Lauren Warnecke

Attendees watch the band Bnny perform at Empty Bottle last September in Chicago. The club will encourage but not require masks after Feb. 28.

Most Chicago-area theaters and music clubs will keep COVID mask requirements after Feb. 28

February 27, 2022 at 10:38 a.m.

With the end date to Illinois and City of Chicago mask mandates close at hand, most music clubs and performing arts venues say they are not yet ready to relax...

"Military Macaw," part of "The Art of the Brick" at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

‘Art of the Brick’ is now at Museum of Science and Industry — from little Legos, eye-popping creations

May 22, 2026 at 7:56 p.m.

Now open at the Museum of Science and Industry, "The Art of the Brick" is a visual playground for the young and young at heart, built brick by brick by...

Associate artistic director and dancer Chelsea Hoy performs a leap during rehearsal at Roosevelt University.

Trinity Irish Dance Company is back and kicking after a pandemic absence — and the troupe on stage looks a little different

February 3, 2022 at 1:29 p.m.

The Trinity Irish Dance Company (TIDC) is just emerging from its pandemic slumber, performing at the Auditorium Theatre as part of a seven-city national tour. The popular hometown heroes of...

Anita Nicole Brown, left, and Valentine Azbelle, both of Chicago, dance at the year's first SummerDance event in Grant Park's Spirit of Music Garden in Chicago on June 23, 2017.

2022 will be the Year of Chicago Dance, with robust programs planned for summer

January 21, 2022 at 10:47 a.m.

Chicagoans can expect an uptick in dance events this year. Announced Friday, 2022 is officially the Year of Chicago Dance, a citywide, yearlong initiative led by the Department of Cultural...

Chester Banowski, an usher at Chicago Symphony Center, checks audience members' vaccination cards and identification inside the lobby of the Chicago Symphony Center prior to a performance on Dec. 9, 2021.

CSO ushers report from the front lines, checking vaccine cards and welcoming audiences glad to be back

January 18, 2022 at 5:15 a.m.

When Colleen Mraz headed home from her job at Symphony Center one March evening in 2020, she took a red usher's blazer with her. "I stayed late to help out...

The comic Lisa Beasley is seen at home in Chicago on Jan. 10, 2022. She has a trending TikTok impersonation of Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot and an upcoming event at Laugh Factory titled "Lisa Beasley's Teachers' Appreciation Comedy Show."

Chicago comic Lisa Beasley turns her viral TikTok imitation of Lightfoot into a show for teachers at Laugh Factory

January 13, 2022 at 7:18 p.m.

Bronzeville's Lisa Beasley is a familiar face in Chicago TV, theater and stand-up comedy, but the whole city sat up when she began posting her Mayor Lightfoot impression online. Beasley's...

Dance Top 10 in Chicago: Among the don’t-misses are Trinity Irish Dance, ‘Don Quixote’ and a return of the stunning English National Ballet

January 5, 2022 at 5:45 a.m.

It is with some trepidation that I gaze upon the 2022 dance calendar. As the omicron variant rips through the performing arts scene, COVID-19 rears its ugly head (again), forcing...

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