Forest Park salutes veterans with a parade

Family Fun: Enjoy a parade in Forest Park, dive into summer reading in Oak Park and River Forest, and take family classes in Elmwood Park.

Frequently hysterical ‘Hysteria’

HYSTERIA ★ ★ ★ 1/2 The Victorian era is justly famous for many fine developments: railroads, neo-gothic architecture, universal suffrage, the rise of the middle class and inventions such as photography, the phonograph and the telephone. Stuffiness, too. The Victorians developed stiff, stuffy propriety to …

Diversions: 4 picks for the coming week

Looking for fun, fancy or off-the-beaten-path options for the coming week? We present four, for your consideration.

Symposium highlights women in the blues

The Supremes made singing look easy and Little Walter made the blues sound so good. So, little did Deitra Farr  know while watching the The  Supremes on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and listening to her  dad’s Little Walter records as a child growing up in …

Artist explores many dimensions of fabric

Jeanette Durand has always been fascinated by fabrics. “I’m a real tactile person,” explained the Oak Park artist. “I like constructing with fabric in a two-dimensional as well as a three-dimensional way. There’s a lot of possibilities in patterns.” Fifteen framed textile collages by Durand …

Oak Park Art League show spotlights human figure

“Body Language,” the current show at the Oak Park Art League, 720 Chicago Ave., Oak Park, features works on a figurative theme created by the League’s ongoing figure study groups. The show, which runs through June 1, includes sculptural works in progress, paintings, sculpture and …

Oak Park poet aims to jostle brain cells

“A world without poetry would be entirely possible, but it would not be worth living in.” — Octavio Paz This line by Mexican writer Octavio Paz is among the favorite quotations of Oak Park poet Charlie Rossiter, who has carried a notebook constantly and filled …

Oak Park ensemble plays Beethoven quartets

The Avalon String Quartet performs “Russian Feast, Part 2,” on Wednesday, May 30, as part of a concert series presenting the complete Beethoven String Quartet Cycle. Opus 59, dedicated to Count Rasumovsky, incorporates Russian folk themes into its three quartets. The second quartet bristles with …

Arts and entertainment calendar for May 24

Stage

“Angels in America,” “Part One: Millennium Approaches” and “Part Two: Perestroika,” through June 3 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago. Tickets: $45-$65. Call (773) 753-4472 or visit www.CourtTheatre.org.

“Hairspray,”through June 17 at Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace. The performance …

Dance students step out in Franklin Park

Family Fun: Recital showcases dance talent in Franklin Park, celebrate International Museum Day in Elmhurst, enjoy wacky stories in Oak Park and ogle ‘Xtreme Bugs’ in Brookfield.

Diversions: 4 picks for the coming week

Looking for fun, fancy or off-the-beaten-path options for the coming week? We present four, for your consideration.

Chorus celebrates diversity, peace with music

Though it has been operating for nearly 10 years now without the support of the church organization that sustained it for more than three decades, the Community Renewal Chorus is still strongly committed to its organizing principles of diversity and equality. See for yourself when …

Moving moments for families at Dance Day

It’s hard to imagine a more gorgeous setting for dancing than the garden of an historic Oak Park mansion. Everyone will have the chance to experience that when Winifred Haun & Dancers presents the third annual Dance Day at Cheney Mansion on Sunday, May 20. …

2 area caterers compete on overhauled ‘Food Network Star’

LORI RACKL: Former judges Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis now are coaching teams in the race to find a culinary personality.

Country dances in Oak Park

Waverley Station, with David Knight on fiddle and Liz Donaldson on piano will provide music when the Nineteenth Century Charitable Association sponsors English Country Dances , 7:30-10 p.m. Monday, May 21, at 178 Forest Avenue, Oak Park. One of the country’s most popular English dance …