January 2025 Issue: Players 50 (Print Edition)
Regular price
$12.00
Paint Balls Over Baghdad
The Intense Story of Wafaa Bilal's “Domestic Tension” Upon its Return to Chicago at the MCA
"In early spring of 2007 artist Wafaa Bilal, whom I represented at FLATFILEgalleries, met with me to go over the plan for an upcoming solo show. We had settled on his “Human Condition” series months before. In 2006, I had shown his video installation, “Fourth of July,” in the lower-level project room to much acclaim and discussion. The video loop showed the bombing of Baghdad layered with the Fourth of July fireworks at Navy Pier. It was a powerful piece, shown small in the darkened room to invite intimacy. Wafaa has a sixth sense for creating effective political art, and I was eager for his show." (Susan Aurinko)
The Fighter in Winter
The Ass-Kicking Life and Times of Fred Degerberg, the Martial Arts Master who Trained John Belushi (and Keeps a Dead Bird in His Freezer)
"The shadows were closing in on the old fighter. Chicago martial arts legend and rock ‘n’ roll security maestro Fred Degerberg sits on a sofa on a late October 2024 afternoon in the front room of his home in the quiet, tree-lined Arcadia Terrace neighborhood on the North Side. Eight cables with handles, in different colors, hang above his sofa. The darker the color, the harder the pull." (Dave Hoekstra)
Players 2025
Meet the fifty people who really perform for Chicago
Chicago stages have been described as petri dishes for talent development, with the city seen as a particularly fertile launching pad for the stars of tomorrow, whether in acting, comedy, writing or dance. And they are that, thanks to an ethos that prioritizes bold experiments over safe choices, that understands failure as a necessary step toward success and, especially, champions community over competition. And this year's class of Players disproves the idea that you have to leave Chicago to make it; this is a place for shooting stars and burning suns, and we're privileged to bask in the warmth of both. (Brian Hieggelke)
Arts & Culture
Art: The coming year in art
Dance: The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival is a theater of dreams
Design: Sheila Rashid, at the intersection of tennis, tailoring and streetwear
+ Mood: Candleholders
Film: Mid-century masters in autumn
Lit: Zachary Cahill and his "Unicorn Death Moon, Paris Guidebook"
Music: A new take on Handel, Chicago style
Stage: Tyrone Phillips takes on "Fat Ham"
Reviews
The whole world's a stage—and a canvas too
Comics
“Who's Minding the Trading Post?”: A new comic by John Sammis
Poetry
"My Wife is Delicious”: A new poem by Harvey Nelson