Joel Hall benefit
It's all about dancing, Friday, April 6, when all of Chicago is invited to celebrate the 52nd birthday of renowned Chicago choreographer and dancer, Joel Hall. DJ Lamont spins at the event, which will be at E2, 2347 S. Michigan Ave.
The Joel Hall Dancers are one of the most thriving multi-cultural and multi-ethnic professional dance companies in Chicago and Joel himself is an inductee into Chicago's Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. Since 1974, the Joel Hall Dancers have been entertaining audiences worldwide with their unique styles of jazz under the direction of the charismatic Joel Hall. .
VIP Tickets are $25 per person and include the VIP Champagne Toast and Birthday Cake from 10 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. plus a night of dancing until 4 a.m. Regular admission begins at 10:30 m when doors open and tickets are $15 each and can be purchased at the door the night of the event. 100% of the door proceeds will benefit the Joel Hall Dancers.
Call ( 773 ) 293-0900 or stop by at 1511 W. Berwyn Avenue in Chicago; or visit www.joelhall.org .
Auditions this weekend
Auditions are being held for a short film March 17, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Room #914 Columbia College, 600 S. Michigan. Call ( 312 ) 455-8035. Looking for African American males and females between ages 30-80s, and white females and males between 60-80.
Claudia Allen
play opening
Julie Harris, one of America's greatest stage actresses, will make a much-anticipated return to Chicago to continue her collaboration with lesbian playwright Claudia Allen, starring in Victory Gardens Theater's world premiere of Fossils, a new play directed by Sandy Shinner. Previews begin May 11. Fossils is scheduled to run through June 17. Victory Gardens is located at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. Call the Victory Gardens, ( 773 ) 871-3000.
Harris, who is currently touring the U.S. in The Belle of Amherst, first appeared at Victory Gardens in 1998 opposite Mike Nussbaum in the world premiere of Claudia Allen's Winter, the most successful production in Victory Gardens 27-year history.
In Allen's touching and funny new play Fossils, Harris will nourish her love for new work by creating the part of Carrie, a spry, retired private schoolteacher resigned to a vacation alone at a quiet bed and breakfast on the shores of Lake Michigan. On her first day, Carrie meets Abigail, a retired college professor with a somewhat more rigid outlook on life. Both begin their stays resigned to separate vacations, but with a big porch to share, the Northern Lights ablaze, and miles of shoreline to explore, Carrie and Abigail open up about their lives and past loves with high spirits, schoolgirl pranks, passionate exchanges, and surprising candor.
Claudia Allen was named Best Playwright in Chicago by Chicago Magazine in 1999, and received a Trailblazer Award from Bailiwick Rep in 2000. She had two hits last season: Cahoots starring Sharon Gless at Victory Gardens, and Xena Live! for About Face. She is a two-time Jeff Award-winner for Victory Gardens' premieres of The Long Awaited and Still Waters. Her other plays include Hannah Free, Deed of Trust and The Gays of Our Lives. She is a Victory Gardens Playwrights Ensemble member, and teaches playwriting at the University of Chicago, Lake Forest College and the Victory Gardens Training Center. Her play anthology She Always Liked the Girls Best was a finalist for an American Library Association Award and a Lammie.
Oak Park gays to hold candidates forum
The Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association will hold a candidates forum later this month in preparation for the April 3 election.
The event offers an opportunity for OPALGA members and supporters to ask the candidates questions about issues that concern them.
Open lesbian Oak Park Trustee is running for Village President.
The event is 7-9 p.m., Thursday, March 22 at Oak Park/River Forest High School, 3rd floor lecture room, 201 N. Scoville Ave. in Oak Park.
Candidates for the following positions will participate in the question-and-answer session: village president; clerk; board of trustees; District 97 School Board; library and park boards. Candidates for the District 200 School Board are uncontested and have been invited to for a brief introduction.
Call ( 708 ) 848-0273.
Young anti-Chief Illiniwek activist called gay by classmates
A Native American child at the center of the controversy over the University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign's sports symbol, Chief Illiniwek, endured a series of taunts from his classmates in Champaign, including being called gay, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Wayne Crue, 13, whose parents are leading anti-Chief activists, is also an outspoken critic of the symbol. In homage to his heritage, he wears his hair in long braids, leading his classmates to call him "gay boy" and "Barbie," his mother said.
After four years of enduring the taunts, Wayne has left his parents to live at the Leech Lake Reservation in Minnesota.
Taylor and Hart subject of slideshow
Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Assoc. presents Valerie Taylor and Pearl Hart: A Love Story?, a slide-illustrated lecture presented by WCT's own Marie Kuda on the lives of novelist Valerie Taylor ( 1913-1997 ) , who was a 50-year-old grandmother when she found the passion of her life, civil-rights attorney Pearl Hart ( 1890-1975 ) . At 3 p.m., Sunday, March 18, Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake, Oak Park, ( 708 ) 848-0273.
