By Philip Vidal
One of the joys of writing for Classic Chicago Magazine is researching and learning more about Chicago. While writing this article I have discovered interesting aspects of Chicago’s past, legacies of the past, and of course there is always something new in the present time.
For example, I knew about Hull House, the settlement house that opened on Chicago’s Near West Side by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr in 1889. I also knew that there was an outpost of Hull House, the Jane Addams Center, at 3212 North Broadway, just down the alley from where I grew up on Melrose Street. Back in the 1960s, it was a community center that housed a pool in the basement (where I learned to swim), a gym on the top floor, and a theater. I also knew that many local theater groups started there in the 1960s-1990s. But what I didn’t know was that theater was a part of Hull House’s original mission. I just recently learned that Hull House opened an amateur theater in 1899 and played a role in the development of community theater in Chicago, the Little Theatre movement, improv, and Chicago’s nonprofit theatre scene.
Visit the last remaining building of the Jane Addams Homes at the Grand Opening Weekend of the National Public Housing Museum, April 4-6, 919 South Ada. Photo by National Public Housing Museum.
Jane Addams’ legacy continues and remains relevant today. The Grand Opening Weekend of the National Public Housing Museum, 919 South Ada, is April 4-6 in one of the last remaining Jane Addams Homes, named after Jane Addams and among the first public housing projects in Chicago. In researching the Grand Opening Weekend, I discovered that the multi-talented artist Edgar Miller, whose work was the subject of the recent exhibition entitled “Edgar Miller: Anti-Modern, 1917-1967” at the DePaul Art Museum, designed the Animal Court, seven monumental sculptures at the Jane Addams Homes.
Celebrating the legacy of theater at Hull House, an exhibition and festival entitled “Act Well Your Part” runs April 14-May 7 at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. The festival and exhibition take their name from the inscription over the original Hull House Theater stage, ‘Act Well Your Part, There All the Honour Lies.’
The 2024/25 Ryan Opera Center Ensemble takes the stage at the Rising Stars in Concert 50th Anniversary at the Lyric Opera House, April 25. Photo credit to Kyle Flubacker.
Chicago has a long history of music, and that legacy continues. The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center’s Rising Stars in Concert 50th Anniversary celebration is April 25 at the Lyric Opera House. The Chicago Chamber Music Society wraps up its 89th season with a performance by the Chicago Piano Quartet on April 26 at a private club just off Michigan Avenue, with an optional dinner following the performance.
Follow Henry Johnson as he navigates a series of encounters, both in the corporate world and in prison. The Midwest premiere of “Henry Johnson” hits the stage of the former Biograph Theater, April 9-May 4. Photo credit to JP Gibson.
Two names that regularly pop up when researching Chicago’s theater scene are Victory Gardens Theater, founded in 1974, and playwright David Mamet. Victory Gardens Theater reopens in the former Biograph Theater (where gangster John Dillinger was shot and killed in the alley next door) with the Chicago premiere of David Mamet’s new play “Henry Johnson” starring Thomas Gibson and Keith Kupferer, who won accolades for his role in the 2024 film “Ghostlight,” April 9-May 4.
Don’t miss the Chicago premiere of Josh Harmon’s “Prayer for the French Republic,” April 10-May 11, at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts. Photo credit to Greg Inda.
We are fortunate that Chicago has many brilliant actors. One of those is Janet Ulrich Brooks. She stars in the Northlight Theatre co-production with Theater Wit of Josh Harmon’s “Prayer for the French Republic” at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, April 10-May 11.
Before joining Saturday Night Live (SNL), both Tina Fey and Amy Poehler started their careers at the Chicago improv group The Second City. The two SNL alumnae will perform together at the Rosemont Theatre for the “Tina Fey & Amy Poehler: Restless Leg Tour” April 6.
Founded in 1982, Stage Left Theatre presents Stephanie Murphy’s “The Distrikt of Lake Michigun: A Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Ridiculous Tragedy (and also completely factual and also true)” through April 27. The play is performed at Water Tower Place in Streeterville, which is appropriate as it tells the story of ‘Captain’ George Streeter. The Near North Side neighborhood of Streeterville was named after this colorful character who claimed part of the lakefront as his own.
A humorous and emotional look at the complexities of friendship. Performances for Alan Ball’s “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress” begin April 25 at St. Bonaventure. Photo by Saint Sebastian Players.
Also founded in 1982, the community theater group St. Sebastian Players has been true to their motto, “Great theater, right around the corner.” Their 2024/2025 season wraps up with Alan Ball’s “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress” April 25-May 18
I am sure the clients of couturier Christian Dior would not have been caught dead wearing the same dress as another woman. Learn from Matthew Yokobosky, Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture at the Brooklyn Museum, how Dior became one of the most influential designers of the last century by attending his talk “Christian Dior: The First Twenty Collections” on April 9 at the Alliance Française de Chicago. It’s the first of four programs that make up the Alliance’s Symposium on the Arts of France, whose theme this year is “Exploring the Revolutionary Ideas, Figures and Events that Shaped the History of French Art.”
The Women’s Board of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago presents Vernissage 2025, the opening benefit and first access to EXPO Chicago, April 24. Photo credit to Jeremy Lawson Photography.
Hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s Women’s Board, Vernissage 2025 on April 24 supports the museum’s learning programs. It’s the opening benefit for EXPO Chicago, the International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art, running through April 27 at Navy Pier and featuring over 170 galleries from 36 countries and 93 cities.
Celebrating her 60th anniversary as a choreographer, Twyla Tharp brings her diamond jubilee tour to the Harris Theater in “Twyla Tharp Dance” April 10-12. The program includes the premiere of Tharp’s “Slacktide,” set to music by composer Philip Glass and arranged and performed by Chicago’s Third Coast Percussion. I only recently learned that Glass studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Chicago.
Giordano Dance Chicago returns to the Harris Theater in their 62nd season with SOARING, April 4-5. Photo courtesy of Harris Theater.
Founded in 1963 by Gus Giordano, Giordano Dance Chicago has been under the direction of his daughter, choreographer Nan Giordano, for the past 40 years. Giordano Dance Chicago performs “Soaring: Life, Light and Legacy” at the Harris Theater April 4-5. The mixed-rep program includes “Soaring,” a piece she created to honor her son Keenan, who died last year. Giordano’s Life, Light and Legacy Gala Celebration at Avli immediately follows the April 5th performance.
Chicago’s Hedwig Dances has a soft spot in my heart because Hedwig was my paternal grandmother’s given name. Hedwig Dances opens its 40th season at the Ruth Page Center, April 26-27, with “Hedwig + The Bauhaus,” three Bauhaus-inspired works choreographed by Hedwig Dances’ Founder/Artistic Director, Jan Bartoszek. One of the pieces, “LightPlay,” was inspired by the life and work of Bauhaus artist László Moholy-Nagy, the Hungarian artist and professor who worked at the Bauhaus in Germany before coming to Chicago. I didn’t know that it was Chicagoan Walter Paepcke who invited Moholy-Nagy to become director of the short-lived New Bauhaus in Chicago.
It was forty years ago that John Hughes’ movie “The Breakfast Club” hit the screens. I remember seeing it with my sister in the ground floor theater at Water Tower Place when the movie was released. The movie was filmed at Maine North High School in Des Plaines. See the original cast of the movie, including Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall, Emilio Estévez, Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald, at C2E2, the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, which runs April 11-13 at McCormick Place. Stars from many other movies, such as “Lord of the Rings” will also attend.
A unique one night event featuring short silent films with newly-composed musical scores performed live at the Music Box Theatre, April 2. Photo by Music Box Theatre.
Chicagoans love the movies. Watch new short silent films accompanied by live performances of newly-composed musical scores at the 20th anniversary Access Contemporary Music’s Sound of Silent Film Festival on April 2 at the Music Box Theatre.
The 10th year of Chicago’s only all-documentary film festival, Doc10, has an incredible lineup for several venues across Chicago, April 25-May 4. Photo by Doc10.
I knew about the Onion City Experimental Film Festival, now its 35th year, but didn’t realize it’s a competition. The festival runs April 3-6 at Chicago Filmmakers Firehouse Cinema with other events at FACETS, Leisure Gallery, Northwestern’s Block Cinema and Public Works Gallery. The 41st Chicago Latino Film Festival runs April 3-14 at the Davis Theater, Instituto Cervantes and Landmark Century Centre Cinema with fifty-one feature films and thirty short films. In its tenth year, Chicago’s only all-documentary film festival, Doc10, runs April 25-May 4 at the Davis Theater, the Gene Siskel Film Center and other venues across Chicago. The festival curates the best documentaries from the most prestigious film festivals across the U.S.
Get your tickets now for the Newberry Library Award Celebration on May 2 at the Drake Hotel honoring Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Dates, times, locations and availability are subject to change.
