Another Culture Weekend

Once again we packed our weekend with much fun and culture. Bart and I went to lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant with his sister Lage. Then Bart and I headed down to The Greenhouse Theater, a smaller space affiliated with the Tony-winning Victory Gardens Theater. We saw a performance of five one-woman shows, the fruits of Tekki Lomnicki’s class on writing a one-person show. Sunshine attended this class before moving to Ohio and came back to perform her piece, Inconceivable! All in all it proved to be great. Each show had both charm and weight, true delights, relating issues ranging from insights into historical figures to dealing with ludicrous racism during 9/11.
Brava to them all!

After that Bart and I moved on to the Tony-winning Chicago Shakespeare Theater for their latest rendition of Comedy of Errors. Let me tell you, Bart and I have been subscribers for about four years now. We are always impressed, but this show had to be one of the best we have ever seen. Wow! Genius. Brilliant! The show did not just contain Shakespeare’s wacky classic, but another play erected on top of it. The concept took place in London during the 1940’s when a troupe of screen actors get together to film Comedy of Errors and only having 36 hours to do so. They filmed it gratis for the troops fighting Hitler. The new script shined with delicious characters and relationships “on the set.” Yes, it had the obligatory moments such as “CUT!” But it never overused such devices, either. The special effects (bombings!) were fantastic and it even began by staging the prologue as a screening, making it appear flickering and in black & white! Top notch performances (as always at Chicago Shakespeare) and a miraculously expanding set that worked well both as stage and movie studio pieces, complete with cameras and cinema lights [the kind on the stands] creating the perfect atmosphere. Ron West, who wrote the script for the Shepperton Studio scenes and Barbara Gaines (always love her direction!) are to be congratulated, measure for measure. (Sorry for that bad pun.) Just fantastic. If you are in Chicago, don’t miss this one. BRAVO! Not much time left - it runs until June 29.

Today is also Fathers’ Day, so a nod and shout to all our patriarchs out there!
We will be having a lovely dinner with Bart’s father.

Later tonight we’ll have Lage, Dragonfly and Tall Boy over to watch the Tonys. More culture! We of course will be using the magic of TiVo in order to watch.

So, hooray. Another lovely weekend.