Achy Obejas

Now in its 33rd year, the Chicago International Film Festival, which runs through Sunday, offers movies for all tastes. Following is a schedule of festival films for Monday, with reviews...

Pablo Helguera calls his new work, "Jurua," a playformance. And just what the heck is that? "It's a play written by a performance artist," says Helguera, who identifies himself as...

Luis Miguel Romances (WEA/Latina) (star) (star) (star) 1/2 Luis Miguel's "Romances" -- his re-interpretation of mostly classic Latin American love songs -- is a gorgeous record by an artist who...

Sal Iacopelli still remembers the moving mound of food. "We were at a leather fundraising party at this guy's house," he says. "My master" -- Iacopelli then was the in-bondage...

Dolores Wilber remembers her father crying four times: Once, when he gave her a chemistry set for Christmas that required that he be there to perform the experiments. "But he...

`It does seem like we've been playing for an eternity," says Phil Smillie of the Tannahill Weavers, a traditional music band from Scotland that's been playing since the late 1960s....

Ron Bieganski really didn't have to make life this hard for himself or for anyone else. He's the artistic director over at Free Street Theater, where the youth drama troupe,...

You've heard that "Rent" has signed a long-term lease in Chicago. And the Art Institute's Renoir exhibit that opens in October comes as no surprise. But there are events in...

There is something autobiographical about "Mr. Nanny." But there aren't any parallels between the title figure and Jimmy Doyle, the ex-Second City actor who's the star of the one-man show....

`Ruthie, you've got to start eating lunch," Ruth Schuman says to Ruth Blanchard one night at Crooner's, the Andersonville Cajun club. "What do you mean?" says Blanchard, a thin, active...