There were a few weeks left to see the multi-talented Sharriese Hamilton in the moving Chicago Children’s Theatre production of Cheryl L. West’s “The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963” when we had a conversation following a student performance on April 23rd. Hamilton plays the mother of a fun-loving family dealing with an upstart older son and the road trip from their home in Flint, Michigan to her mother’s home in Birmingham, Alabama to help turn things around. The imaginative story plays out through the observations of the Watson’s younger son as he discovers how discrimination and racism impacts his family’s life through events that occur on the trip and in Birmingham. It’s entertaining and enlightening children’s theater—a real conversation starter—dealing, as Hamilton says, “with real issues and real people.”
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If you are a student of 20th century philosophy, the distinguished works of Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger will be familiar. For the rest of us, the Shattered Globe Theatre revival of Kate Foder’s “Hannah and Martin” directed by Louis Contey, is an opportunity to understand the relationship—and passionate love affair—between the young German-Jewish student and her mentor and the impact that the rise to power of the Nazi party had on the course of their lives. Set at various times from their first meeting in 1924 to the 1946 Nuremberg Trials, the play chronicles Heidegger’s fall from grace after his ill-fated public endorsement of Nazi party ideology and the conflict that Arendt and those around him face as a result.
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When Janet Ulrich Brooks decided to bypass a move to Kansas City and land in Evanston, Illinois in 1988, the decision was made in part because of the potential for more artistic work in Chicago’s vibrant theater community. Primarily, she came to help care for her newborn niece, Laura. Looking back on it now she says her role as a nanny was the best day job she ever had.
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This podcast - the 70th in the CONVERSATIONS series and second of three programs recorded in London entitled CONVERSATIONS on High Street - is a fascinating look back 100 years to the end of World War I and the events that followed with author and historian, Neil Hanson.
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Spend a few minutes with the brilliant actor Larry Yando and you might think, as I do, that he is a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. So, when I turned that particular description back to the roles he plays, it launched us on a fascinating conversation about why he has, in fact, ended up most often playing what he termed ‘the meanies.’ Not just your average, everyday meanie, either.
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With over twenty-five years in Chicago theatre, a vast knowledge of Broadway musicals and a new big move to a downtown location, Michael Weber, Porchlight Music Theatre’s Artistic Director, appears to be just getting started.
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Few things are more rewarding than spending time with students who are discovering something for the first time. On a brisk day in March, the topic was Shakespeare: a crisp, shortened version of Midsummer Night’s Dream, in fact, with formidable Chicago talent presented by Chicago Shakespeare Theater in the glorious new versatile performance space known as 'The Yard.'
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For William Massolia, Griffin Theatre Company's Founder and Artistic Director, the last ten years touring LETTERS HOME has been an extraordinary journey that has elevated his understanding of the commitment of our military and the family members who support them. That journey continues in April when LETTERS HOME returns for a run at The Den Theatre in rotating repertory with GHOSTS OF WAR, a new one-man show based on the book by Ryan Smithson.
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The genesis of the idea for Critical Conversations, the spirited new Spertus Institute series debuting March 18th, was framed by another series of critical conversations between President & CEO Dr. Hal M. Lewis and former trustee, the late Eric Joss. They envisioned a series that would bring together strongly divergent perspectives on hot-button issues of the day under the Spertus philosophy that, above all, the conversations strive not to change opinions, but to enhance understanding of individual viewpoints with civility and respect for one another.
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