Friday 22
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The disabled community has seen three big political victories recently: the passage of the federal Americans With Disabilities Act, the approval of Chicago’s human-rights ordinance, and the recent appointment of Larry Gorsky as a special assistant for disability issues to Mayor Daley. Tonight the mayor, Senators Paul Simon and Bob Dole, U.S. Representative Cardiss Collins, and Governor Jim Thompson will be thanked for their work on disabled issues–and also hear what still needs to be done–at the 10th-anniversary benefit dinner for Access Living, a resource and advocacy center for the disabled. The keynote speaker will be Ed Roberts, the disabled activist who founded the pioneering Center for Independent Living in Berkeley, California, after which Access Living is modeled. Dinnertime is 6:30 at Cafe Brauer, 2021 N. Stockton Drive. Tickets are a tax-deductible $125. Call 226-5900 or 226-1687.
During her lifetime, surrealist painter Frida Kahlo painted scores of self-portraits–indeed, it’s rare to find a figurative painting of hers in which she isn’t featured. She depicted herself with monkeys, deer, Karl Marx, and her husband, muralist Diego Rivera, and portrayed herself as virgin, invalid, butch, angel, earth mother, and flower. Frida: The Last Portrait, the one-act play Donna Blue Lachman (of the Blue Rider Theatre) developed a few years ago based on the life of the Mexican-Jewish artist, tops the bill at tonight’s spring benefit for the Evanston Art Center, 2603 Sheridan Road in Evanston. The festivities begin with dinner at 6. Frida plays twice, at 8 and 9:30, and there will be live music and dancing throughout the evening. The winner of the evening’s raffle will get a two-hour portrait sitting with artist Ann Ponce. Raffle tickets are $5 each. Tickets for the dinner and show are $100, $50 for the show only. Call 708-475-5300.
The first big flood of European Jewish settlers in Israel came during its founding in 1948, when the majority of its residents came looking for refuge during the diaspora after World War II. Israel is now experiencing its second big wave of European Jews–coming from the Soviet Union. They’re arriving by the thousands every day now that emigration restrictions have been eased in the USSR. Polls show that many Israelis hope the influx of Russian Jews will keep their country geared toward more Western, rather than Middle Eastern, values. Carlos Rizowy, political analyst for National Public Radio and president of the Organization of Children of Holocaust Survivors, will speak on The End of the Cold War: Its Effect on Mid-East Politics beginning at 7 PM at the Florence Heller Jewish Community Center, 524 W. Melrose. Admission is $8. For more, call the Dawn Schuman Institute at 708-945-8383.
Brazen performance artist Paula Killen ought to be able to twirl her tassels with the best of ’em. In Sharon Evans’s brand new show, Girls, Girls, Girls, Live on Stage, Totally Rude, Killen teaches fellow performer Catherine Evans all about exotic dancing, the limits of censorship, libel, and porn. The show opens tonight and continues through August 19 at the Live Bait Theatre, 3914 N. Clark. Show times are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 7. Tickets are $9. Call 871-1212.
