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Upcoming Events: Sex, Drugs & Shakespeare (Plus Soup!)

By Mason Johnson

I have no desire to tell you that you make poor choices in life.

But you do.

The weather's improving, moods are brightening, events are happening. Get out of your house and go have some fun.

Back Room Shakespeare
(Credit: backroomshakespeare.com)

Back Room Shakespeare Project: Twelfth Night/Thirteenth Night

Metropolis Roasting House's warehouse
5545 N Clark Ave.
Chicago, IL
backroomshakespeare.com
improvisedshakespeare.com

April 15, 7:30pm

Personally, I've always considered ol' Bill Shakespeare a bit too lowbrow for my tastes, but I'm always willing to give a struggling playwright another chance.

Back Room Shakespeare Project is teaming up with the Improvised Shakespeare Company to present Shakespeare in a way that even I might find enjoyable. Back Room Shakespeare Project is a group of actors that perform Shakespeare in whatever seedy taverns will have them. Tonight, they won't be performing in a tavern at all, but Metropolis Roasting House's warehouse (don't worry, there will be beer). Their approach to Shakespeare is simple: the actors read the play they intend to perform, maybe rehearse it, maybe not, get together, and just sorta wing it.

The talent of the actors and improvisers involved makes this a pretty entertaining endeavor.

Bringing the Improvised Shakespeare Company into the mix will more than double the entertainment. An improv group that performs audience suggestions in the vain and style of Shakespeare, they're adept at making off-the-cuff jokes in the same Shakespearean language that pissed you off in high school. So yeah, they're extremely funny.

This event is perfect for the Shakespeare addicts and Shakespeare haters alike.

Porcelain Horse
(Credit: chicagolatinofilmfestival.org)

29th Chicago Latino Film Festival

AMC Loews
600 North Michigan
Chicago, IL 60611
chicagolatinofilmfestival.org

April 11-25

With such a large, awesome Latino community, it makes sense Chicago would have a large, awesome Latino film festival.

Though it started last Friday, the Chicago Latino Film Festival is still going strong until April 25th. Every single night, Chicago is host to some of the best films from Latin America. (And, in turn, some of the best films in the world. What? Don't tell me you were under the impression that Hollywood was the only place in the world that produced good movies?) The films run the gamut of genres and content, to the extent that there's a film here for everyone. Even the non-Spanish speaking among us can appreciate most of these movies thanks to a little thing called subtitles.

If you're lookin' to see a movie tonight or Wednesday, you might as well go with the extreme and see Porcelain Horse. A movie about reckless abandon in the vein of sex, drugs and rock n' roll, it's not exactly a family film. If you like to watch movies with destructive main characters surrounded by equally destructive supporting characters, Porcelain Horse is your jam.

See the Chicago Latino Film Festival's full schedule of movies here.

Soup & Bread
(Credit: soupandbread.net)

Soup & Bread & Pie

The Hideout
1354 West Wabansia
Chicago, IL 60642
www.hideoutchicago.com
soupandbread.net

April 17

Soup & Bread is a community project where a number of soup lovers gather to, well, eat soup. If you feel like you've been missing out on something amazing, don't miss this, it's the last Soup & Bread of the season!

Every week, a handful of professionals and soup lovers gather at the Hideout to make soup to a theme. Wednesday's theme is "The Pantry Shelf" and will feature soups with common ingredients like milk, onions and potatoes. Cooks this week are Swim Cafe, Mana Food Bar, Hoosier Mama Pie Co. baker Allison Scott, and staff and dieticians from Vital Bridges.

Soup & Bread isn't just an excuse to be a glutton. The goal of Soup & Bread is to raise money for hunger-relief organizations in a fun and tasty way. So, you know, show up, donate some money at the door, stuff your face, and feel good for doin' something good.

Mason Johnson is a miserable human being, but he's okay with that. He has one of them fancy twitter things.

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