The 13th annual Chicago Humanities Festival, this year themed “Brains & Beauty,” runs through November 10 and offers dozens of lectures, readings, and discussions by writers, artists, and scholars (see schedule below), as well as film screenings and theatrical and musical performances (see separate listings in this section and in Section Three). The following events take place at these locations: Alliance Francaise, 54 W. Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago, Michigan and Adams; Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington; Chicago Historical Society, 1601 N. Clark; DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Pl.; Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Dr.; Harold Washington College, 30 E. Lake; Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State; Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago; Northwestern University School of Law, 375 E. Chicago; and Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan. Programs are $5 in advance, $6 (if available and cash only) at the door, unless otherwise noted (students and teachers are admitted free, with advance reservations). Advance tickets are available by phone at 312-494-9509 or on-line at www.chfestival.org (handling fees apply to phone and Web site orders).
The author of Birds of North America lectures on “Beauty and Imagination in the Dual Appeal of Birds.” 10 AM: Field Museum, Simpson Theatre.
“Celebrating Ralph Ellison’s ‘Invisible Man”‘
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Actor Freeman Coffey reads from the novel, followed by a panel discussion with William Ayers of UIC, Morris Dickstein of CUNY, Ken Warren of the University of Chicago, and journalists Salim Muwakkil and Laura Washington; moderated by former Great Books Foundation president Peter Temes. 11 AM: DuSable Museum.
The playwright (M. Butterfly) offers “A Second Flowering,” a discussion of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song. 11 AM: Harold Washington Library Center.
David Allen Sibley
The Polish novelist and theater director discusses Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape in “Being Oneself: What Does It Mean?” Actor Nicholas Rudall performs excerpts. 1 PM: Alliance Francaise.
