January 2024 Issue: Players 50 (Digital Edition)

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)

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)

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

Start the new year here

A new poem by Mike Puican

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