Friday 17
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Since premiering her one-woman show Temporary Girl at the late, lamented Lower Links two years ago, Lisa Kotin has done everything from a four-month run at the Improv’s Backstage Theater to acclaimed performances in festivals in San Francisco and Edinburgh. The show, an edgy, offbeat collection of skits and films about life as a temporary office worker, returns for a summer’s worth of performances at the Famous Door Theater, in the Jane Addams Hull House, 3212 N. Broadway. It plays at 11 PM Fridays and Saturdays through August 20; tickets are $8. Call 404-8283 for reservations.
Saturday 18
The Sandburg Slam celebrates poetry, Father’s Day, and the father of all Chicago poets, Carl Sandburg. It’s at the Big Shoulders Cafe in the Chicago Historical Society, at Clark and North, tonight. Cohosts Christopher Stewart of Circadian Rhythm and comedian Jeff Garlin will interpret Sandburg. Then the evening, which is a benefit for the Guild Complex, slips back into slam mode: you’ve got three minutes to recite a poem about Chicago, which the audience will rate. Admission is $5, $2 for participating poets. If you eat dinner at the cafe, it’s free. Things get under way at 5. Call 278-2210 to preregister or 587-7766 for dinner reservations.
Wishbone’s annual urban picnic celebrating the summer solstice starts at 6:30 this evening. This year, the ultrafriendly West Loop eatery is blocking off Morgan Street between Washington and Madison for the party, which will serve up restaurant specialties like hoppin’ john and jambalaya for $4 to $6; free music from Stuart Rosenberg and Friends, Las Toallitas, and others; free performances by drum troupe Jellyeye and performance artist Lisa Kotin; and readings by a phalanx of psychics for $15 to $30. The restaurant’s at 1001 W. Washington. Call 850-2663.
The folks at Chicago Fine Arts Exchange look at art with a businessperson’s eye: “Art is sold without reserve with the value of every piece determined solely by the marketplace,” they say proudly. You get the feeling they’d just as soon be selling soybeans. Anyway, tonight they’ve got a truckload or two of Chinese art on the block, to be auctioned off by gallery cofounder Joel Langer. It’s free to go watch, from 7 to 11 at 815 W. Chicago. Call 850-2787.
