January 2024 Issue: Players 50 (Digital Edition)

January 2024 Issue: Players 50 (Digital Edition)

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Coming of Age

Sufjan Stevens' “Illinois” is brought to life at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
"Sufjan Stevens’ song “Chicago” on his 2005 album “Illinoise” only mentions Chicago once, but it embodies both the city’s promise and the way it can break your heart. It is a song about hope, making mistakes and starting over. The title is specific, but the themes are universal, and the music with its pulsing drums, horns and strings that sound like going down a highway, can’t be categorized. Both the poetry and the genre-defying nature of “Illinoise” made it a favorite of Tony Award-winning choreographer Justin Peck." (Mary Wisniewski)

Home Delivery

My father and the midcentury house contest that launched his career
"Single-family homes with modern amenities were an obsession of young Americans following the war. Home building had all but stopped during the Great Depression and World War II, and even without the influx of G.I.s ready for independent adult life, the region was destined to be woefully short of housing. Siobhan Moroney, a professor of politics and the chair of the American Studies Program at Lake Forest College describes the shortfall in her engaging new book 'Chicagoland Dream Houses: How a Mid-Century Architecture Competition Reimagined the American Home'.” (Ted C. Fishman)

Players 2024

The fifty people who really perform for Chicago 
"It's been a strange year, to say the least, in the performing arts, with theater and opera companies of all sizes facing significant financial challenges,  while dance seems to hold its own or even thrive. But even with what seems like a relentless drumbeat of doom and gloom, bright spots shine." (Brian Hieggelke)

Arts & Culture

Art: The unlikely art destination that is the Albany-Carroll
Dance: The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival is back with a message beyond words
Design: Noel Mercado's auto-inspired transformation of Knoll chairs
+ Mood: Lounge Chairs
Dining & Drinking: Wet your whistle with the Beverage Testing Institute’s Top 25 spirits
Film: Tending the garden In "The Zone Of Interest"
Lit : Avery Cunningham and "The Mayor of Maxwell Street"
Music: Daniel Johnston's posthumous message: Just remember to try to love
Stage: How The Saints changed the face of Chicago performing arts

Reviews

Start the new year here

Poetry

"Night in Chicago"
A new poem by Mike Puican

92 Pages

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