Best of Arts 2024-25

True to form, Arts’ output for the year remained varied in journalistic writing and creative spirit.

Aiming the spotlight on student activities and community groups, The Phoenix unearthed Loyola’s Restoration Club assisting ecological recovery from biodegradation. Widening the lens to Rogers Park, The Phoenix’s covered organizations such as the kitchen soup, A Just Harvest, and educational nonprofit SitStayRead.

Arts has been, and will continue to be, a vector for Chicago creativity. Student journalists operating their own publication speak to the importance of individual voice, while equinox-celebrating witches embrace the emotional shift behind changing seasons.

Between local vendors attending the South Loop Farmers Market and artisans nationwide visiting Chicago’s Comic and Entertainment Expo, The Phoenix spoke to those weaving passion in their products. Even individual businesses, like Nabala Cafe, reveal a unique resilience behind ground coffee goods.

Yet Arts wouldn’t be complete without the arts themselves. Loyola’s production of “Notes from the Field” compels in its staredown of racial politics, while Invictus Theatre’s “Macbeth” is an engrossing revisit to a Shakespeare classic.

As students across universities unite as one, indie band, a singular Loyola alum speaks to students about the glee within Jesuit learning. All this to say, Arts had an amazing year near impossible to narrow down. Here’s to telling more stories.

‘The Darker Half of The Year’: Local Witches Cast Fall Equinox Ritual

Originally published Sept. 25.

Squirrel heads, alligator skulls and iguana legs dotted the tabletops of Malliway Bros. — stereotypically macabre ingredients for a witch shop. However, for their fall equinox ritual, the recipe in question called for sugar-free juice, salt water and a miniature coffin.

Malliway Bros. Spells, Charms & Potions is a magic and witchcraft shop located at 1407 W Morse Ave., approximately 0.7 miles north of Loyola’s Lake Shore Campus. 

Co-owned by brothers Wycke and Blake Malliway, the store blooms with eccentricity, selling animal bones, tarot card decks, candles shaped like genitalia and make-your-own spell vials.

Read more here.

Not Just Child’s Play: CPS Students Promote Local News With the ‘Kidler’

Originally published Sept. 25.

On a sunny Monday afternoon, after a grueling commute back to Rogers Park from Jones College Prep in Chicago’s South Loop, a high school student dashes into the recently-closed Archie’s Cafe.

The teenager — 16-year-old Tess Lacy  — rushes down the stairs, hair wispy and glasses bouncing across her nose as she weaves her way to the cafe bar. She and the cafe’s owner, Roberta Schmatz, catch up as Lacy sips an iced mocha, reminiscing about when they first met while organizing an event to inform community members about Loyola’s plans for 1234 W. Loyola Ave.

Schmatz said she was immediately struck by Lacy’s inquisitive and enthusiastic energy when they first met in April.

“I just thought you were a force,” Schmatz said, looking at Lacy and smiling. 

Lacy is known throughout the community as the creator of local news publication the Kidler, a monthly local publication which serves Chicago’s Far North Side. The paper has covered everything from a gender-inclusive music camp to a student at Senn High School who was fatally shot. 

Read more here.

Bloom(ing) into the Punk Scene

Originally published Oct. 2.

Inside an average suburban home in Geneva, IL, students from Loyola, DePaul and Eastern Illinois University fill a room with sounds of chaos and catharsis. 

Three-piece punk band Bloom transcends the constraints of distance through their love of making music together.

Loyola second-year anthropology major Em Vela said the band has metamorphosed since its initial conception in 2022. She said the group originally consisted of five members — all of whom met at the Naperville School of Rock — and fizzled down to Vela, guitarist and vocalist, and DePaul student, Summer Allen, bassist and vocalist.

For Vela, giving up the band wasn’t an option.

“It kind of became like a safe haven for me — because I was going through so much — and it was kind of the one place where I could find joy,” Vela said.

Read more here.

New Rogers Park mural shows a “Community in Bloom”

Originally published Oct. 23.

The wall at 1441 W. Morse Ave. used to be one of the city’s decrepit, nondescript facades of crumbling brick and peeling brown paint. With the help of Chicago-based artist Ryan Tova Katz, the building took on a new life, adorned with an expansive mural depicting a cherished local tradition — the Glenwood Sunday Market.

Katz titled the mural “Community in Bloom,” which features a large “#LoveRogersPark” above vibrant flowers lining a brick street, upon which many colorful figures stroll a market. Painted patrons include a man smiling up to the sky, holding a bouquet and a vendor surrounded by a rainbow of goods. 

In the middle is Katz herself, smiling wide and holding flowers in her right hand and her son Milo’s hand in her left.

Read more here.

Warnings of Personal and Political Ambition at the 60th Chicago International Film Fest

Originally published Oct. 23.

The Chicago International Film Festival kicked off its 60th anniversary Oct. 16, running until Oct. 27. The Fest invites filmmakers and actors from across the world to celebrate moviemaking in the heart of Chicago.

Spanning 12 days and six venues, this year’s catalog boasts an array of independent premieres and Academy Award hopefuls.

“The Rule of Jenny Penn” unravels eccentric horrors within a New Zealand senior living home. Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The End” redefines musical film with a vibrant apocalyptic setting, while Malcolm Washington’s “The Piano Lesson,” set in the Depression-era South, reminisces on sacrifices made by a fortunate family.

Between absurd horrors, experimental musicals and passionate dramas, each Festival entry presents audiences with a different vision of what artistry can be.

Read more here.

Queerness Meets Coffee at Loaves & Witches

Originally published Oct. 23.

At Edgewater cafe Loaves & Witches, co-owners and practicing witches Julia Goodmann and Lisa Harriman strive to nurture a witchy, queer and sober community.

Located at 6034 N. Broadway — a 15-minute walk from the Lake Shore Campus — customers can feast on the menu item Ides of Starch, a potato tart. 

Goodmann and Harriman have been friends for around seven years and play together on the Sit on My Base softball team, which competes in the Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association Queer League.

“We met when we were both in active addiction and have rekindled our friendship in sobriety, which has been really beautiful,” Goodmann said. 

The idea of opening a bakery originally started as a joke, according to Goodmann. Harriman would bring baked treats to softball games, where they and Goodmann would throw around “blasphemous” names for the treats — like “sinnerman rolls.”

Read more here.

‘In AOC We Trust’: A Collision of Chaos, Change and Comedy

Originally published Nov. 6.

As social activism reaches a critical juncture, Loyola’s Underground Laboratory Theatre has emerged as a humorous catalyst for change. The spirit of U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez loomed in the air as the theater put on its new second-stage project, captivating audiences and inspiring them to take charge. 

Second-stage production’s goal is to expand student-led projects. Everything, from start to finish, is written and produced by the students, according to Loyola’s Underground Laboratory.  

Directed by fourth-years Grace Herman and Annika Halonen, “In AOC We Trust” explores themes of responsibility, activism and hope. Set in the confines of Nettleton High School’s Advanced Placement U.S. History classroom, the project is an absurdist commentary on the broken American childcare system and governmental negligence.

In the limited space of the Mundelein basement, Herman and Halonen produced a 90-minute show with six cast members representing Nettleton’s first non-male Student Council — Sawyer, Delilah, Edith, Janelle, Danny and Gwen.

Read more here.

The Invictus’ ‘Macbeth’ is a Murderously Killer Production

Originally published Nov. 6.

Closing their 2024 season, Invictus Theater Company presents “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” an adaptation faithful to the source material, while still abundant with creative risks.

Just after the Halloween season, the infamous Scottish play, “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” opened Nov. 4 to a full house at the Windy City Playhouse in Irving Park. 

The 400-year-old Shakespeare play details the Scottish Lord Macbeth’s rise to power after he receives a prophecy from three witches. Through vengeful killing and paranoid visions, Macbeth stops at nothing to maintain the throne, ultimately leading to his demise. 

Directed by Sarafina Vecchio, the play shares thematic parallels to this year’s presidential election.

Read more here.

Strong Coffee and Stronger Community at Nabala Cafe

Originally published Nov. 6.

Nabala Cafe envelops the senses. The aroma of cardamom, cloves and coffee floats between bites of croissants and baklava. Espresso makers whir and customers chatter over toasty cups of chai which warm their hands.

But sight tells a different story.

The windows are boarded up. Posters, Palestinian flags and paintings line the walls. A handwritten sign on the makeshift door reads, “BY THE MILLIONS WE’LL RETURN.”

Nabala Cafe is a Palestinian-owned cafe at 4660 N. Broadway. The establishment, which opened in July, has been attacked twice in the past two months, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Owner Eyad Zeid said despite the Chicago Police Department leaving him in the dark about their progress investigating the crimes, he’s grateful for the support he’s received from the community.

Read more here.

PrideArts’ ‘Throbbin Wood’ Basks in the Bawdy

Originally published Nov. 20.

While most holiday productions warm hearts with nostalgia, “Throbbin Wood” warms cheeks with titillating humor. 

Tom Whalley’s adult pantomime “Throbbin Wood” parodies Robin Hood folklore, placing the legendary outlaw in a provocative light. PrideArts, a not-for-profit arts organization located at 4139 N. Broadway, presented the show’s U.S. debut Nov. 18. 

Before the show, director Taylor Pasche and PrideArts Artistic Director Jay Españo advised the audience to fulfill pantomime expectations, calling on crowds to boo, holler and sing in response to on-stage action. 

Cheers erupted throughout the intimate theater as the coquettish Fairy Glitterous, played by Daniella Bahn, introduced the audience to Got-wood Forest. 

The bumbling Silly Willy, played by Freddy Mauricio, instructed viewers to greet him with “Fuck off, Willy” whenever he entered a scene. His mother, the lustful Nanny Fanny — played by Neill Kelly — quickly established a flirtatious banter with a lucky viewer sitting side stage, winning over the audience with tall heels and clever innuendos.

Read more here.

The Searing Stories at Fillet of Solo

Originally published Nov. 20.

In 2004, then first-year Suzie Campbell’s vibrator was stolen by her male friends and paraded around Mertz Hall. Traveling from floor to floor, with occasional stops to knock on unsuspecting doors, Campbell’s unused vibrator became more acquainted with the hall’s residents than Campbell herself.

That’s how Campbell, a Loyola alumna, started her story at Fillet of Solo, Lifeline Theatre’s 28th annual storytelling festival. 

Located at 6912 N. Glenwood Ave., the theater’s storytelling event spanned two weekends from Nov. 8-17. The event featured 130 solo and collaborative performances.

For Dorothy Milne — co-curator of the festival — intimacy marks the difference between a play and storytelling. She said unlike plays, which hire a variety of actors, solo storytelling can only be told by the individual.

“In its purest form, this is just a person standing in a pool of light telling you a story like you were at the bar together,” Milne said. 

Read more here.

A Just Harvest Serves Meals — and Social Justice

Originally published Dec. 4.

On the first floor of a stocky, red-brick building, tucked between a church and apartments for rent, is A Just Harvest. The Rogers Park social outreach organization works to redefine what it means to be a soup kitchen.

As a soup kitchen, A Just Harvest feeds 60 to 100 people every day, according to Deputy Director Irynn Ashaki Williams McClain — but it’s also a food pantry, delivery service and cultural community space.

The kitchen, located at 7649 N. Paulina St., has been open every day of every month for 41 years, apart from a temporary closure during the 2011 blizzard.

Founded as Good News Kitchen in 1983 as an offshoot of Good News Community Church, the kitchen was renamed A Just Harvest in 2010.

McClain said it’s called a community kitchen, not a soup kitchen, because it does more than provide meals — it’s a neighborhood resource.

Read more here.

LUMA’s ‘Art and Faith of the Crèche’ Displays Diversity in Christmas Celebrations

Originally published Dec. 4.

Marking the return of a Loyola holiday tradition, more than 60 crèches — visual displays of the birth of Christ — are on show in the main gallery of the Loyola University Museum of Art, located at 820 N. Michigan Ave. 

Residing in the red bricks of Lewis Towers on Loyola’s Water Tower Campus, LUMA’s annual “Art and Faith of the Crèche” exhibition returned Nov. 13. With scenes formed from ostrich egg, wire, brass, wood and clay, the collection’s variety reflects Christmas’ diversity. 

LUMA ceased its regular public hours in 2019 for financial reasons, The Phoenix previously reported. Despite this, LUMA staff have continued to loan artifacts to other museums and host programming like the yearly crèche exhibit and Steve McCurry’s “Icons” in 2023, according to Museum Manager Kyle Mathers.

Now with more regular public hours and a growing number of exhibits on display, LUMA is making a comeback. A celebration of the museum’s rich library of artwork, the “Art and Faith of the Crèche” exhibit, inquires into the diversity of ways people around the world rejoice in a common story of faith.

Read more here.

‘A tribute to the ghost of a man I never met’: Hal Shipman’s ‘Forbidden Love at the Desert’s Edge’

Originally published Feb. 12.

Content warning: homophobia, alcohol abuse

In the corner, a portrait of a young man, superimposed atop a map of Abilene, Texas, quietly surveys the room. It’s the only photo Hal Shipman has of his great-uncle Bill Gavin. 

Beside Gavin hangs other photographs and maps of Abilene. Flowering vines snake across each image, growing in length until their tendrils choke out the blank space.

Originally created as a class project at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, “Forbidden Love at the Desert’s Edge” is Shipman’s homage to Gavin — a closeted gay man who lived his entire life in Abilene and died at age 59 from alcoholism, just a few months after Shipman was born. 

“One of my professors, when I was starting the map project, said that I’m creating a ghost,” Shipman said. “I love that idea. I’m resurrecting him in a way.”

Read more here.

‘Glee’ Creator and Loyola Alum Ian Brennan Speaks to Students

Originally published Feb. 19.

Before writing and producing hit series “Glee” and “Monsters,” Ian Brennan got his start running lines in Loyola’s Underground Laboratory Theatre.

Around 80 students gathered into room 125 of the Mundelein Center on the snowy morning of Feb. 15 to witness Loyola alum Ian Brennan (“Scream Queens,” “The Watcher”) trace his path from Loyola’s Lake Shore campus to the starry hills of Hollywood.

The Mount Prospect, Ill. native graduated from Loyola’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts in 2000. Studying as an actor, Brennan said his supportive parents gave him the confidence to turn performing into a career.

“Every one of you probably have somebody in your life who’s like, ‘Theater? Why would you do that?’” Brennan said. “Fuck them.”

Brennan said Loyola’s most memorable teachings were the Jesuit practice of logic, reasoning and preparation. Before graduating, Brennan said he was already cutting his teeth in the Chicago theater scene whenever possible.

Read more here.

No Curtain Call for Justice in ‘Notes From the Field’

Originally published Feb. 26.

The lights dimmed in the Newhart Family Theatre as a hush fell over the audience. Above the stage, worn sneakers hung from the ceiling — a haunting reminder of the lives lost to an education system which never gave them a chance. 

“Notes from the Field,” directed by Deron Williams, is a play tied with the Black experience in education and an indictment of social programs that fail the most vulnerable.

From Feb. 13-23, two rotating casts, referred to as the Gold and Maroon teams, took on the challenge of telling stories drawn from real-life accounts of the school-to-prison pipeline. The production, originally a monologue by Anna Deavere Smith, took on new dimensions with added music and colorblind casting.

Williams said throughout the process of producing the show, the word “intentional” kept resurfacing. The audience’s discomfort was intentional. The raw, unfiltered footage of police brutality and news reporting featured in the play were intentional. The choice to have actors play different races and genders while speaking in a variety of accents was intentional. 

The performance began with a video of the murder of Freddie Gray, jars of soil from lynching sites courtesy of the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Ala. and a video about Shakara — a student pulled from her desk by her neck and thrown on the floor by a police officer because she used her phone during class, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

Read more here.

Dogs Are Now A Reader’s Best Friend

Originally published March 12.

In classrooms across Chicago, some of the best listeners are neither teachers or even students — they’re dogs.

Founded in 2003, SitStayRead focuses on enhancing children’s literacy through social-emotional learning, complemented by Certified Reading Assistant Dogs who the children read to, according to the organization’s website.

The nonprofit provides classroom programs, hosts family literacy events and distributes thousands of books to classrooms and libraries to reinforce curriculum, Interim Executive Director Deirdre Harrsion said.

Harrison said her involvement stemmed from her father, who grew up poor and whose parents rarely got involved in his academic life.

“I think a lot of people grow up in cultures like that,” Harrison said. “So, how do we help make some connections and help people not be so isolated around learning?”

Read more here.

‘Loyola’s Best-Kept Secret’: Restoration Club Reconnects With Nature

Originally published March 12.

Every other Saturday, Loyola’s Restoration Club becomes an ecosystem of its own. 

After driving an hour and a half to Loyola’s Retreat and Ecology Campus, also known as LUREC, club members literally get their hands dirty, working into the late afternoon to help restore the land’s biodiversity. 

Whether removing invasive species, burning excess wood or sowing seeds of native plants, the Restoration Club’s members divide and conquer, working as a cohesive ecological unit across LUREC’s 98 acres. 

The lifeblood of the operation is Dr. Roberta Lammers-Campbell, founder and faculty sponsor of the Restoration Club and a former professor in Loyola’s School of Environmental Sustainability and Department of Biology. 

Though she retired in 2018 after 28 years of teaching, Lammers-Campbell still spends every workday at LUREC, driving between groups and facilitating the club’s synergy. 

Read more here.

Local Vendors Flourish at Water Tower Market

Originally published March 26.

On a rainy day inside Magnificent Mile’s Water Tower Place March 23 a vibrant and bustling farmers market thrived. The South Loop Farmers Market is located inside Water Tower Place and Roosevelt Collection through winter and spring. It’ll relocate outdoors in Printer’s Row this summer. 

The market, housed on the mall’s fourth floor, takes place every Sunday from 12 p.m to 4 p.m. and features live music, recreational activities and over 75 vendors.

Claire Cajka is a local artisan who sells hand-drawn temporary tattoos. A 26-year-old freelance animator, Cajka said she found a passion for showcasing her art at markets as a college student.

Read more here.

‘How Often Are You Photographed Without Your Permission?’ It Depends How You Look

Originally published April 9.

Dreary brown and gray outfits filled the Ralph Arnold Gallery, located at 1131 W. Sheridan Rd., Thursday evening — until a neon green silhouette appeared. 

In her signature animal patterned catsuit, red lip and high heel ensemble, Ayana Evans showcased her exhibit April 3 — curated by the 2024-2025 Artist and Scholar-in-Residence Jessica Lanay — “How Often Are You Photographed Without Your Permission?”

Exploring self-liberation through unfiltered expression, Evans, who grew up on Chicago’s South Side, said being on a university campus, she knows students didn’t come to the exhibit to judge — they came to learn.

Evans said being completely herself looks like sitting on the floor with her close friend and art wife “jiggling fat,” which is the artist’s description of second-year Sophia Tripp’s favorite work in the gallery, “Cellulite.”

On a mounted TV, a video of Evans and interdisciplinary artist Tsedaye Makonnen reflecting on their bodies played. The exhibit’s pamphlet encourages visitors to sit on mats surrounded by a nest of pillows featuring lyrics in Amharic and English from an African American spiritual titled, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” — a liberation song. 

Read more here.