NBAE via Getty Images

Typically, when an organization loses a superstar — Elena Delle Donne, in this case — fans never remember anything other than what they lost. Copper is ensuring that isn’t the case this time.

PHOENIX — Plenty of stars have played for the Sky during their 15-year history.

Sylvia Fowles, selected second overall in the 2008 WNBA Draft, was expected to be the face of the franchise.

In 2013, they drafted Elena Delle Donne, also with the second overall pick.

The Sky got Swin Cash in a trade in 2012 and Cappie Pondexter in 2015. Both joined the Sky after having won championships. Fowles and Delle Donne left and won theirs.

After the Delle Donne trade in 2017, it felt like Groundhog Day in Chicago because Fowles wanted out two years earlier. Fans didn’t know it then, but the Sky were establishing a new foundation built on many stars, not a lone star.

“When [Delle Donne was traded], it felt like another one,” Allie Quigley said. “From that moment, Courtney [Vandersloot] and I said, ‘We need to make this place somewhere people want to be.’ ”

At the time of the Delle Donne trade, current coach/general manager James Wade was in talks with several WNBA teams, including the Sky, about assistant coaching jobs. Wade ended up joining Cheryl Reeve’s Minnesota Lynx staff. The Lynx won a championship that season, and Fowles was named Finals MVP.

When Stefanie Dolson and Kahleah Copper, who were part of the blockbuster trade that sent Delle Donne to the Washington Mystics, arrived ahead of the 2017 season, the Sky already were on their way to becoming a desirable destination. Vandersloot recalls then-coach Amber Stocks saying how good Copper was going to be.

The next year, Stocks drafted two more young stars in Diamond DeShields and Gabby Williams, further solidifying a new era of Sky basketball.

“Being drafted after that trade, I knew I was coming into a team with a new identity,” DeShields said. “When James was hired, we had to revisit that all over again.”

Wade immediately began developing a new culture built on team basketball.

The Sky’s foundation was already set with Quigley, Vandersloot, Copper, DeShields and Dolson. In Wade’s system, they thrived.

DeShields became a first-time All-Star in 2019, and Vandersloot earned her second All-Star nod. Copper, meanwhile, was on her way to becoming the Sky’s next superstar. In the team’s 2019 Game 2 single-elimination loss to the Las Vegas Aces, Copper had 16 points, three rebounds and two assists in only 19 minutes off the bench. The Sky’s season ended that night, but Copper was taking off.

“Her ability to take this opportunity, and I say take because it was not given to her, is really unique and special,” Vandersloot said.

Copper is averaging 18.6 points and shooting 53.3% from the field through the Sky’s 2021 playoff run that has them two wins away from their first WNBA title.

Typically, when an organization loses a superstar, fans never remember anything other than what they lost. Copper is ensuring that isn’t the case this time.

If the Sky are able to win their first title, it’s safe to say fans will only talk about two periods in the franchise’s history:

The Sky before the title and the Sky after.

And as far as the Delle Donne trade goes, it will be remembered as the deal that brought Copper to Chicago.

“When I got to Chicago, everything was brand new,” Copper said. “I was just trying to find my way in.”

Copper found her way in, and when she becomes an unrestricted free agent this offseason, the Sky will be tasked with keeping her.

Read More

Read More

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Gruden is out as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders after emails he sent before being hired in 2018 contained racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments.

Jon Gruden has resigned as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders after emails he sent before being hired in 2018 contained racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments.

Gruden released a statement Monday night, saying: “I have resigned as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone.”

He stepped down after The New York Times reported that Gruden frequently used misogynistic and homophobic language directed at Commissioner Roger Goodell and others in the NFL.

The NFL Network first reported the development.

It was a rapid downfall for Gruden, who is in the fourth year of a 10-year, $100 million contract he signed with the Raiders in 2018. It started on Friday when the Wall Street Journal reported that Gruden used a racist term to describe NFL union chief DeMaurice Smith in a 2011 email to former Washington executive Bruce Allen.

The emails were discovered in a workplace misconduct investigation into the Washington Football Team but ended up costing Gruden his job when they also showed Gruden denounced the drafting of a gay player and the tolerance of players protesting during the playing of the national anthem among other issues.

Gruden apologized for his “insensitive remarks” about Smith, saying they were made out of frustration over the 2011 lockout. But the latest emails sent from between 2011-18 when Gruden was an analyst for ESPN show his use of derogatory language went well beyond that.

A league source confirms the accuracy of the emails and said they were sent to the Raiders last week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the league hasn’t made the emails public.

Raiders owner Mark Davis said last week that the email about Smith was “disturbing and not what the Raiders stand for” and said the team was reviewing the additional emails.

The Times reported that Gruden used a gay slur to insult Goodell and said he was “clueless” and “anti-football.” He also said Goodell shouldn’t have pressured the Rams to draft “queers,” a reference to Michael Sam, who was the first openly gay player drafted by an NFL team.

Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib came out as gay in June and is the first openly gay player to appear in an NFL game.

In a 2017 email, the Times said Gruden responded to a sexist meme of a female official by saying: “Nice job roger.”

The paper also said Gruden criticized Goodell and the NFL league for trying to reduce concussions, and said that Eric Reid, a player who had demonstrated during the playing of the national anthem, should be fired.

The newspaper said Gruden also mocked an article in 2017 about players calling on Goodell to support their efforts promoting racial equality and criminal justice reform.

“He needs to hide in his concussion protocol tent,” Gruden wrote.

Gruden and Allen have a long relationship, having worked together in Oakland and Tampa Bay. The emails between the two and other men included photos of women wearing only bikini bottoms, including one photo of two Washington team cheerleaders.

Gruden also criticized President Barack Obama during his re-election campaign in 2012, and then-vice president Joe Biden.

Smith said earlier Monday that he appreciates that Gruden reached out to him following the initial report, but that the email is evidence that the fight against racism is ongoing.

“But make no mistake, the news is not about what is said in our private conversation, but what else is said by people who never thought they would be exposed and how they are going to be held to account,” Smith wrote in a Twitter thread.

Gruden’s comments to Allen about Smith came during the 2011 lockout of the players by the NFL. Gruden told the Wall Street Journal he was angry about the lockout during labor negotiations and he didn’t trust the direction the union was taking.

“Dum-b-oriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires,” Gruden wrote in the email re-viewed by the newspaper.

Davis had been trying to hire Gruden almost since he took charge following the death of his father, Al, in 2011. He finally got his prize in 2018 when Gruden agreed to leave ESPN and return to the sideline with a 10-year contract. Gruden had revived the Raiders in is first stint in 1998-2001 and then beat them in the Super Bowl the following season after he was traded to Tampa Bay for a boatload of draft picks.

Gruden has a 117-112 career record but hasn’t won a playoff game since the Super Bowl victory over the Raiders in the 2002 season.

His second tenure with the team started with a pep rally introductory news conference but provided few reasons for celebration as Gruden had a 22-31 record, failing to reach a winning record or make the playoffs.

He traded away stars Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper in his first season to start a rebuild, which has showed only minor progress. After the Raiders went 4-12 in his first season, Gruden tried to make a push in 2019 in the team’s final season in Oakland by spending heavily in free agency and trading for star receiver Antonio Brown. But Brown was cut before the season after a series of run-ins with management, and the Raiders went 7-9.

They improved to 8-8 last season and got off to a promising 3-0 start this year before losing the past two games.

There is no immediate word on who will take over as interim coach. The Raiders have three former NFL head coaches on staff: defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, defensive line coach Rod Marinelli, and offensive line coach Tom Cable, who was the team’s head coach from 2008-2010, going 17-27. Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia is the assistant head coach.

Read More

Justin Fields runs with the ball during the second half against the Raiders on Sunday in Las Vegas. | Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Rookie has to realize that the NFL is bigger, stronger and faster than what he experienced at Ohio State.

Start with this: Justin Fields ain’t running the 40 in 4.4 anymore.

A hyperextended left knee (suffered in the second quarter of the Bears’ 20-9 victory Sunday against the Raiders) will do that to a sprinter.

Getting a helmet and shoulder pads plunged into your side by a flying safety (as Fields got in the first quarter on an ill-fated spin move) also will slow you down. Try pumping your arms real hard when your ribs feel like they’re made of shish-kebab pokers.

This is the young quarterback’s indoctrination into the NFL.

To be succinct, he’s not in Columbus anymore. His Bears won’t be on the road to Evanston or Iowa City or Bloomington, Indiana. And Florida Atlantic (remember that fun 45-21 blowout for the Buckeyes in 2019?) won’t be on the schedule.

This is how young NFL quarterbacks adapt or disappear — basically, through the beatings they take and the damage caused en route, and the way they figure out how to succeed and live.

The Bears-Raiders game was one of the most herky-jerky, flow-free games I’ve seen in some time. Penalties, reviews, timeouts, delays (to see if Raiders quarterback Derek Carr was badly hurt, among other things) and so on kept the game from getting any kind of rhythm.

And that seemed to keep Fields from getting into sync, too. But above all, what he didn’t seem to understand was that these foes are bigger and stronger and much faster than any group in college football. And because of that, he was hurt twice when both incidents were likely avoidable.

As always, you admire a ballplayer’s desire. Selling out your body in football is a virtue. But quarterbacks are different.

All anyone has to do is observe the miracle of the Buccaneers’ Tom Brady, who on Sunday threw for more than 400 yards and had five touchdown passes for the first time in his career, at 44.

Yes, Brady’s some kind of freak. But his avoidance of constant injury is his key secret. How does he do it? Lots of ways — from the help of the Bucs’ offensive scheme to his brilliant mind to some mysterious sense of when enough is enough and it’s time to bail.

Brady knows what is possible.

It has to be hard for Fields to feel so young and fresh (though not as fresh as he did a couple of days ago) and yet ratchet back. Proof of that is that college spin move he promised to retire but didn’t. It might be instinctive, but after using it against Raiders safety Johnathan Abram to gain a couple more yards, he’s lucky he still has a spleen.

Bears fans got their wish. Fields is starting, and veteran Andy Dalton is on the bench. But now those fans will have to watch a quasi-horror show as Fields finds the boundaries of this new game.

It’s going to be ugly at times. It almost always is. And with 17 games this season, it’s all but certain Fields will get injured and miss time.

The people who think the Bears can’t do anything right — hello, general manager Ryan Pace — might want to remember that they have Dalton and one-time Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles in reserve, which is good. Aging and average they may be. But some teams are almost barren at the quarterback-backup spot.

“Just be smart, that’s all,” coach Matt Nagy said of his directions to Fields.

“I’m going to put myself out there to win games,” Fields countered.

So the conflict is there: safety vs. aggression.

Maybe Fields saw aggressive Bills quarterback Josh Allen hurdle a Chiefs tackler Sunday night, risking all but firing up his team mightily in the process. Because Allen didn’t get splattered, it was a great move. Break a collarbone or tear a hip flexor — and it’s not so great.

I’m reminded here of former quarterback David Carr, Derek’s older brother, and his NFL-record 76 sacks suffered his rookie season with the expansion Texans. It’s possible he never recovered.

Wonderfully talented Archie Manning was beaten to a pulp with the fledgling and terrible Saints. That choked his career.

Troy Aikman went 0-11 as a rookie with the Cowboys, and Peyton Manning threw a career-high 28 interceptions as a Colts rookie. But both recovered to win Super Bowls and make the Hall of Fame.

There are a couple of paths here for Fields to ponder. They diverge in the woods. Choosing the right one will make all the difference for the young man.

Read More

Rebecca M. Blank, chancellor at the University of Madison-Wisconsin, has been named as Northwestern University president — the institution’s first ever woman in that role. | Northwestern University

Rebecca M. Blank, chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, takes the helm in Summer 2022.

For the first time in its history, Northwestern University has named a woman to lead the institution.

Rebecca M. Blank, the chancellor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, is set to become Northwestern’s 17th president, the university announced Monday.

When Blank assumes the position in summer 2022, she wants to expand the scope of research and the opportunities students have for learning outside of the classroom. She is also committed to bolstering the support low-income students have on campus.

“Students who come in as first-generation students, in particular, often can’t navigate the university as easily as other students. You got to have things in place that give them that type of help,” Blank told the Sun-Times. “That’s what Northwestern and other schools have to be about.”

During her tenure at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she launched a program that guarantees free tuition to some low-income Wisconsin residents who attend.

Blank is also an internationally renowned economist specializing in researching poverty and the low-income labor market. She has served in three presidential administrations, most recently as acting secretary of commerce and deputy secretary of commerce under President Barack Obama.

Blank is a former Northwestern economics professor. Decades ago, she became her department’s first tenured woman professor, Northwestern said.

“She knows from the inside what it looks like to be the first, and the kinds of hills that you need to climb in order to get to that place where you are qualified and ready to be promoted in a space in which women and underrepresented minorities in the past just really have been unwelcome,” said Elizabeth Hurd, who teaches history at Northwestern and is a woman in academia herself. “It’s really a new day.”

Higher education in the United States has only seen a change in the gender landscape over the last couple of generations, Hurd added, and Northwestern was “long overdue” for diversification of top leadership.

Blank will succeed Morton Schapiro, who has been president of the Evanston school since September 2009.

Last year, Schapiro came under fire — with some even calling for his resignation — after he criticized student protesters and accused them of anti-Semitism after demonstrations demanding the disbandment of the school’s police force.

The calls to resign began after Schapiro wrote a letter saying protesters should be “ashamed” of using an anti-Semitic trope by calling him “piggy Morty.” In the letter, he called the protesters “disgraceful” and said the school had “absolutely no intention” of abolishing its police force.

Students of color at the University of Wisconsin at Madison made similar demands to their institution last year, but Blank at the time said she would not defund university police.

“I’ve worked with some groups of protesters who you really can sit down with and can say, look, let’s talk about your agenda,” Blank said. “Communication is really important … whether they’re protesting outside your office or whether they’re just wanting to come in and talk to you about an issue.”

Northwestern P.h.D. student Nathan Lamp said students want the next president to be more accountable to their peers from marginalized groups.

Lamp, who worked with administrators as a member of a task force created to look into gender inclusive strategies at the university, said Schapiro’s efforts to listen to students on diversity and equity issues have felt “perfunctory.”

Lamp said the institution needed new leadership, new perspectives and, “At the very least, there’s I think some kind of understanding of inclusivity as a practice of doing administrative work and running the university.”

Associated Student Government President Christian Wade said he’s looking to work with Blank to facilitate meetings and communication with students and student activist groups.

“A big thing is going to be how is she going to adjust to the … rapidly changing demands and needs and desires of the body, and a student body that is becoming more and more diverse,” Wade said.

Read More

Former hockey player Chris Chelios (L) and actor John Cusack watch as the Chicago Cubs take on the Atlanta Braves at Wrigley Field on June 24, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. At Sunday’s White Sox-Astros game, a Barstool Chicago reporter confronted Cusack over his support of both the Cubs and the Sox. | Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The Evanston-born actor may love the Cubs, but he’s proven to be a fan of both teams over the years — something a Barstool Chicago reporter did not know.

There’s an unwritten rule in cities with two sports teams of the same game:

You can’t possibly be a fan of both teams.

If you’re a Chicago Cubs fan, then rooting for the Chicago White Sox, now heading into Game 4 of the American League Division Series against the Houston Astros, would be akin to treason.

At least, that’s how Barstool Chicago apparently sees it. A video posted to Twitter Sunday shows Barstool reporter Dave Williams confronting Evanston-born actor and noted Cubs fan John Cusack at the game about breaking this unwritten rule.

But instead of hiding his face, Cusack claps back. “You can’t tell me who to root for,” he tells Williams. “I can root for whoever I want.”

In the video, the reporter for the online sports news outlet accuses the actor of “jumping on the White Sox bandwagon,” but Cusack shows off his White Sox trivia, quizzing Williams — who claims not to know some answers because he’s too young to know some of the answers.

“That just proves your ignorance,” said Cusack, who wore a White Sox uniform in “Eight Men Out,” the 1988 film about the 1919 World Series scandal.

Williams further protests, claiming, “half the fun about being a fan is being miserable. You can’t just go to the Cubs side,” adding that it’s “against the rules.”

“We’ll just have to agree to disagree,” Cusack concedes before giving the reporter a fist bump and walking away. The reporter makes a retching noise and tells viewers that “John Cusack is banned.”

Some twitter responders suggested it was Williams who was out of his league.

At least one Twitter user agreed with Williams’ “bandwagon-hopping” remark.

This wouldn’t be the first time Cusack has been vocal about his love for both teams. While cheering at a Cubs game in June 2008, the actor insisted that he supported both teams — and he rattled off what a Chicago Sun-Times reporter called “old statistics and obscure players from White Sox teams past to prove it.”

“I grew up watching both teams,” Cusack told the reporter. “I love the Sox as much as the Cubs. I get in a lot of trouble for it, but I remember when Mike Squires and Lamar Johnson were platooning at first base” for the Sox in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Cusack’s duel allegiance also upset White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf during the team’s 2005 World Series run, but the two managed to patch things up.

“I played [George] Buck Weaver in ‘Eight Men Out,’ so I wore the colors of the Sox,” Cusack said. “I really do love them.”

After this encounter, Williams might want to stick to the on-field action during Game 4.

Read More

Read More

Lou Reed and his band are profiled in “The Velvet Underground,” screening Wednesday in the Chicago film festival and premiering Friday on Apple TV+. | Apple

The 57th fest, opening Wednesday, screens movies from 57 different countries online and/or in theaters.

Revelatory and resilient, the Chicago International Film Festival brings back in-theater screenings, along with less costly virtual screenings. Last year nearly all of the festival occurred online. Either way, cinema is the venerably virtual way to widen our horizons limited by COVID-19.

“The French Dispatch” — another ensemble treat by the inventive and diverting Wes Anderson — launches the festival at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Music Box Theatre. Tickets are $40. This U.K./France/Germany co-production opens Oct. 21 in Chicago.

The 57th annual festival draws cinema co-produced in 57 different countries, coincidentally. The schedule has 89 feature-length films and 10 programs of shorts. Documentaries include world premieres of works about Mayor Harold Washington, chef Charlie Trotter and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“Accessibility” is the 2021 watchword. “Everybody misses the face-to-face aspect,” admits artistic director Mimi Plauche, now in her 16th year at the non-profit Cinema/Chicago that presents the festival. “You can’t replicate that in-theater experience.” But she loves how audience members now connect through chat boxes during livestream Q&A sessions. “I think there’s a new ease in communication.”

To attend in-person, indoor screenings you need proof of full vaccination or negative COVID-19 PCR test results. More details are at www.chicagofilmfestival.com/festival/safety/

Here are 10 films recommended to see on the big screen or stream at home (tickets for both in-person and streaming options available at chicagofilmfestival.com):

DRAMAS

“Amira” (Egypt/Jordan/UAE/Saudi Arabia) Egyptian filmmaker Mohammed Diab crafts a moving thriller about a 17-year-old Palestinian woman seeking truths about her birth. Imprisoned by Israelis, her father had nonetheless impregnated her mother. DNA tests now create a tragic conflict of identity. (5:45 p.m. Oct. 19, AMC River East, 322 E. Illinois St.)

Provided
“Amira”

“Bergman Island” (France/Belgium/Germany/Sweden) Two writers work on new scripts on the island Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman made famous. Their issues resonate with Bergman’s storied marital and artistic issues. Mia Hansen-Love seamlessly morphs their own film into one or two others being made. (8 p.m. Oct. 14, AMC River East 21)

“The Last Execution” (Germany) Franziska Stunkel re-creates the Kafkaesque plight of an East Berlin academic coerced by state security agents to destroy a soccer star who defected to the west. As in other politically acute entries this year, men leverage women in power plays. The title refers to the June 26, 1981 execution of Werner Teske, whose story inspired the screenplay. (8:45 p.m. Oct. 16, and 5:15 p.m. Oct. 21 AMC River East 21)

Provided
“The Last Execution”

“Paris, 13th District” (France) Three young Parisians are variously roommates, co-workers, lovers, ex-lovers and lovers once more. Shooting in black-and-white, Jacques Audiard serves a wonderful slice of Paris romance. Yes, it’s familiar French fare but these characters and actors really are winning. (8:30 p.m. Oct. 16 and 8:15 p.m. Oct. 19, AMC River East 21)

“The Tsugua Diaries” (Portugal) Maureen Fazendeiro and Miguel Gomes co-direct a playful film about three young Portuguese spending time in a large house in the country doing not much. It starts on Day 22 and counts back to Day 1. We will learn who they are and how they got there. Spoiler: A film crew comes into view and COVID-19 rules are spelled out. (5:15 p.m. Oct. 14 and 8:30 p.m. Oct. 22, AMC River East 21)

DOCUMENTARIES

“Babi Yar. Context” (The Netherlands/Ukraine) Sergei Loznitsa assembles a searing montage that contextualizes Germans and Ukrainians shooting 33,771 Jews near Kiev on September 29 and 30, 1941. Adding natural sounds and actors voicing actual words, transcribed and broadcast at the time, lends uncanny impact to the originally silent footage. Some was home movies by German soldiers. (12:15 p.m. Oct. 17, AMC River East 21)

Provided
A Stalin poster is torn down in an image from “Babi Yar. Context.”

“Cow” (U.K.) In her press notes Andrea Arnold (“American Honey”) cites The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness as background for this intimate, intriguing chronicle of a cow in a barn. Luma looks enslaved yet enjoys a few lovely episodes of outdoor mobility, if not liberty. Interspecies empathy ensues. And a little sly humor. The wrenching end is a blindsider. (6 p.m. Oct. 19, AMC River East 21)

“The Last Forest” (Brazil) Luiz Bolognesi won a Silver Hugo for “Ex-Shaman” in the 2018 festival. He returns to the rainforest to further document the further struggles of ex-shaman Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, credited here as co-writer. He stars as himself. Their shared perspectives defend an imperiled way of life from invasive miners and mercury ruining the water. (6 p.m. Oct. 20, AMC River East 21)

Provided
“The Last Forest”

“A Hero” (Iran) Asghar Farhadi offers a masterly drama of a man dealing with a debt to his ex-father-in-law that got him in prison. During a two-day release he implicates the warden and a prisoner charity in a feel-good news story that backfires. One lie inspires other lies, all in defense of reputations. Farhadi critiques media and social media for treating virtue as spectacle. “A Hero” won Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Prix.” His earlier “Fireworks Wednesday” and “The Salesman” won Hugos at the Chicago International Film Festival. (7:45 p.m. Oct. 19 and 8:15 p.m. Oct. 22, AMC River East 21)

“The Velvet Underground” (U.S.) In 2007 Todd Haynes made “I’m Not There,” an odd biopic with six actors playing Bob Dylan. Now he profiles the late Lou Reed, his band The Velvet Underground and the surrounding Andy Warhol scene. This artfully composed portrait of New York City musicians generously samples experimental filmmakers, including Stan Brakhage. (7 p.m. Oct. 13, Pilsen ChiTown Movies Drive-In, 2343 S. Throop St.)

Read More

From left to right: Tiffany Solano (Lucha), Molly Hernandez (Isabel), Amanda Raquel Martinez (Gabby), Gloria Vivica Benavides (Soyla), Christopher Llewyn Ramirez (Mateo) and Lucy Godinez (Boli) in “American Mariachi” by Jose Cruz Gonzalez, directed by Henry Godinez at Goodman Theatre. The show runs through Oct. 24. | Photo by Liz Lauren

Local theater companies that are part of the Destinos: Chicago International Latino Theater Festival are giving Latino audiences the chance to see themselves reflected on stages at several neighborhoods throughout the city.

Benavides. Cervantes. Godinez. Gutierrez. Gonzalez. Hernandez. Ramirez. Solano.

These are among the names of the writer, director and cast of “American Mariachi,” a play at the Goodman Theatre about five Latinas who go against machismo and tradition to start their own mariachi group in the 1970s.

A production such as this, where Latinos are in charge of their own narrative, is a rare sight at any major theater in Chicago. But when we attended a weekday performance last week, we discovered a good-size and diverse crowd laughing, crying and clapping along, evidence that Chicago theatergoers are up for shows with largely Latino casts and themes.

The Goodman is one of six local theater companies and four visiting troupes — from Miami, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Mexico — participating this fall in the 4th annual Destinos: Chicago International Latino Theater Festival. The other five local companies are Aguijon Theater, Teatro Vista, Latino Vision, Teatro Tariakuri and the Urban Theater Company.

“These are our stories, our own narratives and our own experiences. They aren’t influenced by a white director who says you have to look a certain way or have an accent when you speak English,” Myrna Salazar, executive director for the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance and lead producer of the festival, told us. “We want things that show the value of what it is to be Latino, whether it’s through our history or the flavors we bring to the country. And to put that on stage, it’s very important.”

What is particularly notable about the Destinos productions, we which see as a welcomed reflection of the cultural richness of Chicago’s growing demographic diversity, is that they are being offered outside the Loop theater district and the usual North Side neighborhoods. Performances are being offered in more working-class neighborhoods such as Belmont Cragin, Wicker Park, Marquette Park, Pilsen and Humboldt Park, where some people in the audience for the first time might be seeing people who look like them on the stage.

The story lines, as well, often take a more personal Latino turn.

There is the play, “Corazon de Papel,” for example, which is set in the devastation of Puerto Rico, post-Hurricane Maria. It will be performed at Chopin Theater, 1543 W. Division St., from Oct. 14 to 17.

And there is the play “Y Tu Abuela, Where Is She?” It tells the story of an interracial couple who are accepted into a program that allows them to modify the genes of their children before they are born. The two are excited about the possibilities until they become stuck on one question: What color skin should their child have? The play will run at The Den Theater, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., from Oct. 14 to 24.

Chicago has been a celebrated theater town since at least the 1970s when pioneering companies such as Steppenwolf and Wisdom Bridge first set up shop in ordinary Chicago neighborhoods to tell powerful stories.

The Destinos festival continues that tradition — with a more Latino twist, like our city itself — and we urge you to check it all out.

For tickets, visit CLATA.org

Send letters to [email protected].

Read More

Immigration advocates hold signs during a press conference where they called on U.S. representatives to back the inclusion of a pathway to citizenship in the upcoming budget reconciliation package at Federal Plaza in the Loop on Aug. 18. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

The Biden administration has vowed to end the backlog of DACA renewal requests, yet the U.S. Immigration and Customs Services continues to fail to fix the problem.

For eight days in August, Ana Estrada fell off the cliff for legal status in the United States.

It cost her her job, her vacation time and her health insurance.

To understand why it is imperative that the federal government finally catch up in processing two-year renewal requests under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which grants protections against deportation for “Dreamers” — young adults who were brought to our country illegally as children — consider the nonsense Estrada had to go through.

She is one of some 30,880 DACA recipients living in Illinois. The United States is the only country she has ever known as home. But when her DACA status expired on Aug. 16, she was dismissed from her job at a warehouse because she instantly was ineligible to work in the U.S.

Estrada regained her legal status just days later, on Aug. 24, when her DACA renewal application finally was approved, and weeks later the warehouse rehired her. But as a “new” employee, she lost the vacation time and free health insurance she previously had earned.

This is nuts. Dreamers like Estrada are playing by the rules but getting kicked around all the same. The Biden administration has vowed to end the backlog of DACA renewal requests, yet the U.S. Immigration and Customs Services has failed to fix the problem for almost a year.

Not only do the delays throw life up for grabs for Dreamers in the short-run; they also make it more difficult for Dreamers to qualify for more permanent family-based and employment-base green cards. Their supposed “unlawful presence” — even if only for a day — goes on their record and is held against them.

Who could help? Maybe your local member of Congress. At the very least, many congressional offices could work more with local immigrant-rights groups to help DACA recipients understand where their applications for DACA renewal status stand.

Send letters to [email protected].

Read More