It’s unfortunate that Shakespeare reminds us of all the high school teachers we hated for making us read him. But now that we’re adults, we figure it’s time to come back to Shakespeare with a fresh slate so we can understand what all the centuries of fuss have been about. We’re lucky Chicago dell’Arte is around to help us out. We saw the theater company perform their rendition of Much Ado About Nothing this weekend, and we’re glad to report that thanks to their interpretation of the play, we understand this Shakespeare stuff a little bit better now. more ›

You've either sent your kids off to school or you've held them back for one more day. You've read the advanced text of the speech. You've vented your frustration at the right or made your argument to the left. All that's left to do now is...actually watch the speech. You can watch Obama's speech to the nation's schoolchildren today at 11 a.m. (Chicago time) via the White House's official website or via C-Span, who have also posted videos of speeches to school students from Presidents Reagan (1988) and George H.W. Bush (1991). We'll be watching because we're suckers for anything endorsed by Tony Stewart. more ›

Note: This is Part 2 of an occasional series. Part 1 can be found here. Theater companies have been working overtime lately, killing a forest to print their brochures and flooding inboxes with exciting emails—You Just Can’t Miss This Season!, We’ve Got Stuff You Can’t See Anywhere Else!, and Its’ Our Anniversary! Are You Going To Stand Me Up On Our Anniversary?!?! It’s a lot of clutter and noise, but it’s far more interesting than... more ›