Category: events

Corporate Party At The Gerachty

I didn’t finish this post on Sunday, because I got the news about our neighbors, and with all understanding that life goes on, I couldn’t bring myself to finish. Now, I put the final touches on it and am ready to publish.

We had our Holiday Party on Saturday night, and it was held at the Geraghty, an innovative event space, converted from an old paper mill. I have only been to a corporate party at this job once, and it was so loud and hectic that I didn’t want to go after that.

This year, it was different. When I read the party description, I immediately wanted to go! The event description we received was as follows:

Event Timeline
7:00PM
As our evening begins, enjoy elegant passed canapés and a glass of wine. Pick up your event map and set out to uncover the wonders hidden throughout the venue. Choose your first stop: The Kingdom of Ice, home to our exquisite raw bar and the captivating sounds of the Arctic Pianist, The Wizard’s Library, where you can sample imaginative elixirs at the Potion Station led by Chef Richie Farina, The Enchanted Forest, where you can feast at abundant food buffets and enjoy live entertainment throughout the night, or the Bullseye Pub & Darts, competing for your chance to win VIP festival tickets,

7:30PM
Journey into the Enchanted Forest where lavish dinner buffets await. Grills blaze while the stream and stone evoke the quiet presence of a woodland brook. Flickering flames and forest-foraged flavors beckon you into a world where nature, earth, and magic converge.

9:30PM
As dinner service winds down, delight in dainty passed sweets and indulge at the Yule Log Carvery in the Enchanted Forest. Visit the Dragon Hatchery in The Wizard’s Library for a sweet surprise.

10:30PM
The night heats up as The LVB takes the stage in the Enchanted Forest. The darts competition wraps up in the Bullseye Pub & Darts, but free-play boards remain open for casual fun while you mingle.

11:00PM
Recharge with savory late-night bites passed throughout the Enchanted Forest as anticipation builds for the night’s grand finale.

11:30PM
Return to the stage in the Enchanted Forest where Spencer Ludwig ignites the dance floor with an electrifying performance.

1:00AM
As our Holiday Party comes to a close, we hope you leave with memories every bit as magical as the night itself.

I knew I would not stay until 1 AM, and ideally not even until 11 PM, but I was hoping to catch the desserts, so I planned to leave after 10 -30 PM.

It was very cold, so I bundled up from top to bottom, including ski pants.
We were told there would be a coat check, so I planned on it.

I took the Red Line and the bus there, and it took me about 1.5 hours from door to door, having timed everything as well as I could. Aside from time, it was a very good idea, and I liked taking bus #60.

The bus stopped just one block away from the venue.

I got it, and there were ten attendants at the coat check ready to pick up my things, but I told them it would take me a while to unbundle myself. Watching me take off the snowpants, a lady asked: Did you walk here? I replied: I used public transportation. She continued: You are brave! For which I replied; No, I just know how to use public transportation. It was especially appalling because it’s just an industrial neighborhood, not even something scary.

Each of us was given this map when we entered, with the place on the back for all six stickers.
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Elf at Auditorium

Somehow, I never saw the movie Elf (and the musical plot is slightly different), and it was the most pleasant surprise one could imagine. Now I wish they would bring this musical to Chicago every Christmas season! One small detail that brough me joy – when it is snowing in the end of the show, it’s not paper and glitter snow, but a real snow! I don;t know how they do it 🙂

Pictures from the website:

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Black Comedy

I went to this show at Above the Law theater last Sunday (November 23), and forgot to post about it. They are still running this show until December 21, so if anybody interested, you still have a chance to see it.

Whenever I attend Above the Law shows, I try to take mom with me, because it’s very close to home, and the theater is tinym so she can always see well (especially because she is always the first to be seated by the staff).

They rarely publish their show synopsis, but this time, there was an email with the following description:

Struggling sculptor Brindsley Miller and his fiance, Carol, are having a party with the aim of impressing Carol’s bombastic father, Colonel Melkett, and millionaire Georg Bamberger. They hope the two men might purchase some of Brindsley’s sculptures. Without permission, they have borrowed the furniture of their fussy neighbor, Harold, to make their own flat more presentable. Just before the guests arrive, the main fuse blows, plunging the flat into darkness. What follows is a frantic romp with unexpected visitors, mistaken identities, and surprises lurking in every dark corner. Only we, the audience, can see the action that ensues in the dark. As you might expect, the results are chaotic, disastrous and downright hysterical.

If I won’t read this description it would be impossible to understand what’s happening on the stage, but to be honest, even with this description, it was confusing in the beginning.

The idea is that 90% of the show time things happen in a complete darkness, because the fuse is blown. Nobody would enjoy the show in a complete darkness, so the way the set it up was that at the time the lights were suppose to be on, they went off, and vise versa. So most time, there was light, but the actors acted as if they are in complete darkness. And at the time, somebody was turning on a flashlight, the lights were dimmed.

It was funny. Probably a little bit too grotesque:). Brilliant acting, as always.

Amadeus At Steppenwolf

There were no interesting concerts this weekend, so I suggested to Boris to go see Amadeus at the Steppenwolf Theater. Boris was skeptical, because he does not like the idea of the original play, because it’s based on unjust accusations, but he said he will go. As for me, I haven’t been to the Steppenwolf for a while, and wanted to go.

The Ensemble Theater before the show

During the first act, ot felt like a mock version of the movie, and during the intermission I asked Boris whether he wanter to go home. He said: no, the acting is great! Actually, I believe it was a new experience for him: I got the first row tickets, and because of how the Ensemble Theater is build, the acting was happening right in from of our eyes, so he could see most of it, was watching all the time with his eyes open 🙂

Then, during the second act, they started getting off the films score, and build something else, and that was much more interesting, so in the end, we both enjoyed it 🙂

Thanksgiving

There were things to be thankful for: Anna and John finally sold their “old” house, and Anna got a new job which she starts on Monday. Other family members had probably less impressive news, but still. At least, Boris didn’t have any travel obstacles, and was here (he said there was absolutely no line on the border control; apparently, nobody wants to come visit us anymore!)

The day before Thanksgiving we had a wind out of the ordinary, with gusts over 50 MpH. When I was in a workout session with my trainer, I looked out of the window, and saw something surreal: there was something flying in the sky! My first thought was: what are these birds? But them I realized that these were not birds, but the dry leaves! The wind blew them up from the ground to at least the seventh floor! i tried to take pictures after my training session ended, but the leaves were flying too fast, and I didn’t get any good pictures.

Later, when I went to pick up my pies from Vanille across the street, the wind was almost picking me up! I had to turn by back toward the wind to walk, and as it turned out, I couldn’t save all the pies – the cranberry merengue was partially ruined, because the wind was knocking the boxes, no matter how hard I tried to keep them from bouncing. I asked Boris to meet me at the train station to help me to carry the pies home, and if I won’t ask, I am afraid the consequences would be worse!

We unfolded the tables on Wednesday evening, and in the morning, I started making the salads and preparing everything for the turkey. Anna-and-family-and-friends arrived by 10 AM, and started the turkey, and we finished the rest of the food prep.

Nadia and Kira stayed in the sunroom for most of the time, and we didn’t hear any screams or arguments, so I asked Anna whether this feels suspicious for her. Then, the girls came to distribute the tickets for the puppet show, and in another hour, we all were called to watch it. I was very impressed with what they’ve done! They made the puppets for the shadow theater out of black paper and secured them on black pencils with tape. They put up a screen, and a floor lamp so that they could project, and came up with a Christmas – theme skit. They also made tickets, and numbered the seats.

After they were done, we were allowed to have a backstage tour, and they showed as the puppets, and then, without any prompt from me, Nadia said that they were going to disassemble them, and make pencils to be pencils again 🙂

More Photos From The Sunday Rally

(from my favorite photographer)

Ukraine Is Not For Sale Rally

As Igor commented: Ukrainians know how to get people together on a very short notice: the Sunday rally , though last-minute announced, got a decent crowd and press coverage.

All photos are from Igor’s album.

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Ukrainian soldiers undergoing rehab in United States
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"Deal with Russia = New war"
"We will rave on Putin's grave"
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Urinetown

What would you think about the musical with the name like that?

Yes, I thought the same, especially after reading the short description about the town where people were required to pay for the usage of the toilets, and how they decided to resist. I thought it might be just a comedy show, and I was going to skip it (ad not to subscribe to Theo at all this season), but my friend MaryAnn said she wanted to go, and I always use any opportunity to meet with her. And as it almost always happen to me, I went without prior reading about it.

Well, it was anything but what I thought. Very sad, very political, sort of hopeless by the end. I think I will discover something new till the day I die.

One of the great things about Theo is that they absolutely ignore the “official line”, and still do what they believe is right:

About the show itself. The built a lot of temporary constructs inside the theater, and everything looks amazing:

Below are official pictures from the Theo website, and I hope they will post some videos, and then I will be able to repost.

I was glad to spend time with MaryAnn; we stayed a little bit longer after the show, and she drove me home, and we talked in her car, and a little bit more.

More Cultural Events This Week

My subscriptions keep me busy :). My neighbor and I went to the “Hell’s Kitchen,” which was a part of our Broadway in Chicago subscription. I never read any reviews before I go to see the show, and this time was not exception. I was not prepared to what I was going to see, but loved it. As it turned out, the reviews were mixed, so it’s good that I didn’t read them beforehand:).

I loved the show itself, but even more, I loved the reaction of the audience: everyone was so moved by what was going on on stage, aaahed and ooohed, and gasped when the mother slapped her daughter in the cheek, and burst into applauding after each musical number.

And on Friday, I went to Carmina Burana at the Lyric. That was a part of our Lyric subscription, but my neighbor told me from the very beginning that she won’t be interested, so I took my friend Y. with me. She loves music, but she never heard Carmina Burana, and it was a real treat to give her this experience. Also, she never sat that close to the stage in the Lyric Opera building, and she said that she would rather get one ticket that close instead of ten tickets on the very top. And I agree!

Nova Exhibition

The Nova world-traveling exhibition is now in Chicago, and I visited in on Tuesday.

It was the first time when I understood the timeline of the October 6 events, and saw the footage filmed by the hostages and those who managed to escape. Although the exhibit is put together exceptionally well, and leave a deep emotional impression, I left it with mixed feelings.

I didn’t post anything about this visit for several days, hoping to figure out what didn’t feel right, but still can’t pinpoint it. I hate to sound critical of the exhibit organizers, because they’ve done tremendous work, but I also can’t brush off the unease I felt afterward. Most likely, it was related to the testimonies at the end. It was actually a one testimony of a survivor, and I honestly think it was too much both for him and people listening. Or maybe not.

I might still figure it our later.