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Arts and Life Top Tp Things todo This Weekend

All's Well That Ends Well
Photograph: Liz Lauren

The best things to do in Chicago this weekend

Find the best things to do in Chicago this weekend with our guide to concerts, exhibitions, festivals and more.

Emma Krupp

Welcome to another weekend in Chicago! In case you need a gentle reminder, Mother'south Twenty-four hour period is on Dominicus—celebrate Mom with the best Mother'due south 24-hour interval brunches in Chicago or take her to ane of the exciting new theater productions playing throughout the urban center correct at present, like Chicago Shapespeare'due south All'due south Well That Ends Well or The Joffrey Ballet'due south Of Mice and Men.Plus, check out a jam-packed "hub day" of the Chicago Humanities Festival on Sabbatum (which features speakers like John Waters and Anita Hill) and swing past one of Chicago's best breweries for a one-year anniversary funfair party. Become ready to embrace the start of May with our listing of the best things to practice in Chicago this weekend.

RECOMMENDED: The best things to do in Chicago right now

Things to do this weekend in Chicago

1. Garfield Park Conservatory Bound Flower Show: Knock Knock

Warm conditions may seem like a afar memory, but the Garfield Park Conservatory's Spring Flower Show ever warms us upwards. Make a reservation to explore this year'south show, "Knock Knock," featuring an assortment of tulips, hydrangeas, daffodils, and hyacinth. Yous'll discover vintage doors from the Rebuilding Exchange hanging throughout the display, along with plenty of knock knock jokes to keep the mood light. The evidence only sticks effectually through Mother's Day weekend, so book your visit before long!

2. Chicago Humanities Festival: Public

This annual festival—which returns in 2022 with a full slate of in-person events—assembles luminaries from the fields of politics, journalism and the arts for a multi-week series of programming across the city, with events ranging from lectures and discussions to screenings and musical performances. This year's fest theme, "Public," explores how people might motion frontward with public and private life afterwards two years of Covid-related isolation.

Non sure which events to hit? Some of the fest's biggest speakers—including Anita Colina, John Waters and Selma Blair—will come to Chicago during two "Festival Days" held on May 7 and May 14, when events will stretch from morning through the evening. You tin see a full schedule of programming on the Chicago Humanities Festival website.

3. Of Mice and Men

The Joffrey Ballet's dancers substitution tutus and tights for overalls and Depression-era gloom in this word-premiere adaptation of John Steinbeck'south Of Mice and Men, with choreography past Cathy Marston and a score from Academy Award-nominated composer Thomas Newman. The double-bill show also includes a performance of George Balanchine's 1934 piece of work Serenade, the iconic choreographer'south starting time ballet developed in America.

4. All'southward Well That Ends Well

Low-born Helen furiously courts the aloof Bertram—a son of a countess—in Shakespeare's blackness one-act, which is being staged for a four-week appointment at Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Courtyard Theater.

five. Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool

Comedian Mike Birbiglia heads to Steppenwolf'south Downstairs Theater for a 4-calendar week run of his show The Old Man and the Pool, a funny and ruminative coming-of-heart-age story. Written and performed by Birbiglia, the show grapples with questions of life, death and growing older (including what happens when those decorative-looking items at the physician's office suddenly get useful).

6. Ravinia Brewing Anniversary Carnival

Swing by Ravinia Brewing's Chicago location for an all-day outdoor party celebrating the taproom'due south one-year anniversary. Along with drink specials and live music from Los Perros Cubanos (who will perform from 4–7pm), you'll find good ol' fashioned carnival fun like magic demonstrations, stilt-walkers, axe throwing and more. Don't exit without visiting the limited edition beer tent, which volition cascade everything from Revolution x Year Beer Barleywine with Cherries to Maplewood Fizzle Drizzle Primal Lime Sour.

vii. "Rirkrit Tiravanija: (who's afraid of reddish, yellow, and green)"

Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija's incisive artwork and culinary installation(who'south afraid of red, xanthous, and green)transforms Wrightwood 659's 2d-floor gallery into a communal dining infinite, where visitors are intermittently served Thai curries while a big-scale landscape depicting Thai political protests is painted on the walls. The interactive exhibit—which comes from the drove of the Smithsonian's Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC—invites visitors to consider the ties betwixt nutrient and politics, and to consider the work alongside their fellow diners while sharing a meal.

8. Spring Wine Tasting

Sip vino and wander among blooming trees at the Morton Arboretum's Jump Wine Tasting, which will feature more than 80 wines for sampling over the course of the evening. Each ticket includes 25 ane-oz pours of vino as well equally a souvenir tasting glass to take domicile—and if you similar something you attempt, yous can place an gild at the Famous Liquors tent.

9. Kentucky Derby Spotter Party

Break out your most fashionable floppy hats and pastels for a Kentucky Derby lookout man political party at Time Out Market Chicago, where you lot'll find enough Mint Julep and Former Fashioned specials to quell your nerves while you root for the fastest equus caballus. Need extra incentive to wear your Derby best? There volition be prizes awarded for "all-time hat" and "best dressed."

10. Seagull

Anton Chekov'southward iconic play—set up over the course of one long weekend in the Russian countryside—is adapted, translated and directed by Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member Yasen Peyankov in this humorous new production, which is headed to the theater'due south recently unveiled in-the-round Ensemble Theater.

11. "Key Change"

Explore the housing crunch through the lens of artists like Gabrielle Garland, Tonika Lewis Johnson and Maymay Jumsai—as well equally organizations such as the Southside Home Pic Project—in this Weinberg/Newton Gallery exhibit, a partnership with the nonprofit Mercy Housing Lakefront. Featured work includes paintings, collage, sculpture, video and large-scale installation, which tell the story of dissentious housing practices while also imagining a more than enriching, secure future for urban living.

12. The Queen's Ball: A Bridgerton Experience

Will you be Her Majesty Queen Charlotte'due south diamond of the season? To discover out, don your best finery and take a fourth dimension machine to the Regency-era London of Shonda Rhimes' imagination at this immersiveBridgerton-themed ball.

Mix and mingle with other members of the ton (curt for "le bon ton," or the well-heeled citizenry of London) while wandering through rooms outfitted to look like the show's regal ballrooms; throughout the night, a string quartet will play music inspired by the series—including classical covers of contemporary songs—to set a properly aristocratic mood. Don't miss special immersive features similar alive trip the light fantastic performances and a Regency-era painting studio, and sip Bridgerton-themed cocktails provided past Tanqueray every bit the evening unfolds. FYI: Attendees must be 21 or older and proof of vaccination is required.

xiii. Move Revolution Dance Coiffure at Frank Lloyd Wright'due south Unity Temple

Watch a dance performance inside a UNESCO Globe Heritage site during this testify at Unity Temple, which brings dancers from the genre-bending Movement Revolution Dance Crew to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed church in Oak Park. Choreographer and dancer Silvita Diaz Brown opens the testify.

xiv. Relentless

TimeLine Theatre Company presents this new work from playwright Tyla Abercrumbie, a stunning drama centered on two sisters in the Black Victorian era who return dwelling to Philadelphia after the death of their mother. As they attempt to settle her estate, they stumble upon their female parent's long-lost diary—revealing a portrait of a adult female they never knew—that threatens to upend their lives.

15. Energy Revolution

The Chicago Compages Center's largest-ever exhibition explores how cities can rise to meet the claiming of climatic change by utilizing creative, eco-friendly approaches to design and the built environment. Visitors can learn about how architects, engineers and urban planners are working on technologies like kinetic free energy capture and high-performance facades to create internet-zip carbon buildings, or how public transportation and more efficient appliances can aid work toward a greener future on an individual scale,giving you a hazard to run across how you tin can contribute to the goal of a carbon-gratuitous world.

16. Art on theMART

Projecting a 25-story-tall video installation on the side of the Trade Mart, Fine art on theMart's spring program focuses on two climate modify-themed projections presented in partnership with the Shedd Aquarium. The commencement, Floe, was created past Chicago choreographer Carrie Hanson (in collaboration with her dance company, The Seldoms) and spotlights climate change through melting ice, farthermost weather and the human trunk, set to soundscapes of icebergs, water and pelting. The 2nd, Choral, is past the collaborative localStyle and depicts the human affect on coral ecosystems.

Art on theMART's array of 34 digital projectors display the 30-minute program at 8:30 and 9pm every evening. The evidence is best viewed from the section of the Chicago Riverwalk betwixt Wells Street and Franklin Street.

17. Lincoln Park Conservatory Spring Flower Show: Pillars of Bound

Ever idea nigh trying to establish a pocket-sized-calibration garden on your balustrade? Become some inspiration for planting vertically at Lincoln Park Conservatory's spring flower show "Pillars of Spring," which covers more than a dozen freestanding pillars with flowers like geraniums, nemesias, snapdragons, fuschias and more than. Tickets must be reserved in advance and are available via Eventbrite.

xviii. "Loving Repeating: New Work past Miller & Shellabarger"

Married artists Dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger explore relationships, intimacy, queerness and loneliness during the Covid-19 pandemic in this immersive exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center. Visitors can see three new works in the Art Center's gallery infinite—including a massive mural and a participatory installation that invites people to make their own paper cranes—and attend a number of complimentary public programs, from a Pride-themed operation to a conversation with creative person couples.

xix. Moulin Rouge! The Musical

The Tony Award-winning musical Moulin Rouge—an adaptation of Baz Luhrmann's 2001 jukebox movie-musical of the same name—brings the story of star-crossed lovers Satine (Courtney Reed) and Christian (Conor Ryan) to Chicago for a two-month stint at the James Thousand. Nederlander Theater.

xx. Vi

Join all six of Rex Henry 8's wives—Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr—at CIBC Theatre as they button their murderous, conniving hubby bated and take back the mic, sharing and singing their own stories in this history lesson turned pop-concert spectacular imported from the U.K.

21. "Immersive Frida Kahlo"

Ready for the adjacent stage of immersive art in Chicago? Produced by the aforementioned team that created "Immersive Van Gogh" and hosted at the Germania Order Building in Old Town, "Immersive Frida Kahlo" showcases blithe video projections of some of the artist'due south most iconic paintings, including works like "The Two Fridas" and "The Wounded Deer," alongside a selection of drawings, iconography and photographs of the creative person at diverse stages of her life. Expect something of a history lesson aslope the images: The exhibition jumps through the eras of the Kahlo's work in an attempt to illuminate themes from the artist's life, from her feminism to her involvement in the Mexicanidad movement.

22. "Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep"

The Field Museum's latest exhibition takes you into the depth of prehistoric seas, where gigantic underwater creatures made their dwelling more than than 200 1000000 years agone. Visitors will learn how these Jurassic giants evolved into familiar marine animals, like sea snakes, turtles, dolphins and whales. The interactive exhibition include real fossils and CGI projections of ancient creatures like the mosasaur—also known every bit the T.rex of the sea.

23. Crossings: Mapping American Journeys

Explore the four historic routes across the U.S. as depicted through maps, guidebooks, travelogues, postcards and other travel ephemera from the Newberry Library'south collection in this free exhibition, which examines the history of mobility from an intersectional lens.

24. "The Art of the Brick"

Want to see recreations of Van Gogh'due south "Starry Night," Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" and Michaelangelo'southward "David"  constructed with Lego bricks? The Museum of Science and Industry'due south latest exhibition collects the piece of work of Nathan Sawaya, a former lawyer who turned his passion for tiny plastic bricks into contemporary art. "The Art of the Brick" include more than than 100 of his creations, include a twenty-pes-long T.king skeleton and a life-sized sculpture of a man pulling his chest apart. The traveling show is the outset major museum exhibition to use Lego bricks as its sole medium—and a testiment to the inventiveness that can be achieved with hundreds of thousands of tiny pieces of plastic.

This Museum of Science and Manufacture exhibit rquires a seperate ticket for entry, in add-on to regular museum admission.

25. Lifeway Kefir Immersive Yoga

Grab a mat and take a 40-minute yoga class inside of the "Immersive Frida Kahlo" feel, moving your body in sync with the music, lights and moving images inside the loftier-tech show. The classes are led past a certified yoga instructor and take place early in the morning (before the exhibit opens to the public) on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the month.

26. 360 Sky Yoga

Looking for a Sunday morn yoga form with a killer view? 360 Sky Yoga allows you to get on your mat while enjoying the sights from the 360 CHICAGO ascertainment deck on the 94th floor of 875 N Michigan Avenue (formerly the John Hancock Centre). Instructor Britta Eumann leads two one-hour sessions every Sunday—yous but demand to bring your own mat and arrived properly dressed. Each grade includes a general admission ticket to 360 CHICAGO, and so you can stick around and snap some photos afterward you're done striking poses on the mat.

27. Bye Bye Liver: Chicago's Longest Running Drinking Play!

Adieu Bye Liver combines two robust Chicago traditions: comedy and heavy drinking. The prove opened a decade ago for a three-week run, then kept getting extended. A bandage of four to six performers portray characters at the fictional "Franks Bar," telling stories that explore the city's robust drinking civilization. Each show incorporates interactive audience drinking games, allowing you to sip a cocktail or beer while taking cues from the cast. And if you're up for a nightcap afterwards the performance, you can stick effectually for the official after party and mingle with the bandage.

28. Art and Race Matters: The Career of Robert Colescott

The Chicago Cultural Middle hosts the offset comprehensive retrospective of Robert Colescott, a 20th century American painter whose incisive, big-calibration piece of work took aim at racial inequities in America—among other social ills—with humor and wit. The exhibition examines Colescott's work throughout the decades, moving through the artist's stylistic evolutions from riffs on the Bay Expanse Figuration of the '50s and '60s to his graphic style of the '70s and beyond, also as his role in bolstering Black representation in art.

29. Teatro ZinZanni

Enjoy dinner and show on the 14th floor of the Cambria Hotel at Teatro ZinZanni, a 2.5-60 minutes feel that combines circus acts, comedy, cabaret and a repast curated past Debbie Sharpe—the Goddess of The Goddess and Grocer. The show takes identify in an ornate, round theater (designed to resemble a Belgian mirror tent) where the audience surrounds the stage. Guests dig into a four course meal while watching every bit comedians, aerialists, acrobats, singers and dancers perform amazing feats and catchy tunes. It'south somewhere betwixt Cirque du Soleil and a traditional cabaret show, with eating house-quality refreshments.

Performances take place every evening, Wednesday through Sat, with a special brunch matinee at noon on Sundays. You tin can find menus, wine and cocktail lists on the Teatro ZinZanni website.

30. Feed Your Soul Jazz Brunch

Every Sunday from 11am to 3pm, Time Out Market Chicago's chefs offer a variety of delicious brunch dishes, from Hangover Ramen with shrimp and smoked pork to a stack of Buttermilk Pancakes layered with whipped mascarpone. Order every bit much every bit you want, grab a mimosa pitcher from the bar and stick effectually from 1 to 3pm for a set of tunes from the Chicago Soul Jazz Collective.

31. Newport Peek-Easy: Burlesque, Elevate, Variety and More!

Settle in for an evening of caricatural performers, belly dancers, drag artists and diverseness entertainers during this weekly prove at Newport Theater. The hour-long testify features speciality cocktails and intimate seating arrangements, making this experience like a hole-and-corner speakeasy experience. Bring some singles so that you tin tip performers throughout the dark!

32. "Wild Color"

Explore the colors of the natural world in the Field Museum'due south latest exhibition, which examines the meaning and office of some of the brightest hues in the world. "Wild Color" explores how plants and animals use color to ward off predators or attract maters, and how the color of gems and minerals tin offer clues about their formation. The 7,000-foursquare-foot exhibition is filled with specimens from the Field Museum's extensive drove, including a platypus that fluoresces under UV calorie-free and birds in every colour (including "super black").

33. "Rise Upwards: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement"

Tracing the gimmicky gay rights movement dorsum to the June 1969 police raid of the Stonewall Inn in New York City, the Illinois Holocaust Museum's hosts an exhibtion that documents a continuing struggle for equality. On loan from the Newseum, "Rise Upwardly: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Move," collects more 85 artifacts, such as posters from Harvey Milk'south campaign for public office in San Francisco and the gavel Nancy Pelosi used to denote the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." Visitors will learn about the history of the LGBTQ community through pivitol moments in history and in pop civilization.

34. The Infinite Wrench

For more than 30-years, the Neo-Futurists have been delighting belatedly-night crowds with performances that pack 30 miniature plays into a 60-infinitesimal show. Returning to in-person programming (attendees must be vaccinated and masked) after more than a year spent in the virtual realm, the company's signature show is more than unpredictable than ever, with a handful of compact new plays premiering every calendar week. Within the span of 10 minutes, y'all may exist treated to a poignant monologue about everyday life or an irreverent diatribe delivered past a pantsless member of the cast—all inspired past the experiences of the performers on stage. E'er irresolute and evolving, information technology's the rare show that truly offers something different everytime y'all show up to see it.

35. The Lincoln Lodge

Now housed in the space on Milwaukee Artery in Logan Square, the country'south longest countinuously running independent comedy showcase continues every Friday and Saturday night. Boasting alumni like Cameron Esposito, Kumail Nanjiani and Hanibal Buress, this stand-up testify will introduce you to fresh new faces that may cease up starring in Marvel movies or condign podcast mainstays. Snag an affordable ticket, avoid the ii-drink minimum and ready to laugh your ass off.

36. The Paper Machete

This weekly "alive magazine" is a cavalcade of civilisation, politics and wit featuring journalists, actors, comedians and musicians offering idiosyncratic reports on the news of the mean solar day. Caput to Uptown'south iconic Dark-green Mill for drinks, hot takes and laughs; the longstanding Sat afternoon edition tends to run nigh ii and a half hours.

37. "Bani Abidi: The Man Who Talked Until He Disappeared"

The Museum of Gimmicky Art Chicago presents a survey that encapsulates 2 decades of work by Pakistani artist Bani Abidi, a former student at the School of the Fine art Institute of Chicago. Known for her video, photography and sound works, Abidi satirizes displays of power and nationalism as she explores the geopolitical relationship between Bharat and Pakistan every bit well as the historical power struggles of South Asia. The exhibit takes its proper noun from Abidi's watercolor series "The Man Who Talked Until He Disappeared," which depicts writers, political leaders and bloggers from Islamic republic of pakistan that take disappeared over the by decade.

38. "Human+Nature"

See five towering sculptures by South African artist Daniel Popper at the Morton Arboretum'due south new outdoor exhibition, which spreads the 15- to 26-human foot-tall works throughout the natural surface area. Made of drinking glass-reinforced physical, wood, fiberglass and steel, the ane-of-a-kind pieces in "Human+Nature" depict human figures that evoke the natural landscape they're set amidst, including a pair of 36-foot-long hands reaching out from a grove of oak trees and a maternal figure that springs up amid magnolia trees.

Access to "Man+Nature" is included as role of timed-entry admission to the Morton Arboretum, and there'south a map that volition allow you to easily plan your visit and spot all five of the sculptures along the mode.

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Source: https://www.timeout.com/chicago/things-to-do/best-things-to-do-this-weekend-in-chicago