Lyle Lovett, Weird Women, Sexy Seniors Top Region's Marquees

Chicago Heights

Imagine this – a musical about Jackie O’s relatives.

Billed as the first musical ever made from a documentary, Grey Gardens, follows the mother-daughter team of Edith (mom) and Edie Beale (offspring).

The acclaimed production follows a mother-daughter team, “delightfully eccentric relatives of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis,” the press release notes.

As the story goes, the two women became notorious in the East Hamptons, living in a run-down 28-room mansion.

“The musical tells their alternately hilarious and heartbreaking story (and is) scandalously entertaining,” the release states.

J. R. Rose, theater and English teacher at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, directs the production. Judith E. Felix is assistant director.

Don't forget – as with most south suburban area arts events, parking is free!

Where: Drama Group Studio Theatre, 330 W. 202nd St., Chicago Heights.
When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 4-5 and 10-12; 2 p.m. Feb. 6 and 12-13.
Tickets: $18, $17 students and seniors
Information and tickets: 708-755-3444 and www.dramagroup.org

Dialogue, exhibit of paintings by acclaimed local artist Patricia Moore and works by 14 regional sculptors, remains on view.

Where: Union Street Gallery, 1527 Otto Blvd.
When: Through Feb. 12; gallery hours, 12 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday; 12 to 6 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Cost: Free, as is parking
Information: 708-754-2601 and www.unionstreetgallery.org 

St. Xavier University’s SXU Gallery features an exhibit of works by visual artist Nikkole Huss who will talk about her exhibit, Permeable Perimeters: Needle-Felted Wood and Encaustic on Panel, at a Feb. 9 reception.

Huss is inspired by photographs of Earth and outer space phenomena.

“By gazing far beyond the human eye’s ability to see … it is possible to perceive the impossible …,” she say in her artist’s statement.

Where: St. Xavier University’s SXU Gallery, 3700 W. 103rd St.
When: Exhibit runs from Feb. 3 to Feb. 24, reception 3:30 p.m. Feb. 9; gallery hours -10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday
Cost: Free;
Information: 773-298-3081 and www.sxu.edu

The Lincoln-Way High School District 210 Senior Series (no, not 12th graders) performing arts schedule reignites this month with the Peter Oprisko Big Band Romance production.

Audience members will shake off the cold weather as hearts warm up to Oprisko’s show. A local artist, Oprisko and his 12-piece band will perform such golden oldies as The Way You Look Tonight, I Wish You Love, Secret Love and many others, including swing, classic jazz and film favorites in this just-before-Valentine’s Day special mid-day event.

Where: , 19900 S. Harlem Ave.
When: 11 a.m. Feb. 9
Admission: $10 and free parking
Tickets and more information: 815-534-3240 and at www.lw210.org/seniorseries. 

Four-time Grammy-winner Lyle Lovett and his longtime tour buddy John Hiatt go acoustic at Joliet’s legendary Rialto Square Theatre on Feb. 11. Tickets no doubt will clear out quickly.

Followed by a stream of rave reviews, the “unplugged” tour has only one local show and this is it. Audiences will hear country, swing, folk and blues in a smaller venue, nowhere near the gargantuan size of a stadium.

Lovett and Hiatt as usual will do some talking, share stories with the audience and bring a sense of warmth and camaraderie to a cold Midwest winter night.

Where: Rialto Square Theatre, 15 E. VanBuren St., Joliet
When: 8 p.m., Feb. 11
Admission: $49.50 to $65
Information and tickets: 815-726-7171 and www.rialtosquare.com

Charles Martin and Indigo Jazz take away from the wintery world and into a night of jazz.

Where: Stony Creek Clubhouse, 5850 W. 103rd St.
When: 7 to 9 p.m. Feb. 5
Admission: $6 at the door.
More information: 708-857-2433 and by e-mail, stonycreek@olparks.com.

Artist Maria DeCaprio Sunta will talk about her watercolors, collages and acrylics at a special program in Orland Park.

Her works depict images from her local travels, European jaunts and other selected images from her collection. Guests will have the opportunity to speak with the artist as well.

Where: , 14921 Ravinia Drive (2nd floor)
When: 7 to 8 p.m., Feb. 4
Fee: Free, as is parking
Information: 708-428-5100 and www.orlandparklibrary.org

Capricious Tales, an exhibit of stunning black and white images by contemporary artist O. Gustavo Plascencia, remains on view at the , Moraine Valley Fine and Performing Arts Center.

The artist’s 44 photograms, each 20 inches by 24 inches before framing, reveal items he has collected over many years.

Photograms result when “objects are placed on top of photographic paper” and exposed, unlike photographs which are exposures created through the lens of a camera. The process involves the once-traditional tools of the photographic trade, including a dark room.

“Every piece (in the exhibit) explores how we create, remember and trigger memories,” Plascencia says. “I arranged the objects to form an ambiguous storyline. Once they are out there, people can interpret (the images) in their own way.”

Where: , 9000 W. College Parkway, Palos Hills
When: Through Feb. 10, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and during theater performances.
Cost: Free and parking usually is free as well.
More information: 708-974-5500 and www.morainevalley.edu

Well, the Palos Village Players are at it again, romping around in what promises to be a riotous farce, Sex Please, We’re Sixty by Michael and Susan Parker.

Take note!

The story takes place in the Rose Cottage Bed and Breakfast, a hotspot for single seniors.

There’s more. Medication for menopause symptoms somehow gets mixed up with one of the male guest’s Viagra.

This theater group stages great shows, has loads of fun with its productions, and the mood always is contagious. 

Where: , 131st Street and 82nd Avenue.
When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11, 12, 19 and 19; 2 p.m. Feb. 13.
Admission: $15 and $12 for seniors and students, free parking for all
More information: 877-PVP-TISX or 877-782-8497 and www.palosvillageplayers.com

Dateline: Somewhere in New York City, 1905.

An African-American woman earns her living as a seamstress, sewing intimate apparel for her huge range of clients, from wealthy white women to street-wise prostitutes.

Lynn Nottage’s play Intimate Apparel, opening Friday at Illinois Theatre Center, follows the seamstress, Esther, whose “gifted hands and sewing machine are the tools she uses to fashion her dreams for the whole cloth of her life experiences,” the press release says.

An award-winning playwright, Nottage was born in 1964. Her award-winning scripts often focus on African American women. A 2007 MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Nottage, is described on the foundation website, as “an original voice in American theater, a playwright whose entertaining and thought-provoking works address contemporary issues with empathy and humor.” Critics consider Intimate Apparel one of her most powerful works.

Where: Illinois Theatre Center, 371 Artists Walk, Downtown Park Forest
When: 8 p.m. Jan. 28, 29, Feb. 2 to 5 and Feb. 9 to 12; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 30, Feb. 6 and 13
Cost: $22 Fridays, and Saturdays; $20 all other performances, $1 discount seniors and students
More information: 708-481-3510 and http://www.ilthctr.org

South Suburban College Jazz Fest concert stars Michael Mossman on trumpet and Mark Colby on sax.

The two well-known artist’s will take the stage on their own as well as with the SSC Jazz Ensemble for a night that promises to heat up the Kindig auditorium.

Or maybe the Kindig will simply become very, very cool!

Where: KIndig Performing Arts Center, South Suburban College, 15800 S. State St., South Holland
When: 11:30 a.m. to 12:40 p.m. Feb. 11, 12 
Admission: Free
Information: www.ssc.edu