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“Prince: the Immersive Experience” begins with purple light through stained glass. Guests in groups of ten to 15 are led through double doors to a replica of the “When Doves Cry” music video set: portraits hung on purple walls, bouquets scattered on the floor, and a white claw-foot tub to pose behind. The only thing missing is Prince himself.

Open to general admission as of June 9, the 20,000-square-foot exhibition about deceased Minneapolis pop star Prince occupies prime real estate on the Mag Mile. Tickets start at $39.50 each for approximately an hour of touring through photo backdrop installations, infographics on Prince’s life and work, and a few personal artifacts. It’s a sensual if sometimes superficial introduction to the legendary musician.

The exhibit is the brainchild of Superfly, an “experience company” that brought tourist attractions “The Friends Experience” and “The Office Experience”to the same Michigan Avenue location in which you can now find bigger-than-life-size images of Prince. Once the company decided to focus on music for their next endeavor, “the shortlist was easy,” Superfly COO Richard Gay told me. “Who are the stars that are multidimensional? You wanna talk about the gear, you wanna talk about the talent, you wanna talk about standing for something like social justice and artists’ rights?” Gay, a Chicago native, reinforced his enthusiasm by reminiscing about seeing Purple Rain in theaters as a teen and watching Prince’s famous Super Bowl XLI halftime show with his son. Superfly soon secured full collaboration of The Prince Estate, now representing three of Prince’s siblings and music management company Primary Wave, and Paisley Park, the artist’s home and studio turned neo-Graceland in the Minneapolis suburbs.

An installation from the exhibition mimics the exterior of Minneapolis club First Avenue, where Prince first performed. Credit: Superfly and Alive Coverage

The most immersive parts of the experience are the sets that allow visitors to pose within the visual worlds of Prince, chiefly from his cultural peak in the mid-80s and early 90s. You can recreate the Purple Rain cover and straddle a hulking purple motorcycle, artfully arranged at an angle away from a dimly lit alleyway door. The rest of the set is filled with references, like a graffiti message signed by “Nikki,” a faux storefront for Erotic Cities Electronics, and a wall mimicking the silver star exterior of famed Minneapolis club First Avenue. Another room echoes the Caligulan vibe of 1991’s Diamonds and Pearls, including a tongue-like pink leather chair culled from the set of the title track’s music video. Murals of performance photos and Prince quotes, some rendered in his charming proto-leet speak, provide additional fodder for posing throughout the exhibit. 

Superfly presumably brought the same level of detail to this exhibition as it did to duplicating Dunder Mifflin’s office, but it’s strange to see one idiosyncratic man’s art presented with the same approach as a network TV sitcom. Prince’s biggest hits are played throughout the exhibit, but there is little discussion of his actual musicianship. His near-constant recording and technological innovation are summed up in a faux studio where guests can control the volume of individual instrument tracks on “Let’s Go Crazy.” The song is not a great example of mixing or arranging process even in the simplified context, since Prince’s famous “Dearly beloved . . .” monologue occupies the first minute with only vocals and church organ anyway.

The other music-focused room is the “Glam Slam” dance studio, meant to approximate hearing a Prince song on a nightclub dance floor for a few minutes, until the group is shuffled into the next area. The room is surrounded on three sides by a kaleidoscopic mirrored lighting installation designed by LeRoy Bennett, former lighting designer for Prince. The DJ dropped “1999” just before I entered, gamely bouncing in place and occasionally filtering out the low end to approximate a drop. It is an impressive display worthy of Prince’s many dance floor classics, but in a small preview tour group on a Monday evening, no one mustered up any moves beyond enthusiastic nods and knee bends.

The exhibition includes a few personal artifacts from Paisley Park’s collection. Three flamboyant outfits are exhibited on 5’2” mannequins alongside sketches from their designers. The next room showcases custom instruments, including a hot-pink keytar, held under such high security that only one had arrived when I visited three days before the exhibition opened to the public.

“Prince: The Immersive Experience”
Through 10/9: Wed 3-8 PM, Thu noon-8 PM, Fri-Sat 10 AM-9 PM, Sun 10 AM-7 PM; the Shops at North Bridge, 540 N. Michigan; $39.50-$65, princetheexperience.com

Prince continued to record and release music until his 2016 death, and the exhibition attempts to balance his most famous albums with a four-decade career. One hallway features a timeline of every album released in his lifetime with a tracklist and description. After the “When Doves Cry” room, touch-screen displays scroll through an interactive timeline of Prince’s childhood and early career in 70s Minneapolis, culminating in the musician’s major label recording contract—signed at age 18—and the excited newspaper coverage of his debut in local clubs. 

Along with his lifelong ties to his hometown, the exhibit highlights Prince’s charitable donations and pro-Black activism with photos of private benefit concerts and pro-equality interview quotes. It also highlights his public fights for artists’ rights, including criticism of invasive 360 deals and streaming’s low payouts. As he explains in archival interviews, he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and wrote “SLAVE” on his face in protest of Warner Bros.’ efforts to control the master recordings of his work; his 1996 New York Times quote “If you don’t own your masters, your master owns you” is etched in bold letters alongside graphics from his album Emancipation. 

This felt a little ironic in the middle of a deeply branded experience. For all his visual sense and impeccable logo, part of Prince’s appeal in life was his sense of remove; you might have to sign up for a proto-subscription service to hear his music, or wait until the wee hours of the morning to get into the aftershow, but Prince was worth it for his unpredictability.

Prince performing in concert in 2011. Credit: Brian Ach

The exhibition culminates in the playlist lounge, where visitors answer Buzzfeed-esque personality quizzes on touch screens to receive a Spotify link to a suitable Prince mix. I chose the color of my aura and my favorite Prince headshot and received Freedom Fighter, a playlist of heavy rock deep cuts whose obscurity I begrudgingly respected. Each display offers playback through purple headphones from sponsor BOSE, which the guide cheerfully informed me will be exclusively available at the gift shop. 

I was disappointed that the exhibition didn’t discuss Prince’s influence on modern music with specific examples; when even a soft-rock moppet like Harry Styles is earning Prince comparisons in the press just for dabbling in some falsetto, it might benefit younger listeners to better understand that artistic lineage. It is a stark contrast to “David Bowie Is,” the 2014 retrospective held at the Museum of Contemporary Art that took great pains to place the British icon’s work in context with its contemporaries and numerous artistic progeny. 

“Prince: the Immersive Experience” is a good introduction to Prince, and the actual artifacts will be worth it for any devotees who aren’t ready to make the pilgrimage to Chanhassen, Minnesota. But the exhibit’s superficial focus on Prince’s positive brand attributes fails to convey the unique scope of his art. The best way to learn about Prince is to stay home and listen to his albums, but there’s not much money to be made in music lately.

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Tap into your inner street artist and receive a special Pride discount when you book a workshop at their Chicago or Evanston location this June.

Street art is a familiar sight around Chicago, but the average Chicagoan has probably never imagined painting a mural across an expansive brick wall or adding graffiti to an outdoor space in their neighborhood. That’s where Studio WIP comes in. At their Spray Paint ‘n’ Sip workshops, the company invites small groups to visit their Evanston or West Humboldt Park locations to learn more about the public artform, and pick up a can of spray paint and let their creative spirit shine under the watchful eye of an experienced local artist. 

In line with their motto, “You can art, too,” Studio WIP welcomes patrons from all walks of life, and for Pride 2022 they’re showing their solidarity with Chicago’s LGBTQIA+ community by offering a 15% discount on bookings for all of their Spray Paint ‘n’ Sip workshops. “Pride is about acknowledging the risk takers and honoring them, and pushing [the idea of risk-taking] forward,” owner Adam Dittman says. “Each risk taker has a different reasoning, whether they’re doing it for themselves or for their community. I think anyone who celebrates Pride understands that and is here for that—gay, straight, or otherwise.”

That same notion of risk taking lies at the core of Studio WIP. Dittman says the company prides itself in providing a safe, welcoming environment that encourages people to step outside their comfort zones and explore something new. “The first risk is signing up for a workshop. The next is having an open mind; When people stare at a blank canvas, it can be the most daunting thing to get the first paint on it,” he says.

The workshops, which are BYOB for people 21+, provide a glimpse into the world of a street artist, with instruction on the basics of aerosol paint, manipulating a can of spray paint, blending colors, and safety tips (for example, Studio WIP only uses high-quality VOC-free paint). That said, it’s almost entirely interactive; participants can expect to start painting within the first twenty minutes. “So you’re up, you’re moving, and you’re experimenting on our walls, and then into your canvas,” Dittman says “From there, we take a break and see how everyone is doing, and we support each other in that moment.” 

After that, the group might explore painting 3D objects and stencil technique using some of the more than 200 house-made stencils Studio WIP has at their facilities. Participants are invited to paint on the expanse of the studio walls, which are affixed with 16” x 20” canvases, so that everyone is able to take home what describes as “a punch-out of the entire experience.”

“We try to teach, ‘Don’t focus on the 16” x 20,” look at the broader area. And then they’ll be able to pull that one piece of it away at the end,” Dittman says.

While Spray Paint ‘n’ Sip workshops are designed to foster fun and connection, in a city with a history of stigmatizing street art and criminalizing those who make it, they also challenge misconceptions, such as the outdated stereotype that spray paint is inherently “bad” (In Chicago, it’s been illegal to purchase aerosol paint within city limits since 1992).

“We are here to open the door and hopefully start a conversation.” Dittman says. “Street art is for everyone. We’re here to facilitate a moment, and if we can change some perspectives along the way, then thumbs up.”

Book your workshop now at  www.studiowip.biz

This sponsored content is paid for by Studio W.I.P.

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Bogged down by the rise of at-home movie screenings and big mall theaters, the appeal of the drive-in has faded away into a faint memory, leaving us with a mythology of first dates, family barbecues, and community. Now more than ever, streaming has stolen our attention, and the once immensely popular outdoor movie venue with nearly 4,000 U.S. locations at its all-time high has waned down to a meager 305 theaters. 

With more people prone to staring at phones or computers, movie watching is suddenly a lonely, individual experience. With every movie at our fingertips, the final nail is hammered into the drive-in theater’s coffin. But why do we need to stay locked in the house for a movie night? Or a major premiere? 

Warm weather has thawed out Chicago, and more importantly, freed us from social hibernation—meaning it’s time to pry ourselves away from the screens that kept us warm through the winter. But that doesn’t mean you need to propel yourself into unwanted socializing immediately. And with the rippling effects of the pandemic, everyone is a little slow to the punch. Trying to adapt to a time without consistent social gatherings, the last two years sparked a renaissance of the open-air theaters, reviving the special memory of meeting to catch a movie together.

Chicago summer is spilling over with exciting events, so when trying to balance it all, there is no shame in feeling some exhaustion. On the days when it’s necessary to slow down, there is a clear solution to avoid throwing a beautiful day or evening away by holing up inside. Open-air theaters and outdoor movie showings happen nearly every single day of the summer, so there are plenty of options for every type of movie mood. 

From the comfort of your car or on a picnic with friends, Chicago’s outdoor movie screenings have resuscitated the alluring drive-in experience, so screentime can be spent with others all summer long.

Chicago Onscreen 

Despite lasting only a single week, it would be a mistake to miss the Chicago Onscreen Local Film Showcase. Whether you just love short films or want to support local artists, this showcase will feature Chicago-focused films that are guaranteed to contend with any major blockbuster. This year’s event will be held between August 29 and September 3 and will premiere films including Ray & the Agave, Room Rodeo, and Teacher in the Window. 

Night Out in the Parks

This summer, the Chicago Park District is exceeding expectations by hosting more than 100 outdoor movie screenings. The park district is holding family-friendly film showings at Oz Park, Humboldt Park, Wicker Park, Osterman Beach, and many more. Make sure to bring dinner picnic supplies any time through August 27 to enjoy beloved classics including Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (June 23 at Holstein Park), The Devil Wears Prada (July 7 at Bartelme Park), or Soul (July 8 at Peterson Park). 

ChiTown Movies Drive-In

Pilsen’s ChiTown Movies is a charming hideaway designed to fulfill your drive-in dreams. This theater is tucked away at the end of Throop Street, making it the perfect date spot or family movie night choice. Every spot in the lot gets a remarkable view of the extra-large screen. Every week, the revived drive-in theater features blockbusters such as Friday the 13th, Shrek, and Encanto. To top it off, you can order snacks and drinks directly to your car. 

Millennium Park Summer Film

The Millenium Park Summer Film Series is Chicago’s most popular, awe-striking outdoor movie option. Beneath the skyline, movie lovers can snag a spot on the Great Lawn (as long as you arrive early) to watch some of their favorite movies. The film series runs from July 12 to August 30, playing movies including In the Heights (July 12) and Dirty Dancing (August 2). 

Movie Night at Gallagher Way 

Every Wednesday through September 21, Gallagher Way—the small sister park of Wrigley Field—hosts an outdoor movie screening fit for a family outing. Starting with Josie and the Pussycats and ending with Bohemian Rhapsody, there is a chance to gather and watch one of your favorite movies on the giant digital screen. 

Rooftop Cinema Club 

Located on the fifth-floor terrace at the Emily Hotel in West Town, the Rooftop Cinema Club delivers an opulent outdoor theater experience, complete with a cushioned chair, headphones for audio, and, to top it off, a full food and drink menu courtesy of the hotel. The outdoor theater will host screenings nearly every day this summer, including Breakfast at Tiffany’s (June 26). 

Water Flicks at Navy Pier Summer Film Series 

With the view of the lake and the Centennial Wheel, it is tough to beat the location of Navy Pier’s Summer Film Series. Hosted on Mondays from July 11 to August 29, the film series will show cherished movies like Minari (July 25) and cult classics such as Are We There Yet? (August 29). Typically strung together by a theme, this year’s Water Flicks feature movies about family—the good, the bad, and the ugly.

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When Floyd Webb was 20 years old, he left his hometown of Chicago to go live abroad. It was 1974 and also the spark of a decades-long journey of traveling to over 50 countries. And as he did so, there was one constant: movies.

Webb went to the movies every place he went, he explains, and through that travel, the vast number of films with Black actors came into view.

“I had access to film programs, like at the [National] Film Theatre, on the South Bank in London, and they would have films in the afternoon,” Webb says. “I worked in that area and I used to walk over there to watch films. And suddenly . . . I started discovering Black actors who turned up in foreign films.”

And for Webb, this discovery was huge because growing up, he didn’t see many Black actors. It’s why Sidney Poitier—as one of the most famous actors of all time—became a beacon of light for Black film. The first Black man to win a competitive Oscar, Poitier rejected roles that were stereotypical and paved the way for other Black actors. But of course, sadly, there were not many Black actors in his position.

“When Sidney Poitier came along, he was changing [the] game—he was that powerful, self-realized character with agency, but there were very few films like that,” Webb says. “He was coming out of the American neorealism period immediately after World War II.”

As Black actors in the U.S. continued to struggle for roles, the presence of Black actors had exploded across the globe since the end of World War I. Yet, today, the richness of this history is not always something the average Chicago moviegoer can experience. But a new international film series is aiming to change that.

Webb is the curator of the Black Actors in Foreign Cinema screening series, co-presented by nonprofit media arts organization Chicago Filmmakers and his company, the Blacknuss Network, which has an alternative streaming service to watch Black films. This series is meant to give audiences a taste of some of the many international films featuring Black actors that were out even long before Webb first left for abroad. 

Black Actors in Foreign Cinema
6/11, 7/23, 8/20, and 9/17 at 7 PM; Chicago Filmmakers Firehouse Cinema, 1326 W. Hollywood; single screening $10; chicagofilmmakers.org/upcoming-screenings-and-events

The foundation of this work goes back to Webb’s work as the creator of the Blacklight Film Festival.

“I founded a film festival back in 1982, basically, to highlight and showcase new alternatives and radical works that were coming out,” Webb says. “Because there was a movement in the late 70s, early 80s, we got a sudden boom in Black independent film production. But it was not only here, it was like all over the world.”

On June 11, the first film in the series, Kiku and Isamu, screened at Chicago Filmmakers in Edgewater. The 1959 Japanese film stars two orphans—the children of a Japanese prostitute and Black GI—as they search for answers about race. After the showing, Emiko Takahashi, who played Kiku in the film, joined the audience virtually from Japan for a discussion.

“I was wondering after I saw the film, I said, ‘Whatever happened to her? Did she stay in Japan? Was her life pretty much like this young girl’s in the film?’ And she answered all those questions for us,” Webb says.

Without Pity, a 1948 film from Italy, is the next film in the series, and it will screen on July 23. Set at the end of World War II, it’s the story of a Black sergeant stationed in northern Italy who works to save his girlfriend. The film, which was briefly available in the U.S., was later banned in the U.S. and in Germany because it includes an interracial romance. But in Italy, it was a box office hit.

The role of protagonist was perfect for John Kitzmiller, who was, himself, a Black soldier. He was also stationed in Italy and rose to the rank of captain.

“He stayed in Europe after the war because his family had died while he was in the war, and he decided not to come back,” Webb says. “Carlo Ponti, an Italian director, saw him in a bar one night and heard his voice and said, ‘Wow, he can use it in the movies.’ And he did.”

The series’ third film, The Proud Valley, stars one of the most famous actors of his time: Paul Robeson. In the 1940 film from Wales, Robeson plays a Black sailor who deserts his ship and finds a job in a mining community.

“It’s Paul Robeson supporting . . . his core beliefs,” Webb says. “He was totally supportive of working people and I think it’s really interesting when you see actors who live what they believe, they find the roles that are reflective of the things that they believe.”

Last up in the series is Daïnah la Métisse, which will be shown on September 17. This 1932 French short is set on an ocean liner and is a mysterious story of flirting, race and class dynamics, and a missing wife.

“This combination of desire and Renoir Charleston film, and this actor and this actress, the story of a Black magician, performing on a boat . . . with his kind of curious wayward wife—it’s really special,” Webb explains. “Black-and-white images are just so beautiful and so absurd. There’s a lot of surrealism in this film.”

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Windy City Smokeout, first-time winner of the Academy of Country Music Awards “Festival of the Year,” and the nation’s premier outdoor country music and BBQ festival, will return to Chicago August 4-7, 2022 outside the iconic United Center at 1901 W. Madison Street.  Hosted by popular barbecue joint, Bub City and Joe’s Bar, Windy City Smokeout will feature live performances from country music’s biggest names and up-and-coming talent, plus the best BBQ and craft beer from around the country.

Image Credit: Katie Kauss

2022 Music Lineup

ACM award-winning promoter and Windy City Smokeout co-founder, Ed Warm, handpicked the weekend’s lineup including stage, screen and GRAMMY award-winning star Tim McGraw, the most decorated female country singer of all-time Miranda Lambert, ACM award-winning Sam Hunt and 12-time GRAMMY award-winning Willie Nelson & Family who will co-head opening night with the highly anticipated reunion of the Turnpike Troubadours.

“Windy City Smokeout truly represents the best in country music, BBQ and beer and being named the Academy of Country Music’s ‘Festival of the Year’ is an incredible honor that we don’t take for granted,” says Warm.

 “When the band is playing, and you’re drinking a cold beer, eating brisket and it’s 6 o’clock at night, and you see the Chicago skyline in the background, it’s like it doesn’t get any better than this in Chicago.” — Pete McMurray

The full list of country music acts by day include:

Thursday, August 4

4 p.m. – Morgan Wade
5:15 p.m. – Zach Bryan
7:00 p.m. – Turnpike Troubadours
9:00 p.m. – Willie Nelson & Family

Friday, August 5

3:20 p.m. – Shelby Darrall
4:20 p.m. – Tiera Kennedy
5:30 p.m. – Niko Moon
6:45 p.m. – Russell Dickerson
8:30 p.m. – Tim McGraw

Saturday, August 6

4:20 p.m.- Lily Rose
5:35 p.m. – Mackenzie Porter
6:45 p.m. – Jordan Davis
8:30 p.m. – Sam Hunt

Sunday, August 7

3:00 p.m. – Mike & The Moonpipes
4:30 p.m. – Flatland Calvary
6:15 p.m. – Kip Moore
8:00 p.m. – Miranda Lambert
Image Credit: Jeff Marini

BBQ and Beer

This year’s BBQ line-up features 25 of the world’s best pitmasters including 10 new teams offering a mix of new school and old school ‘cue dishes throughout the festival weekend. The full 2022 BBQ line-up includes (* indicates they are new to the 2022 festival):

17th Street BBQ
Against the Grain
Black’s BBQ (Austin, TX) **
Bub City
Green Street Smoked Meats
Hogapalooza
Hoodoo Brown BBQ
Hurtado Barbecue (Arlington, TX) **
Leroy & Lewis BBQ
Little Miss BBQ
Lillie’s Q
Loro (Austin, TX) **
Meat Mitch (Leawood, KS) **
Operation BBQ
Pappys Smokehouse
Pearl’s Southern Comfort
Sam Jones BBQ
Slab Barbecue
Smoke Queen Barbecue (Long Beach, CA) **
Smoque
Soul & Smoke (Evanston, IL) **
Station One Smokehouse (Plainfield, IL) **
Sugarfire Smokehouse
Truth BBQ
Ubons BBQ
Wrights Barbecue (Fayetteville, AR) **

“While it’s known as one of our country’s most sought after live music festivals, Windy City Smokeout has always been and always will be a hospitality-led event that shines above the rest” says RJ Melman, president of Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants. “The level of culinary talent that we are able to bring together every year makes it a celebration of BBQ and artisans from beloved restaurants and craft beer establishments all across America, just as much as it is a celebration of country music.”

Windy City Smokeout will also have food from non-barbeque collaborators, including Happy Camper, Duck Inn, Summer House, Small Chavel, Café Ba-Ba-Reeba and Federales. Thirty beer and cider vendors will pull taps ranging from big beer to craft breweries, including Goose Island, Founders, Haymarket, Moody Tongue, Surly and Virtue. A full list of beer vendors can be found at https://www.windycitysmokeout.com.

Image Credit: Jeff Marini

Bonus Events

Guests can round out the experience with a selection of curated events including the Biggest Happy Hour of the Summer and epic BBQ Brunch on Sunday. The ticketed events do not include admission to the festival; a single day or four-day pass is required for entry.

The Biggest Happy Hours of the Summer
Sponsored by Mamitas

WHEN: Thursday, August 4 & Friday, August 5, 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Kick off the festival weekend with The Biggest Happy Hours of the Summer! Each event will feature discounted domestic and craft beers with live music from up-and-coming artists. Access to each happy hour is included with a Thursday, Friday, or 4-day pass. Drinks are a la carte

BBQ Brunch
Sponsored by Illinois Pork Producers

WHEN: Sunday, August 7, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

The epic bottomless BBQ brunch on Sunday, August 7th includes a variety of dishes from the Windy City Smokeout Pitmaster Buffet with a special Bacon Bar sponsored by Illinois Pork Producers. Guests can sip on mimosas or build their own Bloodies with all of the fixings at Tito’s Bloody Mary Bar. Tickets are $50 in addition to a Sunday single-day or 4-day pass and can be purchased HERE

Tickets & General Info

Festival passes are now on sale at www.windycitysmokeout.com. NEW this year is a super VIP Festival Pass. Tickets are currently priced as follows:

GA Day Pass for Thursday, August 4: $64.95
GA Day Pass for Friday, August 5: $64.95
GA Day Pass for Saturday, August 6: $64.95
GA Day Pass for Sunday, August 7: $44.95
VIP Day Pass for Thursday, August 4: $300
VIP Day Pass for Friday, August 5: $350
VIP Day Pass for Saturday, August 6: $350
VIP Day Pass for Sunday, August 7: $250
SUPER VIP Day Pass for Thursday, August 4: $500
SUPER VIP Day Pass for Friday, August 5: $650
SUPER VIP Day Pass for Saturday, August 6: $650
SUPER VIP Day Pass for Sunday, August 7: $500
GA Four-Day Pass: $184.95
VIP Four-Day Pass: $1,100
Super VIP Four-Day Pass: $2,000

*General Admission festival passes do not include food or beverage.

**VIP four-day festival passes include access to an elevated and covered area next to the stage, complimentary mobile charging stations, air-conditioned restrooms, access to private cash bars and a welcome gift.

***Super VIP four-day festival passes include deluxe climate controlled upper deck and private viewing areas, complimentary mobile charging stations, personal concierge services, VIP parking access with golf cart service to and from festival grounds, air-conditioned restrooms, top shelf beer/wine/cocktails included, curated lunch and dinner service in private dining areas, late night bites and dessert service

The hours for Windy City Smokeout are Thursday, August 4: 4PM-10pm; Friday, August 5: 2pm-11pm; Saturday, August 6: noon-11pm; Sunday, August 7: noon-10pm. For more information and to purchase festival passes, please visit www.windycitysmokeout.com, and be sure to follow all the action on Instagram at @WindyCitySmokeout and Twitter at @WCSmokeout.

Featured Image: Katie Kauss

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Summer is the season for art and love: or, fall in love with art at one of the world’s most iconic establishments, the Louvre™ without leaving our lovely Windy City. Yes, you heard it right. Chicagoans will have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this July to walk through reimagined masterpieces from the Louvre’s collection as a new 360° exhibition, Louvre Fantastique debuts in Chicago.

Opening on July 15th, Louvre Fantastique: The Exhibition will run through October from Wednesday to Sunday at the Oakbrook Center — the former location of the magnificent Sistine Chapel Exhibition. General admission tickets are available for purchase here. Meanwhile, an exclusive VIP Opening Night Soiree is scheduled on Thursday, July 14 and tickets are now available for purchase here.

This dynamic and interactive new exhibition is brought to Chicagoland through SEE Global Entertainment, CBF Productions, and the leading entertainment discovery platform, Fever. With three-dimensional recreations, projection mapping, augmented reality, and hands-on interactive features, the exhibition brings the magic of the Louvre with new interpretations of timeless masterpieces.

With over 70 pieces of paintings, animations, and sculptures to marvel at, visitors will have the chance to engage with the artwork in ways that were never before possible. A few of the most iconic highlights from the original museum included in the new immersive exhibition are Jacques Louis David’s Oath of the Horatii, Raphael’s Young Woman on a Balcony, a three-piece animation of The Winged Victory of Samothrace, an homage to Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, as well as a three-dimensional replication of the Louvre Museum pyramid visitors can walk through.

“This exhibition is our tribute to the world’s most visited museum,” said Martin Biallas, CEO of Global Entertainment. “Art appreciation can take many forms, and we hope it will educate and inspire patrons regardless of age, to one day visit Paris to experience and appreciate, firsthand, some of these incredible pieces of art that continue to stand the test of time.”

Upon arrival, each visitor will explore the artwork up close and at their own pace with an informative, engaging audio guide that takes about one hour to complete. Children will also be offered a special audio guide, narrated by the voice of Mona Lisa. As patrons make their way through the exhibit, they will have the unique opportunity to use their smartphones to view and interact with augmented reality reimaginations of some of the most timeless masterpieces. A gift shop will conclude the experience for those looking to commemorate their visit.

Tickets toLouvre Fantastique are now on sale on Fever’s marketplace, with prices for adults starting at $32.90, and children starting at $22.90 and can be purchased by clicking here. Group bookings are also available for corporate events, school field trips, family gatherings and more. A full schedule of signature events will also be hosted throughout the run of the exhibition, with more details to be announced on their website.

About Oakbrook Center

The Oakbrook Center, owned and operated by Brookfield Properties, is a premier shopping destination in Chicago’s western suburbs. A spectacular outdoor mall located near I-88 in Oak Brook, Illinois – less than 30 minutes from downtown Chicago. The mall has an expansive selection of department stores, specialty stores, and an abundance of one-of-a-kind dining and entertainment experiences.

Featured Image: Louvre Fantastique

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Sometimes to understand the present, we must look at the past. 

In 2017, playwright Terry Guest grappled with how America could elect someone so outwardly racist as Donald Trump. It shocked him into questioning what could be done about the rise of fascism in the U.S.

“Do we protest? Does that work?” Guest asked himself. “Do we yell? Do we scream? Do we give up? Do we focus on our family and our own personal lives? Do we cut off somebody’s head?”

Those musings sent him back in time to figure out what answers people found when faced with the same questions. The result is Story Theatre’s Marie Antoinette and the Magical Negroes, opening June 30 at Raven Theatre.

Marie Antoinette and the Magical Negroes
6/30-7/17: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM; Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark, 773-338-2177, thestorytheatre.org, previews (Thu 6/30 and Fri 7/1) $15, regular run $20 ($10 students, active military, and veterans)

Guest doubles as playwright and director in a story about revolution, rage, and revenge. Set during the French Revolution, the play takes a new look at the lost monarchy myth by putting it in the mouths of Black people.

Brenna DiStasio, one of the founding members of Story Theatre, plays Marie Antoinette, and explains that the company seeks stories that ask how people feel rather than telling them how to feel. They actively support new work and emerging playwrights.

Those goals made Marie Antoinette and the Magical Negroes a good fit for the young company. In 2019, they premiered Guest’s At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen; that script previously won a grant for a developmental workshop from Atlanta’s Out Front Theatre.

This past spring, Guest’s The Magnolia Ballet premiered at About Face, with Guest playing one of the roles under the direction of Mikael Burke (also the director of At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen). It received rapturous reviews.

“Terry’s work is so beautiful,” DiStasio says. “It is so unique in that it has this mysticism about it. It is constantly digging for the complicated nature of history and interpersonal interaction in a way that really fits our mission statement. This show explores the themes of Black liberation and what do we do? How do we react in the face of adversity in a way that honors the fact that not everyone has the same answer?”

While Guest went seeking for answers, he found something else instead.

“I grew to appreciate how throughout humanity, particularly with Black people, we have had to ask these questions generation after generation after generation,” Guest says. “The thing that keeps me going is knowing that I am not alone, that my ancestors asked the same questions that my children will be asking. There is a connectivity to my history as a Black person and to my present, looking around at the different ways that my Black siblings are dealing with all of the things that are happening in the world and America.”

The play spans 300 years of history. It moves from the French Revolution to the Haitian Revolution to the 1992 LA riots and back again. While there is anger, there is also humor and joy.

“It’s a really funny, fun show,” Guest says. “There’s lots of movement and dance. It will feel like something people have never seen before. My goal is not to create something that’s perfect. My goal is to create something that’s powerful and that is saying something new and exciting.”

In the play, a group of magical traveling Black players decide to put on a show to help them understand and digest the complicated feelings they’re experiencing around being Black in a country that keeps showing it hates them. The story they examine is the French Revolution and how it inspired revolutions around the world. 

“Whenever people ask me to describe the show, I’m like, you just have to see it,” Guest says. “It’s too simple to say that it’s the story of Marie Antoinette. JFK and Jackie Kennedy show up and they’re played by Black people.”

DiStasio says that as the play explores Black liberation, it recognizes that the Black experience is not a monolith—Black people experience it in different ways, all of which are valid and should be honored.

DiStasio points out that they explored her character as both a symbol and a real human being. She is the perfect villain, and also a woman with her own hopes and dreams that put her at odds with the duty she was tasked with fulfilling.

More importantly, she says, is that the story is told through a Black lens, and not the oft-told white Eurocentric lens.

“What is so beautiful about what Terry does is that he states and recognizes that Black people were there and present and engaged and living and surviving and thriving this entire time,” DiStasio says. “There were Black people living in France. The actions of the French monarchy had an impact on the American slave trade.”

Terry Guest David Hagen

Guest agrees that too often stories of the French Revolution focus on Marie Antoinette and the experience of the royals. Not enough attention is paid to the people whose suffering sparked the revolution. 

“Looking at where we are now, in this country, there are so many people who are starving and angry and reaching a breaking point,” Guest says. “It’s a really apt time to look at what’s been done before and to see if we can do things a little bit better.”

As for telling the story from a Black perspective, Guest points out that he is Black and he only knows how to tell the story from his perspective.

“This is just my story, my little version,” Guest says. “I’m not trying to be anyone’s voice of a generation. I’m just trying to tell my little stories and write my little plays about my little corner of the world. And that corner of the world happens to be Black.”

As a director, Guest says he put together a cast that was “energetically diverse,” with five of the seven roles cast with Black actors.

“All our actors have such a variety of ways of interacting with each other and the world,” Guest says. “It really shows the complexity of Black actors in this town. All the actors play multiple characters, so they get to really shape-shift and time travel. Black folk don’t get to do that as often as we should.”

Story Theatre has published content warnings, inviting people to contact them for more information. Guest points out there is violence, revolt, and decapitation. It takes a critical look at how people perpetrate and experience violence in this country.

“Everybody has a different comfort level,” DiStasio adds. “This play deals with white supremacy and Black rage and Black joy and Black liberation in a very vulnerable and frank way. Those themes are inherently triggering. We want to make sure you know that . . . you will see negative actions by white bodies being perpetrated on Black bodies. But ultimately, the goal of this show is actually Black healing and Black liberation taking over that narrative.”

Since Guest started working on Marie Antoinette and the Magical Negroes in 2017, he’s rewritten it many times and says he’s still discovering new things that will lead to future rewrites. (The play also closes a run at Baltimore’s Single Carrot Theatre this weekend and also has a short run this week at Indianapolis’s Southbank Theatre.) However, he has found that the historical setting makes the play continue to be more relevant.

“People are getting closer and closer to that breaking point that I was talking about,” Guest says. “I can’t wait for the play to not be relevant.”

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Chicago dance-music veteran Ron Trent creates deep house that can keep a dance floor jumping for hours while simultaneously maintaining an intoxicating tranquility. Since the early 90s, Trent has built a reputation for appealing both to house heads who treat Marshall Jefferson’s “Move Your Body” as a commandment and drone devotees who thrive on meditative, atmospheric thrumming. For his first full-length album in 11 years, What Do the Stars Say to You (Night Time Stories), he collaborated with musicians whose backgrounds span several genres but who all share Trent’s goal of making immersive mood music that’ll have you nodding your head without realizing it: they include Texas psych-rock phenoms Khruangbin, Italian ambient composer Gigi Masin, and the two surviving members of Brazilian fusion trio Azymuth (bassist-guitarist Alex Malheiros and percussionist Ivan Conti). Trent juggles several instruments—guitar, percussion, synth—while guiding the album through tropicalia, soul, smooth jazz, light funk, and more. The gentle poise of his creative direction produces a fluid, imaginative experience as rejuvenating as a trip to the sauna.

Ron Trent’s What Do the Stars Say to You is out 6/24 via Bandcamp.

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