Politics of Poetics: CAConrad

Politics of Poetics: CAConrad

About the Event
Join us for a reading with poet CAConrad in celebration of the new series Politics of Poetics.

ASL and CART captioning are provided.

About the Series
Politics of Poetics is a new quarterly program series held in the MCA’s Edlis Neeson Theater that highlights today’s leading poets whose practices traverse the political through writing, teaching, and activism. The series invites poets from across the globe to give readings and be in conversation with artists and other thinkers about the themes in their work. Historically, poets and visual artists have benefitted from close collaboration and artistic exchange, sharing in technical approaches and critical ideas of the day. Like many of the artists exhibited at the MCA, these poets take up critical issues in their work while propelling voices, stories, and thoughts under-seen and under-regarded in traditional canons.

About the Speaker
CAConrad has worked with the ancient technologies of poetry and ritual since 1975. Their latest book is Listen to the Golden Boomerang Return (Wave Books / UK Penguin 2024). They received the Ruth Lily Poetry Prize, a PEN Josephine Miles Award, a Creative Capital grant, a Pew Fellowship, and a Lambda Award. They exhibit poems as art objects with recent solo shows in Spain and Portugal, and their play The Obituary Show was made into a film in 2022 by the artist Augusto Cascales. Visit them at https://linktr.ee/CAConrad88.

The Penelopiad at Goodman Theatre

An unexpected remix of Homer’s The Odyssey, told by the celebrated and subversive author Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale).

It’s her turn. Penelope has waited 20 years for her husband to return from the Trojan War. Now, as authorial control shifts to Odysseus’ long-suffering wife—and the 12 faithful maids who have long tended to her—we discover a new perspective on the domestic vigil. This ancient tale told anew by “one of the most admired authors in North America” (NPR) gives voice to those left behind.

Recommended for ages 14+

Spanish Subtitles will be available at this performance.

Un inesperado remix de La Odisea de Homero, contado por la célebre y subversiva autora Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale).

Es ahora su turno. Penélope ha estado esperando por 20 años que regrese su esposo de la guerra de Troya. Ahora, a medida que el control del autor pasa a la sufrida esposa de Odiseo y las 12 fieles criadas que la han atendido durante años, descubrimos una nueva perspectiva sobre la vigilia doméstica. Este antiguo cuento contado de nuevo por “una de las autoras más admiradas de Norteamérica” (NPR) da voz a las que se quedaron atrás.

https://www.goodmantheatre.org/show/the-penelopiad/

Talk | Roundtable on Faith Ringgold at MCA

Join us for a conversation on how Faith Ringgold’s aesthetic and political practices continue to reverberate across generations of artists with artists Jamal Cyrus and Amanda Williams, and the MCA presentation Curator of Faith Ringgold: American People, MCA Manilow Senior Curator Jamillah James.

English/Spanish CART and ASL are provided.

https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/talk-roundtable-on-faith-ringgold/

Talk | Roundtable on Faith RinggoldJoin us for a conversation on how Faith Ringgold’s aesthetic and political practices continue to reverberate across generations of artists with artists Jamal Cyrus and Amanda Williams, and the MCA presentation Curator of Faith Ringgold: American People, MCA Manilow Senior Curator Jamillah James at Museum of Contemporary Art

Join us for a conversation on how Faith Ringgold’s aesthetic and political practices continue to reverberate across generations of artists with artists Jamal Cyrus and Amanda Williams, and the MCA presentation Curator of Faith Ringgold: American People, MCA Manilow Senior Curator Jamillah James.

English/Spanish CART and ASL are provided.

https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/talk-roundtable-on-faith-ringgold/

Live Arts | Muslim Writers Collective: Intersectionality at Museum of Contemporary Art

A grassroots initiative promoting storytelling, creativity, and the arts, the Muslim Writers Collective will focus this iteration of its programming on themes drawn from the MCA exhibition Faith Ringgold: American People. This storytelling event will center itself around hearing life experiences from Muslim American and Muslim-adjacent perspectives.

CART Captioning is available on personal devices.

https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/live-arts-mwc-mca/

Talk | Helen Molesworth and Madeleine Grynsztejn at Museum of Contemporary Art

Over the past three decades, writer, curator, and podcaster Helen Molesworth’s singular voice and lively curatorial vision has established her as one of the most dynamic and influential voices in the art world.

At this inspiring event, MCA Pritzker Director Madeleine Grynsztejn will join Molesworth on stage for a conversation about her new book Open Questions: Thirty Years of Writing about Art.

Signed books are now available for pre-order at the MCA Store.

Accessibility: Spanish translation, ASL, and CART captioning

https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/talk-helen-molesworth-and-madeleine-grynsztejn/

Talk | Helen Molesworth and Madeleine Grynsztejn at Museum of Contemporary Art

Over the past three decades, writer, curator, and podcaster Helen Molesworth’s singular voice and lively curatorial vision has established her as one of the most dynamic and influential voices in the art world.

At this inspiring event, MCA Pritzker Director Madeleine Grynsztejn will join Molesworth on stage for a conversation about her new book Open Questions: Thirty Years of Writing about Art.

Accessibility: Spanish translation, ASL, and CART captioning

https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/talk-helen-molesworth-and-madeleine-grynsztejn/

SANCTUARY CITY at Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Newark, NJ. Post-9/11. Two teenagers, brought to America as children, now face an unlikely foe: unexpected, unreciprocated love. Their friendship is no longer enough (for one of them) and their adopted country doesn’t love them back. Pulitzer Prize-winner Martyna Majok brings light to the sacrifices made by DREAMers, lovers and life-long friends in the heart-stirring and hopeful Sanctuary City—a story that fractures and transcends—crossing boundaries, borders and genres in search of a place to call home.

Sanctuary City will be the first Steppenwolf production that includes both a full membership series run, as well as a full run of student matinees as a part of the Steppenwolf for Young Adults series, providing a synergistic opportunity to cultivate more intergenerational audiences.

Audio-Described and Touch Tour:
Sunday, October 8 at 3pm 
(1:30pm touch tour, 3pm curtain)

Open-Captioned Public Performances:
Thursday, October 12 at 7:30pm
Saturday, October 21 at 3pm

ASL-Interpreted Public Performance:
Friday, October 13 at 7:30pm

Relaxed/Sensory Friendly Public Performance:
Saturday, October 28th at 3pm

ASL-Interpreted Student Matinee:
Friday, November 3 at 10am

Spanish Language-Captioned:
Saturday, November 4 at 3pm

https://www.steppenwolf.org/tickets–events/seasons-/202324/sanctuary-city/

Lucha Teotl at Goodman Theatre

Pro wrestling bursts onto the stage in a high-octane, immersive, 90-minute thrill ride.

It’s a night in the theater that you’ll never forget. Experience the heart-pumping action ringside, as the Goodman transforms into a professional wrestling arena—a perfect backdrop for the high drama and rich cultural history of lucha libre. Originally developed with Prism Movement Theater and produced in partnership with CLATA as part of 2023 Destinos Festival, actors and luchadores (wrestlers) in masks representative of Aztec gods play out an exciting wrestling story about family, honor, tradition and redemption.

American Sign Language-Interpreted Performance
Friday, October 27 at 7:30pm
Use code SIGN for $30 tickets

Touch Tour and Audio-Described Performance
Saturday, October 28
12:30pm Touch Tour & 2:00pm Performance
Use code AUDIO for $30 tickets

Spanish Subtitles Performance
Saturday, October 28 at 7:30pm
Use code SPANISH for $30 tickets

Open-Captioned Performance
Sunday, October 29 at 2:00pm
Use code OPEN for $30 tickets

Large-print programs, Braille programs, and assistive listening devices available upon request at our guest services desk. Visit the link here to a webpage of comprehensive Access information.
https://www.goodmantheatre.org/show/lucha-teotl/

Talk | José E. López and Carla Acevedo-Yates at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Join us for an exhibition opening conversation between the curator of the entre horizontes, Carla Acevedo-Yates, and Puerto Rican writer and activist José E. López for a wide-ranging conversation on the past and present of Puerto Rican activism.

Accessibility: ASL interpretation, English captioning, Spanish Captioning, wheelchair accessible

https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/talk-jose-e-lopez-carla-acevedo-yates/

Sensory-Friendly Morning at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Sensory-Friendly Morning is a free program for all people who benefit from visiting the MCA without large crowds and other sensitive environmental elements. This includes visitors with sensory sensitivities, disabilities, autism, PTSD, dementia, and more. On these mornings, lighting at the museum is dimmed, sounds from artworks and environmental noise is kept at a minimum, and a quiet space is available to visitors for breaks. During Sensory-Friendly Mornings, preregistered individuals and their families can visit the museum to explore exhibitions at their own pace, and join a Chicago-based artist for a sensory-friendly art-making experience. The museum is closed to the general public until 11:30 am; at that time, the lights and artworks return to usual operations.

Sensory-Friendly Morning aims to be a welcoming space to experience contemporary art in a judgment-free environment.

Accessibility: sensory-friendly, ASL interpreted, captioning, low lighting, quiet room, Spanish captioning, wheelchair accessible

https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/sensory-friendly-morning-6/

Talk | Gary Simmons at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

On the opening of his first comprehensive survey exhibition, Gary Simmons: Public Enemy, multidisciplinary artist Gary Simmons is joined by the curators of the show, René Morales, James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator, and Jadine Collingwood, Assistant Curator, for a wide-ranging discussion of his powerful work.

Accessibility: ASL interpreted, captioning, Spanish captioning

https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/talk-gary-simmons/

Antonio’s Song / I Was Dreaming of a Son at Goodman Theatre

A poetic journey of a dancer/artist/father questioning the balance of his passions—art, culture, family.

From the streets of Brooklyn to Russia’s ballet training studios, Antonio struggles to reconcile multiple ethnic identities. He wrestles with the legacy of stereotypes of masculinity while discovering the beauty of becoming a father. Powerful poetry is intermixed with original movement, music and projected imagery to create an evocative, wholly unique performance.

This performance offers Spanish captioning.

https://www.goodmantheatre.org/Antonio

The Who’s Tommy

The groundbreaking pop-culture musical sensation is reimagined in a new production.

Myth and spectacle combine in a fresh reinvention of The Who’s exhilarating 1969 rock concept album, Tommy—including the unforgettable anthems “I’m Free,” “See Me, Feel Me,” “Sensation” and “Pinball Wizard.” After witnessing his father shoot his rival, the young Tommy Walker is lost in the universe, endlessly and obsessively staring into the mirror. An innate knack for pinball catapults him from reticent adolescent to celebrity savior. Tony Award-winning composer Pete Townshend and Tony Award-winning original director Des McAnuff find powerful resonance reexamining this classic story for today.

https://www.goodmantheatre.org/show/the-whos-tommy/

Accessibility: Spanish captioning

The Cherry Orchard at Goodman Theatre

A family verges on bankruptcy while their country stands on the brink of revolution.

Endings and beginnings. Bittersweet departures. The comedy of life. When Madame Ranevskaya returns to her heavily-mortgaged estate on the eve of its auction, the aristocratic widow finds that the fate of much more than her beloved orchard hangs in the balance. Anton Chekhov’s canonical masterpiece is an exploration of loss, love and how to live in a society that’s changing fast. Following his critically-acclaimed productions of Three Sisters, The Seagull and Uncle Vanya, director Robert Falls takes on the last of Chekhov’s four major plays.

Spanish captioning will be available for this performance.

https://www.goodmantheatre.org/Cherry

Layalina at Goodman Theatre

A surprising new play about how families fall apart—and find each other again—amidst turbulent global and social change.

In 2003, newly-wed Layal and her family prepare to immigrate from Baghdad, Iraq, to a Chicago suburb. Seventeen years later, Layal’s life looks unimaginably different from what she had envisioned two decades prior, as she and her siblings explore queerness, face their grief, and discover what it takes to make home in a new place. Don’t miss this moving, powerful new play’s world premiere on the Owen Stage—fresh from Goodman’s New Stages and Future Labs programs.

Spanish captioning is available.

https://www.goodmantheatre.org/Layalina

Toni Stone at Goodman Theatre

Play ball! The sensational true story of the first woman to play professional baseball knocks it out of the park as a can’t-miss theatrical event.

Toni Stone is an encyclopedia of baseball stats. She’s got a great arm. And she doesn’t understand why she can’t play with the boys. Rejected by the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League because of her race, Toni sets out to become the first woman to play in baseball’s Negro Leagues. Challenges on and off the field—from hostile crowds to players who slide spikes-first—only steel her resolve to shatter racist and sexist barriers in the sport she’s loved since childhood. An original play inspired by the book Curveball, The Remarkable Story of Toni Stone by Martha Ackmann, this New York Times Critic’s Pick will have you cheering along.

Spanish captioning is available.

https://www.goodmantheatre.org/Toni

the ripple, the wave that carried me home at Goodman Theatre

A family responds to injustice and a daughter reckons with her political inheritance in this new play by “a poet, a playwright to pay attention to” (Variety).

Janice’s parents are prominent activists fighting for the integration of public swimming pools in 1960s Kansas. As injustice penetrates the warm bubble of her childhood, Janice grows apart from her family and starts a new life far away. When she receives a call asking her to speak at a ceremony honoring her father, she must decide whether she’s ready to reckon with her political inheritance—and a past she has tried to forget.

A Co-Production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Spanish captioning is available.

https://www.goodmantheatre.org/ripple

A Christmas Carol at Goodman Theatre

Chicago’s favorite holiday tradition for four decades.

Nearly two million theatergoers have experienced Chicago’s must-see annual holiday tradition, Goodman Theatre’s A Christmas Carol. With first-rate performances— starring award-winner Larry Yando as Ebenezer Scrooge for the 15th year—and “amazing sets, gorgeous costumes and eye-popping effects” (Chicago Reader), the heartwarming story of generosity’s triumph over greed comes to vivid life. Don’t miss this 45th anniversary production of “the best Christmas story ever told” (Time Out Chicago).

A Christmas Carol is appropriate for ages 6 and up. The production contains loud noises, bright lights, and images that may frighten very young children. Children under 5 are not permitted in the theater. For more information contact the box office at 312.443.3800

https://www.goodmantheatre.org/carol

Swing State

It’s hard to know who your friends are in a world that’s more divided than ever.

Tony Award-winner Robert Falls and his longtime collaborator, Pulitzer Prize finalist playwright Rebecca Gilman, team up again for their sixth Goodman production—a contemporary portrait of America’s heartland in a time when it feels like everyone’s way of life is in danger of disappearing.

Swing State is suggested for ages 14 and up. Please be aware that this production contains a gun shot and depictions of police violence and suicide. For more information contact the box office at 312.443.3800

https://www.goodmantheatre.org/SwingState

Clyde’s

“Feisty comedy is on the menu” (Washington Post) in two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage’s latest Broadway triumph.

Creating the perfect sandwich is the shared quest of the formerly incarcerated kitchen staff of Clyde’s, a truck stop cafe. Even as the shop’s mischievous owner tries to keep them under her thumb, the staffers are given purpose and permission to dream—finding that “sometimes a hero is more than a sandwich” (New York Times). This stirring, masterful play from the team of two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and director Kate Whoriskey (Ruined, Sweat) makes its Chicago premiere after its Tony-nominated run on Broadway.

For tickets and more information, please visit https://www.goodmantheatre.org/Clydes

Carmela Full of Wishes | ASL Interpreted Performance

It’s Carmela’s birthday, and her wish has already come true–she’s finally old enough to join her big brother as he does the family errands. On their way to the laundromat, past fields of what Mamí calls “flores de cempazuchitl,” Carmela finds a lone dandelion growing in the pavement. But before she can blow its puffy white fluff away, her brother asks, “did you even make a wish?” If only she can think of just the right wish to make.

Full of touching and funny fantasies, the book, and now the play, portrays Carmela’s migrant community as a vibrant place of possibility. Join families from all over the city for this moving ode to family, to dreamers, and to finding hope in the most unexpected places.

Open Captioned in English and Spanish

https://chicagochildrenstheatre.org/event/carmela/

Life After

“Musical theater perfection…exquisite from start to finish” (BroadwayWorld).

Frank Carter famously authored self-help books. But Alice, his 16-year-old daughter, finds cold comfort in his positivity platitudes when he tragically never comes home one night. As she puzzles out the events of the day that changed her family forever, Alice’s relentless search for the facts reveals a more complicated truth. With big humor and bittersweet wit, this “luminous new musical…lush, poetic and surprisingly funny” (The San Diego Union-Tribune) explores how we move through and live with loss.

https://www.goodmantheatre.org/season/2122-Season/Life-After/Life-After-Accessibility/

Where We Belong

Goodman Theatre Presents the Woolly Mammoth Production of Where We Belong
In Association with the Folger Shakespeare Library

An indigenous theatre-maker journeys across geographic borders, personal history, and cultural legacies; in search of a place to belong.

In 2015, Mohegan theatre-maker Madeline Sayet travels to England to pursue a PhD in Shakespeare. Madeline finds a country that refuses to acknowledge its ongoing role in colonialism, just as the Brexit vote threatens to further disengage the UK from the wider world. In this intimate and exhilarating solo piece, Madeline echoes a journey to England braved by Native ancestors in the 1700s following treatise betrayals – and forces us to consider what it means to belong in an increasingly globalized world.

Content Transparency: This production contains flashing lights, depictions of racism, and discussions of borders, war, loss of language, residential schools, colonial theft of human remains and repatriation.

https://www.goodmantheatre.org/Belong

TimeLine Theatre Company’s Production of Relentless

After a sold out run this winter, Tyla Abercrumbrie’s world premiere play comes to the Goodman, weaving a mother’s past with her daughters’ present in a centuries-spanning tale of family, legacy and progress.

Set in the Black Victorian era, Relentless looks at the deep personal secrets we keep to protect the ones we love most. The year is 1919. After the death of their mother, two sisters come home to Philadelphia to settle her estate. Annelle is a happy socialite desperate to return to the safe illusion of a perfect life with her husband in Boston. Janet is a single, professional nurse, determined to change history and propel Black women to a place of prominence and respect. After discovering diaries left by their late mother, they find themselves confronted with a woman they never really knew, exposing buried truths from the past that are chillingly, explosively Relentless.

Developed through TimeLine Theatre Company’s Playwrights Collective

https://www.goodmantheatre.org/Relentless