1. Chicago legend Michael Shannon is playing the new General Zod in the new Superman, and tells Moviefone about the special magic suit he’ll be wearing for the character. Of the suit, Shannon said, “Yeah, it’s one of the most humiliating garments that exists in the known universe, yes. It’s very tight.” Shannon may be all big-leagues now, but fear not; he always comes back to lurk around, whether to film a new movie, or to drop The Paper Machete every now and again.

2. Colin Quinn was at the Second City this afternoon to talk about his time as a writer for Saturday Night Live, etc. He’s in town because his show Colin Quinn, Long Story Short is running at the Broadway Playhouse through this weekend. And it’s directed by Jerry Seinfeld, so that’s something. At today’s event, students of Second City’s Training Center will get a chance to pick his brilliant brain. Lucky, lucky them. 

3. Boy, are the dudes at Time Out excited about the Chicago Fringe Festival — they’ve got reviews of what looks like every production going up there. Seriously, phew. 

4. The Pitmen Painters will be running at TimeLine starting this weekend. It was written by the dude who wrote Billy Elliott, and has a similar vibe; “A group of miners in Northern England taking an art appreciation class start experimenting with painting and soon build an astonishing body of work that makes them the unlikeliest of art world sensations.” Sound familar? It’s a true story also; read all about it here. “The Pitmen painters maintained their lives as miners but became dedicated amateur painters,” said director BJ Jones. “And their roots, and the world they knew, both empowered them and held them back.”

5. I swear, I’m almost done talking about Red — it’s just everywhere. It’s more Rothko than the play, really. Anyway, the Reader has an interview with the playwright John Logan who now writes movies like The Aviator. Logan talks a bit about his history as a young person working in Chicago. “When I was Ken’s age I was doing the equivalent of what Ken is doing. I was working at the Northwestern library, doing non-Equity theater all the time. And it was so thrilling. When people say, How do you get to be a successful screenwriter and playwright? I’m like, You spend ten years starving and eating tuna fish and learning how to be a playwright. That’s how you do it. That’s how I did it.”

Questions? Tips? Email kdries@wbez.org.