Nick Sandys and Cordelia Dewdney star in “Mr. Dickens’ Hat” at Northlight Theatre. | Michael Brosilow

A play with music takes holiday warmth, cheer and togetherness, adds in a bit of Victorian darkness, and wraps it all around the story of a young girl working to free her father from debtor’s prison.

In past holiday seasons, Northlight Theatre has introduced several new seasonal plays of a certain era — Lauren Gunderson’s “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley” and “The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley.” The highly engaging plays extended the story of characters from Jane Austen’s classic “Pride and Prejudice.”

Now Northlight has commissioned another new play for this season, one right out of Charles Dickens’ 19th century Victorian London. Michael Hollinger’s “Mr. Dickens’ Hat,” a play with music, takes holiday warmth, cheer and togetherness, adds in a bit of Victorian darkness, and wraps it all around the story of a young girl working to free her father from debtor’s prison.

About seven years ago, Hollinger was “living in Dickens’ head” and wrestling with how to adapt the author’s novel “Bleak House,” when his mind wandered, and he began thinking about the ubiquity of “A Christmas Carol.” He wondered if perhaps there was something new to add to the holiday season that would capture the same spirit as the classic story.

“I wanted to write something that didn’t feel like it was specifically related to Christmas yet had everything audiences look for in a holiday play,” Hollinger says, adding he also wanted to employ what he calls “open-handed theater,” in which a small ensemble shares a story while constantly shifting between roles “to represent a community in all its diversity.”

In the fictional “Mr. Dickens’ Hat,” 12-year-old Kit works in a Victorian hat shop to earn money to pay off her father’s debt. In the shop resides a hat, once used by the show’s titular famous owner to carry water to the victims of a train wreck (true story). Onto the scene comes a pair of bumbling thieves; Kit must foil their plan, save the hat and secure her father’s release.

In creating the character of Kit, Hollinger says he wanted to move away from “Dickens’ usual young women who are pure and good. I wanted her to be very sharp and very intelligent.”

Director David Catlin, a Lookingglass Theatre ensemble member, fell for Dickens big time while working on the company’s acclaimed 2002 staging of “Hard Times.” He says Hollinger’s play encompasses “everything I love about Dickens.”

“Like Dickens, Michael taps into this really big-hearted world and captures the spirit of the Dickensian character,” Catlin says. “He’s created a world that’s vivid and true with characters of all class and stripe, plus some delicious, despicable villains.

“And, in the way Dickens does, he moves between these big, epic moments like a chase across an icy train trestle and these tiny delicate jewel-like moments as when Kit and her father reminisce about her late mother.”

Cordelia Dewdney stars as Kit with the remainder of the cast — Christine Bunuan, Ruchir Khazanchi, Kasey Foster, Mark David Kaplan and Nick Sandys — performing a multitude of roles.

For Hollinger, the hat shop setting provided the perfect means of helping the actors transform from one character to another simply via a hat. “In 19th century British society, you knew a person’s class by their garments,” he says.

Catlin adds that imagination plays a big role for both actors and audience.

“Playing multiple roles like this demands an inventive, imaginative athleticism from the actors. They have to change between characters in the blink of an eye,” Catlin says, adding, “I think it also demands in a delightful way the audience’s imagination to make it work.”

Hollinger, who teaches playwrighting and songwriting at Villanova University, also wrote the play’s chorales and carols. The music direction is by Chuck Larkin.

“What I really wanted to do was find forgotten gems of Victorian carols that are not specifically about Christmas,” Hollinger recalls. “But I couldn’t find any. So, I decided to write them, and was able to tailor-make the songs in a 19th-century musical style.”

“Mr. Dickens’ Hat” was intended to open for the 2020 holiday season but, like all theater, was canceled due to COVID-19 shutdowns. Hollinger feels the need for the play is even greater now than before the pandemic.

“The play is about how do we create community, how do we gather, how do we reach out and connect and where do we find warmth in cold times? All of the values the play is about, we need a lot of right now.”

As for that adaptation of “Bleak House,” it’s still rambling around in Hollinger’s head. The complex novel about a notorious lawsuit is not to be underestimated; it does not adapt easily.

“I keep approaching it like a kind of Everest,” he says with a laugh. “I get to base camp and then I keep backing off. But it remains my favorite Dickens novel.”

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One person died and a child was among three others injured in a fire Monday on the Southwest Side. | Chicago Fire Media

Chicago Fire officials responded to a basement fire about 6:45 a.m. Monday morning in the 5700 block of West 64th Street.

One person was dead and a child among three injured Monday morning in a fire in Clearing on the Southwest Side.

Chicago Fire officials responded to a basement fire about 6:45 a.m. Monday morning in the 5700 block of West 64th Street.

A woman, about 60, was pronounced dead, according to spokesperson Larry Langford. A boy, about 7 was in serious-to-critical condition, Langford said. A woman, around 30, was in critical condition and a man, about 60, was in fair condition, according to officials.

An investigation is in progress.

This is a developing story, check back for details.

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Before the game on Sunday night, the Chicago Blackhawks celebrated Hockey Fights Cancer night at the United Center. They had special hockey sweaters to wear during the pregame warmups sporting the purple that is used to spread cancer awareness and they looked glorious. It is special to honor those fighting this terrible disease Of course, […] Chicago Blackhawks blanked at the hands of the San Jose Sharks – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & MoreRead More

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Two people were killed and 27 others wounded in shootings in Chicago this weekend. | Sun-Times file

A person was found shot to death Saturday night in Avalon Park on the South Side.

Two people were killed and two teens among 27 others wounded in citywide shootings from Friday 5 p.m. to Monday 5 a.m.

A person was shot to death Saturday night in Avalon Park on the South Side. The male, between 18 to 35 years old, was found under a viaduct about 7:30 p.m. in the 8100 block of South Anthony Avenue, Chicago police said. He was found with a gunshot wound to the head and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said. His name hasn’t been released.
A man was found shot to death Sunday evening in South Chicago. He was shot multiple times in the back and legs and discovered about 6:30 p.m. in the 8700 block of South Saginaw Avenue, police said. The man, believed to be between 20 and 30 years old, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.
In nonfatal attacks, a 14-year-old boy was walking about 12:50 a.m. Monday morning in the 1800 block of West 46th Street, when he was shot multiple times, police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition with gunshot wounds to his arm and legs, police said.
A 16-year-old boy walked into a residence to buy drugs about 6 p.m. Saturday evening in the 3300 block of West Beach Avenue when two males pulled out a gun and shot him, police said. He was struck in the leg and drove himself to Swedish Hospital in good condition, police said.
About three hours later, a man and woman were walking in the 6900 block of South Campbell Avenue when they were both struck by gunfire, police said. The woman, 32, was shot in her foot and the 37-year-old man was shot multiple times in his chest, arm and leg, police said. The man was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was in critical condition, and the woman was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where she was in good condition, police said.
A 29-year-old man and a woman, 28, were driving in the 4600 block of North Western Avenue about 12:05 a.m. Monday morning when they were both struck by gunfire, police said. The man was shot three times in the torso, while the woman was shot in her hip, police said. He was taken to Saint Francis Hospital, where he was in serious condition, police said. The woman was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center in fair condition, authorities said.

At least 21 others were wounded by gunfire in Chicago from Friday 5 p.m. to Monday 5 a.m.

A 14-year-old boy was among five people killed last weekend in Chicago, with 34 other people wounded, including six teens.

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Blackhawks goalies Kevin Lankinen (left) and Marc-Andre Fleury (right) have become close friends. | Getty Images

From road-trip lunches to Chicago family get-togethers, Lankinen and Fleury have developed a strong friendship away from the rink.

The Blackhawks brought in goalie Marc-Andre Fleury partly to mentor Kevin Lankinen, and mentor Lankinen, he has.

But it turns out Lankinen also has taught Fleury a thing or two.

“We actually did a couple of things on-ice with me, [goaltending coach] Jimmy Waite and ‘Flower’ working on a couple of things technically in the crease,” Lankinen said. “And he’s asking questions, ‘How do you do this?’

“Obviously, he’s played a long time, but he’s still learning. As a goalie, you’re always learning. You want to stay on top of the game and see what’s working for other guys.”

After a rough first few weeks, the Hawks’ veteran-and-youngster duo has started delivering the expected results in the last month. Their team save percentage since Oct. 30 — .926 — was fourth-best in the NHL.

And from intermissions to practices to nights off to road trips, the 36-year-old Hall of Fame-bound French Canadian and the 26-year-old up-and-coming Finn also have developed a strong friendship, beyond anything the Hawks could’ve hoped for when choosing them this summer as their somewhat unusual goaltending pair.

“It’s been great,” Fleury said. “[He’s an] awesome kid — very polite, respectful. On the ice, [he’s a] very hard worker. I really like his work ethic and his attention to detail. He’s very good technically, and he works hard every day. Between periods, we can talk to each other, talk about goals and stuff like that or just life in general. He’s been fun to play with.”

Added Lankinen: “He’s seen places and he’s been in situations that I’ve only watched on TV. I’m trying to catch up and see what brought him to the places where he’s been, just reflecting on his career and what his path has been like.”

AP Photos
Kevin Lankinen has played well recently after a slow start this season.

On the Hawks’ recent western road trip, Fleury and Lankinen enjoyed their lunches together at hotel restaurants most days. They’ve discovered they’re both interested in cars, and that became a frequent topic when their conversations drifted from hockey.

And in Chicago, Fleury and Lankinen already have held several get-togethers with their whole families present.

Both families are relatively new in the city, after all. Fleury’s decision to move his wife, Veronique, and three kids from Las Vegas dominated a week of the Hawks’ summer news cycle. Lankinen, meanwhile, was joined midway through last season from Finland by his fiancee, Iina.

“They got to meet each other, and I got to know his family, his wife, his kids,” Lankinen said. “They’re awesome.”

Lankinen added that he and Iina have grown to love Chicago despite its overwhelming size compared to Helsinki. And that’s a good thing because Lankinen might be a part of the Hawks for the long term.

Fleury will be an unrestricted free agent this summer — so will Lankinen — and the Hawks will need to make some decisions about their future plans at the position. Despite some struggles early this season, Lankinen remains 19-17-7 with a .906 save percentage in his first 44 career NHL starts, and he has won two of his last three, allowing two or fewer goals in both.

“I’m slowly progressing,” he said. “My game is slowly reaching the point where I want to be. When I reach there, the results are going to follow.”

Fleury, meanwhile, has been dominant lately, going 4-1-0 with a .955 save percentage in his five starts going into Sunday.

He was initially hesitant to spill the beans about what, exactly, he learned from Lankinen. But he eventually admitted he has been overlapping more this season.

Overlapping is a technique in which his pad extends beyond the post on the outside of the net, allowing him to defend sharp-angle shots in a typical crouch — square to the shooter — instead of pressed up against the post on his knees or standing.

Getty
Marc-Andre Fleury has begun “overlapping” the post more this season.

“It’s not something I’ve done before or worked on before,” Fleury said. “He’s been a good example to try to work on it.”

“It makes your life easier whatever happens — whether it’s a shot or a pass [or] stuff from behind the net,” Lankinen said. “We’ve been putting some emphasis on that the last few weeks. It’s showing in his game. He’s more comfortable with those certain situations. And I’m happy that I’ve been able to help him, as well.”

Lankinen also has thoroughly enjoyed the other normalcies of the season — full fan capacities, full travel schedule, etc. — because they’re all new to him.

He spoke openly last season about longing to play in a packed United Center, to experience firsthand the drama and mystique of that environment. He finally has had that wish granted this fall.

“It’s like a completely different league now,” he said. “I always dreamed of those moments where you get a win, and you can go out there and wave at the fans and just soak [it] in. . . . Even when the results might not go your way or you’re not feeling it, those are the moments that will keep you going.”

But regarding his long-term development and outside-of-games maturation, his partnership with Fleury has been most meaningful of all.

“I want to be a Stanley Cup champion; I want to be a Vezina Trophy winner,” Lankinen said. “Everything I can learn from him is helpful.”

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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football team is in a really nice spot right now. They are 11-1 after a big win in the final week of the season over Stanford. It was a 45-14 blowout that came after a 55-0 win over Georgia Tech. They were ranked number six by the College Football Playoff […] Notre Dame Football deserves a top-five spot this week – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & MoreRead More

Co-starring with Scarlett Estevez (center) in “Christmas Again” are Chicago native Daniel Sunjata (“Rescue Me”) and Alexis Carra as the girl’s divorcing parents. | Disney Channel

‘It was so amazing’ making the film downtown and in Ravenswood, says young star Scarlett Estevez.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year — forever.

In the Disney’s “Christmas Again,” every day is Dec. 25, and the stars of the movie (premiering Dec. 3 on Disney Channel and Disney+) are left to gallivant around Chicago in a fresh, candy-striped version of “Groundhog Day.”

Starring Scarlett Estevez of TV’s “Lucifer” and “Bunk’d” as Ro, an impish 11-year-old stuck in a Santa-induced time loop, the film centers on

her parents’ divorce and the changes to her Latino family in Ravenswood.

For Ro, that means juggling a new kind of Christmas, with an attention-hogging future stepsibling, Dad’s girlfriend mistakenly finishing the Christmas candy, and a flatulant abuela who toots in her face.

“She has just such a big personality,” Estevez said of her character. “I just think she would be such a fun person to hang out with.”

With each Christmas Day starting with a triumphant “Good Morning Chicago!” from her alarm clock, Ro she decides to discover what Chicago has to offer. Guided by a snippy Santa who drives an eight-wheeled stretch Hummer limo, she travels from Navy Pier to the Museum of Science and Industry to Millennium Park and more.

“It was so amazing,” the young Los Angeles resident said of Chicago in autumn. “The scenery, all the trees are orange [with fall leaves], and it was snowing — it was so pretty.”

Disney
Estevez’s character finds herself exploring the city of Chicago, including by competing in a local hockey game, as she relives Christmas again and again.

For Estevez and Alexis Carra, who plays Ro’s warmhearted mother, filming in the city was a memorable experience.

“I always say that if Chicago had California weather, everyone would live there,” Carra said.

Much of the cast stayed in the River North neighborhood in late fall of 2020, and spent time walking around downtown and admiring the Christmas lights, she said.

“Chicago, it’s got that magic of the big town, especially downtown. It’s just such a beautiful city,” Carra said. “Being able to shoot in a Chicago neighborhood in an actual Chicago family home, It just felt really magical, all of it.”

For food, Estevez’s spot was the Nutella Cafe on Michigan Avenue, where she and co-star Ashlyn Jade-Lopez wolfed down croissants and hot chocolate. Carra said she dined on all Chicago has to offer, including Giordano’s deep dish, Portillo’s hot dogs and the “insane” carrot cake at Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse.

“I tried to walk as much as I could since I was eating that whole kind of thing,” Carra said with a laugh.

“Christmas Again” also meant something deeper to the actress. She said playing a divorced, confident Latina mother was empowering, given her background.

“I appreciate Disney’s seeing me in this way because, maybe because I have Argentine and Cuban background, I don’t maybe look Latin at first glance,” Carra said. “I think it’s a recognition that Latine people come in all shapes and colors and sizes and ethnic blends.”

And for Estevez, starring in a movie centered around the value of family — no matter what that looks like — made the experience important on its own.

“I hope that this movie means a lot to people,” Estevez said. “And I felt really like I was in such an amazing place.”

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Shannon Glass and her husband Marty Gleason stand on the corner near a proposed warehouse development at 3900 S. Normal Ave. that they fear will bring more air pollution to an area already congested with truck traffic. | Brian Rich/Sun-Times

Plans for a pair of Southwest Side sites are not getting a rigorous environmental review despite a new law, critics charge.

Shannon Glass and her husband Marty Gleason bought their Canaryville home more than six years ago because it was affordable and close to the neighborhood where Glass grew up.

As a third-generation South Sider, Glass is used to living near factories large and small, but a more recent and rapidly growing industry — big warehouses largely accommodating the growth of online shopping — is not something she can embrace.

There are at least five warehouse projects either in development or newly opened just a short drive from Glass’ house, including a proposal for a large development at 3900 S. Normal Ave.

She worries these developments are going to bring potentially hundreds of trucks into areas already populated with warehouses — the same Southwest Side neighborhoods that city health officials previously identified as having some of the worst air quality in Chicago.

“We already have a lot of truck traffic and just a lot of air quality issues that aren’t really ever addressed,” Glass said. “We don’t get any of the benefits.”

The proposed warehouse and another planned nearby at 1032 W. 43rd St. are the first to face a review under a new air pollution ordinance backed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and passed by the City Council in March. The ordinance has been held up by the mayor as her signature action to reduce the pollution burden for low-income communities.

But critics say the law is already falling short, citing two air pollution and traffic examinations ordered by the city they say appear to give a green light for the projects. The increase in truck-intensive warehouse developments exponentially increase pollution for some neighborhoods, they add.

Pause warehouse development, critics say

The sites have been given no city approvals yet, and it’s not clear how long the process to approve the developments will take, but critics are already weighing in.

More than a dozen environmental, health, community and civil rights groups wrote the city to ask for a pause in industrial permitting, including warehouse development, until the city can better explain how the process will be more rigorous under the new air ordinance.

Until a better environmental review process is under way, the city should hold off on approving warehouses, the groups say.

For instance, the Lightfoot administration has promised to back a “cumulative burden” pollution ordinance that takes into account all environmental and health elements of a community that already experiences a lot of pollution and health problems.

“We strongly request that the city desist from moving forward with these proposed warehouses and furthermore adopt a moratorium on all similar industrial permitting until it adopts a comprehensive framework for assessing and addressing disparities in environmental and related socioeconomic burdens within Chicago,” said the letter signed by Meleah Geertsma, a senior attorney for the environmental organization Natural Resources Defense Council.

The Lightfoot administration has shown a “failure to acknowledge and address whether and how these diesel truck facilities will cause or contribute to significant disproportionate environmental burdens in an already overburdened environmental justice community,” the letter added, using a term for low-income, often minority neighborhoods that are already living with environmental and health hazards.

Residents of New City, the community area that includes the Canaryville and Back of the Yards neighborhoods, are more than 60% Latino, 23% Black and about 13% white and have per capita income of less than $17,000 a year, according to census data. Multiple environmental maps, including the city’s own research, show the area to have a high concentration of health and environmental burdens.

The Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, Respiratory Health Association, Illinois Environmental Council, Earthjustice and the National Housing Law Project are among the groups listed as supporting the demands of the letter.

In a statement to the Sun-Times, the city said its public health and transportation analysts “determined that both facilities’ proposed operations are relatively straightforward and neither would have a substantial impact on local air quality.”

The statement also nodded to the Lightfoot administration’s promise to take the longer view of environmental concerns. The statement added: “While the city currently has a thorough process to evaluate the impact of any proposed developments, we plan to build on this effort by developing a cumulative impact ordinance that addresses many of the broader concerns communicated in the public comments. The city is taking a more expansive look at impacts and existing conditions through an environmental justice lens.”

Brian Rich/Sun-Times
A proposed warehouse development at 3900 S. Normal Ave. will bring many more trucks each day to an already polluted area, health and environmental advocates say.

But in an interview, Geertsma said city officials aren’t taking into consideration other burdens these communities already face and are working “with limited tools, having skipped over necessary groundwork.”

Specifically, an air emissions modeling report prepared by an outside firm and presented to the city concluded that the increased traffic around the two proposed warehouses wouldn’t exceed national standards set for limits on three types of pollution.

The city “cannot accept this myopic analysis as meeting its obligations to address environmental justice and recognize and abate disproportionate adverse impacts,” the letter to the city written by Geertsma noted.

For instance, common pollutants from diesel trucks need to be scrutinized, she said, citing a recent pollution review at the national level. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said it is reviewing its guidelines on fine particulate matter, often referred to as soot, that is released through diesel trucks and can get embedded deep into the lungs.

“The concept [of the ordinance] is right, but the nuts and bolts of it don’t provide our communities what we’ve been looking for,” said Kim Wasserman, executive director of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization. “This is a great example of what happens when you don’t work with the community to develop these things.”

A massive warehouse distribution site at 3501 S. Pulaski Road in Little Village opened in July and now being leased by Target has been at the core of a years-long controversy in Little Village.

Located at the site of a former coal-fired power plant the community demanded be shut down, the warehouse has been the target of protests by Wasserman’s group saying it could bring in hundreds of trucks in and out of the facility every day, adding to air pollution. Target has said its trucks will not cut through residential streets and will remain on Pulaski while heading to and from nearby Interstate 55.

Wasserman’s group was among community organizations that also supported the letter sent to the city earlier this month.

A 2020 map prepared by city planners shows more than 30 warehouse distribution sites with only three locations north of Roosevelt Road. To be sure, the Southwest Side, including parts of Bridgeport, New City and McKinley Park, is strategically located for such operations. The area is already largely zoned for industrial uses and located off major truck routes such as Interstates 90 and 55.

The two New City warehouse projects are being developed by a joint venture that includes The Missner Group of Des Plaines. Missner representatives declined to comment.

Brian Rich/Sun-Times
A warehouse development is slated for 3900 S. Normal Ave.

Logistics touted for city’s economic future

While Lightfoot has promised to improve air quality in Chicago, her economic development and planning officials have touted logistics as a key part of the city’s economic future.

Glass, who recently stood at a corner near the 3900 S. Normal site as dozens of trucks rumbled by on a weekday morning, wonders why the city can’t at least consider some green space or another type of business to throw into the mix.

“I understand why they want to put these in our neighborhood, but I want to know that they have a plan to address the environmental issues — and they’re not just putting these up to the detriment of our neighborhood,” Glass said. “It feels like a real lack of imagination — just one type of business.”

Brett Chase’s reporting on the environment and public health is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust.

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