Profiles
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For years, artist Dan Peterman had labored to make something of the building at 6100 South Blackstone Avenue. In the mid-’80s, he joined a group that ran different ventures at the site, including arts studios and a recycling center. But he saw that the structure—which took up about a quarter of a city block—was falling into a state of disrepair: “It was in need of some serious attention,” he says. So, in the mid-1990s, Peterman began the process of buying the building and clearing out the recycling detritus that filled it...
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Originally published October 12, 2006, Time Out Chicago
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Most of us would cringe at the idea of returning to high school, let alone living there. But two years ago Nikol Lohr and Ron Miller decided to do just that. They bought four 1920s brick schoolhouses in rural Kansas, which they converted into an artist’s residency and their own home. “Since I was a little kid, my fantasy has always been to live in a school,” says Lohr, a 36-year-old writer who founded DisgruntledHousewife.com and recently published the knitting guide Naughty Needles...
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Originally published June 2007, VenusZine
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Fact may well be stranger than fiction, but it can also be funnier, sillier and tear-jerkier. So thought Molly Each and Ira Booker, co-editors of No Touching magazine and co-hosts of the mag's reading series. Centerstage sat down with Each to get her reflections on the past year, the line between fact and fiction and the books that make her go "Oh my gosh."
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Originally published February 15, 2007, Centerstage Chicago.
Ottavio Canestrelli's childhood was peculiar by almost any standards. With an eight-generation-long tradition of circus performance in his family, Canestrelli, along with his many siblings, was destined to grow up as part of the family act. He toured with his parents and siblings across North America and around the world, attending school in Florida only during slower winter months...
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Originally published February 6, 2007, Centerstage Chicago
Puppetry and burlesque may not seem the likeliest bedfellows, but for Meredith Miller, taking to the stage in the devil's dance with a puppet on her shoulder is perfectly natural. A School of the Art Institute grad, Miller first began working with puppets during a year-long internship at Red Moon Theater. She soon realized just how narrowly most people define puppetry—and came to define it quite oppositely herself, most currently as an ensemble member and master builder with Blair Thomas Company. We spoke with Miller about her latest projects and how she responds to people who assume that she builds muppets all day...
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Originally published January 1, 2007, Centerstage Chicago
You've got less than 10 minutes to duck into a wine shop and grab a bottle for dinner. But what will pair best with spicy food and stick with the concept of tasty, blissfully cheap BYO dining? Luckily, there are people like Diana Hamann in the world, an all-around wine expert who's as jazzed about turning people on to wine as she is about sipping stuff that's inexpensive...
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Originally published November 27, 2006, Centerstage Chicago
"I thought this was actually a sad literary scene when I moved to Chicago in 2000," says poet William Allegrezza, a teacher at Indiana University Northwest and an editor for experimental poetry journal Moria. "But then there was an explosion of reading series in the city, a real experimental renaissance." Allegrezza quickly became immersed in the literary scene, mainly traveling north to attend reading series that showcased experimental poetry. But when a few of the reading series went on hiatus, it sparked Allegrezza to bring some of that literary energy to his own neighborhood, Hyde Park...
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Originally published November 13, 2006, Centerstage Chicago
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Linda Bubon, the co-owner of Womean & Children First bookstore, is a busy woman. Her only free time for an interview was the thin time slot between story-hour and a meeting with a book vendor, though she warned me she'd be busy straightening the store while we talked. Scurrying behind her as she straightened shelves, I asked Bubon to fill us in on the bookstore's history and (a request she hears a dozen times a day) to throw a few recommendations my way...
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Originally published November 6, 2006, Centerstage Chicago
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Pat Bruno knows pizza. Dating his love of the pies back to Saturdays in upstate New York when his Calabrian mother would make pizza from scratch, he can talk toppings like you wouldn't believe. Centerstage recently sat down with Bruno, hungry to hear his top five spots to grab a slice of a regional specialty. As a true die-hard, Bruno didn't bother with details like ambience and appetizers. Here, it's all about the pizza...
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Originally published October 2, 2006, Centerstage Chicago
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Working at a bookstore with heavy foot traffic in Lakeview, Robert McDonald and Kathie Bergquist fielded questions from "What's going on in the city tonight?" to "Where can my mom and I go to eat where we'll both feel comfortable?" The duo quickly became advice-toting experts on the gay (and gay-friendly) Chicago scene and debated the idea of writing a gay guide to Chicago for years...
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Originally published September 18, 2006, Centerstage Chicago
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