Today In The Culture, December 23, 2022: The Bristol is Ending its Run | CMP-Doc10 Academy Awards Shortlisted | Casting Announced at Goodman, Steppenwolf and Others
The cast of Shattered Globe Theatre’s world premiere of Radial Gradient/Photo: Jenn Udoni/Franco Images
ART
BTWXT II: Anne Lindberg And Olivia Schreiner Open At Carrie Secrist
Carrie Secrist Gallery announces the second project in the series “CSG BTWXT” at their temporary gallery space, located at 1637 West Chicago. “BTWXT II” will feature work by New York-based gallery artists Anne Lindberg and Chicago-based artist Olivia Schreiner, January 6-February 25. Anne Lindberg’s presentation, “Afterimage,” explores the visceral elements of color as it relates to theory, abstraction and the proximity of the viewer’s experience. “With a binding interest in color theory, Lindberg looks to the writings of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel, Mary Gartside and the experiments of Joseph Albers to investigate color complementariness, which, in concept, implies a shift in time and space. In her abstract line drawings, the smashing together of colors such as blue and yellow creates a simultaneous contrast which alters our perception of what color is (what is yellow and what is blue?). Exploring the ideas of color as an ‘intangible essence’ interplays with the material resonance of the colored pencil and graphite. Several of the works utilize multiple panels in composite to activate the play of space and color adjacencies. Lindberg’s interest in the emotional and visual powers of color generates arresting compositions of urgency and turbulence, quietude and harmony. The drawings collapse divisions between complementary colors, bringing forth a mysterious indeterminate state of individual and blended colors.”
The shifting of time and space also appears in Olivia Schreiner’s new paintings, the gallery relays. “Through an ever-present search for a precise combination of light, color, form and texture, the element of perspective takes on new meaning literally and figuratively. Here, it is the translation of light, be it fireworks or a glowing window at night, that subjectively re-purpose our relationship to its source and subsequently introduce varying degrees of disorientation. These atmospheric landscape paintings are sourced from photographs that Schreiner takes throughout her day. The translation of the photographic image into a painted canvas develops a pronounced mediated layer by introducing depth of field, distortion, focus/lack of focus, odd light effects and cropping. The autobiographical nature of these artworks amplify the light in the dark, serving as a useful metaphor for the times we live in.” More here.
DESIGN
Flooding Leaves Low-Income Chicago Residents Vulnerable
“Chicago has experienced more frequent and severe storms in recent decades, putting immigrants and low income Chicagoans living in basement units at increased risk of flooding,” reports Borderless.
DINING & DRINKING
The Bristol Closing After Fourteen Years
Bucktown’s The Bristol is closing as of next week, the restaurant has posted on Facebook. “After over fourteen years, The Bristol will close after service on NYE,” post John Ross and Phillip Walters. “We would like to thank our past and present teams & guests for so much loyalty and commitment over the years. We are proud of so many accomplishments and the impact The Bristol has had on Chicago & beyond. We can not thank you enough.” The Bristol, writes Eater Chicago, “brought a new level of farm to table to Chicago, creating the blueprint for the ideal neighborhood restaurant, one that wouldn’t break the bank and would entice diners to eat there repeatedly from dinner and weekend brunch.” B. Hospitality Group wrote in a release “that the company elected to focus on its other restaurants and on two new projects.”
FILM & TELEVISION
Nonfiction Films Supported By Doc10 Shortlisted For Academy Awards
Chicago-based CMP continued its streak of supporting and introducing audiences to the very best in nonfiction filmmaking year after year. CMP’s flagship programs, the Doc10 documentary film festival held each spring in Chicago and the Doc5 festival held in a different city each year, are known as a documentary film’s first step on the road to Oscars. This year’s Doc10 and Doc5 films shortlisted for 95th Academy Awards nominations include David Siev’s “Bad Axe”; Margaret Brown’s “Descendant”; Sara Dosa’s “Fire Of Love”; Simon Lereng Wilmont’s “A House Made Of Splinters”; Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes’ “The Janes”; Daniel Roher’s “Navalny” and Alex Pritz’s “The Territory.” CMP supports films through several programs including the Shifting Voices Film Fund, which launched in 2022 and raised more than $100,000 to support BIPOC filmmakers. Applications for 2023 Shifting Voices Film Fund participants open January 3; the eighth Doc10 documentary film festival will be held in May 2023. More about CMP here.
LIT
Urdu Poetry Slams Draw Hundreds Of Thousands
Take that, Chicago: “That more than 300,000 people came to celebrate Urdu poetry during a three-day festival in New Delhi was testament to the peculiar reality of the language in India,” reports the New York Times. “The four designated stages inside the crowded stadium complex in the heart of the busy capital weren’t enough. So the poetry lovers also took to the footpaths and the spaces in between, turning them into impromptu open-mic platforms for India’s embattled language of love.”
STAGE
Goodman Sets “Toni Stone” Cast
“Toni Stone,” Lydia R. Diamond’s original play about the first woman to play professional baseball and overcome racist and sexist barriers to play the sport she loves, takes the stage in the 856-seat Albert Theatre January 28–February 26. The Chicago premiere, directed by Ron OJ Parson, follows a successful Off-Broadway run. Tracey Bonner leads the cast in the title role—joined by Kai Ealy (King Tut), Joseph Aaron Johnson (Elzie), Chiké Johnson (Alberga), Travis Knight (Stretch), Victor Musoni (Jimmy), Jon Hudson Odom (Millie), Edgar Miguel Sanchez (Spec) and Terence Sims (Woody). Tickets ($25-$80, subject to change) are here.
Steppenwolf Casts “Describe The Night”
Steppenwolf Theatre Company continues its forty-seventh season with ensemble member Rajiv Joseph’s Chicago premiere of “Describe the Night,” directed by ensemble member Austin Pendleton. This “thrilling mystery buried by years of history, fiction and conflict,” a thriller based on a journal by Jewish writer Isaac Babel in 1920, will play March 2-April 9, 2023 in Steppenwolf’s in-the-round Ensemble Theater. “Describe the Night” will feature ensemble members Glenn Davis, James Vincent Meredith, Sally Murphy, Caroline Neff, Yasen Peyankov and Karen Rodriguez with Jack Cain and Jon Hudson Odom. Single tickets start at $20 here.
Shattered Globe Casts “Radial Gradient”
Shattered Globe Theatre continues its 2022-23 season with the world premiere of Jasmine Sharma’s “Radial Gradient,” directed by Grace Dolezal-Ng. “Radial Gradient” features Simran Deokule, Isabelle Muthiah and Kianna Rose. Developed through Shattered Globe’s Global Playwright Series, it will play January 27–March 11 at Theater Wit. Tickets are currently available through SGT’s two-show membership ($70) here.
Raven Theatre Casts “Right To Be Forgotten”
Raven Theatre has announced casting for its Chicago premiere of Sharyn Rothstein’s “Right To Be Forgotten,” directed by Sarah Gitenstein. The cast includes Lucy Carapetyan, Kroydell Galima, Susaan Jamshidi, Kelsey Elyse Rodriguez, Adam Shalzi and Jamila Tyler. The timely story about human forgiveness in the age of the internet will play February 9–March 26 at Raven’s eight-five-seat East Stage. Single tickets are on sale here.
Skylight Music Theatre Receives $10,000 Legacy Grant
Skylight Music Theatre is one of seventy-five Wisconsin nonprofits to be awarded a legacy grant by the Wispact Foundation. The $10,000 Legacy Grant will support Skylight Music Theatre’s efforts to serve deaf or hearing-impaired people by bolstering existing American Sign Language interpreted performances and programming. Skylight Music Theatre offers American Sign Language (ASL) interpreted performances working with a team of licensed and certified sign language interpreters. ASL interpreters are located near the stage for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing, seated in an area of the theater that gives the best sight lines to follow the interpretation and the action on stage. More on Skylight Theatre here.
