Intro: The Heart of the Hood Ravenswood, the community that unites two north-side "community areas." By Ed Zotti

History: Celery, Ceramics, and Conrad Sulzer The story—or stories—of Lincoln Square and North Center By Ann Keating

Politics: The Grand Old Party's Last Stand Before Daley's minions moved in, a Republican reformer called the shots in Lincoln Square and North Center. By Ben Joravsky

Lincoln Square & North Center Listings: Bars, education & recreation, galleries, GLBTQ, lit, movies, music, parks, performing arts, restaurants, shopping, volunteering

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Performing Arts

THEATER & PERFORMANCE The Lincoln Square and North Center neighborhoods are home to some of Chicago’s most adventurous performing-arts companies, with fare ranging from challenging new work by African, European, and South American playwrights to campy drag shows, and from lyrical modern dance to aerial acrobatics. The Chicago Moving Company’s annual Other Dance Festival adds to the mix, showcasing a broad variety of troupes. The strengths of the folks listed below are their originality, their defiance of commercialism, and their deep connection to the communities in which they work. —Albert Williams

American Theater Company Founded in 1985 as American Blues Theater, this group moved into its North Center digs in 1993 and changed its name to American Theater Company in 1997. It was the focus of controversy earlier this year when a slew of original ensemble members walked out, citing “administrative and artistic differences” with artistic director PJ Paparelli, who came aboard in November 2007. But ATC has announced a full 2009-2010 subscription season that opens with the Chicago premiere of Yeast Nation (The Triumph of Life) (9/10-10/18), by former Chicagoans Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann, the Tony-winning authors of Urinetown: The Musical. Set billions of years ago in “the primordial soup,” the show concerns a colony of salt-eating yeasts whose dream of freedom kicks off an evolutionary chain reaction. Next up is ATC’s feel-good Christmas perennial, It’s a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play (11/27-12/27), then Lisa Loomer’s comedy about modern suburban parenting, Distracted (1/28-2/28), and the world premiere of Welcome to Arroyo’s, Kristoffer Diaz’s tale of two siblings trying to transform their family-run bar into a New York hot spot (4/15-5/16). a 1909 W. Byron, 773-409-4125, atcweb.org. —AW

Corn Productions This scrappy little troupe specializes in original shows for both the adults-only and children’s markets, with the grown-up stuff skewed heavily toward campy comedy and improv. Past productions have included Jesus—The Wonder Years, the long-running musical Floss!, and the “Tiff and Mom” drag series, about the adventures of a mother and daughter from Berwyn. Started in 1992 by Robert Bouwman and Todd Schaner, Corn moved into its home, a renovated tavern now called the Cornservatory, in 1999. Improv Children of the Corn 2—Off the Cob (a showcase featuring Imaginary Friends, Butter, and the Sauce) has the run of the space Thursdays through July 30, and A Reasonable Facsimile Theatre Company performs its premiere production of Tina Haglund’s The Clitoris Stories there through July 12. Corn presents its 10th Semi-Annual Golden Cobby Awards Show Benefit on July 8. The event features selections from the 2008-2009 season—including the Reader-recommended Storefront Theater Musical—as well as a raffle, silent auction, “and all the booze you can consume for a mere donation of $25.” Then: The Original Improv Gladiators, Season Seven (7/17-8/29), in which improv groups from around the city compete. Corn’s weekend kiddie matinee offerings start up again in the fall, with Rachel Corn and the Secret Society (10/17-12/6). a 4210 N. Lincoln, 312-409-6435, cornservatory.org. —AW

Halcyon Theatre “We challenge audiences to think and dream of the richness of our world, both in far away lands and our own backyard,” proclaims this multiethnic, 13-member ensemble on its Web site. Halcyon is wrapping up its third season with the Alcyone Festival 2009, which runs through July 18 and features six new plays by women on the theme of “terrorism, the cult of martyrdom, and its effects upon the innocents.” Next season opens with the Chicago premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winner Nilo Cruz’s Lorca in a Green Dress, about the martyred, gay Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, and the world premiere of Nigerian writer Rotimi Babatunde’s look at a farming community hit by a drought, A Shroud for Lazarus. The plays run in rotating repertory, August 20 through October 3. In the spring, artistic director Tony Adams will stage the premiere of his own Trickster, combining the biblical book of Genesis with the legend of Don Juan and Native American trickster tales. Alcyone Festival 2010 will explore the work of Cuban-American playwright Maria Irene Fornes. a Lincoln Square Theatre, 4754 N. Leavitt, 312-458-9170, halcyontheatre.org. —AW

Lincoln Square Theatre Located inside the Berry United Methodist Church, the Lincoln Square Theatre was founded in 2001 as a project of the Lincoln Square Arts Center and produces two or three shows a year—most of which, says executive artistic director Kristina Schramm, feature historical and literary elements. The company’s fall production, Ambrose Bierce: Tales and Times (10/19-11/22), comprises adaptations of the sardonic writer’s stories and selections from his satirical masterpiece The Devil’s Dictionary. To promote it, LST is sponsoring a contest for short essays on the question, “What happened to Ambrose?” (Bierce disappeared in 1913 while in Mexico traveling with Pancho Villa’s army.) LST shares its space with three other troupes that enjoy the status of “artistic associates”: the Halcyon Theatre (see above), Caffeine Theatre (caffeinetheatre.com), and the Courier 12 Collective (courier12collective.org). Devoted to developing new work, Courier 12 will perform a reading of Future Anxiety by Laurel Haines on July 27. a 4754 N. Leavitt, 773-275-7930, lincolnsquareartscenter.com. —AW

Viaduct Theater A nonprofit interdisciplinary arts center dedicated to showcasing offbeat theater, music, film, dance, and visual art, the Viaduct boasts two performance spaces and a bar that was named “Best Lobby Bar” in the Reader’s 2008 “Best of Chicago” roundup. Whitney Blakemore and Robert Whitaker, who founded the Viaduct in 1998, not only rent out those spaces but have also mounted a number of their own productions, including a well-received revival of E.E. Cummings’s Him directed by Blakemore. The Viaduct is currently home to two theaters, the Sinnerman Ensemble and the Magpies Project. See also Music. a 3111 N. Western, 773-296-6024, viaducttheatre.com.

The Magpies (themagpiesproject.com ) describe themselves as “an ongoing art-making project” whose performances “construct kaleidoscopic narratives that cull together personal stories, historical research, and non-traditional art fields in order to cultivate new ways of intervening in the world.” This fall, they’ll perform The Perks of Compulsive Hoarding 2, the middle part of a trilogy about the urge to collect useless stuff, by cofounder Shawn Reddy (11/13-12/6). They also present “The Happy Family Sunday Series”: “demonstrations” inspired by P.T. Barnum’s exhibit of a lion, a tiger, a panther, and a baby lamb sharing a cage in ostensible harmony.

Sinnerman’s ten members met in 2005, while studying at the School at Steppenwolf Theatre. The ensemble (sinnermanensemble.org) opens its fourth season this fall with Chekhov’s Ivanov (10/1-11/7), directed by Sheldon Patinkin. Next spring, they’ll premiere Chicago writer Braden LuBell’s Days of Late, which tells the interwoven stories of eight people attempting to escape isolation. —AW

DANCE Ameba Acrobatic and Aerial Dance Ameba was established in 1999 with the goal of “integrating the athleticism and daring of acrobatics and aerial arts into the creative voice of contemporary dance.” The group’s original works employ bungee cords, swings, and rope ladders to expand the “creative and physical possibilities of the vertical dance space.” Besides giving occasional performances and leading classes at its home base, the Belle Plaine Studio, the 12-member ensemble performs at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts and other venues around town. a Belle Plaine Studio, 2014 W. Belle Plaine, 773-463-4402, amebadance.org. —AW

Breakbone DanceCo The name isn’t necessarily hyperbole. Though she’s working to move into a process focused on “the effect that space has on our physical body and psyche,” founder Atalee Judy is known for a punk-influenced “bodyslam” style Reader critic Laura Molzahn describes as “a punishing but thrilling technique that involves dancers throwing themselves through the air and landing full force on the floor.” Judy, who started Breakbone in 1997, is an artist-in-residence with the Chicago Moving Company at Hamlin Park (see below). Coming this summer: Excavation of Remains (7/27-8/7). Then Breakbone will appear as part of the Other Dance Festival (9/24-9/25). a Hamlin Park field house, 3035 N. Hoyne, 773-841-2663, breakbone.com. —AW

Chicago Moving Company Nana Shineflug’s internationally applauded, 37-year-old modern dance troupe has performed throughout Europe and South America as well as around the U.S. In 1995, under the auspices of the Chicago Park District’s Arts Partners program, Shineflug established a resident arts partnership with Hamlin Park to develop the field house as a community arts center as well as a performance space for CMC and other troupes—particularly Breakbone DanceCo (see above) and the Cindy Brandle Dance Company (cindybrandledance.com). Under CMC’s direction, Hamlin Park hosts the Dance Shelter Concert each spring, and the Other Dance Festival in the fall. This year’s Other Dance Festival (9/17-10/2) will feature 16 artists and ensembles in addition to CMC, including Lucky Plush Productions, Same Planet Different World Dance Theatre, the Cindy Brandle Dance Company, the Dance COLEctive, Mordine & Company, Peter Carpenter, Ayako Kato and Art Union Humanscape, and Hedwig Dances. Tickets at brownpapertickets.com. a Hamlin Park field house, 3035 N. Hoyne, 773-880-5402, chicagomovingcompany.org. —AW

Perceptual Motion Dance Company Founded in 1984 by Lin Shook, PMDC proudly identifies itself as “a multi-generational modern dance company.” Some members only recently graduated from college while others boast dance resumés ranging back to the 1940s and ’50s. The troupe performs at various venues around the city, and hosts classes at its North Center home base. PMDC will participate in the Ravenswood Art Walk (10/3-10/4, artwalkravenswood.org), offering a class on Saturday in its own space, and then inviting the class participants to perform with the troupe on Sunday at Architectural Artifacts, 4325 N. Ravenswood. On November 7, the company will cap its 25th anniversary season with a benefit at the Belle Plaine Studio, 2014 W. Belle Plaine. The evening will feature wine and chocolate tastings, a silent auction, and a preview of new work; the company’s new dancers will be introduced during an interactive performance. a 4057 N. Damen, 773-549-3958, perceptualmotiondance.com. —AW

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