South Shore Triathlon

My first triathlon!  It was a pretty good day, but the water was really rough. (Rip tide warnings.)   Luckily this one is a run through the water slog.  I just wanted to finish without injury and smiling.  Done.

 

 

Dose Market and Hugo

Went to see Hugo 3d, and visited the Dose Market beforehand. Hugo was lovely, and we appreciated it 10x thanks to the informal film education from the WexPlex.

Margaret Jenkins Dance at Columbia Dance

Light Moves. A little to reliant on contact improv to create the choreography, perhaps?

"An Intimate Tempest"

We liked this more than would have thought from the Tribune review. Nice collaboration between Shakes and Redmoon. Beautiful puppets and a strong cast.

"Long Gone Lonesome" at the Hideout

Something different from Chicago Shakes. The story of Thomas Fraser, a fisherman and crofter from the remote island of Burra, Shetland. Obsessed with country and the blues, Thomas mastered the styles of his idols - like Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams and Big Bill Broonzy - and made their songs his own. A shy, retiring man, he avoided public performance. Instead, he gave away to family and friends tapes he lovingly recorded in the croft.


At the Hideout!

"Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting" at Lookingglass

Wow. A spectacularly good cast. The story of Jackie Robinson being called into the big leagues. Perhaps not the strongest script, but a nice night out at Lookingglass.

Pina 3D

Now that's great use of 3D. Wonderful. Hope this helps her choreography reach a wide audience.

Penelope at Steppenwolf

Didn't love this as much as we wanted to. Perhaps the casting change threw some things off? Ian Barford was replaced by his understudy.

Book Club: House of Mirth

at Joan's.

Assisted Living at Profile

Great to see Stacey Stoltz in this show. And really close to our home!

Chris Jones's plot summary: At the beginning of the play, set near Boston, we meet Anne, a lower-middle-class woman in her late 30s who has put her mostly unenviable life on hold to take care of a raging mother with dementia (whom we hear but do not see). In the first scene, we do see Anne (played, with a deft mix of defiance and sadness by Stacy Stoltz) interviewing a potential home-help aide named Levi (Jordan Stacey, a young actor very adept at holding his character on the edge). Although an incessant talker skilled at leveraging self-deprecation, Levi immediately seems like trouble. By his own admission, he is an alcoholic with a thin resume and a tendency to get fired. But Anne is lonely and stressed, her mom is difficult and sometimes violent, and this guy seems to offers a solution to myriad problems

Nutcracker at House

The return of Nutcracker. Much the same as last year, but David Caitlin as Drosselmeyer was a nice addition.

Celebration of Chicago Manual of Style

Mr. P, the Chicago Manual geek, went to an event to celebration the history and new edition of CMOS. It was moderated by Alison Cuddy, and included Carol Fisher Saller, Anita Samen, Ben Zimmer (A.M. ’98), and Jason Riggle. Facebooking and Tweeting, oh my.

Clybourne Park at Steppenwolf

Bruce Norris's 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning play about race, class and home ownership. This got rave reviews, but we thought it played a bit cartoony.

The Cripple of Inishmaan

The Druid Theatre Company's The Cripple of Inishmaan at Chicago Shakes. Pretty unrelentingly bleak.

Hercules at Lyric Opera

Only Mr. P went to this one. Peter Sellars directs. Loved it.

"Hercules wears desert camouflage, combat boots and bulky Kevlar vest. Iole appears in a prisoner’s orange jumpsuit, her beautiful face and gleaming blonde hair hidden by a black mesh hood. Hercules’ homecoming party is a backyard barbeque complete with fancy gas grill and plenty of beer."