WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

I am writing this post from the distant past. Will there be snow tonight? Did the storm miss us?

Chicago's fall arts season is already plenty busy. But this fall the city will host another major event: a week long festival of art and culture. 

One of the English-language's greatest living playwrights is at the center of a custody struggle between blood family and her chosen family of friends, colleagues, former sudents and a vast network of admirers. 

Also: How cops cracked the Hadiya Pendleton murder case / Charter school scandal / Jonah Lehrer's speech / Zombie hoax / Old Jews' jokes

When P. J. Paparelli moved to Chicago he knew he wanted to write a play about the violence in this city. But instead of creating a new work, he realized the solution was closer to hand: revising his 2005 play about the 1999 school shooting at Columbine High School.  

A behind-the-scenes look at the plays and the playmaking process of Director Evan Cabnet.

A federal agency is investigating the injury suffered by a fire-blowing stilt-walker who was burned during a dress rehearsal at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.