Gladys Anson

Block Museum Unveils Riches of African History

June 20, 2019 by Gladys Anson

Atlas of Maritime Charts (The Catalan Atlas) [detail of Mansa Musa], Abraham Cresque (1325–1387), 1375, Mallorca. Parchment mounted on six wood panels, illuminated. Bibliothèque nationale de France. On view in exhibition as reproduction.

Few things leave themselves open to expansion and clarification quite as much as history. Those mandatory studies of the past we took in school amount to tiny and often highly skewed slivers of what happened when. Compared to the enormity of events that comprise the whole of human history, they are but droplets on a vast sea.

Seated Figure, Possibly Ife, Tada, Nigeria, Late 13th-14th century, Copper with traces of arsenic, lead, and tin, H. 54 cm, Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments, 79.R18, Image courtesy of National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abuja, Nigeria.

Scheduled to move to Toronto in mid-July before coming to rest in the Smithsonian, Caravan of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa sets a few records straight while letting us peer into a startling and beautiful world where Africans played a pivotal role in global trade. Currently residing in Northwestern’s Block Museum, the exhibit upends much of what we thought we knew about African history and details the staggering influence northern African countries held on the movement of gold, salt and ivory across the Sahara during the Medieval Age from the 8^th to the 16^th century.

Tuareg camel saddle (tarik or tamzak), Algerian Sahara. Leather, rawhide, wood, parchment or vellum, wool, silk, tin-plated metal, brass-plated metal, iron, copper alloy, cheetah skin,75 x 71 x 46 cm. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, gift of the Estate of Dr. Lloyd Cabot Briggs, 1975, 975-32-50/11927 © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

Taking nearly eight years to assemble, the 250 art works and relics collected from Mali, Morocco, Nigeria and Europe give testimony to the depth of influence African cultures had on trade traveling across the Sahara west to the Europe via the Mediterranean and east to Morocco and the Middle East.

Virgin and Child, ca. 1275–1300, France, Ivory with paint, 14 1/2 × 6 1/2 × 5 in. (36.8 × 16.5 × 12.7 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917, 17.190.295

Shaped by colonialism and its legacy of enslavement and exploitation, contemporary views of African history before colonialism virtually does not exist. But it is this period before the continent was plundered that Mali found itself not only the source of half of the world’s salt supply; but also half of its gold supply. The commerce of both generated a sophisticated flow of trade and goods so extensive that Venice, Genoa and Granada were common destinations and departures points supporting it. At its peak during the 13^th century, it saw the rise of the richest man in history, Mansa Musa, whose estimated net worth in modern day dollars has been estimated to have been 400 billion dollars.

Gold jewelry from tumulus 7, Durbi Takusheyi, Nigeria, 13th – 15th century. National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abuja, Nigeria. Photograph by René Müller

The Block Museum’s exhibit has collected and assembled artifacts that reflect the reality of that trade from highly ornate and beautifully elaborate camel seats to the ancient tools and accoutrements used for pressing gold into coins. It also explains the significance of the salt trade and displays the result of how African goods like ivory were transformed into objects of art used in European religious ceremonies.

Admission is free. The experience couldn’t be richer.

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

Through July 22, 2019

The Block Museum of Art

40 Arts Circle Drive

Evanston, IL 60208

847-491-4000

block-museum@northwestern.edu

D.C. ~ in Bloom

April 18, 2019 by Gladys Anson

Photo by National Cherry Blossom Festival

Spring is for lovers…and cherry blossoms. Despite love’s penchant for sometimes proving elusive, over a million people can be counted on to flock to Washington, DC to immerse themselves in pale pink when over 3000 cherry trees unfurl to full bloom. A gift from the wife of the Japanese ambassador to the United States 107 years ago, Viscountess Chinda presented them to President Garfield as a gesture of lasting friendship between the two countries. Usually reaching peak in late March to early April, the trees now symbolize the unofficial arrival of Spring and an irresistible draw to people from all over the world.

The crowds and celebrations commemorating the pink explosion are nearly as impressive as the natural beauty painting the capital when the trees are in bloom. Under the warm rays of a bright sun, the panoramic sweep of the tidal basin is breathtaking. To help visitors time their trips to coincide with the trees’ flowering, the National Park Service begins posting bloom predictions four to six weeks in advance of peak. With parades, fireworks at the city’s gleaming restored harbor, kite festivals and food tie-ins at chic restaurants, festivities surrounding the splendor can border on lavish.

Easily the most popular place to see the trees is along and around the Tidal Basin, the site of the trees first planting with the Jefferson Memorial anchoring the vista’s south end. Arriving early before 8 would be prudent. Paths threading around the Basin may be slightly less thick with people and cameras at that hour. Even in the early morning chill, women will be wearing sleeveless sheer pastels as they strike pose with clouds of cherry blossoms filling the background of their photo ops. Tripods proliferate like sunglasses in Cannes. It’s at the Tidal Basin that the sheer scale of the event becomes visceral. Thousands of people gathered in one spot to take in the abundant beauty of a 100-year-old gift with iconic monuments in the distance and the majesty of a nation’s capital all around you.

Less frenetic opportunities to absorb the spectacle are plentiful. Pockets of calm can be found in late afternoon on quiet walks like the short stroll from Union Station to the Library of Congress. The sidewalks on Independence Ave. are open and wide with a small postcard worthy park filled with resplendent cherry trees and serenity just to your left.

Like any leisure visitor to DC, taking advantage of the chance to gorge on the endless trove of treasures found in many of the capitol’s excellent museums and galleries should be considered mandatory. And while finding them may require recommendations from locals, Washington is also loaded with one of a kind jewels in the neighborhoods you’d be remise to ignore like Eastern Market and Union Market; both in NE.

Eastern Market with its red brick facade and wide variety of specialty meat, fish and other premium concessions is like a micro version of Philadelphia’s massive Reading Terminal Market. Neighborhood scaled, there’s always a long line queued up on weekends for killer blueberry pancakes at the rustic eatery in the market’s north end. Outside, artists and craftsmen from high to not-so-high sell everything from remarkable pottery and rare maps to cleverly irreverent T shirts and eclectic clothing; making the scene a swirling confection of counterculture and fine art.

Union Market; newer, sleeker, hipper has proven itself a formidable rival and has the Fishmonger among its many superb culinary charms in its quiver. It’s Mahi Mahi fish tacos are so bountiful, fresh and delicious, they shoot the standard for excellence up at least ten notches. You can also find one of a kind unisex shoes from the tiny company Sabah. Made of water buffalo hide and hand stitched, their simple beauty ooze of classic good taste and comfort.

Back in the city’s center and along the Mall, the thrills are all visual and housed in sensational architecture. As one of the oldest public buildings in Washington, The National Portrait Gallery is Greek Revival at its finest and now home to a painting that’s been boosting the gallery’s foot traffic since with was installed last February. Much like the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, the official portrait of President Obama by Kehinde Wiley has taken on a life of its own with people lining up to take selfies in front of the life size portrait backfilled with bright leafy green.

President Barack Obama – Portrait Closeup

From one of the city’s oldest public structures, it’s about 3 miles to the far end of the mall and one of the newest and most celebrated buildings in town, the National Museum of African American History and Culture or NMAAHC. Directly across from the still closed Washington Monument, the NMAAHC has been racking up acclaim since it opened two years ago and to date has hosted over 5 million visitors. Long waits and crowded galleries were the norm for months and tickets nearly impossible to secure. Even now, with visitors from around the globe and across the country filling Washington, the mass of people flowing through the museum’s five remarkable floors are imposing and occasionally daunting. As the museum settles into itself and the consciousness of the country, the diversity of visitors continues to expand.

Neither an art gallery or a house regaling the wonders of the natural world, NMAAHC commemorates a people’s past and chronicles their journey to the present. A place where that past is remembered soberly and compassionately. And one where it and the journey to the present are beautifully celebrated.

National Museum of African American History and Culture

David Adjaye, lead designer and Philip Freelon, lead architect brought elements of two worlds together to craft a building whose stately elegance is destined to grow with time. Using aspects of classic Greco-Roman design for its core, the building is tiered with by a series of stacked crowns “inspired by the three-tiered crown used in Yoruban art from West Africa”.

Like so much of the bounty found in Washington, testaments on this scale can’t be entirely absorbed in a single day. Which makes the NMAAHC one more reason among many to return to Washington DC in any season.

Alice Makes it Easy to Get Your Happy On

October 5, 2018 by Gladys Anson

Neo-Futurist alumna Dina Marie Walters (green dress and white apron) as the Rabbit keeps her audience hopping under the CTA tracks.

Eye to eye theater, theater that allows audiences near absolute proximity to the performance is both seminal and thrilling. When it’s done as well as Upended Productions take on Louis Carroll’s childhood classic, Alice in Wonderland, it’s simply delightful.

Upended’s Alice has been considerably sassed up and given so many creative spins that the whole experience can be wonderfully dizzying. The “show” is a walking journey through a small slice of Evanston where fantastical, if sometimes slightly rough hewn, adventures lie behind every door.

There’s something refreshingly organic about traipsing from small business to small business and finding the nook in each one where a little story telling magic is happening. The cast is made up of a rotating army of folks. Some more permanent than others.

The audience, a maximum of 15 people, is given ground rules for the 90-minute escapade by a white rabbit who also acts as guide. Rabbits change frequently and on this outing the teacher rabbit (Caitlan Savage) was up. On the bossy side, her gruff chiding was all bark and no bite. Showing up a few minutes late to let everybody assemble and chill in the Alice vibe created in State Farm’s back office, the meet up spot, her colorful opening spiel hinted at how interesting this sojourn was going to be.

The Factory Theater’s Risha Hill (pink shirt, print hat) covers Chapters 2 and 3 of the adventure in the canning/barrel room at Sketchbook Brewing Co.

As tempting as it is to give a blow by blow of every stop (chapter), highlights should work well enough to provide a good feel for the experience. The first chapter was in Sketchbook Brewery a couple of doors south. We were a motley crew and the brewery’s patrons looked with bemusement as we clamored down the back steps for a puppet show hosted by a meek self-deprecating mouse (Kevin Ayles) getting the business from a couple of pint sized stick puppets manned by Risha Hill and Jermaine Thomas. If you remember the book, you’ll probably know who the actors are parodying. If not, it’s just fun watching them go through their schtick.

One overwhelming highlight was Chad the bird (Josh Zagoren), a hand puppet. Think intellectually gifted savant super charged on too much adrenaline with an extraordinary gift for word play. To say Chad was “yomazing” doesn’t do him justice.

Consistent throughout the Alice performance, central nuggets of the original plot were respectfully retained and then often overlaid with a distinctly contemporary and highly sophisticated sensibility. All the while making it quite accessible to children as young as six.

There was a stop in an alley to encounter a slightly imbalanced magician and a very memorable swing through Cultivate, a posh plant emporium. There, the Queen (Quinn Hegarty) regally and imposingly presided while lip syncing Annie Lenox. She was a nice queen and gave everybody a rose. Downstairs two adorable young ladies jabbered barely intelligible; but highly entertaining, gibberish before sending us on our way.

Quinn of SADHAUS is The Queen in a red wrap at Cultivate

I think it was the patio stop after the quick but enchanting tea party at the train station that threatened to tip the scales and tilt the performance into the land of “for mature audiences only”. The peril never materialized which made Laura McKenzie’s performance all the more delicious for her stunning ability to keep the razor safely tucked away between her tongue and her cheek. She was marvelous.

By the time we wound up at a pretty cool local bookstore (Squeezebox Books and Music) where a tag team of good cop bad cop was doing a great job confusing us, every member of the audience, young and not so young, were smiling unabashedly and basking in the restorative powers of fantasy.

Placing a name on this type of performance is an extreme challenge. Is it immersive? Or do you call it environmental because it so participatory? Perhaps the best description would be to simply call it absolute fun. And you would be very hard pressed to find to a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon in the 10,856 square miles that make of Chicago.

But catch it soon. Alice closes on October 21^st and there’s no guarantee it will be reprised next year.

Alice

Upended Productions

Runs Saturdays and Sundays through October 21

Tours begin at 1 p.m., 1:15 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 1:45 p.m., & 2 p.m.

Meet at LaCapra State Farm office, 829 Chicago, Evanston, IL

$25 for single tickets; $17 for students and seniors with ID

www.UpEndedProductions.com

224-999-2942

A Tasty View of the Taste

July 13, 2018 by Gladys Anson Leave a Comment

Just one hour past noon and the Taste of Chicago’s Main Street, Columbus Drive, was swimming in people and all of them seemed to be in terrific spirits. That good times energy stayed locked in place throughout the 2 hours of back and forth looking for that perfect “taste” that would mark the discovery of a new dining jewel.

Excursions to the Taste tend to be couple and small group affairs which meant the air was filled with questions like, “Where should we start first?”, “What do you feel like?” and “How many tickets do you have left?”

If you haven’t been to the Taste of Chicago in a while, enough has changed that you might feel a little disoriented. Grabbing a map when you snag your tickets would be a smart move.

Tickets come in $10 blocks of 14 tickets. On average, $20 or 28 tickets should easily fill the tank. But if your strategy is to spend several hours in the mix, you’ll need to up your investment accordingly. Options remain clearly listed in front of each booth, pop-up or food truck. And as usual, you can get full portions as well as taste servings. Most people still opt for the smaller portions and the size of that taste still can vary wildly.

Aunty Joy’s Jamaican Kitchen, new to the party as of this year, should be a favorite for all the right reasons. Jerk options are all over the place but I doubt if many of them can clear the high bar Auntie Joy’s has set. Succulent isn’t a word you usually hear about a Taste of Chicago experience but it certainly applies to the offerings at booth #38. The taste portion includes two respectable drumsticks and your choice of a slice of white bread or, what’s highly recommended, a Festival which is a chubby cylinder of fried dough. With its slightest hint of sugar that plays off so beautifully with the wonderful spices used to flavor the chicken, the dish is a hands down winner. Moist, tender and delicious, thoughts of scoring the full portion were seriously entertained. But no, more adventures beckoned.

Jerk Chicken with Festival – photo by Jaclyn Rivas

Sun Wah, a staple in little Viet Nam up on Broadway and Argyle, has been enjoying notable fame and glory for their prowess with duck for years. Another newcomer to the taste this summer, the curious wondered how they’d be treating their renowned Peking specialty. Heading to booth 24 to find out, a new Taste reality reared its head.

Not all vendors are there for all 5 days of the festival. There’s a little strip of booths dedicated to Pop Ups, or one day concessions, that change from one day to the next. Sun Wah’s day in the sun was yesterday. So, if not duck, what?

There are certain combinations that sound heavenly. Lobster and mac and cheese is one of them which may explain the long line waiting patiently in front of Da Lobsta, a food truck on the far south end of the drive. The decision to wait in that queue verified you can’t always believe a long line means good food. With small flecks of fake lobster studded on top of mediocre mac and cheese, you have the Taste of Chicago of old. Perhaps not a rip-off, but definitely a disappointment. Chucking most of that sad delusion into the trash and beginning to wither in the heat, a break and a rethink were in order.

The Taste of Chicago has never been known to be very accommodating when considering the comfort of the thousands of people prowling the thoroughfare for fun food. But on the north end of the strip and beneath a thick haven of shade trees, a wide and long swath of brightly colored and inventively decorated astroturf was provided for folks to stop and drop. Located in an area designated as the Artist Garden, it proved the perfect to spot to recharge and decide to go back and check out what some of the other new concessions had to offer.

Hakka Bakka Indian Kati Rolls was doing their one day shot on Pop Up row and had something called the chicken tikka kati roll. After hearing the server’s rather vague description, it still sounded like it had potential. My understanding of Kati rolls is that they’re usually crisp and dry. These are not and remind you more of a thick, moist crepe. Even though the portion size may have been modest compared to Auntie Joy’s, the flavor satisfaction compared favorably to those delightful drumsticks. The spice profile was definitely on point and the chicken was beautifully prepared. If anything, the dish could have used just a small sprinkle more of salt to allow all of the flavors to bloom more fully. It was still a wonderful choice and, for some, having two exceptional experiences at a Taste outing is practically unheard of.

But there were still 10 tickets looking for reason to fly and, for all practical purposes, only one place to release them. Esperanza, also making their debut this year, was featuring mango sorbet with swirls of red chili syrup and topped with fresh mango chunks. Ideal for any otherwise sated but weary and overheated hedonist. Granted, 10 tickets is steep and the diced mango may have been far from ripe, but the cup was deep and the satisfaction of repeated spoon dives in restorative sorbet was mighty. Those 10 tickets were well used.

It’ll be a challenge to get back to the Taste before the tents fold on Sunday, but it’s definitely worth a valiant try.

Taste of Chicago

July 11 – 15, 2018

Grant Park

Chicago

High Harmony When West Meets East

May 8, 2018 by Gladys Anson

With its startling ability to change shape, color and texture, music is a lot like an octopus or squid. And, as we heard Tuesday night at Symphony Center, it can even morph into entirely new musical species. Zakir Hussain, the extraordinary Indian tabla player, in partnership with bassist Dave Holland, blended two musical forms to create a stunning hybrid. Dubbing the merging of jazz and Indian classical music CrossCurrents, they performed some of the most exciting music imaginable on Symphony Center’s modified for intimacy stage.

That jazz has been influenced by Indian classical music may be common knowledge. But the impact of jazz on Indian popular music is so little known that it might as well be a secret. When the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers began screening in Indian movies houses way back when, Bollywood was paying attention to the music as well as the storyline. The majestic big band sounds and decidedly jazzy melodies that framed the films were immensely popular in the land of the tiger. According to Hussain, many Indian musicians could easily relate to the improvisational flexibility of jazz. Some began to incorporate a component that is a key element of jazz but alien to the music they played; harmony. These musicians began to influence other musicians who were more ingrained in India’s popular music culture. Jazz has now been absorbed enough into the subcontinent that it can be found woven into the region’s musical traditions. Two of the its original enthusiasts, Louiz Banks and Sanjay Divecha, were performing with Hussain that evening.

Frequently the concert’s program states the song list will be announced from the stage. That doesn’t happen very often and when you’re listening to completely unfamiliar music, you’re at a total loss in identifying what you’re hearing. For the CrossCurrents performance, what’s undeniable is that you are experiencing something unique enough to be profound and beautiful enough to be considered quite rare. Binding the harmonies of jazz to the mystery, beauty and drama of Indian classical music allowed both to stretch in wonderful new directions.

A virtuoso on the tabla, Hussain also lectures on music at both Princeton and Stanford. His instrument, membraned drums played primarily with the palms and fingers, can offer higher and softer notes than standard drums but still deliver the thunder. When you hear the sounds he conjures from his instrument, you both understand and feel the depth of his musical knowledge. Downbeat’s critics poll voted him best percussionist in 2015. It’s rare to see someone so at home and free in the midst of a performance. And that sense of comfort on stage was shared by the other musicians and vocalist, Shankar Mahadevan. Mahadevan, considered “one of the greatest Indian vocalist alive” gave fresh meaning to exquisite. Meshing a voice that resonates from antiquity into the harmonic melodies was astounding to experience. Insuring the fullness of this musical hybrid’s harmony was completely realized, Chris Potter’s phenomenal saxophone performance acted as one of the essential bridges tying the two worlds of CrossCurrents together.

With no intermission, they played nearly two and a half hours, testing the physical and schedule limits of some in the audience. Those caught up in the band’s spell simply relished the breadth this inspired musical blend was able to achieve. Time be damned.

Zakir Hussain and Dave Holland: CrossCurrents

Symphony Center presents Jazz Series

May 1, 2018

Symphony Center

220 S. Michigan Ave.

Chicago, Il 60604

Blind Date Looks Back

March 4, 2018 by Gladys Anson

A line in Blind Date states, “we are the sum of our choices”. It’s an apt sentiment describing playwright Rogelio Martinez’s story about a 1985 meeting of titans in Geneva, Switzerland during the waning years of the Cold War. The United States and Russia hadn’t been talking for years. An ominous pall that had been shrouding the world as the result of a superpower stalemate persisted. What would happen if the two most powerful men on the globe, Ronald Reagan and Russia’s Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to sit down face-to-face for the first time? Would the outcome of this diplomatic date be good or bad?

The Goodman’s production, with Artistic Director Robert Falls directing, does a fine job of recreating the sense of historic consequence surrounding the summit. The diplomatic dance between Secretary of State George Schultz (Jim Ortlieb) and Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eduard Shevardnadze (Steve Pickering) carries the heft of true gravitas.

But it’s the interchange between the women that gives the play its soul. No matter how powerful the man, there is often a very smart woman weighing in on how things should transpire. Nancy Reagan’s petite stature and chic reserve belied the formidability of her influence. And from the vantage point of the play, her Russian counterpart, Raisa Gorbachev (Mary Beth Fisher) was just as imposing intellectually and strategically.

The scene capturing their private tea in the White House revealed how easily such tête-à-têtes can devolve into wars fought in velvet. As Nancy Reagan, Deanna Dunagan not only nailed her appearance and speech, she also caught that steely unflappability that was so much a hallmark of former First Lady’s character. During the tea, the two women appraised each other as if they were inspecting livestock. Neither seemed pleased with what she found. Allowing each of them to speak directly to the audience as if they were confidentially expressing their inner thoughts, the tension between them gets leavened with humor.

As solid a performance as you get on any stage, Blind Date succeeds in bringing the past forward to be re-examined through the lens of the present. Ronald Reagan (Rob Riley) receives unusually sympathetic treatment. Not only does he convey an air of heady competence, there’s a courtliness about the character that exudes confidence. One sees none of the peeved indignation that characterized his speech in front of the Germany’s Brandenburg Gate two years after the Swedish summit ; nor was there an inkling of the man who repeatedly referred to the Soviet Union as the “evil empire”.

Endowed with a cast of thoroughbreds, each of the play’s lead performers dispatched their roles with perfect poise and assurance. Scenic designer Riccardo Hernandez’s clever technique of placing some of the sets within a revolving silo was novel and quite effective.

Blind Date

January 20 – February 25, 2018

Goodman Theater

170 N. Dearborn

Chicago, IL 60601

Restaurant Week Charmer – Tortoise Supper Club

February 13, 2018 by Gladys Anson Leave a Comment

There’s probably a number of ways to do Restaurant Week well and the Tortoise Supper Club’s rendition ranks high among them. Keeping it very simple and straightforward, they corral a diverse selection of their standard offerings and feature them at a dramatic discount. And they don’t skimp on either the portions or the quality. The diner gets a true representation what the restaurant brings to the table on a daily basis; allowing them to make a reasoned decision to return or not.

Although it’s still not clear whether lunch is absolutely the best way to do Restaurant Week, the Tortoise Supper Club version presents a convincing case for the theory. Ordered separately on the standard menu, the prime rib sandwich, seasonal (split pea) soup and cherry pie would have totaled $33.85. Adhering to the city wide standard three course set price of $22 for lunch; Tortoise’s lunch deal is excellent. Course options are broad enough to appeal to a wide range of tastes and include a tuna poke bowl and whitefish as main entrees.

Bacon, finely diced carrots, and onions dotted the rustic and wonderfully savory first course soup. Ample and succulent slices of prime rib overflowed a warm and crispy baguette. A light Au jus, mayo and a generous tin of rosemary flecked fries shared a serving board with the sandwich. The fries could have been less pillow soft and the pie could have been warmed; but those grievances are miniscule compared to the total experience.

As delightful as the lunch was, the atmosphere of the room was just a pleasing. Lunch seating is in a smaller eating area adjacent to the main dining room and will be a spoken preference when making future reservations. With only a dozen or more tables, it’s a much more intimate space and exudes a quiet air of classy serenity. Crimson walls, low lights and wonderful banquettes in red leather.

Waitstaff goes a little formal in black dresses and pearls; adding yet another note of polish to the experience. Attentive and respectfully cordial, they flowed through the space with efficient precision.

Tucked in the shadow of Marina Towers on the State St. side, the Tortoise Supper Club feels like an oasis of calm in the midst of a bustling city. As an added bonus, for Restaurant Week, TSC also featured Martinis for $6; a $4 price reduction. The gin version was quite acceptable and just a tad too potent to finish.

Tortoise Supper Club

350 N. State St.

Chicago, Illinois 60654

312-755-1700

Home

Live Jazz

7:30p – 11:30p Friday

8:30p – 12:00a Saturday

Breath, Boom Glows at the Athenaeum

November 17, 2017 by Gladys Anson

You don’t need a Gatesian bankroll to make exceptional theater as Eclipse Theatre Company is proving with its current production of Breath Boom at the Athenaeum.

Megan Storti (left) and BrittneyLove Smith (photo by Scott Dray)

Playwright Kia Corthron’s look behind the veil at how the young cope in the very violent world of our inner cities feels like an indictment of all of the factors that frustrate their success. In Breath, Boom, the message does not sound didactic. By letting the story unfurl from the minds and voices of the characters, there is a much more personal connection made between cause and effect.

Using the female voice deepens the impact of the play. Conditioned to think of gang affiliation as the sole province of men, we forget that similar allegiances can be made among women with the same devastating results.

Opening with a savage beating as three girls attack a fourth, the brutality of the assault is deepened when we learn all of them share membership in the same group. The attack is meant to teach a lesson. The leader, Prix (BrittneyLove Smith), is only sixteen and is about as cold and dispassionate as a corpse. The scowl she wears is the face of someone whose light has been extinguished. When she says don’t be late for a drive by, you know she means it.

Only when she can create does Prix express joy. That’s when she lets her imagination fly and think about a future. Those moments are rare and her creative obsession of designing fireworks is as unorthodox as it is improbable.

Even at 16 she knows she can’t stay in the game much longer. In two years, she’d be charged as an adult for anything she’d be arrested for.

It’s a common plight. The laws of the street overrule the remoteness of dreams and she eventually finds herself behind bars. It’s there we see most clearly that the connective bond that ties these stilted lives together is intractable poverty. It can make the sale your body for a Big Mac or being a mule to pay for your kid’s school shoes completely plausible.

Breath, Boom boasts a wonderfully strong supporting cast. Some of the most impressive were found in lockup. Destiny Strothers’ portrayal of Cat, a 14-year-old arrested for prostitution hit like a lightning strike. Giddy, bold and oblivious to boundaries, she seemed as tough as she talked until the cracks started to appear. The acceptance of one’s death as something to be accepted soon rather than as a remote eventuality seemed as ludicrous as it was real. Picking out the dress you’d wear in your casket and choosing a play list for your funeral as a teenager put an unexpected face on nihilism.

Breath, Boom’s overriding strength is the distinct ring of its truth. Watching Prix go from an angry “gangsta” to a 28-year-old has been with enough inner integrity to regret made you wonder just how many thousands of her are out there. Children whose aspirational ceilings at birth is no higher than mere survival and would remain only that.

Eleanor Kahn’s set design was spare and on point. The cast was marvelous doing double duty as adroit stage hands between scenes.

Director Mignon McPherson Stewart wrung every ounce of goodness from this essential story of people the larger world pretend are invisible.

Without such a capable supporting cast, the impact of Breath, Boom could not have achieved its power.

Jalyn Green as Prix’s friend Angel, who after those twelve years continued to nurture their relationship, wowed everyone with her take on a no-nonsense mother on an outing with the kids. Megan Storti as Prix’s cell mate Denise was a great reminder at how complex and incongruous the ways of the streets can be.

Breath, Boom

November 12 – December 17

Eclipse Theatre Company

Athenaeum Theatre

2936 N. Southport Ave.

Chicago, IL 60657

Tickets: www.eclipsetheatre.com

Choir Boy Uncommon Hero

November 9, 2017 by Gladys Anson

Curious minds love the unexpected. Visiting a new story is chance to be surprised. If you’re lucky you’ll even be moved. If you’re exceptionally lucky, you’ll also laugh. All those things and more sloshed through Raven Theater’s production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy. Fresh as a sunrise, the hour and a half play made you feel as if they were drinking from a bottomless trough of Dom Perignon. Even when it was over, you wanted more.

We’ve seen stories of strong black men. But Pharus Jones (Christopher W. Jones) fits no standard profile of a hero. An outsider among outsiders, his battles only ends when he sleeps.

We meet him at the end of his sophomore year at Drew Prepatory School, a high school created to mold young black men into exemplars. Thinkers, doers and triumphants. Pharus is all of those things but the aspect of himself that makes him different, the thing he doesn’t hide or suppress or apologize for sets him far apart. We can call him an alpha other. Respected, yes. But also reviled or simply shunned because of his refusal to pretend. Pharus’s sole ambition at Drew, thanks to his impressive musical gifts and indomitable ambition, is to lead the school’s all male chorus. His nemesis, ardent homophobe and fellow choir boy Bobby (Patrick Agada), can’t touch his arsenal of intellect and resolve. Their rivalry is ceaseless and vitriolic.

McCraney knows what he’s dealing with; a powerful writhing Anaconda of a story. You could get lost in the tension. His brilliance was to modulate conflict with the most sublime form of love. Black spirituals. It’s a wonder that it all melded together so beautifully. The music, all acapella and all exquisitely performed, acted as a balm; giving the audience a chance to breathe and the story a chance to transition from plateau to plateau.

Early on David (Darrin Patin) stood out. He looked different. He spoke differently. And there was stillness in him that drew cautionary attention. A go along to get along guy, he aspired to the ministry and declared he “walked with the Lord” with all the sincerity of a earnest 17-year- old. Radar picked him up for a reason.

Treading through vistas of the male psyche, pushing back tall grasses revealing the underpinnings of male sexuality; all within a black context, had the effect of watching the Northern lights. A brilliantly complex display of natural wonder that, in this case, also asked what it takes to accept ourselves as well as others.

High school is treacherous regardless of where you live or what you look like. I can’t imagine even the adored really enjoying it. All of the surreptious and blatant clawing and judging. To enter that battle with a scarlet letter hanging from your belt buckle will make you or break you. That’s what makes Pharus so refreshing. Finally a character who doesn’t attempt to disappear into the woodwork. One who fully recognizes what they have to offer the world and is his own unflagging champion. What the world forgets is that for every person like him, there are more who share his differentness but not his courage.

McCraney gives them all their own dignity. The supportive cast is amply supplied with lines that make their characters’ blood pulse red. Pharus’s jock roommate A.J. (Tamarus Harvell) is as even keeled as Solomon and has the good sense to judge a person by what they do for others rather than who they want to sleep with.

Even Junior (Julian Otis), sidekick to the heavy, knows where to draw the line between loyalty and ethical integrity.

Patrick Agada, Julian Otis, Don Tieri and Christopher W. Jones – Photo by Dean La Prairie

You’d think a killer story, great performances and astute directorial skills would have been enough to seal the deal on the play’s exceptionalism. And they did. But the lily was extensively gilded with the richest language plucked directly from the streets. Two ladies sitting one row back gasped with recognition listening to it making the joy in their muted laughter exuberant nonetheless. They connected with it and they loved it. I don’t think a playwright could ask for a better accolade to his work.

The MacArthur genius award is no wannabe. It’s an award given to visionaries and intended for people who toil in a place where intelligence and creativity merge in the stratosphere. What they give the world are gifts. Choir Boy is one of those gifts.

Choir Boy

September 27 – November 12, 2017

Raven Theater

6127 N. Clark St

Chicago, IL

773-338-2177

Bonci Spittin’ Pizza Fire

November 6, 2017 by Gladys Anson

A pizza town always has room for one more player; especially one with bona fides directly from Rome. Bonci arrives with tons of cred, a boatload of creativity and a delectable crust. You won’t be alone if you walk in and fall into instalove as soon as you look down at that long row of gorgeous pizza in big rectangular trays.

Ground rules: They sell pizza by the pound, not by the slice. Each slice is cut with scissors to keep all of the ingredients in place. The folks behind the pizza are nice. They know you’ll be overwhelmed if you’re a newbie and will guide you along. And unless things have changed very very recently, they don’t take cash.

Back to the pizza. Bonci gained fame and fortune with his original pizza al taglio (by the slice) in Italia. The west Loop location at 161 N. Sangamon (just below Lake) is his first venture in the U.S. The crusts are all that and then some. Light, airy and crisp. A great foil for either uniquely innovative or highly traditional toppings. You won’t see any menus on their website because the toppings change frequently. In one season, they plan to run through as many as 45.

The great thing about this concept, which combines organic flour, damn near artisanal ingredients and the process of a master craftsman, is that the quality bangs through every bite. Each slice is about 8” long. You decide the width. The average is 2 to 3”. Hefty.

Best of all, you are not limited to one pizza experience when you go. Four slices will fill the average joe to the brim and each slice can be worlds apart from the other three. Or you can stay within a theme, carnivore deluxe or diva light and subtle. Of the six slices on the most recent Bonci foray, the spicy eggplant and the meatball pizzas took gold and silver. All for under 20 bucks.

The only regret is that I didn’t eat in. It was early on a Friday and they weren’t crazy busy. The space has a nice relaxed vibe at that time of day and pizza with a well bodied craft beer would have been chill.

Bonci

161 N. Sangamon

312-243-4016

https://bonciusa.com/