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.

‘Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992’

Jazzma Pryor in “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992.”Courtesy of Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre

WHAT: Jazzma Pryor stars in Anna Deavere Smith’s tour-de-force solo show “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992.” In it she portrays nearly four dozen people who were connected either directly or indirectly to the 1992 Los Angeles riots that erupted after the trial and acquittal of the police officers accused of assaulting Rodney King. The playwright shaped the piece from interviews that she conducted while researching the play. Tim Rhoze directs.

WHEN: From Sept. 11-26

WHERE: Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre at Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes, Evanston

TICKETS: $25. For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit fjtheatre.com.

‘The World Goes Round’

Kevin Earley (from left), Allison E. Blackwell, Meghan Murphy, Joseph Anthony Byrd, Amanda Rose are featured in “The World Goes Round” at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. @BrandonDahlquistPhotography

WHAT: The songs of musical theater team John Kander and Fred Ebb are the centerpiece of the revue “The World Goes Round.” The hit parade of songs includes selections from “Cabaret,” “New York, New York,” “All That Jazz,” “Funny Lady,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” “Maybe This Time” and more. The cast features Allison E. Blackwell, Joseph Anthony Byrd, Kevin Earley, Meghan Murphy and Amanda Rose; Marcia Milgrom Dodge directs and choreographs.

WHEN:From Sept. 15-Nov. 7

WHERE: Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Dr., Lincolnshire

TICKETS: $50-$60. For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit marriotttheatre.com.

‘Thirteen Days’

Sheila Willis (from left), Cameron Feagin, Kat Evans, Julia Kessler and Maggie Cain star in “Thirteen Days” at City Lit Theater.Photo by Steve Graue

WHAT: “Thirteen Days” is Brian Pastor’s adaptation of Robert F. Kennedy’s memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The world-premiere play, performed by an all-female cast, is set in President John F. Kennedy’s Situation Room where he maneuvers his way through the conflicting counsel of his advisors as the world comes close to nuclear war. Leading the cast are Cameron Feagin as JFK and Kat Evans as Attorney General Robert Kennedy; Pastor directs.

WHEN: Sept. 10-Oct. 24

WHERE: City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr

TICKETS: $32. For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit citylit.org.

‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’

WHAT: Citadel Theatre presents Neil Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” a comedy about a teen who must cope with the mundane existence of his life in Brooklyn.

WHEN: Sept. 15-Oct. 17

WHERE: Citadel Theatre, 300 S. Waukegan, Lake Forest

TICKETS: $20-$45. For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit citadeltheatre.org.

PrideArts

Elissa Newcorn (from left), Kyra Leigh, Carl Herzog and Nate Hall star in PrideArts’ productoin of “The Things I Never Could Tell Steven.” Marisa KM

WHAT: PrideArts presents Jye Bryant’s “The Things I Never Could Tell Steven,” a four-character musical in which the four most important people in one man’s life struggle to communicate meaningfully with him and really know him. The cast features Carl Herzog, Kyra Leigh, Elissa Newcorn and Nate Hall under the direction of Jay Espano.

WHEN: From Aug. 19-Sept. 19

WHERE: The Broadway, Pride Arts Center, 4139 N. Broadway.

TICKETS: $30. For updated information regarding the theater’s COVID-19 vaccination and/or mask policies, visit pridearts.org.

‘Kinky Boots’

Michael Wordly makes his Paramount Theatre debut as Lola in “Kinky Boots.”Thomas J. King

What: Live performances return for a new season at the Paramount Theatre with Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein’s high-kicking “Kinky Boots.” This first regional production of the Broadway musical, directed by Trent Stork, stars Devin DeSantis as Charlie, the shoemaker attempting to save his failing shoe factory, and Michael Wordly as Lola, the fierce drag queen who shows him the way.

When: Aug. 18-Oct. 17

Where: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena, Aurora

Tickets: $36-$74

For updated information regarding the theater’s COVID-19 vaccination and/or mask policies, visit paramountaurora.com.

Theatre Y

WHAT: Theatre Y’s ambitious new adventure “You Are Here: The Emerald Camino Project” is a return of its urban pilgrimages, this time through Daniel Burnham’s Emerald Necklace — the boulevard system that links the public parks on Chicago’s West and South sides. The immersive 12-part walking experience was created with artists, community leaders and organizations across a dozen communities. “This is a joyful post-pandemic experience that connects Chicago’s diverse communities through the intersection of conversation and art,” says Theatre Y’s artistic director, Melissa Lorraine. If you are walking through the neighborhood in which you live, admission is free; all other participants are Theatre Y Members or encouraged to become members (for as little as $5/month).

WHEN: Aug. 21-Sept. 26 For updated information regarding the theater’s COVID-19 vaccination and/or mask policies as well as dates and times for each walk, visit theatre-y.com.

Blue Man Group

Blue Man Group Caroline Talbot Photography

What: Those crazy characters in blue return for more goofy fun. The show, which encourages audiences to reconnect with their inner child, is a combination of art, music, comedy and technology.

When: Ongoing

Where: Briar Street Theatre, 3133 N. Halsted.

Tickets: $49-$89

For updated information regarding the theater’s Covid 19 vaccination and/or mask policies, visit blueman.com.

Teatro ZinZanni

The artistry and the excitement of Teatro ZinZanni returns to Chicago starting July 8. Pictured: Lea Hinz.Michael Doucet

What: The immersive, whirlwind theater experience that is Teatro ZinZanni has reopened 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: Ongoing

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

Tickets: $119-$189; limited show only tickets $69. Visit zinzanni.com/chicago.

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Welcome to our highlights for concerts, festivals and live music in Chicago. From free shows at Millennium Park to large festivals like Ravinia and Lollapalooza, and intimate shows at small local venues, our guide has all the latest music entertainment. Bookmark this page and check back for updates on concerts and events.

Pitchfork Music Festival

WHAT: Pitchfork Music Festival returns with its lineup from all popular genres across the contemporary music scene. Performers this year include Phoebe Bridgers, St. Vincent, Erykah Badu, Big Thief, Angel Olsen, Flying Lotus, Animal Collective, Kim Gordon, Thundercat, The Fiery Furnaces and many more.

WHEN: Sept. 10-12

WHERE: Union Park (main gates are on Ashland south of Lake St., gates open daily at noon)

TICKETS: Admission: $90 single-day general admission; 3-day passes are sold out. For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit pitchforkmusicfestival.com.

Chicago Philharmonic

The Chicago PhilharmonicElliot Mandel

WHAT: The 32nd season of the Chicago Philharmonic begins with a program featuring two pieces from iconic 20th century American composers: Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” and William Grant Still’s “Out of Silence.” Plus, Sergey Gutorov is featured in Mozart’s “Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622” and violinist Njioma Grevious performs Marcus Norris’ “Glory.”

WHEN: 3 p.m. Sept. 12

WHERE: North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie, Skokie

TICKETS: $10-$75. For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit chicagophilharmonic.com.

‘Feelin’ Groovy Series’ at The Hideout

WHAT: As part of the city’s Chicago in Tune Festival, The Hideout’s “Feelin’ Groovy” series features conversations with key figures from Chicago independent record labels and live sets of music from musicians that span genres and generations. Upcoming are Cedille Records president Jim Ginsburg with Black Oak Ensemble (Sept. 13), Thrill Jockey founder Bettina Richards with Thalia Zedek Band (Sept. 15), Teklife co-founders of Ashes57 and DJ Spinn with a performance by DJ Spinn (Sept. 16), Sooper Records co-founder Nnamdi with Sen Morimoto, Drag City director of sales Rian Murphy with Lama Lobsang Palden and Jim Becker (Sept. 22) and Sonorama Discos co-founder Marlowe Baca with Dos Santos (Oct. 1).

WHEN/WHERE: All are at 6 p.m. outdoor at The Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia.

TICKETS: Admission is free. For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit hideoutchicago.com.

Ifetayo Ali-Landing(C) Earl E. Gibson III

Music of the Baroque

WHAT: Music of the Baroque’s season opens with a free “Baroque in the Park” concert and the world premiere of its first commission “Spectacle of Light” by Stacy Garrop. The performance also features the MOB debut of Chicago cellist Ifetayo Ali-Landing performing Haydn’s “Cello Concerto No. 1.

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Sept. 10

WHERE: Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park, Michigan and Randolph.

TICKETS: Free; For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit baroque.org.

Ricky Scaggs

Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder

WHAT: Ricky Skaggs began playing the mandolin when he was 6 and was still a teen when he began his professional career as a member of Ralph Stanley’s band, the Clinch Mountain Boys. Since then, he’s never looked back. Today he performs with his stellar band Kentucky Thunder, which he says is a group of bluegrass musicians that “totally amaze me at every show.”

WHEN: 7 p.m. Sept. 12

WHERE: Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln

TICKETS: $50. For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit oldtownschool.org.

The High Kings

The High KingsCourtesy of the artists

WHAT: Irish folk band The High Kings takes audiences on a journey through classic folk songs, old and new on their latest album “Home form Home.” “The idea behind this album was to bring our fans on a journey across the world, to some of the places we call home when we tour, via some of the classic folk songs that have inspired us along the way,” says band member Darren Holden.

WHEN: At 7 p.m. Sept. 12

WHERE: McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell, Glen Ellyn

TICKETS: $49-$69. For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit atthemac.org.

Summerfest

Megan Thee Stallion (pictured at Lollapalooza in July) is a Summerfest headliner.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

WHAT: Long the cornerstone of Milwaukee’s festival season, Summerfest returns to the city’s lakefront with a lineup including headliners Luke Bryan, Chance the Rapper, Twenty One Pilots, the Jonas Brothers, Chris Stapleton, Zac Brown Band, Dave Chappelle, Megan Thee Stallion, Miley Cyrus, Guns N’ Roses and the Hella Mega Tour with Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer.

WHEN: Sept. 1-4, 8-11 and 15-18 in downtown Milwaukee.

TICKETS: For a complete schedule, ticket prices and updated information regarding the festival’s COVID-19 vaccination and/or mask policies, visit summerfest.com.

World Music Wednesday

Bomba con Buya Amy Young Photo

WHAT: The Old Town School of Folk Music’s weekly showcase of world music and dance, returns beginning Sept. 1 with Jazz a la Mexicana, a concert featuring traditional and folkloric Mexican music mixed with jazz. A celebration of Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center’s 50th anniversary follows on Sept. 8 with performances of Puerto Rican bomba music by Bomba con Buya and Mancha E’ Platano. The current roster of concerts runs through Dec. 1.

WHERE: Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln

Admission is free, a $10 suggested donation is appreciated. For updated information regarding the venue’s Covid 19 vaccination and/or mask policies, visit oldtownschool.org.

House City Series

DJ TraxmanCourtesy Chicago Park District

What: The Departments of Cultural Affairs and Special Event’s tribute to house music continues with House City, a new series of free events popping up throughout the summer in the neighborhoods that helped create the house music genre over 35 years ago.

When/Where: vent dates and communities are July 23 in South Shore, July 31 on the Southeast Side, Aug. 14 in Humboldt Park, Aug. 28 in Englewood, Aug. 29 in Lakeview, Sept. 12 in South Shore and Sept. 19 in Bronzeville. DJs playing include Traxman, Lori Branch, Deeon, Elbert Philips, Duane Powell and more.

Info: For locations and times, visit chicagohousemusicfestival.us

Chris Foreman Courtesy Origin Records

Chris Foreman at the Green Mill

What: The Green Mill has reopened and that means the return of Chris Foreman, a Friday night fixture at the popular jazz club. Foreman, a jazz organist blind since birth, is a master on the Hammond B3 and regarded as Chicago’s best. His playing is a blend of blues-gospel and jazz honed in his professional experience, which has included work with Hank Crawford, Albert Collins, Bernard Purdie, The Deep Blue Organ Trio and The Mighty Blue Kings.

When: 5-7:30 p.m. Fridays

Where: The Green Mill, 4802 N. Broadway

Cost: No cover charge

Visit greenmilljazz.com

Ravinia Festival

What: The Ravinia Festival, the oldest outdoor music festival in the country, returns with reduced capacity. As usual, the lineup is a varied slate of music from classical to pop, jazz and rock. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra returns for a six-week run with conductor Marin Alsop leading seven concerts in her first season as Ravinia’s chief conductor. Also on the roster are: Garrick Ohlsson, Cynthia Erivo, Counting Crows, Kurt Elling, Brian McKnight, John Hiatt and the Jerry Douglas Band, The Roots, John Legend, Madeleine Peyroux, Midori, Joshua Bell, Pinchas Zukerman, the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Joffrey Ballet.

When: July 1-Sept. 26

Where: Highland Park

Tickets: prices vary

Visit: ravinia.org.

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Considering the number of movies, documentaries and other entertainment vehicles made about Muhammad Ali, it would seem that — much like the former heavyweight champion at the end of his 1971 fight against Joe Frazier — there’s not much left to offer that’s fresh.

Will Smith played Ali. Ali even played Ali in “The Greatest.” The 1996 documentary ” When We Were Kings ” about Ali’s “Rumble in the Jungle” bout with George Foreman won an Oscar.

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns knew there were more layers to reveal in Ali’s rise from his Louisville, Kentucky, roots into the source of Black pride who captivated America with his boxing braggadocio, his contentious refusal to fight in Vietnam, and all through his final years into his lengthy, heartbreaking battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Burns’ film ” Muhammad Ali ” explores the life of the boxer who floated and stung his way into greatness.

“He’s just so compelling,” Burns said. “He’s complicated, there’s undertow, there’s flaws and we don’t hesitate to remind people throughout this film that there are. At the end, he is a transcendent American character. He has so much, still today, to offer us. He was, of course, at the intersection of so many themes of race, of politics, of war, of faith, of fidelity.”

Burns began work on Ali, who died at 74 in 2016, nearly seven years ago and said the story on the boxer’s life “lifts up and we see instantly how it resonates in the moment.” Burns (who co-directed the film with his oldest daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Dave McMahon) weaves archival footage and interviews with Ali’s daughters, ex-wives, sports writers, athletes and activists to stitch together pieces of the charismatic and complicated life of the three-time heavyweight boxing champion.

“There are a lot of really, really great documentary films on Muhammad Ali. I think the opening half-hour, 20 minutes of Michael Mann’s ‘Ali’ is one of the finest openings of any film, ever,” Burns said. “Yet nobody had said, let’s try to do it comprehensively. It’s not definitive. It’s, let’s try and understand him from birth in the early 40s in segregated Louisville, Kentucky, to the death by Parkinson’s.”

Burns talked with The Associated Press by phone from his home in Walpole, New Hampshire, to discuss the four-part, eight-hour series on Ali that airs Sept. 19-22 on PBS.

AP: When you peeled back the layers, what was your biggest discovery about Ali?

Burns: I think it’s this sense of purpose. He puts on the gloves, he has a couple of fights and now declares he’s The Greatest. It’s like you’re hitting a double in tee ball and saying, “I am going to be the greatest baseball player ever.” OK, that’s good aspirations. The poise that he has at different points. The Frazier fight, he’d been bagging on Frazier, he’d been predicting, he’d been brash, he’d been bold. But then he talks about setting an example because everybody loses. In fact, everybody does lose. Nobody gets out of this alive. He gets that. He understands something really fundamental. In the midst of this loud, wonderful promoter, learning from Gorgeous George, he has this in him.

AP: What did you learn about how America’s opinion of Ali changed through the decades?

Burns: When he dies, we forget what a divisive figure he was. When he’s out lighting the torch in Atlanta, we forgot what a divisive figure he was. He was considered like a Buddha, like a religious figure. I think it’s the way that in the midst of this loud, cacophonous thing that was his life, how amazingly centered he was, how purposeful it was. (His image) is already improved after the loss to Frazier in the first of the three Frazier fights. He gets hit in the last round and he gets back up. In losing he wins. By that time, we’re beginning to realize he was right about Vietnam. He began to win people back.

AP: Did you feel Ali mirrored the Black experience decade by decade or did he set it by the nature of his celebrity and stances?

Burns: I think it’s a little bit of both. He reflected aspects of it in that he represented a new model of it that was less interested in the old tactics of the Southern, Christian civil rights movement which was about integration. His was a little bit more Northern, a little bit more adamant about separation, which has been a tradition in Black politics dating back to Marcus Garvey, certainly before that. But at the same time, as he becomes this huge symbol, and people begin to embrace the idea of a new form of Black masculinity, of the kind of confidence and willingness to say “I’m beautiful” and “Black is beautiful,” that’s part of that Black Power movement, that’s not just what the Panthers are doing, but many people are embracing a kind of sense of their own value and worth. He is both reflecting and also directing.

AP: Did you learn there were times Ali didn’t want the burden that came with who he was?

Burns: You can see in him sort of flashes of frustration, less about the burden than people getting it wrong. When he said, “I don’t have to box. It’s not about boxing.” At the very end of the film, (daughter) Rasheda (Ali) says, “Boxing is just this much” (while pinching her fingers together). I think he understood he had a bigger thing that he was about. He could have been a simple carpenter.

AP: Did you meet Ali?

Burns: I met him once. It was in LA, mid-late 90s. Definitely way into Parkinson’s. I had a cold and I had gone into a coffee shop to get some tea. I was waiting to take it out and I turned around and in a booth, there was Muhammad Ali. I had the only wordless conversation I’ve ever had with anybody. It was spectacular. It was almost a religious experience. I looked at him and without opening my mouth, I said, “You’re Muhammad Ali.” And without opening his mouth, he looked at me and said, “Yes I am.” … I never shook his hand. It was just the most spectacular thing.

AP: Are you tempted down the road to leave PBS and make films for one of the streaming services?

Burns: I could go to those premium services or the streaming services and they’d give me the budget. The budget for “Vietnam” turned out to be $30 million and they’d do it. But they’d want it in two years. We needed to do 10 1/2 years. At PBS, they give me a little bit of money and I go out and raise the rest. They just want it to be what I want it to be. Not only do I publish each time a director’s cut, I also have the ability to have creative control over it.

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The latest rankings of Illinois high school football teams in each class, according to an Associated Press panel of sportswriters.

Class 8A

1. Naperville Central (3) (2-0) 74 4
2. Maine South (3) (2-0) 72 5
3. Marist (2) (2-0) 68 3
4. Warren (1-1) 45 1
5. Neuqua Valley (2-0) 42 6
6. Lincoln-Way East (1-1) 41 2
(tie) Glenbard West (2-0) 41 7
8. Bolingbrook (2-0) 23 8
9. Homewood-Flossmoor (2-0) 15 10
10. Hinsdale Central (1-1) 5 NR

Others receiving votes: Lockport 4, O’Fallon 4, Oswego East 4, South Elgin 1, New Trier 1.

Class 7A

1. Loyola (8) (2-0) 89 2
2. Mount Carmel (1) (2-0) 81 1
3. Brother Rice (2-0) 69 3
4. St. Rita (1-1) 58 6
5. Wheaton North (1-1) 56 4
6. St. Charles North (2-0) 43 5
7. Batavia (2-0) 41 7
8. Hersey (2-0) 24 10
9. Prospect (2-0) 14 T8
10. Pekin (2-0) 7 NR

Others receiving votes: Normal 5, Buffalo Grove 3, Bradley-Bourbonnais 2, Wheaton Warrenville South 2, Hononegah 1.

Class 6A

1. Cary-Grove (9) (2-0) 90 1
2. Kankakee (2-0) 72 6
3. Crete-Monee (1-1) 66 2
4. Lemont (2-0) 56 9
5. Springfield (2-0) 48 7
6. Crystal Lake Central (2-0) 43 8
7. Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge (2-0) 31 NR
8. Washington (1-1) 18 3
9. Lake Forest (1-1) 15 4
10. Kenwood (2-0) 12 NR

Others receiving votes: Deerfield 9, Rockford Boylan 8, Simeon 6, Vernon Hills 5, Benet 5, Richards 4, Carmel 3, Belvidere North 2, Wauconda 1, Chatham Glenwood 1.

Class 5A

1. East St. Louis (7) (2-0) 79 1
2. Rochester (1) (1-1) 71 2
3. Fenwick (2-0) 60 6
4. Providence (1-1) 36 4
5. Marion (2-0) 35 8
6. Mascoutah (2-0) 33 10
7. Peoria (1-1) 25 3
8. Sycamore (1-1) 23 9
9. Morris (2-0) 19 NR
10. Metamora (2-0) 14 NR
(tie) Glenbard South (2-0) 14 NR

Others receiving votes: Sterling 11, Morgan Park 7, Marmion 5, Mahomet-Seymour 4, Nazareth 2, Decatur MacArthur 2.

Class 4A

1. Joliet Catholic (9) (2-0) 90 1
2. Sacred Heart-Griffin (Springfield) (2-0) 80 2
3. Richmond-Burton (2-0) 70 3
4. Quincy Notre Dame (2-0) 60 4
5. St. Francis (1-1) 56 6
6. Genoa-Kingston (2-0) 38 5
7. Mt. Zion (2-0) 31 8
8. Coal City (1-1) 22 9
9. Murphysboro (2-0) 17 10
10. Phillips (0-2) 12 7

Others receiving votes: Bethalto Civic Memorial 8, Stillman Valley 4, Harrisburg 3, Cahokia 2, Dixon 1, Taylorville 1.

Class 3A

1. Wilmington (4) (2-0) 75 1
2. Princeton (4) (2-0) 71 2
3. Monticello (2-0) 61 3
4. Tolono Unity (2-0) 45 4
5. Williamsville (1-1) 41 5
6. Montini (1-1) 40 T9
7. Byron (2-0) 33 6
8. Farmington (2-0) 31 7
9. Mt. Carmel (2-0) 21 T9
10. Paxton-Buckley-Loda (2-0) 9 NR

Others receiving votes: Reed-Custer 5, Nashville 3, Durand 2, Peotone 1, Carlinville 1, Wheaton Academy 1.

Class 2A

1. Decatur St. Teresa (5) (2-0) 75 1
2. IC Catholic (3) (2-0) 71 3
3. Maroa-Forsyth (2-0) 68 2
4. Breese Mater Dei (2-0) 53 4
5. Downs Tri-Valley (2-0) 38 6
6. Bismarck-Henning (2-0) 36 T7
(tie) Rockridge (1-1) 36 9
8. Pana (2-0) 23 10
9. Sterling Newman (1-1) 14 5
10. Rushville-Industry (2-0) 8 NR

Others receiving votes: Bishop McNamara 6, Tremont 5, Clifton Central 3, Knoxville 3, Athens 1.

Class 1A

1. Moweaqua Central A&M (3) (2-0) 75 T1
2. Lena-Winslow (5) (2-0) 73 T1
3. Mt. Sterling (Brown County) (2-0) 53 3
4. Fulton (2-0) 45 T4
(tie) Kewanee (Wethersfield) (2-0) 45 T4
6. Cumberland (2-0) 37 8
7. Aurora Christian (2-0) 33 T9
8. Camp Point Central (2-0) 25 T9
9. Carrollton (1-1) 15 NR
10. St. Bede (2-0) 8 NR

Others receiving votes: Winchester West Central 7, Greenfield-Northwestern 6, Tuscola 5, Forreston 4, Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 4, Galena 2, Ottawa Marquette 2, Hope Academy 1.

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In the aftermath of the World Trade Center disaster, this missing-person poster of Andrea Haberman, a Chicago futures trader who was in New York for the first time for a day of meetings, was hung in New York City. | Getty Images

A New York museum aims to ensure that she and nearly 3,000 others who died in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, won’t be forgotten

For nearly six years, Andrea Haberman’s damaged wallet lay mostly untouched in a drawer at her parents’ Wisconsin home along with a partly melted cell phone, her driver’s license, credit cards, checkbook and house keys.

Flecks of rust had formed on the rims of her glasses, their lenses shattered and gone.

Those everyday items were the remnants of a young life that ended when a hijacked jetliner struck the north tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Haberman was 25 and about to be married to her college sweetheart when she was killed while on a business trip from Chicago, where she’d worked for the brokerage firm Carr Futures for about three years.

It was her first time in New York City. She got to work early on Sept. 11 for a day of meetings and was “on the phone with her office in Chicago when the plane hit,” her fiance told a reporter in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.

For Haberman’s family, her belongings, still smelling of Ground Zero, evoked mostly sorrow. To ease their pain, they donated the artifacts to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

“These are not the happy things you want to remember someone by,” says Gordon Haberman, her father.

The collection of 22,000 personal artifacts — wallets, passports, baseball gloves, shoes, clothing items, rings, some on display at New York’s 9/11 museum, some at museums around the country — provide a mosaic of lost lives and stories of survival.

“Each person who makes up part of that tally was an individual who lived a life,” says Jan Ramirez, the museum’s chief curator and director of collections.

Robert Bumsted / AP
Jan Ramirez (right), chief curator at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, sifts through a collection of condolence cards for a victim of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that were donated to the museum’s archive. The museum has collected 22,000 personal artifacts to help tell the stories of those who died and those who were lucky to survive.

“We knew that families — the people that have lost a loved one that day — were going to need to have a place, have a way to remember the person that never came home from work, that never came home from a flight,” Ramirez says.

Many of those personal effects were plucked from the ruins of the Twin Towers. Other items were donated by survivors or by the families of those who died.

A woodworking square, screwdriver, pry bar and a tool belt represent Sean Rooney, a vice president at Aon Corp. who died in the South Tower. Rooney’s essence was that of “a builder,” his sister-in-law Margot Eckert says, making the carpenter’s tools donated to the museum the “perfect antidote to the destruction.”

Rooney had phoned his wife Beverly Eckert at their home in Stamford, Conn., after being trapped by fire and smoke on the 105th floor. He spent his last breaths recounting happier times, whispering, “I love you,” as he labored for air.

His remains were never found.

Beverly Eckert died eight years later in a plane crash while traveling to her husband’s high school in Buffalo, N.Y., to award a scholarship in his honor. Before she died, she had set aside the items she hoped would help tell her husband’s story, that of a weekend carpenter, handyman and volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.

“We have a gravesite for her,” Margot Eckert says. “We don’t have a gravesite for Sean. Artifacts become very important. And artifacts are the facts that someone lived. They are the facts you can touch.”

Robert Bumsted / AP
Margot Eckert stands by a display of pictures of her brother-in-law Sean Rooney and sister Beverly Eckert at her home in Springfield, Mass. Rooney was killed on 9/11 while working in his office in the South Tower. His wife Beverly Eckert died in a plane crash in 2009.

For Robert Chin’s family, the story was about a love for playing softball. They recounted his first hit — a drive down the third-base line — playing for Fiduciary Trust International. To help savor the moment, his teammates scribbled congratulatory notes on the ball before presenting it to him.

Among the names on the ball were those of Pedro Francisco Checo and Ruben Esquilin Jr., who died with Chin that day. That dusty softball that Chin had kept at home is included among the trove of keepsakes in the 9/11 museum’s collection.

Some of the donated artifacts came from those who survived.

Like Linda Raisch-Lopez’s bloodied patent leather heels. They tell the story of her will to survive and the day she ran for her life. Making her way down a stairwell from the 97th floor of the South Tower, she slipped out of her heels and walked through the debris in her bare feet, according to the museum. At some point, she slipped back into her shoes, smearing blood on the tan leather from her cut and blistered feet.

Only a small part of the New York museum’s collection of artifacts is on display at a time because there’s so much of it.

“Each piece is a little part of a puzzle,” Ramirez says. “Having those important, little pieces of truth, those palpable pieces of truth — those bridges to allow people to get engaged in the story — is why we do what we do and will continue to do what we do.”

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A federal judge on Thursday gave six months of community confinement to a key player in a large-scale, international gambling ring based around Chicago.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall also gave two years of probation and a $10,000 fine to Matthew Knight, ordering him to serve 100 hours of community service. She said she spared him prison time in part due to his lack of criminal history, remorse and cooperation with investigators.

Knight is the sixth person to be sentenced in a series of related gambling cases filed in Chicago’s federal court since early 2020. Two of the five who were previously sentenced landed prison time, but three others managed to avoid it.

Another defendant, Mettawa Mayor Casey Urlacher, was pardoned in January by then-President Donald Trump.

Prosecutors argued that a sentence of about a year in prison would be appropriate for Knight, based on “the massive scale of this gambling operation.” Knight’s defense attorney, Todd Pugh, asked for probation and home confinement, describing Knight as a recent widower with three teenage daughters who has been repeatedly visited by “personal loss and tragedy.”

Before he was sentenced, Knight told the judge that his business partners and other members of his community have cut ties with him. He repeatedly said he took responsibility for his crime.

“I did this to myself and everyone around me,” Knight said.

As she handed down the sentence, Kendall said she found a report on Knight’s personal background written by court personnel to be “rather heartbreaking.” She told Knight that “today is pretty much the lowest day of your life” but added, “there have been some low days in the past.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ankur Srivastava wrote in a court memo that Knight was the second biggest agent involved in the gambling ring run by Vincent “Uncle Mick” DelGiudice, but he was third in “overall culpability” behind DelGiudice and Chicago Police Officer Nicholas Stella.

DelGiudice has pleaded guilty but has yet to be sentenced. Stella was sentenced in July to 15 months behind bars.

Knight’s gamblers generated $901,504 between January and mid-December 2018, according to Srivastava — a figure that doesn’t include winnings from college football bowl games played at the end of the year. An FBI forensic examiner said it is typical for a gambling operation to accept 20 times as much in wagers as it makes in profit, meaning Knight’s gamblers could have made $18 million in wagers, the prosecutor wrote.

Srivastava added that “lives have been destroyed,” and he wrote that investigators have “met with individuals whose careers, marriages, family life, and lives were ruined by their affiliation with the gambling enterprise.”

Pugh wrote in his own memo that Knight “immediately accepted responsibility” when approached by law enforcement and cooperated “to an extent unlike his co-defendants.” He insisted that Knight “was not a predatory bookie that preyed upon individuals struggling with addiction.”

“Bettors settled their account with Mr. Knight when they could, and the only consequence of not paying was not being able to continue to place bets,” Pugh wrote.

Pugh also pointed, like other defense attorneys in the case, to the ever-expanding popularity of legal sports betting — including potentially at Wrigley Field.

“None of these observations excuse or justify Mr. Knight’s criminal conduct,” Pugh wrote, “but they do illustrate that sports betting is incredibly popular, widely accepted, and enjoyed by a significant portion of society.”

The other person sentenced to prison time in a related gambling case was Gregory Paloian, a bookie who prosecutors say ran his operation through DelGiudice’s network. U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow gave Paloian a two-and-a-half year prison sentence in April, but she agreed to push his surrender date back until August 2022 for health reasons.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Eddie George picked a good time for a career change.

He’s one of several high-profile former pro athletes to give up their lavish retirement lifestyles, roll up their sleeves and accept historically Black colleges and universities coaching positions at a time when the country seems ready to embrace social change.

Television networks, which already had contracts with the Southwestern Athletic Conference and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, now have new storylines thanks to coaches who bring name recognition and a known brand to the sidelines.

There are at least 13 former pro athletes coaching football or men’s basketball at an HBCU, with seven hired since 2019. The star-studded group includes Deion Sanders at Jackson State; former NBA champion and All-Star Mo Williams at Alabama State; 11-year NFL veteran Sean Gilbert at Livingstone College; and Bonzi Wells, the 11th overall NBA draft pick in 1998, just hired at LeMoyne-Owen.

“It’s high risk, high reward,” SWAC Commissioner Charles McClelland said. “The biggest challenge that high-profile coaches have to deal with coming to historically Black colleges and universities is that those resources that they are accustomed to are not necessarily there all the time.”

Many of the high-profile coaches earned tens of millions in salary during the pro careers and now are working in athletic departments operating on a fraction of those dollars.

George, being paid $400,000 a year, says it’s a calling for him to be coaching at an HBCU. He didn’t have to relocate to take the job at Tennessee State, which is where he first practiced when the then-Houston Oilers relocated from Texas to Tennessee. Nashville also has been his home for a quarter century.

“You want to enhance that world and bring a light to the HBCU world and the great storied programs that have produced NFL talent and great talent into the world, period,” George said. “That comes along with it. But at its core, at its impetus, it’s always first and foremost these young men that are in this building.”

Seeing former professional athletes coaching at an HBCU is nothing new for anyone paying attention.

Super Bowl MVP Doug Williams went to Grambling State in 1998 for his first of two stints coaching his alma mater. McClelland hired former WNBA star and Naismith Hall of Fame player Cynthia Cooper in 2006 when he was AD at Prairie View and again at Texas Southern. The woman who has a statue on the Nike campus helped bring gear Prairie View normally couldn’t get.

Still, it’s hard to imagine the timing could be any better for this new wave of coaches. George, Sanders and others have elevated HBCUs to a level where they’ve never been before. McClelland and administrators like him hope all the attention translates into new revenue streams and increased support.

The SWAC has led FCS attendance in 43 of the last 44 seasons, and McClelland said the market, excitement and fan bases were there already — now it’s being fueled by the celebrity status these coaches bring to the sidelines.

All of it will be on full display Saturday night when George and Tennessee State square off against Jackson State and Sanders in the Southern Heritage Classic in Memphis.

The game usually draws nearly 50,000 fans, but McClelland said with the former NFL standouts coaching against each other the matchup that will be televised on ESPN3 will attract new fans.

“Individuals that might not necessarily know anything about Tennessee State or Jackson State now know something about Deion Sanders and Eddie George (and) are going to watch that game, and we can open up our brand to other entities and other individuals,” McClelland said. “So it is definitely significant.”

George is looking forward to stepping into the spotlight at the Southern Heritage Classic, which pits schools once coached by College Football Hall of Famer “Big” John Merritt.

“This is another opportunity for us to showcase our talent, to showcase our coaches, the brand of our schools, and show the the pageantry and the tradition of HBCU football on a grander scale, hopefully,” George said.

He and Sanders have been on the sidelines less than a year — George was hired in April, and Sanders was introduced Sept. 21, 2020 — but have already made their presence felt.

Sanders’ connections helped his Tigers get uniforms by Under Armour with Walmart assisting with a new turf field. George has former NFL head coach Hue Jackson as offensive coordinator and is pushing for a new turf field for TSU’s indoor practice facility and other improvements.

Tennessee State kicked off a fundraising campaign the day George was hired, though the new coach says he’s being patient as he learns what the university has done before he arrived and how he can help use his corporate ties best now.

It also helps that these coaches have personal experience dealing with endorsement deals with new name, image and likeness rules. Sanders is in a new ad for Aflac, while George is part of Nissan’s Heisman House commercials that roll out each season.

“No one wants you to endorse their product if you’re not good,” Sanders said.

Ultimately, winning games is how all coaches are measured.

George knows he won’t get some athletes determined to play at a program like his alma mater Ohio State or Alabama. His pitch to players to attend TSU is for them to lay the groundwork for the next stage of success at a program that has produced the likes of Ed “Too Tall” Jones and Claude Humphrey. Then he sprinkles in the promise of growth with a new stadium and better facilities.

“We’re going to try to get to the FBS level, know those are our aspirations to take this program to new heights,” George said of his lure to players and recruits. “So you’re our forefather. You’re building bricks and layers, a foundation for what’s to come.”

How long Sanders and George remain in their respective positions is anyone’s guess. College coaches leave, get fired, move on; it’s part of the business. But even if they use HBCUs as stepping stones to other endeavors, McClelland said it’s a win-win for both the conference and the schools.

“If Coach Prime gets an opportunity to leave, if Coach George gets an opportunity to leave, it’s only going to be because they were successful at Jackson State and Tennessee State,” McClelland said. “And as athletics director, that’s all that you can ask for.”

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Welcome to our highlights of events and entertainment in Chicago at our city’s best museums and galleries. Bookmark this page and check back for updates on the latest activities.

The Neon and Light Museum

When: Through Oct. 31

Where: 325 W. Huron

What: This pop-up features an immersive exhibition of nearly 70 neon and light-based sculptures. Among the highlights are John Bannon’s 14-foot-tall neon sculpture “Breathe,” Monika Wulfer’s installation “Circle’s Edge” and an iconic neon self-portrait by John Lennon. Other artists include feminist neon artist Zoelle Nagib, pop sign artist Jason Pickleman, projected light specialist Gary Justis, abstract artist sculptor Michael Young and more. Tickets: $40+, reservations required.

More information: For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit neonandlightmuseum.com.

‘Dias de Muertos: A Time to Grieve & Remember’

George Rodriguez, “Mictlantecuhtli Offering,” 2020, ceramic installation, is featured in the exhibit “Dias de Muertos: A Time to Grieve & Remember.”Courtesy of the artist

When: Sept. 10-Dec. 12

Where: 1852 W. 19th

What: This year’s Day of the Dead exhibition at the National Museum of Mexican Art pays tribute to and remembers the many individuals from Mexico and the U.S. who have died from COVID-19. An annual time-honored tradition in Mexico, the Day of the Dead offers a way to join together to grieve and celebrate the lives of loved ones. The exhibit is a way to contemplate this moment via artworks and installations by artists from both sides of the border. Among those creating installations are Sandra Cisneros, Hector Duarte, Alejandro Garcia Nelo, Enrique Garcia and the Yollacalli Arts Center. These colorful displays sit alongside artwork by a long list of Mexican and Mexican American artists. Admission is free.

More information: For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org.

‘American Epidemic: Guns in the United States’

“Untitled (Death by Gun),” by Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1990)Provided

When: Sept. 10-Feb. 20

Where: 600 S. Michigan

What: The Museum of Contemporary Photography presents an exhibit that brings together work by nine artists who examine the past three decades of gun culture in the United States. Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Carolyn Drake, Zora J Murff, Stephen Foster, Renee Stout, Hank Willis Thomas, Kambui Olujimi, Nancy Floyd and Andres Gonzalez use photography to approach the topic from a wide range of perspectives. “We hope this exhibition lays bare the persistent epidemic of gun violence in this country,” said Karen Irvine, MoCP chief curator and deputy director. “These artists point us towards nuanced ways of reckoning with this tragic — and uniquely American — plight.” Admission is free.

More information: For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit mocp.org.

Future Fossils: SUM

A “Future Fossils: SUM” piece by Lan TuazonCourtesy of the artist

When: Sept. 7-Nov. 13

Where: 5020 S. Cornell

What: This is the final sculpture installation in Lan Tuazon’s decade-long trilogy of work that visualizes the lifespan of our material goods. The Chicago artist calls her process “documentary sculpture.” Common packaged goods, tchotchkes and household items are accumulated, dissected and layered to give an accounting of the unseen byproduct of consumption. Tuazon offers visitors an encounter with a future house — one constructed solely with recovered materials — built to scale and exhibited from inside the two-story gallery at the Hyde Park Art Center. Admission is free.

More information: For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit hydeparkart.org.

‘Bani Abidi: The Man Who Talked Until He Disappeared’

Bani Abidi’s watercolor “The Man Who Talked Until He Disappeared.”Courtesy of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art

When: Sept. 4-June 5

Where: Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago

What: Two decades of the work of multidisciplinary Pakistani artist Bani Abidi are brought together for this exhibition. Informed by her upbringing in Karachi and experiences in cities including Chicago, where she studied at the School of the Art Institute, Abidi, a master storyteller, uses video, photography, sound and installation to uncover the influence of cultural and political power struggles on everyday life. Admission: $15.

More information: For vaccination and/or mask policies, visit mcachicago.org.

‘Chicago Works: Caroline Kent’

The Museum of Contemporary Art presents “Chicago Works: Caroline Kent,” the first solo museum exhibition of work by the multidisciplinary Chicago-based artist. Nathan Keay, (C) MCA Chicago

When: To April 3

Where: 220 E. Chicago

What: The Museum of Contemporary Art presents the first solo museum exhibition of work by the multidisciplinary Chicago-based artist. In this site-specific installation, Kent explores the abbreviated forms of communication that develop in intimate relationships such as those between sisters. Inspired by the experience of communicating with her own twin, she transfers her visual language to painting, sculpture and installation. Admission: $15.

More information: mcachicago.org

‘Origins’

Paul Nicklen, “Face to Face,” Svalbard, Norway, 2008.Courtesy the artist

When: Aug. 27-Oct. 2

Where: Hilton/Asmus Contemporary, Morgan Arts Complex, 3622 S. Morgan

What: The work of National Geographic photographers, filmmakers and marine biologists Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier are featured in this new exhibit. Nicklen, one of the world’s prominent nature photographers, has spent the last 20 years documenting the beauty and the plight of our planet. Mittermeier, whose work documents the conservation movement, is globally recognized as an influential wildlife writer and conservationist. Admission is free.

More information: Hilton-asmus.com

‘The Art of Banksy’

Banksy’s “Flower Thrower”The Art of Banksy

When: To Oct. 31

Where: 360 N. State

What: The identity of the artist known as Banksy has for years been the art world’s most intriguing mystery. But while we don’t know the man, we do know the art. The English-based street artist has created some of the most iconic images of the past few decades. A new exhibit brings more than 80 of these original works to Chicago. World-famous pieces from private collections including “Flower Thrower,” “Rude Copper” and “Girl with Balloon” will sit alongside other works rarely seen by the general public. As the artist-provocateur Banksy says: “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” Tickets: $40, $30 for 16 and younger.

More information: banksyexhibit.com

‘Helmut Jahn: Life + Architecture’

“Helmut Jahn – Life + Architecture”Chicago Architecture Center

When: To Oct. 31

Where: 111 E. Wacker

What: Chicago Architecture Center presents a new exhibit honoring the late Chicago architect, which highlights his designs ranging from signature early projects like the Michigan City Public Library (1977) and the James R. Thompson Center (1985) to the Sony Center in Berlin (2000) and the Pritzker Military Archives Center, currently under construction in Somers, Wisconsin. Photography, models and sketches illuminate each project and explore the collaborative design and engineering process, while personal imagery, video and recollections by those who knew and worked with Jahn underscore his flair for the dramatic and zest for life. Admission is $15.

More information: architecture.org

‘Van Gogh for All’

“Van Gogh for All”Lou Bank

When: To Sept. 26

Where: 333 N. Michigan Ave.

What: The immersive art experience that debuted in Chicago in 2019 returns for a limited run. The exhibit allows attendees to step into many of the artist’s works and learn about them in a whole new way. Fly through the Starry Night or step behind the shutters of his iconic Yellow House and walk through a re-creation of his studio. Open seven days a week 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Tickets: $20, $10 for 12 and under.

More information:vangoghforall.org

‘Mimi Cherono Ng’ok: Closer to the Earth, Closer to My Own Body’

“Untitled” by Mimi Cherono Ng’ok(C) Mimi Cherono Ng’ok

When: To Feb. 7

Where: Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan

What: This new exhibit features the work of a photographer who travels extensively across the tropical climates on a mission to understand how natural environments, botanical cultures and human subjects coexist and evolve together. In this solo exhibit, she presents photographs and a film in which she tracked flowers and floral imagery across varied contexts and a range of hidden associations. Admission: $14-$22.

More information: artic.edu

Hyde Park Art Center

Mel Chin’s Fundred Dollar Bill ProjectProvided/Courtesy of the artist

When: July 25-Oct. 24

Where: 5020 S. Cornell

What: Mel Chin’s Fundred Dollar Bill Project as well as works by LaToya Ruby Frazier and Fazal Sheikh are on display at the Hyde Park museum as part of “Toward Common Cause: Art, Social Change and the MacArthur Fellows Program at 40.” Chin’s 13-year-project, here titled “Chicago Fundred Initiative: A Bill for IL,” invites people to create their own “Fundred,” a form of currency that affirms the right of each maker to equal protection against lead contamination; Frazier’s film “Flint is Family” uses her photographs and voiceover by Flint, Michigan, resident Shea Cobb to understand the Flint water crisis; Sheikh’s landscape photography examines the connection between desertification, colonialism, and the displacement of Bedouin communities from ancestral lands in Israel’s Negev desert. Admission is free.

More information: hydeparkart.org

Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

When: Ongoing

Where: 2430 N. Cannon Dr.

What: The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, where children of all ages can connect to nature and science, reopened July 8. Exhibits include “Without a Trace,” selections of photographs by Zbigniew Bzdak; “Patterns in Nature: A Bridge between Art and the Natural World,” mixed media work by artist Katherine Lampert; “Judy Istock Butterfly Haven,” “Birds of Chicago” and many more. Admission: $6-$9, children under 3 free.

More information: naturemuseum.org

‘Toward Common Cause: Art, Social Change and the MacArthur Fellows Program at 40’

Toba Khedoori’s “Untitled” at the Smart Museum of Art.Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner and Regen Projects, Los Angeles (C) Toba Khedoori.

“Toward Common Cause — Art, Social Change and the MacArthur Fellows Program at 40” is a multi-museum venture organized by the Smart Museum of Art that explores the current sociopolitical moment, challenging questions of inclusion, exclusion, ownership and rights of access. In its gallery, the Smart Museum features works by Mark Bradford, Mel Chin, Nicole Eisenman, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Jeffrey Gibson, Toba Khedoori, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, Julie Mehretu, Fazal Sheikh and Xu Bing. From July 15-Dec. 19 at Smart Museum, University of Chicago, 5550 S. Greenwood. Admission is free. Visit smartmuseum.uchciago.edu; for a list of participating museums visit towardcommoncause.org.

Stony Island Arts Bank reopens with its contribution to “Towards Common Cause.” The group show features work by Carrie Mae Weems, Kerry James Marshall, Gary Hill, Whitfield Lovell, Trevor Paglen, Deborah Willis, Dawoud Bey, Fred Wilson and Nicole Eisenman. From July 18-Dec. 19 at Stony Island Arts Bank, 6760 S. Stony Island. Admission is free. Visit rebuild-foundation.org.
The reopened DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Pl., participates with an exhibit of “Presenting Negro Scenes Drawn Upon My Passage through the South and Reconfigured for the Benefit of Enlightened Audiences Wherever Such May Be Found, By Myself, Missus K.E.B Walker, Colored,” a signature black silhouette installation from the artist Kara Walker. Admission: $3-$10 (Sundays free), children under 5 free. Visit: dusablemuseum.org.

‘Chicago: Where Comics Come to Life (1880-1960)’

A 1954 “Brenda Starr” panel at the Chicago Cultural Center exhibit.DCASE

When: To Oct. 3

Where: Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph

What: This exhibit looks at Chicago’s significant role in the development of the early comic strip. Curated by artist-author Chris Ware and the City of Chicago’s cultural historian emeritus, Tim Samuelson, it focuses on comics in popular publishing, African American cartoonists, the first women cartoonists, the first daily comic strip and more. Admission is free. (The exhibit is a historical companion to “Chicago Comics: 1960s to Now,” the survey of contemporary Chicago comics at the Museum of Contemporary Art.)

Visit: chicagoculturalcenter.org

National Museum of Mexican Art

“We the People” by Chaz BojorquezNational Museum of Mexican Art Permanent Collection, gift of Chaz and Christina Bojorquez

When: Ongoing

Where: National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th street

What: After being closed for 15 months, the museum has reopened with a handful of exhibits. “Spotlight on Chaz Bojorquez and Enrique Alferez” features the museum’s newest acquisition, “We the People,” a painting by Bojorquez, and Alferez’s iconic bronze sculpture “La Soldadera.” Plus “Adlateres and the Unexpected Journey: Works by Carmen Chami” features paintings inspired by Mexican Baroque painting and figurative style. Admission is free.

More information: nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org

‘Toward Common Cause’

“Mother and Child,” Njideka Akunyili Crosby (2016). Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro and David Zwirner.(C) Njideka Akunyili Crosby

When: To Nov. 21

Where: National Public Housing Museum, 625 N. Kingsbury, and at the Minnie Riperton Apartments, 4250 S. Princeton

What: The National Public Housing Museum partners with the Chicago Housing Authority to display artwork by MacArthur Fellow Njideka Akunyili Crosby as part of “Toward Common Cause,” a multi-site exhibition organized by the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the MacArthur Fellows Program. Crosby uses acrylic, colored pencil and photo collages to create her distinctive portraits of African American life. “I almost want people to feel like the door is open and they’re walking by a scene into someone else’s life,” she says, “because that really is what I’m doing… mining my life to tell a story that is global but really wanting people to feel like they’re getting a glimpse into my world.” Crosby’s artwork installation is displayed on 70-foot banners on the sides of two buildings.

More information: nphm.org

‘Drawn to Combat: Bill Mauldin & the Art of War’

Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Bill MauldinCopyright the Pritzker Military Museum & Library

When: Through spring 2022

Where: 104 S. Michigan

What: Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Bill Mauldin, who studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and was a cartoonist for the Chicago Sun-Times, is the subject of a retrospective at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library. “Drawn to Combat” covers Mauldin’s career as a wartime cartoonist focusing on soldiers’ experiences and as a political cartoonist. The exhibit draws from more than 5,000 cartoons and objects donated to the museum by the Mauldin family. Tickets: $8, $10, children under 12 free.

More information: pritzkermilitary.org

‘Chicago Comics: 1960s to Now’

Nick Drnaso’s painting for the cover of his graphic novel “Sabrina” in “Chicago Comics.”Provided

When: To Oct. 3

Where: Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago

What: A new exhibit celebrates Chicago’s pivotal role as a national and innovative center for comics and cartooning. With a focus on rediscovering the work of women and BIPOC comic artists, this major exhibition presents the last 60 years of the city’s artful cartooning history, showing how comic art is a democratic medium that allows artists to speak directly to people in relatable ways. Over 40 cartoonists are featured including Lynda Barry, Lilli Carre, Daniel Clowes, Nick Drnaso, Edie Fake, Emil Ferris, Nicole Hollander, Charles Johnson, Kerry James Marshall and Chris Ware. On display are comics, graphic novels, zines, original drawings, dioramas, commissioned films, installations, rare ephemera and books. Admission: $8, $15.

More information: mcachicago.org

‘Vivian Maier: In Color’

Vivian Maier, “Three Highland Park firemen,” Highland Park, August 1964, inkjet print. Gift of Jeffrey Goldstein/(C) The Estate of Vivian Maier

When: To May 8, 2023

Where: Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark

What: Much has been heralded about street photographer Vivian Maier’s black-and-white photographs in exhibits, books and films. Now this multimedia exhibit features 65 color images made during her time as a suburban Chicago nanny from the 1950s to 1970s, many of which have never been seen before. Maier, who died in 2009, was a bit of a character and always had a Roloflex camera around her neck as she walked the streets snapping images of women, children, the old, the poor, the abstract. While her motives remain elusive, her photographs continue to speak volumes. Tickets: $17, $19.

More information: chicagohistory.org

Polish Museum of America

The Paderewki Collection at Polish Museum of America.Courtesy Polish Museum of America

When: Ongoing

Where: 984 N. Milwaukee

What: The museum, since 1935 a repository for a wide variety of materials pertaining to Poland and the Polish-American community, has reopened after being shuttered for more than a year. Among the many permanent exhibits are “Polish Chicago 1850-1939,” “Folk Art Collection” and “The Paderewski Collection,” which documents the life of Polish pianist and composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Tickets: $6-$10.

More information: polishmuseumofamerica.org

The Hartwell Memorial Window

The Hartwell Memorial Window bears a design attributed to Agnes F. Northrop of Tiffany Studios.The Art Institute of Chicago

When: Permanent

Where: Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan

What: A magnificent stained glass window made by Tiffany Studios in 1917 is now on permanent display at the Art Institute. The Hartwell Memorial Window, attributed to Agnes F. Northrop, Tiffany’s leading landscape window designer, was originally commissioned for a church as the gift of Mary L. Hartwell in memory of her husband Frederick W. Hartwell. It consists of 48 different panels, and is a scenic view of Mount Chocorua, a peak in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. The window, located near the museum’s entrance, is one of the most ambitious landscape window projects produced by Tiffany. Museum admission: $14-$25.

More information: artic.edu

McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum

Gears that open the bridge.Friends of the Chicago River

When: Ongoing

Where: 99 Chicago Riverwalk

What: This five-story museum celebrates the Chicago River and its world-famous movable bridges. Visitors explore a historic bridgehouse, watch the massive gears of a moving bridge and learn about the history of the Chicago River. Plus from the top floor, there’s a 360-degree view of the city and river. Find the museum at 99 Chicago Riverwalk. Admission: $5, $6; children 5 and under free.

More information: bridgehousemuseum.org

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