Steppenwolf’s new 1700 Theatre works perfectly for an early remount of this past winter’s world premiere of Byhalia, Mississippi, a critically acclaimed coproduction from the New Colony and Definition Theatre Company. It has the same black-box intimacy as the opening venue, Wicker Park’s Den Theatre, with the potential of exposing a new audience to actor-playwright Evan Linder’s multilayered southern drama, directed by Definition’s Tyrone Phillips. In a moment rife with shame and judgment from those she loves most, Laurel nevertheless finds strength thanks to a healthy mix of self-reflection and just not giving a damn....

Four years after its golden anniversary, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians asserts a contemporary presence that extends its legacy. The organization first convened on Chicago’s south side as a collective, community-rooted effort to create possibilities for African-American musicians of all ages and experience levels to present their own music. In 2018 the AACM Great Black Music Ensemble—a variably sized group whose repertoire includes new work as well as pieces by AACM members— played monthly concerts at the Stony Island Arts Bank with guests such as Makaya McCraven, Marvin Tate, and Ben LaMar Gay....

Julie Smith/AP Sorry, Rush (and other Rush). Each generation alive today is tempted to think of itself as less ignorant than its successors—whose sources of information seem new, strange, and unreliable. For instance, a new Pew Research Center study shows that 60 percent of baby boomers, when asked for their sources of news about politics and government, listed local TV news; but only 46 percent of Gen Xers did the same and 37 percent of millennials....

This spring Berlin-based British bassist Hayden Prosser released his debut, a quartet album called Tether (Whirlwind), and its aesthetic is unmistakably European: though the record is modern jazz played on a high level, it dispenses with the tried-and-true “theme and string of solos” structure. Prosser’s compositions develop elegantly, but rarely in straight lines—instead they flow through the sort of amorphous forms that thrive in European jazz these days. One member or another might sideswipe a moody melodic passage with a new idea, creating a musical interrogation that reroutes the whole band....

If you’re not an architect, or some other kind of construction savant, but are planning to see the Chicago Architecture Biennial, here’s some advice: grab one of the several daily free tours. In spite of the fact that CAB now has a half-dozen satellite shows in various neighborhoods, the main exhibition, at the Cultural Center, is massive, featuring projects by more than 140 international architectural firms and artists. It’s not totally random, however....

At 5 PM Saturday, March 21, Governor J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 Executive Order No. 8, aka the Stay at Home order, took effect. Here’s a daily-ish journal of how Reader staff, our friends, family—and our pets—are spending our time. All the John Prine The Constant: A History of Getting Things Wrong (podcast by Chicago writer Mark Chrisler) Birds on the telephone line outside the window What we’re watching:

Do you remember laughter? Most days—especially the days when I log on to Twitter—levity just isn’t a thing. Need a lift? Let’s-uh goooooo! v Through 8/4: Fri-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 2:30 PM, Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark, otherworldtheatre.org , free.

This world premiere musical by June Finfer (book and lyrics) and Elizabeth Doyle (music and lyrics) recounts the behind-the-scenes drama in the creation of Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, arguably the most important cultural event in America in the decade leading up to the dawn of the 20th century. Presented by Finfer’s company Lost and Found Productions, the show focuses on Daniel Burnham, who supervised the building of the famed “White City” in Jackson Park....

Shot in only eight days and loaded with pulpy narrative turns, Tyler Perry’s new feature Acrimony (which is currently playing in general release) feels like a 1940s B thriller blown up to contemporary A movie proportions. I enjoyed the film, albeit with significant reservations. Acrimony is devoid of subtlety; the clodhopper dialogue tells viewers what to think at every turn, just as the barebones imagery instructs viewers exactly where to look....

The concert movie Urgh! A Music War (1982), which Chicago Film Society will screen on Monday at Music Box, is an invaluable document of late punk, post-punk, and new wave music, with live performances by XTC, Devo, Gang of Four, Oingo Boingo, Magazine, Gary Numan, Klaus Nomi, the Cramps, the Fleshtones, the Go-Go’s, the Dead Kennedys, the Police, and more. Here are five additional films that showcase the 80s’ gritty, original, sometimes experimental, and always vibrant new sounds....

TV Land Oh, to be younger again. Pop culture has a terrible habit of pitting older women against younger women (and vice versa, but to a much lesser extent). I know this because I’ve watched a lot of Lifetime movies, and as much as they’ve developed a reputation for engendering mistrust of men, a younger woman is the source of a mature woman’s misery just about as often. Assuming you’ve emerged from your midtwenties, you’ll recall that being 26 has its pros and cons....

Kim Vavrick Seven of the eight contestants in the Beer and Metal blind tasting On Sunday, May 24, the last day of Chicago Craft Beer Week (“Chicago Craft Beer Eleven Days” doesn’t appear to be catching on), Thalia Hall comes down to earth with Crap Beer Day, a celebration of the Kamino clone troopers of the beer world—disposable, mass-produced, useful mostly in large quantities, and a source of widespread regret....

As one of the most popular methods for taking CBD, gummies have become the go-to for the old and young, experienced and newcomer. As it’s an easy way to take CBD, a lot of entrepreneurs have been looking at the gummy market with wide eyes, deciding that it’s the perfect opportunity to cash in on “the green rush.” With the massive amount of brands trying to enter the CBD gummy market, it can be overwhelming to study which brands are the best....

Avengers: Age of Ultron In this week’s issue Ben Sachs reviews Hyena, a new cop thriller from the UK, and we’ve got a preview of the Chicago Film Critics Festival at Music Box, with new work by Bobcat Goldthwait, Andrew Bujalski, Francois Ozon, BIll Plympton, Tomm Moore, Joe Swanberg, Kris Swanberg, and many more. And check out our new reviews of: The Age of Adaline, starring Blake Lively as a woman who hasn’t aged since the late 1920s; Avengers: Age of Ultron, the latest money machine from Marvel Studios; Blind, a documentary by Frederick Wiseman about the Alabama School for the Blind; In Country, a documentary about weekend warriors reenacting key battles of the Vietnam war; The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, a documentary about the Japanese animation outfit Studio Ghibli, screening at Gene Siskel Film Center as part of a Ghibli retrospective; Material World, a program of offbeat short videos by Kaycee Conaway and Molly Hewitt; Scraps in Black and White, collecting some of the earliest images of people of color from the Library of Congress paper print collection; and Tangerines, a tense chamber drama about an old man nursing two bitter enemies during the Georgian civil war of the early 90s....

Chicago hosts one of the world’s most vibrant improvisational scenes, so it’s not automatically remarkable when three of the city’s musicians get together to create in a live setting. But this combination stands out because of the unusual affiliations each member brings to this first-time encounter. In addition to playing low-key rock music with Zelienople and abstracted folk themes with Scott Tuma, percussionist Mike Weis performs ambient soundscapes with Mirror of Nature and solo material influenced by forms of Korean rituals....

“If students are offended or triggered by statements made by Donald Trump or his campaign, we would recommend you to use any of our vast support networks,” Mercedez Jones, president of the Undergraduate Student Government at University of Illinois at Chicago, said this morning in an e-mail to the school’s students, faculty, and staff. “If you are put into a dangerous or life-threatening situation we have listed numbers you may call in order to best assist you....

A note from the editors about comics serials

Second City and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago first joined forces in October 2014 for the collaborative performance The Art of Falling, in which the comedians became dancers and the dancers became comedians. The visually stunning, seemingly effortless, and often hilarious show ran for only four days, but it was so well received that it hit the road for an LA run in November 2015. Now The Art of Falling is back in Chicago at the Harris Theater for a longer engagement....

If Mayor Lightfoot wants to end the teachers’ strike, I know where she can find the money to settle the union’s demands about class size and hiring nurses, librarians, and counselors. Over the years, I’ve called the TIF slush fund everything from a honey pot to the banana stand, a nod to a line from Arrested Development, one of my favorite sitcoms. My guess is there’s a lot more mayonnaise in that TIF jar....

The Chicago Blues Festival, like many such festivals these days, often has a valedictory feel—and this year’s edition is no exception. Two sets honor artists who’ve died or retired (Otis Clay, who was felled by a heart attack in January, and Otis Rush, who suffered a stroke in 2004), and the headliners at Petrillo skew heavily toward well-seasoned veterans. The other bookings remain relatively conservative as well: guitar-heavy boogie-shuffle blues and old-school soul dominate....