Friday 3/19 – Thursday 3/25
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Waiting to go onstage at last year’s PAC/edge Performance Festival, actor and former Neo-Futurist Connor Kalista read a lot of pulp detective novels. The noir world is now one of the elements in The Usual Haunts, the interactive installation that’s his contribution to this year’s festival. A series of short audio pieces that you listen to on headphones, the work makes bits of the environment–such as the stairs at the Athenaeum Theatre, where the fest’s held–the starting points for an unusual walking tour led by unreliable narrators. “The idea is to activate the listener’s mind, collide the fictional sound with their actual experience of walking around the space,” says Kalista. He’ll have some listening equipment available, but visitors are encouraged to bring their own tape, CD, or MP3 players. The tours will be available in the main lobby of the theater from 7 to 10 PM tonight and run Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through April 9; it’s free. For more information on the festival, which continues through April 18 at 2936 N. Southport, call 773-722-5463 or see the sidebar in Theater.
20 SATURDAY In their quest to make it to the top, contestants on the reality show The Apprentice must hawk lemonade, have their failures exposed to millions of viewers, and get fired by Donald Trump as he does that weird thing with his hand. One of them should really take the opportunity to ask the Donald what the hell is going on with his hair. Today prospective CEOs can get a shot at fame and fortune at an open casting call for the second season of the show. Wristbands will be distributed at 9 AM (but you should probably get there much earlier to get in line) and the interviews will start at 10 AM at the NBC 5 offices in NBC Tower, 454 N. Columbus. It’s free. You can download an application at www.nbc.com/nbc/theapprentice.
23 TUESDAY The “international” in the Chicago Cultural Center’s International Dinner and a Movie tonight is the dinner, provided by Bridgeview’s Polo Cafe and Catering: wok-cooked turkey with a hoisin-plum sauce, pasta primavera, and creme brulee au chocolat. The featured film is Home Movie (2001), directed by Chris Smith, one of the brains behind the 1999 indie hit American Movie. Another documentary, it examines five weird homes and the people who live in them, including a couple who’ve shacked up in a missile silo and an inventor who’s outfitted his home with all manner of automated devices. Dinner is $22; the film, to be introduced by Onion movie critic Keith Phipps, is free, but reservations are recommended. It starts at 7 (the film’s at 8) at the Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington. Call 312-744-6630 for info, 312-742-8497 for tickets.
