JULY
David “Beez” Barry, a stalwart Starlight Foundation volunteer who died playing softball last summer, will be memorialized at a 16-inch softball tourney this weekend in Evanston. To raise money for the foundation, which grants wishes to terminally ill children, 28 men’s teams and 32 coed ones will compete from 8 to 11 tonight, 8 to 5 tomorrow, and 9 to 5 Sunday in James Park, Oakton and Dodge in Evanston. It’s free to go and watch. Call 269-5188.
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The Great Books Foundation, founded in 1947 by Robert Maynard Hutchins, convenes A Gathering of Equals from 9:30 to 3:30 today at the Harold Washington Library, where small groups of Chicagoans will discuss quintessentially democratic documents like the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.” It’s too late to sign up to participate in the discussion groups, but afterward a panel discussion on Lincoln’s second inaugural address–that’s the “with malice toward none, with charity for all” one–is free and open to the public. That’s from 4:30 to 6 PM in the downstairs auditorium of the library, 400 S. State. Call 332-5870.
Sunday 9
In the short story “Big Blonde” Dorothy Parker limned her most full-bodied and memorable creation, one Hazel, and unblinkingly charted her descent from marginal good-time girl to doomed floozy. Since 1991 Shirley Anderson’s one-woman show based on the story has had a few incarnations around town; now she’d like to take it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. To help pay for her trip, she’s performing Big Blonde tonight, tomorrow, and Wednesday at 8 at Live Bait Theater, 3914 N. Clark. It’s $8. Call 871-1212 for more.
Muki Tsur, a leader in the Israeli kibbutz movement, speaks today on The Crisis in the Kibbutz Movement: Creative Solutions in a Changing Israel. A free presentation of the Labor Zionist Alliance and the American Jewish Congress, it starts at 7:30 tonight in the Beth Emet Synagogue, 1224 Dempster in Evanston. Call 973-3924 for details.
Fans of Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding–the participatory play that has proved a lasting hit off Broadway and at Piper’s Alley–can help celebrate the show’s second anniversary in Chicago tonight at 10:30 at Drink, where the cast will be on hand to party and give away prizes. It’s free for women, $2 for men. Drink is at 541 W. Fulton. Call 441-0818.
