Events on Friday, February 24

Caseen Gaines:&nbsp;<em>Inside Pee-Wee's Playhouse</em>

Books: Reading

Caseen Gaines

Friday 2/24 @ Quimby's Bookstore

Inside Pee-wee's Playhouse is the first and only behind-the-scenes look behind the hit Emmy Award-winning TV show starring the pop culture... 

Craig Taylor:&nbsp;<em>Londoners: The Days and Nights of London Now</em>

Books: Reading

Craig Taylor

Friday 2/24 @ The Book Cellar

Tonight we're all anglophiles. The Book Cellar welcomes journalist Craig Taylor, who reads from his wonderful new book, Londoners: The Days... 

Ornithology: The Music of Charlie "Bird" Parker

Music: Jazz

Ornithology: The Music of Charlie "Bird" Parker

Friday 2/24 @ Columbia College Chicago

Grammy-nominated Puerto Rican saxophonist Miguel Zenón joins the CJE to celebrate the rich musical legacy of the great Charlie Parker. Also... 

Ongoing Events

<em>Ameriville</em>

Theatre: Musical

Ameriville

Friday 2/24 @ Victory Gardens Biograph Theater

How to create a performance about social problems without becoming mired in lament? Hip-hop theatre quartet Universes covers the gamut of... 

<em>Limits of Photography</em>

Art: Photography

Limits of Photography

Friday 2/24 @ Museum of Contemporary Photography

Even though we can easily manipulate images with Photoshop or create entire alien worlds, like that in Avatar, the photographic image... 

<em>The Feast: an intimate Tempest</em>

Theatre

The Feast: an intimate Tempest

Friday 2/24 @ Chicago Shakespeare Theater

This taut, streamlined Tempest hurtles through CST with gale-force creative energy. Condensing Shakespeare's play to an hour-long romp through a fragmented... 

<em>Heaven and Hell</em>

Cultural Hybrid: Group Show

Heaven and Hell

Friday 2/24 @ Loyola University Museum of Art

A companion to the exhibition at Intuit, LUMA features the idiosyncratic visions of heaven from outsider artists, with Intuit showing hell.... 

The New Navy Pier

Art: Architecture

The New Navy Pier

Friday 2/24 @ Chicago Architecture Foundation

Navy Pier. Beloved by tourists, rarely visited by Chicagoans unless dragged there by said tourist friends/relatives. But once you are there... 

Mary-Arrchie Theatre Co.: <em>Superior Donuts</em>

Theatre: Drama

Superior Donuts

Friday 2/24 @ Angel Island

Superior Donuts was written by Tracy Letts and debuted at Steppenwolf in 2008; the following year, the acclaimed production made its... 

<em>Global Cities, Model Worlds</em>

Art: Design

Global Cities, Model Worlds

Friday 2/24 @ Gallery 400

With all the pageantry and pride accompanying major world events like the Olympics it's easy to overlook the long process and... 

<em>On the Ice</em>

Film

On the Ice

Friday 2/24 @ Gene Siskel Film Center

A remarkable achievement, On the Ice is set in this first-time director's hometown, a close-knit Iñupiaq community far north of the... 

<em>Motion</em>

Theatre: Theatre

Motion

Friday 2/24 @ Signal Ensemble Theatre

In the finest Law & Order tradition, Ronan Marra's Motion draws inspiration from recent sports headlines. A hotshot NFL agent named... 

<em>General Economy Exquisite Exchange (GEEE)</em>

Art: Multimedia

General Economy Exquisite Exchange (GEEE)

Friday 2/24 @ Hyde Park Art Center

The so-called new reality of the post-recession era has been in full effect at Cream Co.'s GEEE, on exhibition at the... 

<em>The Descendants</em>

Film

The Descendants

Friday 2/24 @ Various Chicago theaters

After directing two brilliant, barbed satires, Citizen Ruth and the Preston Sturges-worthy Election, Alexander Payne became American film's poet laureate of... 

Lifeline Theatre: <em>Hunger</em>

Theatre: Drama

Hunger

Friday 2/24 @ Lifeline Theatre

A painfully beautiful adaptation from Elise Blackwell's novel, Hunger explores survival in the face of morality. Under the 1941 siege of... 

<em>The Language of Less (Then)</em>

Art: Group Show

The Language of Less (Then)

Friday 2/24 @ MCA Chicago

Split into two exhibitions (with two different closing dates, take note), The Language of Less (Then and Now) looks at the... 

Chicago Shakespeare Theatre: <em>A Midsummer Night's Dream</em>

Theatre

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Friday 2/24 @ Chicago Shakespeare Theater

What could Puck, the most mischievous fairy, and Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, possibly have in common? Director Gary Griffin... 

Paul Erschen: <em>West Plaza Portraits</em>

Art: Installation

Paul Erschen

Friday 2/24 @ Document

One of the newest galleries in Chicago, having opened on January 6th, Document is run by an experienced hand in Chicago's... 

Andr&eacute; Butzer

Art: Painting & Drawing

André Butzer

Friday 2/24 @ Rhona Hoffman Gallery

Raw paint occasionally squeezed right from the tube onto canvas marks the debut exhibition of André Butzer's work in the Midwest.... 

<em>The Holy Mountain</em> (1973)

Film

The Holy Mountain

Friday 2/24 @ Music Box Theatre

Widely regarded as Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowski's greatest work, and indeed as one of the boldest and most brilliantly executed films... 

Molly Zuckerman-Hartung: <em>Negative Joy</em>

Art: Painting & Drawing

Molly Zuckerman-Hartung

Friday 2/24 @ Corbett vs Dempsey

Well in advance of her May exhibition at the MCA in the newly minted Chicago Works series, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung presents Negative... 

<em>Write Now: Artists & Letterforms</em>

Art: Group Show

Write Now: Artists & Letterforms

Friday 2/24 @ Chicago Cultural Center

Save some time to read through the packed exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center, Write Now: Artists & Letterforms. Featuring many... 

Theater Wit: <em>The North Plan</em>

Theatre: Comedy

The North Plan

Friday 2/24 @ Theater Wit

Police state. Illegal detention. Torture. Screwball comedy? Despite these seeming incongruities, we found ourselves immersed in equal measures of armrest-gripping suspense... 

<em>The World Finder: A Pocket Guide to Hell</em>

Art

The World Finder: A Pocket Guide to Hell

Friday 2/24 @ Gallery 400

A logical complement to Global Cities, Model Worlds, the Pocket Guide to Hell collective has created a multimedia exploration for the... 

<em>The Artist</em>

Film

The Artist

Friday 2/24 @ Various Chicago theaters

This black-and-white, near-silent throwback by French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius (OSS 117) delivers film-geek kicks in both form (gleefully antiquated transitions, early-cinema... 

TimeLine Theatre: <em>Enron</em>

Theatre: Drama

Enron

Friday 2/24 @ TimeLine Theatre

There's something strangely haunting about Enron in TimeLine's intimate space, closely surrounded by its jet-black walls, and on three sides, glaring... 

David Leggett: <em>Coco River Fudge Street</em>

Art: Painting & Drawing

David Leggett: Coco River Fudge Street

Friday 2/24 @ Hyde Park Art Center

Pulled from his yearlong drawing-a-day blog Coco River Fudge Street, the Hyde Park Art Center presents the work of David Leggett.... 

Oscar Nominated Short Films 2012: Animated and Live Action

Film: Shorts

Oscar Nominated Short Films 2012

Friday 2/24 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema

Whether you enjoy your cinema in bite-sized pieces, or want to be a know-it-all at the annual Oscar party, this theatrical... 

The Hypocrites: <em>Six Characters in Search of an Author</em>

Theatre: Drama

Six Characters in Search of an Author

Friday 2/24 @ Chopin Theatre

The Hypocrites take on a play as metatheatrical as they are, with some mixed but generally entertaining results. Luigi Pirandello's early-1920s... 

MCA Screen: David Hartt

Art: Multimedia

David Hartt

Friday 2/24 @ MCA Chicago

With new curators, new approaches to regionalism, and new methods of stagecraft, the MCA has a serious (and commendable) case of... 

<em>Time Stands Still</em>

Theatre: Drama

Time Stands Still

Friday 2/24 @ Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre

In Donald Margulies' Time Stands Still, a harrowing and personal look at the difficult ethics of war journalism, Sarah, a talented... 

Cathy Wilkes: <em>I Gave You All My Money</em>

Art: Installation

Cathy Wilkes

Friday 2/24 @ The Renaissance Society

What Cathy Wilkes says about her work might ultimately be true, that the separation between herself as artist and the viewer... 

<em>Death and Harry Houdini</em>

Theatre: Drama

Death and Harry Houdini

Friday 2/24 @ Chopin Theatre

A ringmaster takes the stage and promises magic, mystery, and death. Director/playwright Nathan Allen, along with his talented cast and production... 

<em>Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph, 1964&ndash;1977</em>

Art: Photography

Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph, 1964–1977

Friday 2/24 @ The Art Institute of Chicago

Among its many accomplishments, the pioneering movement known broadly as Conceptual Art succeeded in bringing photography definitively into the mainstream of... 

<em>Chico & Rita</em>

Film: Animation

Chico & Rita

Friday 2/24 @ Gene Siskel Film Center

In the category's still-young lifespan, the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature has come to frequently include one foreign art-house dark... 

<em>The Foreigner</em>

Theatre: Comedy

The Foreigner

Friday 2/24 @ Provision Theater Company

Before his tragic death in a plane crash at age 39, playwright Larry Shue penned two hilarious farces that have grown... 

<em>This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s</em>

Art: Group Show

This Will Have Been

Friday 2/24 @ MCA Chicago

Anyone even vaguely aware of current fashion trends knows that the '80s are back — and with good reason. Enough time... 

<em>Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy</em>

Film

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Friday 2/24 @ Various Chicago theaters

Former MI6 agent John le Carré brought the spy novel into the modern era with the rich literary prose and ethically... 

<em>MCA DNA: Dieter Roth</em>

Art: Multimedia

Dieter Roth

Friday 2/24 @ MCA Chicago

Still craving text art or book art after Write Now at the Cultural Center? Head to the MCA's exhibition of Dieter... 

<em>Crazy Horse</em>

Film: Documentary

Crazy Horse

Friday 2/24 @ Music Box Theatre

Documentarian Frederick Wiseman wanted to make a documentary about a nightclub, but after a trip to the Moulin Rouge put him... 

Poetry on Stage: <em>FJORDS</em>

Performing Arts

Poetry on Stage: FJORDS

Friday 2/24 @ Poetry Foundation

Contemporary shadow-puppet theater company Manual Cinema combines complex, cinematic homemade shadow puppetry — on overhead projector! — with live actors in... 

<em>Morbid Curiosity: The Richard Harris Collection</em>

Art: Group Show

Morbid Curiosity

Friday 2/24 @ Chicago Cultural Center

Morbid Curiosity looks death straight in the eye in the sprawling exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center that includes about 1,000... 

David Leggett: <em>It's getting to the point where nobody respects the dead. Fresh to death</em>

Art: Painting & Drawing

David Leggett

Friday 2/24 @ Western Exhibitions

On view concurrently with his drawing exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center, this David Leggett exhibit at Western Exhibitions presents... 

<em>The MeMo Organization Cabinet</em>

Art: Multimedia

The MeMo Organization Cabinet

Friday 2/24 @ Chicago Cultural Center

A companion exhibition to the death-themed Morbid Curiosity, "speculative designer" Jessica Charlesworth presents The MeMo Organization Cabinet, "MeMo" being short for... 

LiveWire Chicago: <em>Oohrah!</em>

Theatre: Drama

Oohrah!

Friday 2/24 @ Steppenwolf Garage Theatre

As part of Steppenwolf's Garage Rep series, LiveWire Chicago's production of Bekah Brunstetter's Oohrah! offers a witty but complicated look at... 

<em>Bachelorette</em>

Theatre: Comedy

Bachelorette

Friday 2/24 @ Profiles Theatre

Leslye Headland's runaway off-Broadway hit makes its Midwest premiere at Profiles Theatre in a brazen production helmed by Artistic Director Darrell... 

Albany Park Theatre Project: <em>Home/Land</em>

Theatre: Drama

Home/Land

Friday 2/24 @ The Laura Wiley Theater

Some theatre is timely, some striking — and some vital. Tackling the increasingly hostile anti-immigrant climate in the United States —... 

Laura Letinsky

Art: Photography

Laura Letinsky

Friday 2/24 @ MCA Chicago

BMO Harris Bank Chicago Works: Laura Letinsky debuts the artist's newest body of work, a photographic series titled "Ill Form and... 

<em>Pina</em>

Film: Documentary

Pina

Friday 2/24 @ AMC River East 21

Wim Wenders pays poetic tribute to friend and influential German choreographer Pina Bausch using 3D technology. On the surface, it seems... 

<em>The Gingerbread House</em>

Theatre: Comedy

The Gingerbread House

Friday 2/24 @ Red Tape Theatre

A dark comedy, emphasis on the "dark," about a couple who sells their children in an attempt to rejuvenate their relationship... 

<em>The Language of Less (Now)</em>

Art: Group Show

The Language of Less (Now)

Friday 2/24 @ MCA Chicago

The contemporary complement to Minimalist art-focused exhibition The Language of Less (Then and Now), the titular Now galleries feature work from... 

Chicago Restaurant Week

Food/Wine

Chicago Restaurant Week

Friday 2/24 @ Various Chicago restaurants

It's Christmastime for foodies as the fifth annual Chicago Restaurant Week serves up another ten days of great grub at affordable... 

<em>STUCK UP: A Selected History of Alternative & Pop Culture Told Through Stickers</em>

Art: Group Show

STUCK UP

Friday 2/24 @ Maxwell Colette Gallery

Since the Occupy demonstrations began in downtown Chicago, street-art stickers have been prolific in the Loop, appearing on any flat surface... 

<em>Living by Example: Edra Soto and Dan Sullivan</em>

Art: Group Show

Living by Example

Friday 2/24 @ Northeastern Illinois University Fine Arts Center Gallery

The apartment gallery phenomena in Chicago is a crucial component of the city's visual-art fabric, where aspiring artists, curators, directors, and... 

<em>Re: Chicago</em>

Art: Group Show

Re: Chicago

Friday 2/24 @ DePaul Art Museum

The DePaul Art Museum opens their brand new building with Re: Chicago, an exhibition that is crowd-sourced from the experts: Chicago's... 

<em>Disgraced</em>

Theatre: Drama

Disgraced

Friday 2/24 @ American Theater Company

Like each of the play's enlightened, well-meaning young professionals, all ideological systems prove desperately flawed in Ayad Akhtar's bold, searing look... 

Collaboraction: <em>dark play or stories for boys</em>

Theatre: Drama

dark play or stories for boys

Friday 2/24 @ Flat Iron Arts Building

"I make shit up," the protagonist of Carlos Murillo's indubitably dark play announces in its opening moments; the rest of dark... 

<em>Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe</em>

Art

Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe

Friday 2/24 @ Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art and Block Cinema

Currently scientists must be highly specialized in their own respective fields, so much so that it is becoming a problem since... 

<em>A Separation</em>

Film: Independent

A Separation

Friday 2/24 @ Music Box Theatre

Iran's entry for Best Foreign Language Oscar and winner of Berlin's Golden Bear, A Separation is a complex family drama that... 

<em>Letters/X</em>

Theatre: Comedy

Letters/X

Friday 2/24 @ Apollo Theater

Holiday irreverence can feel as trite and de rigueur as the gooey sentimentality it supposedly sends up. Not so with Letters/X,... 

<em>MCA DNA: Gordon Matta-Clark</em>

Art: Multimedia

Gordon Matta-Clark

Friday 2/24 @ MCA Chicago

In February of 1978, Gordon Matta-Clark created "Circus, or the Carribean Orange" in what would be his last major work before... 

Kerry James Marshall: <em>Black Night Falling: Black holes and constellations</em>

Art: Installation

Kerry James Marshall

Friday 2/24 @ moniquemeloche gallery

The new "on the wall" installation at monique meloche from renowned artist Kerry James Marshall presents itself as a gift-wrapped riddle.... 

<em>HEAVEN+HELL</em>

Art: Installation

HEAVEN+HELL

Friday 2/24 @ Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

The themes of heaven and hell are frequently addressed in outsider and intuitive art. Outsider artists' perspectives range from illustrative, word-laden... 

The Joffrey Ballet Winter Fire

Dance: Ballet

The Joffrey Ballet Winter Fire

Friday 2/24 @ Auditorium Theatre

In the middle, somewhat elevated Choreography: William Forsythe Music: Thom Willems Raw and muscular with a throbbing, electronic score, this is... 

Limits of Photography

Art: Photography

Limits of Photography

Friday 2/24 @ Columbia College Chicago

Limits of Photography explores the area where the viewer loses faith in the veracity of photography.  ... 

Interlocking Parameters

Dance

Interlocking Parameters

Friday 2/24 @ Links Hall

Presented by Brittany Whitmoyer   Interlocking Parameters takes a look at dance and it’s full body domino effect on the dancer...