See 43 plays/concerts

since I’ve seen a play or concert…can that be. Oh, wait!!! I forgot. Last Friday, I saw a friend of mine in the choir Chicago Choral Artists. They were brilliant. Perfect voices, interesting songs, even one in Georgian. And the program notes were also beautifully written, and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw at near the end that my friend had written them. So, that makes #16.

Two in one week!

14 was Lorus at the Beat Kitchen. The bass player is a coworker and a friend of mine. He was happy that there was such a good turnout. About 25 of his (and the rest of the band’s) friends showed up, so now they were told they’ll get better gigs.

15 was She and Him, whose lead singer is Zooey Deschanel. She dropped out of Northwestern University theater school to pursue her acting career and gave a free concert tonight downtown. I went with the friend I saw ‘500 Days of Summer’ with, which starred Zooey Deschanel in the best blue wardrobe you could ever imagine.

I saw this great Talking Heads tribute band last week. It was so much fun. I didn’t realize I would like it so much. It was almost just like seeing the real band.

http://www.myspace.com/thismustbetheband

Saw Ezra Furman tonight at Space in Evanston. He was amazing, young, weird, passionate and mystical.

More stuff and more.

I saw Faustus last Saturday, and I saw a Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra performance on Sunday of Hungarian music.

a play about Faustus next weekend, and will go with three friends from work. I look forward to it, but I realize how much I miss living in a smaller town. I remember when I lived in Grand Rapids and Boulder, the community was smaller, and sometimes the people I would see were friends of mine. (Although I do know some people in this theater company.) And sometimes the person performing would be me. I’ve grown exceedingly shy, but I used to perform in different kinds of pieces and enjoyed it incredibly. In Chicago, I feel like I’ve grown passive, and instead of participating in the arts, I now merely consume it.

But to give myself a break I should realize four years of grad school took some wind out of me, and then the year following was unemployed for half the year, and this is the first year of some real stability and leisure, and I have needed that. And there’s been some pain issues that I’m working on. But this gives me some insight in what I’d like for one of my goals for next year.

The History Boys:)

Tonight I saw Black Violet which was an amazing production which consisted of a chamber orchestra and an animated narrative about a black ‘cat-of-the-house’ during the second wave of the Plague. It was like watching my favorite graphic novel set to incredible live chamber music. Lovely (and free due to the fact that my workplace donated the food)! My friends and I were planning to eat Ethiopian food but when this opportunity arose we went to this instead, and even the one who was most hesitant to go thought it was brilliant and entertaining.

Last week, I saw Uncle Vanya. A friend of mine was in it, and it was fun to see her onstage.:)

I saw ‘Strauss at Midnight’ last night; a Theater Oobleck production.