Jaded Jonny is excited. The American Tango Institute is offering instruction in same-sex tango dancing! Tango G, Same Gender Tango, is a program of six one-hour classes in tango fundamentals and basics, every Wednesday night at 6:15 p.m., beginning tonight ( June 7 ) and again on July 26. The fee is $90 for six weeks. Classes are at the American Tango Institute, 325 N. Hoyne. Call Babette Klein at 312-771-1226 or Netza Roldan at 312-287-8406.
Playwright Nicholas Patricca and Bailiwick Repertory have returned in triumph from the 3rd International Dublin Gay Theater Festival, where they performed their revival of Patricca's Oh Holy Allen Ginsberg, Oh Holy-Shit-Sweet-Jesus-Tantric-Buddha-Dharma-Road. Patricca was honored with the Festival's Oscar Wilde Award for Outstanding Achievement in New Writing for the Theater, a prize name almost as long as the title of Nick's play. 'We definitely impressed Dublin with the quality of work from Chicago,' Patricca e-mailed us from Ireland, thanking director David Zak 'and the excellent acting of the cast.'
Eric Reda, a young Chicago composer with great enthusiasm and a winning smile, will have a portion of his new opera-oratorio, Reagan's Children, performed June 12 by Chicago Opera Vanguard, in coordination with the Around the Coyote Gallery, 1935 1/2 W. North Avenue. The casual event at the gallery begins with wine at 7:30 p.m., followed by a performance of the work's 30-minute middle section in a reduced orchestration. Proceeds from this benefit performance will go towards offsetting the cost of a full production in the 2006 Around the Coyote Festival, Sept. 8-10.
Reda, a former marketing director for About Face Theatre, says his inspiration for Reagan's Children: An Opera-Oratorio, was former Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder's comment that Ronald Reagan was 'everybody's grandfather.' Reda's work is a meditation on death, family and memory as examined through the lens of generation. Says Reda, 'Regardless of one's political leanings, it's hard to escape the cult of personality surrounding late President Ronald Reagan. I cannot think of a better catalyst for examining the complexities of family dynamics and the questions that we are all left with after the death of a father.'
Go for dinner and stay for song. Actor and celebrated chanteuse Suzanne Petri, with Bob Moreen at the piano, offers Songs in the Key of Diva: European and American Cabaret on June 17 at Cyrano's Bistrot, the swank little supper club at 546 N. Wells. There will be two sets, at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., and the music charge is a modest $10. Reservations are advised; call 312-467-0546. Petri and Moreen will appear at Cyrano's July 8 and August 5, too.
Rivendell Theatre Ensemble launches Fresh Produce, A Celebration of New Plays by Women, at Victory Gardens, 2257 N. Lincoln, this month. Rivendell expects it to become an annual event. For the inaugural, Fresh Produce presents staged readings of three new plays. The first, scheduled for June 11 at 7 p.m., is Emmett, Down in My Heart by Ilesa Duncan; then, there's the June 17 reading of Catching Flight by Lila Rose Kaplan, set for 3 p.m.; and, finally, The Walls by Lisa Dillman, scheduled for June 21 at 7 p.m. Each reading includes a reception. For $25 ( a suggested donation ) , you get all three readings and receptions. Rivendell Theatre artistic director Tara Mallen observes that it was a similar program, the Women at the Door series of the now-defunct Famous Door Theatre Company that inspired the formation of Rivendell in 2004. Call 773-472-1160.
It's remarkable, but Jonny is old enough to remember a world in which the Pope always was Italian, Berlin still had The Wall and there was no Late Nite Catechism. How many of you, dear readers, have the courage to make a similar confession? Producer Vicki Quade informs us that Late Nite Catechism, the little show that could, begins its 14th year on June 8, and that Quade's sequel, Put the Nuns in Charge, begins its second year ( with Jonny's work-out buddy Kathleen Puls Andrade starring as the Nun with No Name ) . Both shows are at the Royal George Theater. Jonny offers congratulations to Ms. Quade and to Late Nite Catechism co-creator Maripat Donovan.
Pride Month offers several performance events specific to the GLBT community, among the first of which is Working Stiffs 5. No, it's not about male porn stars. It celebrates GLBTs in the workplace and features the humorous, musical and dramatic work of 17 performers and writers. Working Stiffs 5 will be presented June 11 at 2 p.m. and June 12 at 7 p.m. at the Bailiwick Studio; 773-883-1090; $10.
