Barbara Vitello
-
Best Bets: Elmhurst salutes Chicago Bears; Aurora showcases Mexican American masksAug 25, 2026 3:24 pm - What’s new at Chicago area museums and galleries: The Elmhurst History Museum opens an exhibition devoted to the Chicago Bears football and Aurora showcases Mexican American masks.
-
Spotlight: Janus Theatre revives ever-timely ‘An Iliad’ with all-female castAug 25, 2026 10:59 am - Ten years after it staged Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare’s “An Iliad,” Elgin’s Janus Theatre remounts the play with an all-female cast; TimeLine launches its 30th season with the premiere of “The Birth of the Pill” about the development of the life-changing oral contraceptive; and Promethean Theatre Ensemble stages “Blood of the Lamb,” a Kafkaesque thrill about reproductive rights.
-
The MAC at 40: Celebrating DuPage County’s ‘cultural town square’Aug 22, 2026 11:46 am - The McAninch Arts Center has emerged as a cultural hub in the 40 years since it opened on the College of DuPage campus where it typically attracts more than 100,000 visitors annually.
-
Imperfect romance: Oil Lamp’s prettily sung ‘I Love You Because’ hindered by mediocre bookAug 19, 2026 12:02 pm - It's a truth universally acknowledged that laying claim to a Jane Austen classic as the inspiration for a rom-com tuner doesn’t make it so. Case in point, “I Love You Because,” a formulaic bit of fluff by writer/lyricist Ryan Cunningham and composer Joshua Salzman, running through Sept. 13, at Oil Lamp Theater in Glenview.
-
Theater: Des Plaines native stars in Paramount’s regional ‘Mean Girls’ premiereAug 19, 2026 7:58 am - Paramount Theatre presents the regional premiere of the musical “Mean Girls;” Marriott Theatre revives the wrenching “Come From Away,” and City Lit Theater premieres “Shane,” adapted from the 1949 western novel.
-
‘Making American history unavailable’: Genealogists lament plan to move National Archives from ChicagoAug 18, 2026 6:07 pm - Historians, genealogists and other researchers fear losing access to the historical records housed at the National Archives at Chicago, one of two regional National Archives and Records Administration facilities that are set to close.
-
Best bets: Rosemont History Museum debuts, The MAC celebrates 40 yearsAug 18, 2026 11:39 am - This week: Rosemont debuts its $3 million Donald E. Stephens Rosemont History Museum; DuPage County’s bustling McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage celebrates its 40th anniversary and several Chicago museums introduce new exhibitions.
-
Spotlight: Unlikely lovers collide in Oil Lamp’s Jane Austen-inspired ‘I Love You Because’Aug 12, 2026 8:21 am - This week in theater: Oil Lamp Theater’s season continues with the romantic comedy “I Love You Because”; Drury Lane Theatre revives Buddy Holly jukebox tuner and Theater Wit examines teenage angst in its Chicago premiere of “Adolescent Salvation.”
-
Best Bets: ‘Lord of the Rings’ reunion in Rosemont for Fan Expo ChicagoAug 11, 2026 2:16 pm - This week in the suburbs: dozens of celebrities converge in Rosemont for the annual Fan Expo Chicago; seminal post-punk band The Violent Femmes play Waukegan’s Genesee Theatre and St. Charles hosts its annual plein air art fair.
-
New family roller coaster highlights ‘Camp Timber Trail’ debuting next spring at Great AmericaAug 06, 2026 4:03 pm - The family-friendly Camp Timber Trail, featuring the Midwest’s tallest, largest and fastest suspended family roller coaster, will debut in spring 2027 at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee.