RECOMMENDED

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago opens its thirtieth-anniversary season with its 2007 Fall Series that features two distinct programs designed to showcase a “who’s who” among leading contemporary choreographers. This week’s opening program includes the thirtieth-anniversary revival of “Baker’s Dozen” by Twyla Tharp, Nacho Duato’s “Cor Perdut,” Susan Marshall’s “Kiss,” Daniel Ezralow’s “SF/LB” and Artistic Director Jim Vincent’s “Palladio.” Wednesday’s program, which also repeats next weekend, features the world premiere of “B-Sides (12” Mix)” by Hubbard dancer Brian Enos, Ohad Naharin’s “Passomezzo,” Nacho Duato’s “Rassemblement” and Jirí Kylián’s “Sechs Tänze.” Special dance parties, family events and dinners are also scheduled throughout the festival. (Dennis Polkow) 

At the Harris Theater for Music & Dance, 205 E. Randolph, (312)334-7777. This production is now closed.

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We’ve always known we were a town for theater. But this year perhaps we needed outsiders to remind us of just how great Chicago’s theater community is compared not only with New York, but with the rest of the world. Venerable London theater critic Michael Billington went so far as to herald our city as the “current theatre capital of America” after a recent visit, citing not only the three big S’s (Chicago Shakespeare, Second City and Steppenwolf), but also Victory Gardens and the Goodman. Other critics from New York and Toronto sent similar, although not quite as superlative, love letters this year. So it seems fitting this year that  our Players issue, in the past reserved for members of the theater community who wield the most power, focus on the artists—those both on stage and behind-the-scenes who make out-of-towners go home and drool. Read the rest of this entry »