Friday 11/8-Thursday 11/14
Sleep with the fishes and live to talk about it at Shedd Aquarium’s family overnighter. Cost is $45 per person and includes a marine-mammal behavior presentation, access to the frogs exhibit, and a pizza dinner and continental breakfast. Participants should bring their own sleeping gear (no flashlights–you’ll scare the fish). Doors open tonight at 6:30 at the aquarium, 1200 S. Lake Shore; party’s over at 8:30 tomorrow morning. Attendance is limited, and kids must be at least eight years old. Call 312-939-2438 for reservations.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
9 SATURDAY Every course in the Chicago Humanities Festival feast is served on the same platter, though they don’t all fit equally well. That’s either part of the fun, or a bit of an irritation. This year’s theme is birth and death. According to festival publicity, keynote speaker Edward Albee “sees birth and death as an analysis of our era–a warning about the emptiness of our lives, the threats to our communal nation, our culture, our educational system, and our moral health.” Today you can see a performance of Albee’s 1959 play The Sandbox, a stripped-down ditty about Grandma’s passing that presents Albee’s trademark sardonic take on the American family. It’s at 10 this morning at Roosevelt University’s O’Malley Theater, seventh floor, 430 S. Michigan. In the best Humanities Festival spirit, there will be a postplay Great Books-type discussion for people who have read the script. Albee will be giving the keynote address, “The Rise of the Inhumanities,” tomorrow morning at 10 at Orchestra Hall, 220 S. Michigan. Cost for each festival event is $3; tickets can be purchased by phone at 312-294-3000 or at the Orchestra Hall box office. (The only way to guarantee admission is to purchase a ticket, but show up ticketless at any event that has seats available at starting time and you’ll get in free.)
The Chicago Children’s Choir and more than 140 kinds of chrysanthemums will be on hand for today’s opening reception of the Garfield Park Conservatory Chrysanthemum Flower Show. The free event is from 2 to 5 at 300 N. Central Park; the show will be open 9 to 5 daily through December 1. Call 312-747-1470.
13 WEDNESDAY Looking for something to cover that nasty hole in the wall? The banners that sprout from the city’s lampposts, promoting everything from the Bulls to the Blues Fest, will be auctioned off from noon to 1:30 today and tomorrow at Daley Plaza, Dearborn and Washington. Admission is free; sale proceeds benefit the Chicago Anti-Hunger Federation (cash and checks only). Call 312-744-3315 for more information.
