From Your Local Arrangements Committee -
Survey Reminder - Recreational Activities to be Offered at 2010 Forum

On behalf of the Chicago Local Arrangements Committee, I invite you to take a brief survey about recreational activities (baseball, tours, etc.) to be offered during the 2010 Forum, AIR’s annual conference. Our goal is to design offerings based on your interests as a Forum attendee.

Please click the link below to be redirected to the survey page. It should take only a few minutes to complete the survey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=CWVQ_2f7FjlOdHHQJQEZXycQ_3d_3d

Thank you for your participation; we value your time and input.

Sincerely,

Linda S. Buyer
Local Arrangements Committee Member
l-buyer@govst.edu

From Your Local Arrangements Committee -
Theater Chicago
Linda S. Buyer, Local Arrangements Committee Member (l-buyer@govst.edu)

If theater is your pleasure, you need to know what’s available in Chicago. For example, Chicago is the only city in the nation with four theaters that have received Regional Theater Tony Awards. This award is given annually to a non-profit professional regional theater that “has displayed a continuous level of artistic achievement contributing to the growth of theatre nationally.” It is jointly awarded by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing in consultation with the American Theatre Critics Association. The four Chicago-based recipients are the Chicago Shakespeare Theater (2008), the Victory Gardens Theater (2001), the Goodman Theater (1992) and the Steppenwolf Theater Company (1985). These four theaters will be offering something for almost every taste during the upcoming AIR Forum (May 29 – June 2, 2010).

The Chicago Shakespeare Theater will be presenting The Taming of the Shrew. As you probably already know, this timeless play by William Shakespeare is a highly entertaining look at the battle between the sexes. For Forum attendees, a special plus is that the Chicago Shakespeare Theater is within easy walking distance of the conference hotel, the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers.

Victory Gardens Theater will be staging the premiere of Jacob & Jack by ensemble playwright James Sherman and directed by Dennis Zacek. Jacob & Jack is a farce involving time travel and a couple of generations of one family in the theater. You not only see great theater at Victory Gardens, you can also simultaneously explore a Chicago landmark. The Victory Gardens Theater is currently housed in the old Biograph Theater where John Dillinger met his famed end on July 22, 1934, in a hail of bullets.

The Goodman Theater will also be staging a new play. Their show The Good Negro, by Tracey Scott Wilson, will be directed by Chuck Smith. This play is a serious attempt to explore the humanity at the core of the civil rights movement during the 1960s via individual and personal stories.

Steppenwolf Theater Company will be presenting Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, directed by Frank Galati and starring ensemble members Ian Barford, Francis Guinan, William Petersen and Rondi Reed. Here’s Steppenwolf’s description of the play – “Beckett’s absurd comic masterpiece follows Hamm, a blind man unable to stand, and his servant Clov, who is unable to sit, as they pass their days in a tiny house by the sea—if the sea still exists. Pestered by Hamm’s parents, they move through their daily rituals, awaiting the end of everything.”

I’ll see you on the aisle....