W. Washington News

On Thursday, April 4, two days after Chicago's municipal election run-off, the 2019 CHF Presents Spring series will kickoff with one of Chicago's most powerful women, Valerie Jarrett. Jarrett will reflect on her longtime friendship with the Obama family, her time in public service from LaSalle Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, and what she plans to do next. Jarrett's event will be held at KAM Isaiah Israel Temple in Hyde Park.

Real life isn't easily split into two categories, comedy and drama. It's a mixture of joy and grief, often at the same time. Every Brilliant Thing captures that perfectly. The one-man show tells the story of an unnamed man whose mother tried to commit suicide multiple times. In an effort to show her all the things she has to live for, he begins a lifelong list of brilliant things when he's only 7 years old.  

Adapted from the classic adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1873, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager: New friends, strange acquaintances, and careful planning could be the only way...Though this was only possible if nothing would hinder his success? Did we mention that there is a warrant out for his arrest?

Education and race: there aren't too many issues that are more divisive in our country at the moment. The Indiana Repertory Theatre's current Upperstage production, Pipeline, tackles them both. The 90 minute play keeps a frantic pace as Nya, a public school teacher, finds out her teenage son has gotten into a fight at his private school.  

Three men claiming to be Sherlock Holmes are being held in an asylum on an island. The famous detective's trusty sidekick, Dr. Watson, must make his way to the remote isle to identify the true Sherlock. The Indiana Repertory Theatre's season opener is a twisty mystery that keeps you guessing until the final moments. It takes a minute for the show to hit its rhythm, but it's worth settling in to wait and see how the identities are revealed.  

Vernissage Art Advisory presents an exhibition of paintings by artist and author Hooper C. Dunbar and Sarah Robarts today, September 7 from 6pm - 8pm at Castelli Art Space in Los Angeles. The following day, the gallery will hold another reception from 2pm - 4pm.

Vernissage Art Advisory presents an exhibition of paintings by artist and author Hooper C. Dunbar and Sarah Robarts on Friday, September 7 from 6pm - 8pm at Castelli Art Space in Los Angeles. The following day, the gallery will hold another reception from 2pm - 4pm.

National New Play Network (NNPN), the country's alliance of professional theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, has added three new Core Members: Silk Road Rising (Chicago), Company One (Boston), and City Theatre Company (Pittsburgh). As of the date of this release, NNPN has 114 Members Theaters, comprised of 32 Cores and 82 Associates.

This coming Monday, May 21st, the hit acoustic concert series BROADWAY AT W launches in the nation's capital at W WASHINGTON D.C. Overlooking the White House and the National Mall, this marks the fifth location of BROADWAY AT W after previous launches in W New York- Times Square, W Hollywood, W Chicago-City Center, and W Leicester Square (London).

Indiana Repertory Theater closes its season with the slamming of the door, or rather many slamming doors, in Noises Off. I'll admit that farces don't tend to tickle my funny bone, but this one is an exception to the rule. It rises above the general stereotype of mistaken identities and slapstick (though there is plenty of both) by adding another brilliant layer. It is a play within a play, three acts and two intermissions packed with nonstop humor.

Music and plot are so closely intertwined in Appoggiatura, that you can't mention one without the other. Even the title reflects this, it means: a grace note performed before a note of the melody and falling on the beat. The play, part of a trilogy written by playwright-in-residence James Still, follows three travelers on a sojourn through lovely Venice. On their journey they wander the canals finding pieces of their hearts as they go. The city feels like one of the main characters in the story. As one actor notes, 'Venice is as old and broken as the rest of us.'.

First of all, kudos to director James Esposito for discovering the musical DESSA ROSE, based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Sherley Anne Williams. This awe-inspiring musical received its New York premiere at Lincoln Center in 2005 and it's a wonder no other theater group has decided to produce this timely exploration about the universal need for freedom and equality. With book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty, it tells the story of a young black woman (a runaway slave) and a young white woman (an abandoned mother) beginning in the years just prior to the Civil War and continuing through their journey to acceptance in the antebellum South. The audience has the role of playing their grandchildren, to whom the elderly pair tell their story as it is presented to us.

Silk Road Rising (Chief Programming Officer Jamil Khoury and Executive Director Malik Gillani) is proud to announce the World Premiere of Through the Elevated Line, written by Novid Parsi and directed by Carin Silkaitis. The production will run from March 7th to April 15th, 2018 at Silk Road Rising located at 77 W. Washington St., Lower Level, Chicago, IL, 60602. The Press Opening is March 17 at 4:00pm.

A powerful story of a convict returning from a brief prison stay to resume his position as the neighborhood kingpin. Mike is at a crossroads in his life and when Jelly Belly returns, decisions need to be made that will effect these characters for a long time. The Chicago Defender wrote 'Employing gritty poetry of the streets, Smith introduces us to Jelly Belly, who attempts to regain the service of Kenny, a former drug runner who has gone straight. Kenny is torn between the hope of prosperity through hard work shared with his friend Mike, or the opportunistic life of a drug pusher Jelly Belly offers.' Jelly Belly don't mess with nobody. 

A Raisin in the Sun, the seminal work of playwright Lorraine Hansberry, tells the story of Walter Lee Younger and his family. Their dreams and plans have been thwarted and yet a ray of hope remains in the form of a life insurance check which could provide a new future for all of them. The Indiana Repertory Theatre is producing the play just in time for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History month.

Silk Road Rising (Chief Programming Officer & Mission Trustee, Jamil Khoury, and Executive Director, Malik Gillani) is proud to announce P3M5: The Plurality of Privacy Project in 5-Minute Plays, the first in a pairing of staged readings in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut.

New York City in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. In the first part of Tony Kushner's epic, a gay man is abandoned by his lover when he contracts the AIDS virus, and a closeted Mormon lawyer's marriage to his pill-popping wife stalls.

Chromolume Theatre at the Attic has announced the first production of its 2018 Season of Musicals, Dessa Rose. With book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty, opening is set for Friday, February 2 at 8pm. The run will continue through February 25 only. The Chromolume's production of Dessa Rose will feature musical direction by Daniel Yokomizo, choreography by Michael Marchak, and it will be directed by James Esposito.

New York City in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. In the first part of Tony Kushner's epic, a gay man is abandoned by his lover when he contracts the AIDS virus, and a closeted Mormon lawyer's marriage to his pill-popping wife stalls.

New York City in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. In the first part of Tony Kushner's epic, a gay man is abandoned by his lover when he contracts the AIDS virus, and a closeted Mormon lawyer's marriage to his pill-popping wife stalls.