August-September Highlights

	Adrian Piper, I Am the Locus (#2 in a series of five images), 1975.

Smart Museum of Art
Adrian Piper: The Mythic Being.
Saturday, Sept. 16 through Sunday Dec. 10
5550 S. Greenwood Ave.
http://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu. 702-0200.

In 1973, Adrian Piper created an alter-ego, the Mythic Being, who became the basis of a pioneering series of performances and photo-based works. Piper—a light-skinned woman of mixed racial heritage—transformed herself into the Mythic Being by donning an Afro wig, sunglasses and mustache and adopting behavior conventionally identified as masculine. In the process, she transformed the conceptual art practices common in the period, infusing them with strong personal and political content. This exhibition gathers together works from all facets of the Mythic Being project, including major work from the Smart Museum’s collection and selections from the Adrian Piper Research Archive, some of which document private performances of the Mythic Being never before publicly presented.

	Avery Preesman, “Warped,” 1997, plaster, concrete on wood

The Renaissance Society
Avery Preesman
Sunday, Sept. 17 through Sunday, Oct. 29
Cobb Hall, 5811 S. Ellis Ave., 4th Floor
http://renaissancesociety.org. 702-8670.

Preesman’s sculptures and paintings display a formalism that is architectural in its reverence for structure and archaeological in the handling of materials. His wall-mounted, plaster-caked cage forms and painterly grid-based abstractions are suffused with nostalgia for a modernism that is aging with soul if not grace. In addition to exhibiting several recent paintings and sculptures, Preesman will create two major site-specific works that engage the gallery’s floor and windows. The opening reception is on Sunday September 17, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., with a public-discussion with the artist from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

	During World War II, women replaced men in RR Donnelley’s large gravure presses.

Special Collections Research Center
Printing for the Modern Age: Commerce, Craft and Culture in the RR Donnelley Archive
Friday Sept. 15, through Monday, Feb. 12
Joseph Regenstein Library, 1100 E. 57th St.

From the time of its founding in Chicago in 1864, R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company has established a strong reputation as an innovative leader in all fields of the modern commercial printing industry. This exhibition explores the enormous impact of printing technology and printed products on modern life by drawing on the rich content of the RR Donnelley corporate archive, which was presented as a gift to the University of Chicago in 2005. The Archive offers great research potential for students and scholars in modern social and cultural history, the history of printing and the graphic arts.

	The Tony Award-winning musical Raisin opens at Court Theatre

Court Theatre
Raisin
Thursday Sept. 14, through Sunday, Oct. 22
5535 S. Ellis Ave. (773) 753-4472
http://www.courttheatre.org

The Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of the Lorraine Hansberry landmark classic comes home to the South Side. Director Charles Newell and Music Director Doug Peck will reunite for the first time since last season’s hit revisionist Man of La Mancha to bring this exuberant and powerful musical to the Court stage. The story of a black family in Chicago on the cusp of the civil rights movement, their desire for the American dream leads them to discover the true meaning of love, courage and honor. The musical garnered nine Tony Award nominations and won Best Musical of 1974.