What’s New

Welcome to our highlights of events and entertainment on stage at Chicago’s theaters. From local productions to Broadway hits, our guide has the latest on shows in the city. Bookmark this page and check back for updates and ticket information.

Michael Doucet

Teatro ZinZanni

What: The immersive, whirlwind theater experience that is Teatro ZinZanni reopens featuring a new show with a cast of comedians, aerialists, acrobats, singers, dancers and a gourmet meal, it brings comedy, music and cirque back after a long pandemic hiatus. Included among the performers are powerhouse vocalists Storm Marrero and Cunio, aerial acts Lea Hinz and Duo 19, veteran comedians Frank Ferrante and Joe DePaul and acrobatic dancers Mickael and Vita.

When: Re-opens July 8

Where: Spiegeltent ZaZou on the 14^th floor of the Cambria Hotel, 32 W. Randolph

Tickets: $119-$189; limited show only tickets $69.

Visit zinzanni.com/chicago.

Where: The 14^th floor of the Cambria Hotel, 32 W. Randolph

Provided

Cabaret Concert

What: Two dynamic stage divas — Felicia P. Fields and E. Faye Butler — star in “Lettin’ the Good Times Roll,” a cabaret concert of jazz, blues, gospel and show tunes.

When: 7:30 p.m. July 9-10.

Where: The parking lot of North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie.

Tickets: $35-$45 (bring chairs and blankets).

Visit northlight.org.

Elizabeth Larson Photo

Rivendell Theatre

What: Rivendell Theatre presents “The Princess Strikes Back: One Woman’s Search for the Space Cowboy of Her Dreams,” a solo show written and performed by Victoria Montalbano. In 1997, 13-year-old Victoria was introduced to her perfect man, Han Solo, and she’s been looking for her version ever since.

When: Livestreams at 7:30 p.m. July 9-10 and on demand to July 16.

Tickets: $15

Visit victorianotvicky.com.

Todd Rosenberg Photography

American Ballet Theatre

What: The American Ballet Theatre returns to town with “ABT Across America,” Presented by the Auditorium Theatre, the acclaimed company performs pieces from its repertoire — Lauren Lovette’s “La Follia Variations,” the pas de deux from “Don Quixote,” Jessica Lang’s “Let Me Sing Forevermore” set to the music of Tony Bennett and Darrell Grand Moultrie’s “Indestructible Light” featuring music by Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Billy Strayhorn.

When: 7:30 p.m. July 8

Where: Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion, Michigan and Randolph.

Visit auditoriumtheatre.org.

Philamonjaro

Chicago Tap Theatre presents “Tap Secret!,” a new original show with a story conceived by JC Brooks with director Mike Weaver and choreographer Mark Yonally; the score is by Brooks. As the story goes, there’s a nefarious plot afoot to ensure pop music stays smooth, simple and easy to digest. Three young women hatch a plan to thwart the plan and ensure music remains rich and rhythmically complex. “Audiences can expect a fun satire of ’90s pop, amidst a story that deals with the importance of rhythmic sophistication both in our lives and in our music,” says Yonally. Performances are at 3 and 7 p.m. July 10 at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. Tickets: $40. Visit chicagotaptheatre.com.

The Artistic Home Theatre

What: The Artistic Home presents “Summer on the Patio,” a seasonlong event which invites theatergoers to share in the creative workshop process via free staged readings and open rehearsals of three contemporary plays: Maria Irene Fornes’ “Mud” (To Aug. 27), Martyna Majok’s “Ironbound” (To Aug. 28) and Craig Wright’s “The Pavilion” (To Aug. 22).

Where: It all takes place at the company’s new space at 3054 N. Milwaukee with rehearsals in July and staged readings in August.

Admission: free

Visit theartistichome.org

Aura CuriAtlas Physical Theatre

What: Aura CuriAtlas Physical Theatre collaborates with interdisciplinary, conceptual storyteller S.L. Feemster for a staging of “ConFront(ed),” a digital-physical work with a trip-hop soundscape, crafted around the observations of nine bodies in motion.

When: Streams to July 14

Tickets: $5-$25

Visit: https://www.acphysicaltheatre.com

Interrobang Theatre Project

Interrobang Theatre Project

What: Interrobang Theatre Project’s season closes with the online world premiere of Susan Chenet’s “Dingleberries,” directed by Georgette Verdin. The dark comedy, based on actual events, follows the story of a middle school theater teacher whose playwriting dreams begin to come true when a regional company selects her avant-garde play as its next production.

When: The play streams June 24-July 18

Tickets: $15

Visit: interrobangtheatreproject.org

Courtesy of Neil Verma

Summer in the Parks

What: Brightside Theatre and the Naperville Park District present “Summer in the Parks: The Music of Rodgers & Hammerstein.” The free hour-long revue features tunes from the iconic composers’ musicals including “The King and I,” “South Pacific,” “Oklahoma,” “The Sound of Music” and more.

When: Performances are at 7 p.m. June 30, July 21 and Aug. 11

Where: Wagner Family Pavilion in the 95^th Street Community Plaza, 3109 Cedar Glade Dr., Naperville.

Visit: brightsidetheatre.com

Steppenwolf Theatre

Joan Marcus/WP Theater

What: The final entry in the Steppenwolf NOW virtual season is “Where We Stand,” a storytelling tour-de-force about community and accountability written and performed by Donnetta Lavinia Grays. Through poetic verse and music, the drama challenges our ability to forgive and our ideas of mercy and who might deserve it. The filmed play captures a performance originally presented at Baltimore Center Stage co-produced with WP Theater.

When/tickets: A $75 ticket includes all six of the productions in the NOW series available online through Aug. 31

Visit: steppenwolf.org/now

Writers Theatre

Michael Halberstam

What: In Reginald Edmund’s “Ride Share,” a co-production of Black Lives, Black Words and Writers Theatre, everything in Marcus’ (Kamal Angelo Bolden) life is going smoothly until he’s laid off from his job. To make ends meet, he becomes a ride share driver. Edmund says the drama, directed by Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway, “takes us on a journey into the depths of the Black male experience in America.”

When: Streams June 23-July 25

Tickets: $40-$100

Visit writerstheatre.org

Summer Nights with Northlight

What: Summer Nights with Northlight is a cabaret series held at Evanston restaurants to benefit Northlight Theatre. The performers are Alexis J. Roston and Kelvin Roston Jr. (June 10, Good to Go Jamaican, 711 W. Howard), Linda Solotaire (July 27, Sketchbook Brewing Company, 4901 Main, Skokie) and Heidi Kettenring (Aug. 24, Peckish Pig, 623 W. Howard).

When: Performances times are 6 p.m.

Tickets: $60 includes light dinner and select drinks. Visit northlight.org.

Labyrinth Arts and Performance Collective

What: Labyrinth Arts and Performance Collectivepresents “Emerge,” a new cabaret series featuring music, drag performance, comedy and spoken word First up at 10 p.m. June 11 is the retro blues trio Improper Behavior featuring vocalist Sharon Waltham, guitarist Keith Fort and upright bass player Gregory Redfeairn.

When: every second Friday of the month

Where: Porkchop, 1132 W. Grand

Tickets: $20. Visit labyrinthartsperformance.com.

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NEW YORK — Lawyers for R&B singer R. Kelly were granted a little more time Thursday to prepare his defense for his upcoming sex-trafficking trial in New York City.

At a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly said jury selection would go forward on Aug. 9 as originally planned but agreed to delay opening statements until Aug. 18 rather than start the openings right after the panel is picked.

The jailed Kelly switched legal teams less than a month ago. His new attorneys had asked a judge Monday to postpone the New York trial for a longer period, saying they couldn’t adequately prepare.

The lawyers said they had been unable to meet with him in person while he was quarantined for 14 days in a Brooklyn federal jail after being brought there from a Chicago lockup on June 22. Federal jails have been quarantining transferred and newly incarcerated inmates since early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The legal team also asked Thursday that Kelly be released on bail so he could better assist in his defense — a request the judge quickly denied. She assured them that they could now see Kelly in person at the jail seven days a week if they wanted.

“You’re going to have full access to Mr. Kelly,” she said.

Kelly, 54, was making his first in-person appearance in a New York court since his transfer. He didn’t speak, except to exchange greetings with the judge.

The Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling R&B singer is charged with leading an enterprise of managers, bodyguards and other employees who helped him recruit women and girls for sex. Federal prosecutors say the group selected victims at concerts and other venues and arranged for them to travel to see Kelly.

The case is only part of the legal peril facing the singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly. He also has pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges in Chicago and Minnesota.

He denies ever abusing anyone.

Kelly won multiple Grammys for “I Believe I Can Fly,” a 1996 song that became an inspirational anthem played at school graduations, weddings, advertisements and elsewhere.

Nearly a decade later, he began releasing what eventually became 22 musical chapters of “Trapped in the Closet,” a drama that spins a tale of sexual deceit and became a cult classic.

But Kelly has been trailed for decades by complaints and allegations about his sexual behavior, including a 2002 child pornography case in Chicago. He was acquitted in that case in 2008.

Scrutiny intensified again amid the #MeToo movement in recent years, with multiple women going public with accusations against the singer. The pressure intensified with the release of the Lifetime documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” in 2019.

Criminal charges soon followed.

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A man was ordered held on $2 million cash bond Thursday for allegedly killing a weed dealer who owed him a half pound of marijuana.

Cortez McGary told detectives he shot 32-year-old Lesean Long in self-defense after Long lifted up his shirt and exposed a small handgun in his waistband as they talked outside Long’s girlfriend’s Brainerd home on Feb. 28, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney James Murphy said.

McGary also said Long owed him a half-pound of marijuana, Murphy said.

Officers responding to shots fired that day saw McGary as he sped away from the scene in a gold Chrysler Pacifica, but he refused to pull over and escaped, Murphy said.

Long was found unresponsive in the 9100 block of South Emerald Avenue and pronounced dead at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, authorities said.

Three .40-caliber shell casings were recovered at the scene.

McGary allegedly used the same gun during an armed robbery a little less than a month later on March 17. In that incident, the victim suffered a graze wound when McGary fired a shot, Murphy said.

That victim managed to wrestle the gun away from McGary, who dropped his cellphone in the process, Murphy said. McGary then allegedly fled in the same gold Chrysler.

McGary was taken into custody four days later after he was pulled over for a traffic violation while driving the Chrysler, Murphy said.

He was charged with attempted murder and armed robbery for the March incident and later released from Cook County Jail after posting $20,000 bond, Murphy said.

When officers attempted to place McGary under arrest Wednesday for Long’s murder, he jumped from a third-floor window in an attempt to escape, breaking multiple bones when he landed, Murphy said.

McGary remained hospitalized Thursday and did not appear at his bond hearing.

Judge Susana Ortiz, meanwhile, approved prosecutors’ request to revoke McGary’s bail for a pending fleeing and eluding case he was on bond for at the time of Long’s murder.

If McGary can post his bond in his murder case, Ortiz said she’d recommend that he be placed electronic monitoring while he awaits trial.

McGary is expected back in court July 15.

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Alina Clark is about as tired of her pandemic wardrobe as her comfort clothes are stretched and torn.

“I have four sets of jeans, seven shirts and five sweaters that I wear every week,” said Clark, co-founder of a software development company in Los Angeles. “They’re everything I’ve worn in the last two years. Me and my wardrobe are suffering from COVID fatigue.”

A wardrobe purge is on for some as vaccinations have taken hold, restrictions have lifted, and offices reopen or finalize plans to do so. The primary beneficiaries: resale sites online and brick-and-mortar donation spots, continuing a trend that’s been building for the last several years.

Among those benefiting from the pandemic reawakening in clothes are dry cleaners.

Tom Ryan, vice president of franchising for CD One Price Cleaners, with 34 locations around Chicago, said they’ve been seeing an upward turn in dry-cleaning customers after a plunge of 80% during the pandemic.

“In March, we started making progress again given the vaccine distribution,” Ryan said. “As more people go back to work, we’re finally starting to see more people bringing their in-office clothes back for professional cleaning. Still, we expect post-pandemic attire and fashion trends to be different going forward, with more people in the office less often.”

Ryan expects business casual to be more the new normal — swapping out button-up shirts for more polo-style wear.

At the resale site Poshmark, orders are up from last year for handbags, work-worthy dresses blazers, suit jackets and heels.

Projections show the trend growing stronger. The secondhand clothing business is expected to more than double, from $36 billion to $77 billion in 2025, according to a recent report commissioned by the secondhand marketplace ThredUP and the research firm GlobalData.

The growth is driven by an influx of new sellers putting high-quality clothing into the market, said James Reinhart, co-founder and chief executive office of ThredUP. He estimates that nine billion clothing items that are hardly worn are sitting in shoppers’ closets.

Even before COVID, buying and selling secondhand clothing was popular. But the pandemic seemed to make people’s appetite for thrift even more appealing.

The post-pandemic shopper is more environmentally conscious and is showing a greater desire for clothes that have good resale value, rather than disposable fast fashion, Reinhart said. People who haven’t been able to wear most of the items in their closets for a year are more aware of waste and want to put their clothes back in circulation.

“There’s a new mindset around clothing consumption,” Reinhart said. “It’s not this buy, wear, throw out. There is this consciousness that happened during the pandemic where people were much more sensitive to this notion of waste.”

Maia DiDomenico’s mother introduced her to ThredUp during the pandemic. A recent college graduate who began a new job working with kids on the autism spectrum, the 23-year-old in Cranford, New Jersey, purged some Athleta sportswear on the site and received $557.60 in Athleta gift cards in exchange.

“It cleans your closet out quickly, and you have the chance to donate unwanted clothes,” DiDomenico said.

For months, Clark, 29, has had the urge to declutter her overflowing wardrobe. She started piling up clothes for donation weeks ago. But she’ll be buying new clothes, looking for “glitz and glamour” as her Zoom life soon ends and physical get-togethers have begun.

Consumers are purging more than their worn-out pandemic wear. At the luxury resale site TheRealReal, with more than 22 million members, the total value of pre-owned goods sold this year through May was about $239 million, up 53% over the same period in 2019, according to the company.

Not everybody is looking to abandon their COVID style, though. In Lynchburg, Virginia, 33-year-old Cameron Howe is ready to burn just about everything she has worn during the pandemic — except her impressive legging collection — as she transitions to a new career.

“I bought 15 to 20 plus pairs of leggings,” Howe said. “In a few weeks, I’ll start a new career as a project manager for a local nonprofit. I plan on wearing leggings to work. Thankfully, both my past and new employer are legging-friendly. I don’t really want to wear real pants again. I developed an absolute love of leggings during the pandemic.”

While piles of pandemic clothes are going to churches, donation boxes and online thrift and resale sites, some people are keeping them in the family.

Like many, Samantina Zeon, 31, from Queens, New York, has gained weight during the pandemic. She has plenty of clothes she can no longer fit into. So she’s sending the stylish ones to a cousin in Haiti.

“She plans on reselling them in her neighborhood for extra cash,” Zeon said.

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White Sox outfielder Eloy Jimenez is set to begin a rehab assignment at High-A Winston Salem, the team said Thursday.

He could be back in a White Sox uniform in three weeks.

Enjoying an eight-game lead on an off day Thursday despite a rash of injuries, the Sox (51-35) have been planning ahead knowing two of their premium players, Jimenez and center fielder Luis Robert, should be back in time for the stretch run and playoffs.

“The team is winning, and I feel happy I will be back to help the team,” Jimenez said Thursday. “They said six months but I’m back in three months.”

Jimenez has been out since he tore his left pectoral muscle leaping over the wall during a Cactus League game during spring training. He had surgery on March 30, and has been training at the team’s spring training facility in Glendale, Ariz.

“I feel better than I did in spring training,” the 2020 Silver Slugger winner said. “I feel 110 percent, let’s say 200 percent. I feel normal. I can finish my swing with one hand, two hands, whatever. It’s not going to hurt.”

The maximum minor league rehab time for a position player is 20 days. General manager Rick Hahn recently said the 20-day clock would begin after Jimenez arrived at an affiliate.

“If everything goes smoothly in that time period, you’ll see [Jimenez] back in Chicago,” Hahn said.

“I think I can be around the end of this month,” Jimenez said.

A four- to five-month recovery period was expected following surgery. But he might be on track for a return that could conceivably come the last weekend of July.

Manager Tony La Russa on Wednesday said Jimenez would likely be used “a lot” as a designated hitter when he returns. Jimenez reiterated that he doesn’t want to DH but he might not have a choice.

“That would be one way to get his bat in and not have to worry so much about his legs,” La Russa said. “The depth we have now in the outfield allows us to think about Eloy maybe getting a lot of swings as a DH.”

Andrew Vaughn moved to left field from first base after Jimenez was injured. The Sox have played 12 different outfielders due to injuries to Jimenez, Luis Robert, Adam Engel, Adam Eaton, Billy Hamilton and Jake Lamb.

Vaughn, who was projected to be the DH, has filled in just fine defensively. Yermin Mercedes covered the DH spot with aplomb in April but has since been demoted to Triple-A Charlotte. La Russa has rotated different guys since, including Jose Abreu, the now-injured Yasmani Grandal and Gavin Sheets of late.

The Sox have also been without Robert since May 2 with a Grade 3 strain of his right hip flexor. Robert was medically cleared to increase his level of baseball activities at the Sox complex on June 30, a phase of the rehabilitation process estimated to take approximately four weeks, or to the end of July. A rehab assignment with an affiliate would follow.

“I’ve seen him [in Arizona], he’s going to be back sooner than later, too,” Jimenez said. “We’ve been working hard to get back to our team.”

Jimenez said he’s about to start his “spring training” and cautioned that, while feeling 100 percent, “I don’t how I’m going to react when I start playing nine games back to back.”

So there are hurdles to clear, but signs have pointed up for weeks now, allowing La Russa to “play around with different lineups” knowing he’ll likely have Jimenez to pencil.

“It’s part of the fun,” La Russa said. “Wait until we get to the end [of the season] and see where we end up. Because it’s got a chance to be a hell of a story. Losing him in spring training and the way the guys responded, it’s been very typical, very special.”

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Matt Mauser’s emotional performance moved the “America’s Got Talent” crowd to a standing ovation. Mauser is the widower of Christina Mauser, one of the nine people killed in the 2020 helicopter crash in which Kobe Bryant died in February of 2020.

In tribute to his wife, Mauser sang Phil Collins’ 1984 song, “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now).”

The 51-year-old singer shared his gripping backstory with the judges beforehand.

“I’m a singer, and I’m here because my wife,” he began, cracking with emotion. “And we’re both schoolteachers and we retired from teaching so that I could do the music full-time, and she got the opportunity to coach girls basketball with Kobe Bryant. But on Jan. 26, 2020, I lost my wife in the same helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant. Before Jan. 26, me and Christina lived this dreamy kind of life. We met in 2004, she saw me playing at this dive bar and I asked her out and we sat in my car and we talked about music.”

The Mausers were married for 15 years and they have three children, who joined Mauser for his audition.

“When she left that day she kissed me and she said ‘I love you.’ That was the last thing my wife ever said to me,” Mauser said, teary-eyed. “Your whole life changes in a second.”

The singer’s rousing performance easily wowed judges Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara and Simon Cowell, and moved him onto the next round of the television competition.

Read more at usatoday.com

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Chicago Cubs Rumors: Kris Bryant’s injury to affect trade talks by Ryan Heckman

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Chicago Bears (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

A few weeks ago, we did not see Eddie Goldman appear at Chicago Bears OTAs. Fans heard Matt Nagy first say that Goldman’s absence at minicamp was not excused.

With Goldman’s disappearance somewhat of an unknown at this point, everyone is wondering what’s going on with the Bears stalwart in the middle.

Now, a new report via Brad Biggs of The Chicago Tribune says that Goldman could be considering retirement. This would be a huge blow to the Bears’ defense in 2021 — a unit that looks to take it up a notch and return to their 2018 form.

Last year, Goldman opted out of the 2020 season but the team insisted he would be back this year. Now, no one is too sure.

What do the Chicago Bears do if Eddie Goldman calls it quits?

Goldman is extremely important to this Bears defense. He doesn’t get a lot of recognition, but he is one of the best interior linemen in football when it comes to stuffing the run. The Bears defense is a much better unit versus the ground game with Goldman on the field.

Last season, while Goldman was away, we saw many times where the Bears were gashed on the ground. Goldman’s absence sent a ripple effect throughout the unit, it seemed.

With training camp just a few weeks away, the Bears have to start thinking about a plan B. If there’s no more Goldman in Chicago, what do they do?

Fortunately, Chicago has options. There are a few options still out there in free agency, for starters. The Bears could also try to fill the need from within. With both options in mind, these five players could be a solid option to replace Goldman if he ends up retiring.

Next: 1. Jurrell Casey

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Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

Today will be mostly cloudy with a high near 72 degrees. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a low around 59. Tomorrow will be partly sunny with a high near 76.

Top story

Ald. Carrie Austin pleads not guilty during arraignment on federal bribery charges

Longtime Ald. Carrie M. Austin (34th) pleaded not guilty through her lawyer during her arraignment today, one week after she became the third sitting member of Chicago’s City Council to face a federal indictment.

Austin’s chief of staff, Chester Wilson Jr., also pleaded not guilty through his lawyer. Their arraignment took place by telephone before U.S. District Judge John Kness. Austin spoke only briefly as the hearing began, answering most questions from the judge with “yes sir.”

A federal grand jury last week accused Austin of bribery and lying to the FBI in a 19-page indictment that also charged Wilson with bribery and theft of government funds.

Prosecutors say a developer involved in a $50 million, 91-unit development in Austin’s ward sought to influence Austin and Wilson with home improvements, furniture or appliances. The developer had a deal with the city of Chicago that made his company eligible for $10.5 million in tax increment financing and other funding, and Austin and Wilson allegedly took official actions to benefit the developer, a relative and an associate of his, and their companies.

Austin’s indictment not only made her the third sitting member of the Chicago City Council under federal indictment, it also meant the council’s two most senior members face federal criminal charges.

Jon Seidel has more on the legal challenges facing Austin here.

More news you need

1. A 28-year-old Chicago man has been charged in federal court in connection with yesterday’s shooting of a Chicago police officer and two federal agents. He’s charged with one count of using a dangerous and deadly weapon to assault an ATF agent and faces up to 20 years in prison.
2. A new inspector general report shows white applicants to the Chicago Police Department are far more likely to be hired than Black applicants, raising questions about whether CPD’s employment process is equitable. Black candidates represented 37% of the applicants but only 18% of those invited to the police academy.
3. In a press conference today, several aldermen and activists called for Mayor Lightfoot to immediately spend federal relief money headed to Chicago on social services. They say the services could reduce violence, help people pay rent and assist those in need of mental health treatment.
4. Other activists yesterday called on Gov. Pritzker to declare a state of emergency decree for gun violence after Chicago saw its deadliest and most violent weekend yet this year. Standing outside CPD’s Bronzeville headquarters, Ja’Mal Green called gun violence a “public health crisis.”
5. CPS will start vaccinating students for COVID-19 next week — and will ask families to reveal their children’s vaccination status when schools reopen next month. However, the district says it won’t require coronavirus vaccinations to attend school when the academic year starts in August.
6. Hoping to lure back visitors, Chicago-area museums and cultural arts attractions are serving up new exhibits this summer. Check out our list of exhibits being held throughout the city and suburbs.

A bright one

‘House City’ series brings pop-up music events to Chicago neighborhoods this summer

Summer in Chicago is salvageable for local “House Heads” after all.

Instead of the Chicago House Music Festival — and the Chosen Few Picnic & House Music Festival, which has gone virtual for consecutive years — the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events is highlighting the locally created genre’s contributions to modern music with “House City,” a free, 10-part pop-up series that began last Sunday.

City of Chicago

The pop-up events will take place in Chicago neighborhoods such as South Shore, Englewood, North Lawndale, Humboldt Park and Lake View, among others.

The Aug. 28 date is sponsored by the Protect Chicago Music Series, and Chicago SummerDance in the Parks is a part of the Sept. 12 South Shore event.

Selah Say, one of the DJs headlining the North Lawndale slate of “House City,” says she’s excited about spinning beats outdoors, where “you can’t control where the music goes.”

Evan F. Moore has more on “House City” and the full schedule of events here.

From the press box

Your daily question ?

If you could have had a brief one-on-one with President Biden yesterday, what would you have talked to him about?

Reply to this email (please include your first name and where you live) and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: How would you define the “Midwest Nice” label? Do you think it’s accurate? Here’s some of what you said…

“Not accurate. It’s politically correct and that’s dishonest. The food is the best but too bad the people aren’t — and that’s honest.” — Roy Hillard Locke

“Spending an extra 10 seconds at a 4 way stop waving for each other to ‘go ahead’ and then accidentally all finally going at once, so you all stop again, say ‘ope’ to yourself, and start the process over.” — J. Allen

“By not sharing my edibles.” — Guy Battista

“I offer to help people with directions even if they just look lost.” — Mary Jane Tala

“Midwest Nice is just that. Respect, courtesy, holding doors, letting a car go ahead of yours, saying “Hello,” “Please,” “Thank You.” I have been all over the U.S.A. and can always identify a Midwest resident or former resident. They really do rise above the behavior of many others.” — Irena Nowak

Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.

Sign up here to get the Afternoon Edition in your inbox every day.

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Two men were shot, one fatally, Thursday in Wentworth Gardens on the South Side.

They were in front of a residence about 2:15 p.m. in the 3900 block of South Princeton Avenue when a vehicle pulled up and someone inside unleashed gunfire, Chicago police said.

A 26-year-old was struck in the face and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The other man, 35, was shot in the leg and taken to the same hospital in good condition, police said.

No one was in custody. Area One detectives are investigating.

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Two men believed to be Haitian Americans — one of them purportedly a former bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Port au Prince — have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haiti’s president, a senior Haitian official said Thursday.

Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections, told The Associated Press that James Solages was among six people arrested in the 36 hours since the brazen killing of President Jovenel Moise by gunmen at his home in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday.

Four other suspected assailants were killed in a gunfight with police and two are still missing, Pierre said. Earlier authorities had said seven suspects were killed.

Pierre would not provide additional details about Solages’ background, nor would he provide the name of the second Haitian-American he said was arrested.

Solages describes himself as a “certified diplomatic agent,” an advocate for children and budding politician on a website for a charity he established in 2019 in south Florida to assist residents.

On his bio page for the charity, Solages said he previously worked as a bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti. Calls to the foundation and Solages’ associates at the charity either did not go through or were not answered.

“The pursuit of the mercenaries continues,” said Leon Charles, director of Haiti’s National Police, in announcing the arrest of suspects. “Their fate is fixed: They will fall in the fighting or will be arrested.”

Witnesses said two suspects were discovered hiding in bushes in Port-au-Prince on Thursday by a crowd, some of whom grabbed the men by their shirts and pants, pushing them and occasionally slapping them.

Police arrived shortly afterward to arrest the men, who were sweating heavily and wearing clothes that seemed to be smeared with mud, an Associated Press journalist at the scene said. Officers placed them in the back of a pickup truck and drove away as the crowd ran after them to the nearby police station.

Once there, some in the crowd chanted: “They killed the president! Give them to us. We’re going to burn them!”

One man was overheard saying that it was unacceptable for foreigners to come to Haiti to kill the country’s leader, referring to reports from officials that the perpetrators spoke Spanish or English.

The crowd later set fire to several abandoned cars riddled with bullet holes that they believed belonged to the suspects, who were white men. The cars didn’t have license plates, and inside one of them was an empty box of bullets and some water.

At a news conference Thursday, Charles, the police chief, asked people to stay calm, go home and let police do their work as he warned that authorities needed evidence they were destroying, including the burned cars.

Officials did not address a motive for the slaying, saying only that the attack, condemned by Haiti’s main opposition parties and the international community, was carried out by “a highly trained and heavily armed group.”

Prime Minister Claude Joseph assumed leadership of Haiti with the backing of police and the military and on Thursday asked people to reopen businesses and go back to work as he ordered the reopening of the international airport.

On Wednesday, Joseph decreed a two-week state of siege following Moise’s killing, which stunned a nation grappling with some of the Western Hemisphere’s highest poverty, violence and political instability.

Inflation and gang violence have spiraled upward as food and fuel grew scarcer in a country where 60% of Haitians earn less than $2 a day. The increasingly dire situation comes as Haiti is still trying to recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew in 2016 following a history of dictatorship and political upheaval.

“There is this void now, and they are scared about what will happen to their loved ones,” said Marlene Bastien, executive director of Family Action Network Movement, a group that helps people in Miami’s Little Haiti community.

She said it was important for the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to take a much more active role in supporting attempts at national dialogue in Haiti with the aim of holding free, fair and credible elections.

Bastien said she also wants to see participation of the extensive Haitian diaspora: “No more band-aids. The Haitian people have been crying and suffering for too long.”

Haiti had grown increasingly unstable under Moise, who had been ruling by decree for more than a year and faced violent protests as critics accused him of trying to amass more power while the opposition demanded he step down.

According to Haiti’s constitution, Moise should be replaced by the president of Haiti’s Supreme Court, but the chief justice died in recent days from COVID-19, leaving open the question of who might rightfully succeed to the office.

Joseph, meanwhile, was supposed to be replaced by Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who had been named prime minister by Moise a day before the assassination.

Henry told the AP in a brief interview that he is the prime minister, calling it an exceptional and confusing situation. In another interview with Radio Zenith, he said he had no dispute with Joseph. “I only disagree with the fact that people have taken hasty decisions … when the moment demands a little more serenity and maturity,” he said.

Moise had faced large protests in recent months that turned violent as opposition leaders and their supporters rejected his plans to hold a constitutional referendum with proposals that would strengthen the presidency.

On Thursday, public transportation and street vendors remained scarce, an unusual sight for the normally bustling streets of Port-au-Prince.

Marco Destin, 39, was walking to see his family since no buses, known as tap-taps, were available. He was carrying a loaf of bread for them because they had not left their house since the president’s killing out of fear for their lives.

“Every one at home is sleeping with one eye open and one eye closed,” he said. “If the head of state is not protected, I don’t have any protection whatsoever.”

Destin said Haiti has always been a complicated country and that he wasn’t sure what the upcoming days would bring. “Haiti doesn’t know what direction it’s heading in right now,” he said. “To be honest, I don’t know what the solution is. There’s always been a fight for power.”

Gunfire rang out intermittently across the city hours after the killing, a grim reminder of the growing power of gangs that displaced more than 14,700 people last month alone as they torched and ransacked homes in a fight over territory.

Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, said gangs were a force to contend with and it isn’t certain Haiti’s security forces can enforce a state of siege.

“It’s a really explosive situation,” he said, adding that foreign intervention with a U.N.-type military presence is a possibility. “Whether Claude Joseph manages to stay in power is a huge question. It will be very difficult to do so if he doesn’t create a government of national unity.”

Joseph told the AP that he supports an international investigation into the assassination and believes elections scheduled for later this year should be held, as he promised to work with Moise’s allies and opponents alike.

“Everything is under control,” he said.

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. AP videographer Pierre-Richard Luxama in Port-au-Prince and AP writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report.

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