Frames of Reference

Our top five picks for things to do this week: Chicago comics go highbrow… homegirl Nora Dunn improvises … Neil LaBute chews the fat … Gary Griffin does Shakespeare … a found photographer comes to light … plus, what Bloodshot Records co-owner Nan Warshaw is doing this weekend

Oh, the Places Yule Go!

Our top five picks for things to do this week: Get a breath of bracing air at the Arb . . . take Dad for a beer at the Hideout . . . compare Maxwell Street Torahs and tacos . . . plus, what the director of the Gene Siskel Film Center is doing this weekend

Because Chicago theatres have nurtured America's edgiest playwrights for decades

Marisa Wegrzyn and Tracy Letts launched their careers a generation apart, but they’ve got a city in common. We asked Wegrzyn, 29, a founding member of Theatre Seven, and Letts, 45, a Steppenwolf ensemble member who appears in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in December, about their adamant allegiance to making Chicago their artistic home. … Read more