Barbara Vitello
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Alfresco dining: A onetime lifeline turned summer mainstay for suburban eateriesMar 15, 2025 1:50 pm - Embraced out of necessity amid the COVID-19 pandemic as a way for restaurants to operate safely, alfresco dining offered a lifeline for many suburban eateries. Now, what started as a means of survival has become a summer mainstay, and a profitable one at that.
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Teen chefs turn up the heat during high school culinary competition at Harper CollegeMar 14, 2025 7:08 pm - Competitors from Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 and Northwest Suburban High School District 214 chopped, grated, diced and sauteed their way through a “Chopped”-style cooking competition at Harper College.
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Stars shine at Ravinia this summerMar 13, 2025 11:12 am - Oscar nominee and “Wicked” co-star Cynthia Erivo, Lenny Kravitz, Chicago’s own Earth, Wind & Fire, Janelle Monáe and the CSO are among the luminaries scheduled to perform at the Ravinia Festival this summer.
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Steppenwolf veterans reunite for 50th season of classics, new worksMar 12, 2025 5:48 pm - Steppenwolf Theatre Company celebrates five decades of gutsy, ambitious productions and its distinctively visceral style of acting with a 50th anniversary season composed of classics as well as new and new-to-Chicago works.
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Metropolis Performing Arts Centre names new artistic directorMar 11, 2025 3:51 pm - Metropolis Performing Arts Centre names Chicago-area theater veteran Johanna McKenzie Miller as its new artistic director.
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Spotlight: New kids’ shows open this weekMar 11, 2025 1:01 pm - Chicago Children’s Theatre and Lifeline Theatre premiere new kids’ shows; Trap Door reprises “Mother Courage and her Children”; and Stage Left comically examines Streeterville namesake George Streeter this week in Chicago theater.
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On stage for spring: New, new-to-Chicago plays and musicalsMar 08, 2025 10:43 pm - Suburban and city theater fans looking for a new or a new-to-Chicago show have plenty to choose from this spring. Here are a dozen mostly new shows for spring.
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Spotlight: Charming tuner ‘Spelling Bee’ concludes Paramount’s current Bold SeriesMar 05, 2025 9:13 am - Paramount’s Copley Theatre concludes its 2024-2025 Bold Series with a revival of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” and Theo Ubique stages Andrew Lloyd Webber’s one-act solo show “Tell Me On a Sunday.”
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‘Important step toward justice’: Highland Park parade shooting suspect pleads guiltyMar 03, 2025 10:05 am - Just minutes before his trial was to begin Monday, the Highwood man accused of fatally shooting seven spectators and injuring 48 others during Highland Park’s 2022 Independence Day parade pleaded guilty and now faces life in prison.
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Sweet treat: ‘Waitress’ regional premiere features leading lady’s star turnFeb 28, 2025 11:29 am - Michelle Lauto delivers a showstopping performance as Jenna, the titular “Waitress” in Paramount Theatre’s highly entertaining regional premiere of the warmhearted tuner.