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Fall doesn’t just come back—it brings the whole notion of “back” back. We go back to work and, unless you’re talking about the CPS, back to school. Farmers hope to get back what they put into the dirt. City people wipe off the beach sand and get back into slacks and sweaters. The 4 PM dark comes back and so, eventually, does the cold. All summer long I’ve been taking the same nearly empty train to work; just this week it started running full, with all the riders I used to see every day. I don’t know where they were, but like swallows taking the CTA to Capistrano, they’ve come back.
The arts come back, too. Sure, there were music festivals, summer movies, and loads of shoestring performances to see when the weather was warm, but now things are about to get serious again—a motion comparable to the annual transition from frozen drinks back to amber liquids that taste of charred wood. Theater, dance, and the visual arts, in particular, adhere to the seasons; in fall they come back round to the beginning of their year.
—Tony Adler
Our Fall Arts Calendar
» Something to do every day for the 80 days of the fall arts season
Fall highlights: Theater
» One to watch: Eric Hoff stages The Skriker at Red Tape Theatre
» Ten best bets for fall theater: Trainspotting, 44 plays for 44 presidents, and more
Fall highlights: Comedy
» One to watch: comedian Brian Babylon works both sides of Chicago’s color line
» Three best bets for fall comedy: Pete Holmes, Mike Birbilgia, and Kyle Kinane
Fall highlights: Dance
» One to watch: tap dancer Starinah “Star” Dixon has performance in her blood
» Three best bets for fall dance: Imperial Silence: Un Ópera Muerta, Gallim Dance, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Fall highlights: Visual Art
» One to watch: Lucky Pierre’s 100 artistic acts of torture
» Six best bets for fall visual arts: Expo Chicago, Inside Studio Gang Architects, and more
Fall highlights: Lit
» One to watch: Seminary Co-op Bookstore has outlived the superstore assault
» Five best bets for fall books: Ray Bradbury, Chris Ware, Fran Lebowitz, and more
Fall highlights: Film
» One to watch: filmmaker Mary Fishman combats the culture of looking down on nuns
» Ten best bets for fall movies: Spielberg’s Lincoln, plus new movies from Steve James, David O. Russell, and more
Fall highlights: Music
» One to watch: genre-blind duo The-Drum launch R&B into space
» Ten best bets for fall music: Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall, A$AP Rocky with Schoolboy Q and Danny Brown, the Umbrella Music Festival, and more
