A group of artists and arts supporters is forming a political action committee called Greater Citizens for the Arts to endorse candidates on the basis of their stands regarding arts issues and funding.
About 150 supporters met at a rally to launch a membership drive Monday at Club Lower Links, 954 W. Newport Ave. The group elected three officers and made tentative plans for follow-up meetings on the South Side this summer and at the Dance Center of Columbia College in the fall.
”This organization comes out of the fight to reauthorize the National Endowment for the Arts,” says Tom Tresser, president of the new group, referring to the battle over NEA funding last year. ”We found that politicians across the country were hostile to the arts and freedom of expression issues.
”On Monday, we also registered 18 people to vote,” he adds. ”A lot of our work involves educating our own community and getting them to vote.”
The rally was organized to be both a political meeting and an entertainment event. Comedian Aaron Freeman, poets David Hernandez and Michael Warr, and a feminist rap group performed.
The group is actively campaigning for more members.
– The winners of the 1991 Chicago Young Playwrights Festival are Lane Technical High School`s Luis Perez and his ”Absolution,” about a
confrontation between a father and son in a Hispanic family; St. Ignatius High School`s Clarence Lang and ”The Chevy Odyssey,” about the relationship between a boy and his car; Senn High School`s Shanton Russell and ”Black Ink on Black Paper,” about a gay black man coming out and explaining it to his younger brother; and the Sullivan House West community group`s collaborative
”Empty Spaces,” about a trip down memory lane in an underpriviledged urban community.
The four winning plays will be mounted in a production to run June 20 to July 7 at Pegasus Players, in the O`Rourke Performing Arts Center on the Truman College campus, 1145 W. Wilson Ave. For tickets: 312-271-2638.
– Frank Galati will stage Bertolt Brecht`s classic ”The Good Person of Setzuan” as the fourth offering next season at the Goodman Theatre, Columbus Drive and Monroe Street.
The `91-92 lineup now consists of David Feldshuh`s ”Miss Evers` Boys”
Sept. 13 to Oct. 19; Shakespeare`s ”Twelfth Night” Jan. 10 to Feb. 15, 1992; ”Good Person” April 24 to May 30; and ”Riverview: A Melodrama with Music,” June 12 to July 19. A final selection to run March 6 to April 11 will be announced later. For tickets: 312-443-3800.
– Casting has been completed for ”Earthly Possessions,” Frank Galati`s adaptation of Anne Tyler`s novel, to run Aug. 4 to Sept. 8 at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St.
The players are Joan Allen, Kevin Anderson, Molly Regan, Rondi Reed and Alan Wilder. Galati directs. For tickets: 312-335-1650.
– ”God`s Trying to Tell You Something,” a gospel musical spanning the slave era to the present, written by Delilah Williams, with musical direction by Walter Hawkins, will play June 4 to 9 at the New Regal Theater, 1645 E. 79th St.
Douglas Miller and Daz Patterson star. For tickets: 312-559-1212.
– ”Lend Me a Tenor” at the Royal-George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted St., and ”Prelude to a Kiss” at the Wellington Theatre, 750 W. Wellington Ave., have been extended through July 14. For ”Tenor” tickets call 312-988-9000 and for ”Prelude,” 312-975-7171.
– Chicago playwright Rick Cleveland`s ”Home Grown” has been selected as one of the plays to be staged this summer at the Eugene O`Neill Playwrights Conference in Connecticut.
– Daniel Oreskes has left ”The Caucasian Chalk Circle” at Court Theatre for a role in ”Othello” at the New York Shakespeare Festival. In a slight twist, actress Peggy Roeder will take over his key part of the crafty judge Azdak in the Brecht drama at Court, 5535 S. Ellis Ave.
In other news, a group called Prologue Theatre Productions will mount a summer offering at Court, the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical ”Evita,” June 21 to July 14. For tickets for both shows: 312-753-4472.
– Cloud 42 will present ”Degenerate Art,” a play by Tom Jacobson about Expressionist painter Emil Nolde, whose work was censored by the Nazis, June 23 to Aug. 4 at the Theatre Building, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. For tickets:
312-327-5252.
The drama is being presented in conjunction with the Art Institute of Chicago`s exhibit this summer of ”Degenerate Art: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany.”
