and reveals processes that have become obsolete due to industrialization. Her prototypes, documentary videos, and finished objects highlight our relationship to the materials and products in the world around us and address concerns of environmental sustainability.

• Wintrust Chicago Gallery

  American Writers Museum
  180 N Michigan Ave
  Chicago, IL 60601
  

  Chicago writers are visionaries, unafraid of trying something new. The city is one of the birthplaces of realism, an approach to writing that elevates the”everyday” into art. Chicago poets, novelists, journalists, and other writers have found inspiration in everyday people, telling their stories and transforming the way they talk into art. Chicago writers are also troublemakers…with a humanist bent. They have shone the light on injustice, questioned authority, and articulated bold new visions for a better world. Chicago writers are agents of change.

• Above and Beyond

  National Veterans Art Museum
  4041 N Milwaukee Ave 2nd floor
  Chicago, IL 60641
  

  Above and Beyond is comprised of 58,307 dog tags. Each dog tag represents the death of military personnel in the Vietnam War and is arranged in date order of death. And, each dog tag shows their name, date of death and military branch.

  Above and Beyond was commissioned by the National Veterans Art Museum and created by veteran artists: Rick Steinbock, Ned Broderick, Joe Fornelli and Mike Helbing. It was originally installed at 1801 S. Indiana Ave. on May 26, 2001 to coincide with Chicago’s Memorial Day parade. Above and Beyond was created over a 2-year period as each dog tag was stamped by hand using a former military Graphotype machine.

• Smart to the Core: Embodying the Self

  Smart Museum of Art
  The University of Chicago 5550 S. Greenwood Ave.
  Chicago, IL 60637
  

  This exhibition brings together modern and contemporary artists who explore the visual construction of selfhood across a range of gender, sexual, racial, ethnic, and intersectional identities. 

• Tinkering Lab

  Chicago Children’s Museum
  700 East Grand Avenue
  Chicago, IL 60611-3428
  

  Welcome to Tinkering Lab, Chicago’s first DIY maker-space for families! Step into the ultimate workshop where we provide the space and resources, and you decide what to do next. We’re talking REAL tools, REAL materials and the freedom to innovate and explore life outside those fancy computer and smartphone screens.

• Inside Ancient Egypt

  Field Museum
  1400 S. Lake Shore Dr.
  Chicago, IL 60605
  

  Unwrap the mysteries of this civilization with mummies and more.

  Inside Ancient Egypt is an up-close look at the daily lives of ancient Egyptians—as well as how they thought about death.

  Enter through a three-story replica of a mastaba, a type of ancient Egyptian tomb, that houses two authentic chamber rooms from the burial site of 5th Dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Unis’s son Unis-Ankh.

• D-Day Warriors: American Indians in the Military

  Field Museum
  1400 S. Lake Shore Dr.
  Chicago, IL 60605
  

  On June 6, 1944, Charles Shay landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. As a young Army medic, he was one of an estimated 500 American Indian soldiers who participated in the D-Day invasion to retake France in the fight against Nazi Germany.

  In D-Day Warriors: American Indians in the Military, hear Shay’s story and explore the important role that Native servicemen and servicewomen continue to play in the armed forces.

• Into the Void: Prints of Lee Bontecou

  Art Institute of Chicago
  111 South Michigan Avenue
  Chicago, IL 60603
  

  The images of Lee Bontecou (American, born 1931) are unmistakably hers: black voids, cosmic orbs, floating serrated teeth, mutant flowers, and strange, hybrid forms. They reflect a post–World War II angst and existential fear brought on by the arms race and nuclear threat, coupled with awe at a technology capable of space travel. While best known for her wall reliefs that bridge the divide between painting and sculpture, Bontecou produced a series of important prints between 1962 and 1982 at Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE), a workshop founded by Tatyana Grosman in West Islip, New York, in 1957. This exhibition is the first show devoted to Bontecou’s prints since 1975 and is drawn from the Art Institute’s complete edition and significant archive of her ULAE production.

• Prisoner of Love

  Museum of Contemporary Art
  220 E. Chicago Ave.
  Chicago, IL 60611
  

  Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death, by acclaimed artist and filmmaker Arthur Jafa, is a multilayered seven-minute montage of the black experience in America. The video tells a story of trauma and transcendence in a flurry of footage—from historic speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama, to clips of cultural icons Beyoncé and Notorious B.I.G., to flashes of concerts, home movies, news footage, music videos, and sports matches—all set to the soaring gospel tones of Kanye West's Ultralight Beam. Centered around this filmic journey, the exhibition features a rotating body of work from the MCA's collection that complements Jafa's video and captures some of the same intense emotions about life in America today. Powerful, moving works by artists such as Deana Lawson, Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall, Marilyn Minter, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Carrie Mae Weems alternate throughout the run of the show, alongside the mainstay of Bruce Nauman’s iconic Life, Death, Hate, Pleasure, Pain.

  The exhibition is curated by Naomi Beckwith, Manilow Senior Curator. It is presented in the Sylvia Neil and Daniel Fischel Galleries on the museum's second floor.

• Chicago: Crossroads of America

  Chicago History Museum
  1601 North Clark Street
  Chicago, IL 60614-6038
  

  Climb aboard L car no. 1, visit a jazz club, picture yourself in the fashions of the Marshall Field’s store window, and learn what makes Chicago home sweet home. Explore the city’s history through a series of galleries that highlight artifacts through interactive features and multimedia presentations.

• Mummies

  Field Museum
  1400 S. Lake Shore Dr.
  Chicago, IL 60605
  

  In Mummies, uncover the lives of the people inside—from their families, work, and religious beliefs, to the objects they chose to bring into the afterlife.

  This extraordinary, limited-time exhibition features mummies from ancient Peru and Egypt. Made up entirely of objects from our collection, the exhibition includes 14 mummies, intricately decorated coffins and mummy masks, ceramic items, and mummified animals. Seeing ancient Peruvian and Egyptian mummies in the same space brings to light the differences and similarities between these cultures. 

• Hans Haacke: Gift Horse

  Art Institute of Chicago
  111 South Michigan Avenue
  Chicago, IL 60603
  

  Since 1965 Hans Haacke (German, born 1936) has been living in New York making work that explores the uncomfortable and often hidden connections between art, power, money, politics, and business.

  Haacke's imposing bronze sculpture Gift Horse (2014) was created as a commission for London’s Fourth Plinth project, which invites artists to fill the vacant space in Trafalgar Square originally designed for an equestrian monument to King William IV (1765–1837). The base intended for the monument was left empty due to a lack of funding; since 1999, it has featured temporary installations by contemporary artists.

  For his contribution, Haacke took inspiration from an engraving by the British equine artist George Stubbs (1724–1806) to create a monumental bronze horse skeleton that stands more than 15 feet tall. In its original display, Gift Horse stood across the square from a statue of King George IV (1762–1830) riding bareback, complementing the scale of George IV’s equestrian sculpture while challenging its intentions.

• Groundings

  Museum of Contemporary Art
  220 E. Chicago Ave.
  Chicago, IL 60611
  

  Groundings explores movement, both seen and unseen, through a series of residencies with artists who work in dance, music, and performance art. During the run of Groundings, the performers hold open rehearsals in the gallery space alongside works from the MCA Collection and create performances and physical objects that speak to the themes of the exhibition. The exhibition considers movement and its relationship to identity, place, and action, and evokes the invisible forces that govern bodies in motion such as gravity and time.

• Wildlife Photographer of the Year

  Field Museum
  1400 S. Lake Shore Dr.
  Chicago, IL 60605
  

  From simmering volcanoes to the whiskers on a walrus, experience the beauty and intrigue of our natural world.

  Wildlife Photographer of the Year, produced by the Natural History Museum in London, showcases 100 of the world’s best nature photographs. An international panel of experts selected these images from over 45,000 entries.

  Striking scenes of diverse animal life and changing landscapes come into focus on immersive light panels. Trek through China’s mountains among endangered monkeys and glimpse owls in a bustling Indian city. Experience the many sides of life in the wild—at times surprising and even devastating, but also heartwarming and humorous.   

• Chicago Authored

  Chicago History Museum
  1601 North Clark Street
  Chicago, IL 60614-6038
  

  Discover how those who write about Chicago shape our understanding of the city. Through a digital experience in a café-style space, our first-ever crowd-sourced exhibition features diverse, insightful, and inspiring writing. Explore a collection of works by contemporary authors and literary giants. Add your voice by writing a postcard or composing magnetic poetry.

• Birmingham, Alabama, 1963: Dawoud Bey/Black Star

  Museum of Contemporary Photography
  600 S Michigan Ave
  Chicago, IL 60605
  

  The exhibition Birmingham, Alabama, 1963: Dawoud Bey/Black Star responds to the September 15, 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama—an event that resulted in six deaths of black children by white supremacists. Organized by Dr. Gaëlle Morel, exhibitions curator at the Ryerson Image Centre in Toronto, the exhibition pairs Dawoud Bey’s (American, b. 1953) The Birmingham Project (2012) with a selection of prints from the Black Star archive of photojournalism, providing a historical context for the bombing, and revealing the political and social turmoil that placed the American Civil Rights Movement in the media spotlight during the months leading up to the explosion. Commissioned by the Birmingham Museum of Art, Bey’s The Birmingham Project was created in memory of the children who were killed in Birmingham that day, nearing the 50th anniversary of the tragedy. Each diptych features a portrait of a child at the exact age of one killed in 1963 paired with a portrait of an adult at the age the child would have been in the year 2013. Also on view will be Bey’s 9.15.63, a split screen video exploring the social spaces of the black community in Birmingham alongside a route to the 16^th Street Baptist church from the vantage point of a child in the back seat of a car.

• Ornamental Traditions: Jewelry from Bukhara

  Art Institute of Chicago
  111 South Michigan Avenue
  Chicago, IL 60603
  

  Located in present-day Uzbekistan, the Emirate of Bukhara (1785–1920) was an important center of Islamic religion and scholarship and a major oasis on the famous Silk Road that traversed Central Asia from ancient times. As such, it was highly diverse—home to the majority Uzbek and Tajik populations in addition to communities of Arabs, Jews, and Turkmens who played a role in the emirate’s vibrant trade. Over time, Bukhara developed its own iconic style of jewelry characterized by intricate blue enamelwork that mirrored the region’s blue-glazed, tiled architecture. Russia’s colonization of Bukhara in 1866 brought with it more advanced enameling techniques, allowing for increasingly complex designs.

  In almost every context, the jewelry of Bukhara embodied great meaning and was rarely considered mere decoration. Large, ornate suits of jewelry were thought to protect the wearer from evil spirits, particularly during important events like weddings, and were the strongest assertion of a person’s power and wealth. Throughout Uzbekistan, such objects were designed to be worn as sets rather than exist as singular pieces.

• Sensing Chicago

  Chicago History Museum
  1601 North Clark Street
  Chicago, IL 60614-6038
  

  Use your five senses to uncover the past and discover that history is all around Chicago. Children can ride a high-wheel bicycle, hear the Great Chicago Fire, catch a fly ball at Comiskey Park, smell the Union Stock Yard, and dive into a giant Chicago-style hot dog!

• The S. Leigh Pierson and Douglas R. Conant Readers Hall

  American Writers Museum
  180 N Michigan Ave
  Chicago, IL 60601
  

  In addition to being the museum’s primary event space, Readers Hall also offers interpretive exhibits celebrating the critical role of the reader in American literature, both now and in the past. Visitors can get a glimpse of what everyday Americans were reading throughout history, and weigh in on their favorite reading material.

• Dinosaur Expedition

  Chicago Children’s Museum
  700 East Grand Avenue
  Chicago, IL 60611-3428
  

  Explore this re-creation of the real Saharan expedition where Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno discovered a NEW type of dinosaur. See a life-size skeleton of suchomimus (sue-co-MY-muss), dig for bones in the excavation pit, compare skulls, teeth, and claws with a T-Rex, and learn what it would be like to be part of Paul's expedition team.

• Nuestras Historias

  National Museum of Mexican Art
  1852 W. 19th street
  Chicago, IL 60608
  

  Nuestras Historias (Our Histories) highlights the Museum’s Permanent Collection to showcase the dynamic and diverse stories of Mexican identity in North America. The exhibition presents cultural identity as something that continually evolves across time, regions, and communities, rather than as a static, unchanging entity, and features ancient Mesoamerican and colonial artifacts, modern Mexican art, folk art, and contemporary works from both sides of the U.S.–Mexican border. The vast diversity of Mexican identities demonstrated in these works defies the notion of one linear history and a singular identity.

• Gregg Bordowitz: I Wanna Be Well

  Art Institute of Chicago
  111 S. Michigan Ave.
  Chicago, IL 60603
  

  I Wanna Be Well—named after the 1977 Ramones song—marks the first comprehensive overview of the artist’s prodigious career, which spans three decades of production. Moving between multiple genres including video, art made for television, published poems, site-specific installation, live performance, and rare selections from the artist’s personal archive and library, the exhibition contemplates an expanded concept of portraiture as a mode of political and artistic address.

• Creative Impulse: Works by Robert Johnson and E. Nix

  Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
  756 N Milwaukee Ave
  Chicago, IL 60642
  

  The rarely-exhibited works of Chicago-based artists Robert Johnson and E. Nix are at once extraordinary, challenging and filled with moments of great beauty. Despite each artist working in disparate mediums--Johnson is best known for his reverse glass paintings on discarded windows and Nix’s background is in blacksmithing--their art is similarly informed by personal struggles and their daily efforts to overcome trauma and addiction. Johnson and Nix both have devoted followings among primarily African-American collectors in Chicago, but are largely unknown outside these circles, keeping with Intuit’s dedication to highlighting undervalued artists overlooked by the mainstream art world.

• River North Gallery Tours

  Fabcakes
  714 N. Wells St.
  Chicago, IL 60654
  

  Free and open to the public - weekend gallery tours organized by Chicago Gallery News in partnership with Fabcakes.

  A gallery representative leads a guided tour of four galleries. The gallery roster and tour leader change weekly. Conversation centers on the exhibits and artists on view.

• Seadog River & Lake Architectural Tours

  Seadog Cruises
  Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave.
  Chicago, IL 60611
  

  A 75-minute cruise through the historic Chicago Locks and up the Chicago River
  Up-close views of all the famous bridges of the Chicago River
  Entertaining narration with amusing stories and facts on Chicago’s history
  Fascinating stories about some of Chicago’s most famous buildings including the Tribune Building, Willis Tower, Lyric Opera and the Merchandise Mart
  An exciting speedboat ride along the lakefront featuring views of Chicago including Buckingham Fountain, Grant Park, Chicago Harbor, Chicago’s Museum Campus and more!

• Tuck Everlasting, The Musical

  Valley Youth Theatre
  525 N First St
  Phoenix, AZ 85004
  

  What would you do if you had all eternity? Eleven-year-old Winnie Foster yearns for a life of adventure beyond her white picket fence, but not until she becomes unexpectedly entwined with the Tuck Family does she get more than she could have imagined. When Winnie learns of the magic behind the Tuck’s unending youth, she must fight to protect their secret from those who would do anything for a chance at eternal life. As her adventure unfolds, Winnie faces an extraordinary choice: return to her life or continue with the Tucks on their infinite journey.
  
  Based on best-selling children’s classic by Natalie Babbitt and adapted for the stage by Claudia Shear and Tim Federle, Tuck Everlasting features a soaring score from Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen.

• The Best of The Second City

  The Second City
  1616 N. Wells St.,
  Chicago, IL 60614
  

  Come see where it all began! The Best of The Second City features some of the best sketches, songs, and improvisations from their fifty-two year history performed by The Second City Touring Company. From the company that launched the careers of Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell and more, comes the next generation of the comedy world’s best and brightest performing hilarious sketch comedy and The Second City’s trademark improvisation.

• Small World

  The Den Theatre
  1331 N. Milwaukee Ave.
  Chicago, IL 60622
  

  The New Colony presents the world premiere of SMALL WORLD. It’s the end of the world…maybe? There’s no way to confirm for three cast members trapped inside their attraction at the happiest place on earth. The music won’t stop, there’s a body in the moat and one of the group is impaled under a smiling animatronic. Can they force their way off the ride? And what waits for them on the other side? It’s a world of hopes, it’s a world of fears. It’s a small world, after all.

• Dein Perry’s Tap Dogs

  James M. Nederlander Theatre
  24 W. Randolph St.
  Chicago, IL 60601
  

  This is not just tap. Experience high voltage, rugged, raw talent in the tap dance phenomenon which has taken the world by storm.

  Dein Perry’s TAP DOGS returns to the stage with its trademark blend of live music and tap dance as you’ve never seen before. The New York Observer called it “positively electrifying.”

  Part theatre, part dance, part rock concert and part construction site, the show is crammed with high-energy dance, theatrical performance, and music performed by the cast and live musicians in this unstoppable spectacular. Whether in water, upside-down or jumping through scaffolding, the Tap Dogs have been performing to the beat of their own drum for over 20 years.

• Yan Duyvendak and Omar Ghayatt: Still in Paradise

  Museum of Contemporary Art
  220 E. Chicago Ave
  Chicago, IL 60611
  

  Still in Paradise by Yan Duyvendak and Omar Ghayatt—the prologue to Made in Paradise (2008)—was conceived in the swelling tide since 9/11 in which the Arab world as a whole has become suspect and, for many Westerners, neoliberal values are the only guarantee of a functioning society.

  Ghayatt, who is from Egypt and resides in Bern, envisioned his works with Duyvendak, who is from the Netherlands, to stage their encounters, their doubts, and their differences through a series of scenes that audiences vote for each night. Shared space, time, and dialogue gradually undo preconceived cultural and ideological notions that feed fear and negation.

  Still in Paradise is a show of the history of their project itself that reflects, in its own small way, history at large. Since the end of the Arab Spring, nations have degenerated into either stifling dictatorship or war and disintegration. Europe seems to answer only with fear and the erecting of both inner and outer barriers. Unlike its fragments, Still in Paradise’s finale cannot be voted for; it is imposed.

  Copresented with the Chicago Humanities Festival

• The Bridges of Madison County

  Howard Street Theatre
  721 Howard St.
  Evanston, IL 60202
  

  A musical based on the novel by Robert James Waller. Francesca Johnson, a beautiful Italian woman who married an American soldier to flee war-ravaged Italy, looks forward to a rare four days alone on her Iowa farm when her family heads to the 1965 State Fair. When a ruggedly handsome NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC photographer, Robert Kincaid, pulls into her driveway seeking directions, what happens in those four days may very well alter the course of Francesca's life.

• Máximo the Titanosaur

  Field Museum
  1400 S. Lake Shore Dr.
  Chicago, IL 60605
  

  The titanosaur Patagotitan mayorum is a big deal—literally, the biggest dinosaur that scientists have discovered to date. This long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur lived over 100 million years ago in what is now Patagonia, Argentina. 

  Named Máximo, meaning “maximum” or “most” in Spanish, our titanosaur cast reaches 122 feet across Stanley Field Hall on our main floor and stands 28 feet tall at the head. Modeled from fossil bones excavated in Argentina, this touchable cast conveys the sheer size of the biggest animal ever to live (It’s longer than a blue whale!). Patagotitan weighed about 70 tons in life—that’s as much as 10 African elephants, like the two specimens on display next to Máximo. 

• Utility

  Rivendell Theatre
  5779 N. Ridge Ave.
  Chicago, IL 60660
  

  Interrobang Theatre Project presents the Midwest premiere of Emily Schwend's drama UTILITY, an intimate look at an East Texas woman's struggle to make ends meet, directed by Artistic Director Georgette Verdin.

  Amber is doing everything she can to keep her head above water, but no matter how hard she tries it never seems to be enough. Money is tight, her marriage is in turmoil, and she’s juggling two jobs just to make ends meet. As she struggles to plan her eight-year-old daughter’s birthday party, Amber must stay strong as she feels increasingly invisible in her own life. Meticulous and heartbreaking, Utility offers an empathic glimpse into America's' working poor. Winner of the 2016 Yale Drama Series Prize.

• The Public House Theatre

  The Public House Theatre
  3914 N. Clark St
  Chicago, IL 60613
  

  With its skillfully executed shows, cabaret-style seating, and comfortable and inviting lobby, The Public House Theatre has an experience for everyone! 

  We offer only the best comedy and theatre, and you’ll be delighted at our incredibly friendly staff that strive to make you feel welcome…because you are.

  Our drink specials are amazing and every show is lovingly put together and polished into something you can’t help but enjoy. We’re ready to make any night of your week a very special, entertaining evening.

  We want you to come, we want you to laugh, and we look forward to your visit.

• Queer Eye: The Musical Parody

  The Playground Theater
  3209 N HALSTED ST
  Chicago, IL 60657
  

  Follow your favorite Fab Five as they help an Average Joe find his full potential through self-love, comedy, and song!
  Structured as one full episode, Queer Eye: The Musical Parody features all the avocados you can imagine, a few puppets, and our fav—Betty Who! Join us in this hilarious take on finding acceptance, loving yourself, and embracing your inner Henny, HENNY!

• Pinocchio

  The Chopin Theatre upstairs theatre
  1543 W. Division
  Chicago, IL 60642
  

  The House brings to life this tall tale about telling the truth. Carved from an enchanted stump in a charred forest, toyshop owner Geppeto's small puppet child flourishes. The growing Pinocchio devours books and the complex worlds they reveal. He relishes musicals and the emotional ride they offer. And he longs to sink his adolescent teeth into real relationships and conversations beyond the walls of his storefront home. But his protective father keeps Pinocchio's wild branches trimmed back, and forbids venturing out. A method sure to inspire rebellion in this precocious, curious not-quite-real young man.

• Guards at the Taj

  Steppenwolf Theatre Company
  1650 N. Halsted St.
  Chicago, IL 60614
  

  India 1648. The dawn will reveal for the first time the extraordinary beauty of the Taj Mahal, built as a tribute to the ruler who demanded its construction. But for two hapless imperial guards, the morning light brings with it an unspeakable task that will shake their faith in God, the empire and their lifelong friendship. This boldly funny and deeply moving play examines the true meaning of beauty and the cost of transcendence in a world that confuses the value of both.

• Hannah and Martin

  Theater Wit
  1229 W. Belmont Ave.
  Chicago, IL 60657
  

  Shattered Globe Theatre presents Kate Fodor’s drama HANNAH AND MARTIN, directed by Louis Contey.

  Based on the tumultuous love affair between German-Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt and her mentor, the celebrated German philosopher Martin Heidegger, this emotionally intense drama focuses on the crisis that erupts when Arendt discovers that her former teacher is using his brilliance and fame to help further the goals of the Nazi Party. HANNAH AND MARTIN is a provocative exploration into the activity of thinking and its relation to passion, love, and politics

• Hamilton

  CIBC Theatre
  17 N State St., Suite 810,
  Chicago, IL 60602
  

  HAMILTON is the story of America’s Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington’s right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the new nation’s first Treasury Secretary. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B, and Broadway, HAMILTON is the story of America then, told by America now.

• A Chorus Line

  Ruth Page Center for the Arts
  1016 N. Dearborn St.,
  Chicago, IL 60610
  

  Winner of nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize, this landmark work has electrified audiences around the world. In an empty theatre, on a bare stage, casting for a new Broadway musical is almost complete. For seventeen dancers, this audition is the chance of a lifetime. It’s what they’ve worked for with every drop of sweat and every hour or training, putting their lives on the line for the opportunity to do what they’ve always dreamed of doing: to dance. This singular sensation features an incomparable score including “What I Did for Love,” “One” and “Dance Ten, Looks Three.”