Next Events
soccer island Friday, June 12 at 7 PM + Saturday, June 13 at 2 PM
What to Keep? every other Wednesday from 4-6 PM through June 17
Past events: What to Keep? 11.5-11.12-11.19.25 + 1.21-2.4-3.18-4.8-4.22-5.6-5.20-6.3.26 Mooove Voice 5.17.24 + 3.15-6.12-11.13.25 + 4.2-5.27.26 Two Summers on Hayes Ave 5.21.26 The Puppet Zoo! 1.17.26 Tending to the Mother in Me 5.23-6.07.25 Screen Test 9.21.22 + 10.18.23 + 4.05.25 FRUTAS 10.23-11.13-12.11.23 + 2.26-4.15-6.17-8.19-10.21-12.09.24 A Girly Show 10.4-10.5.24 On the Edge 9.26.24 Rising Up Angry 11.20.23 *between the tongue and the taste* 4.19-5.17-6.21-7.19-8.16-9.20.23 In the Future Something Will Have Happened 9.1-9.2.23 Where yo Wurkz/Where yo Mental 8.18.23 Reading the Landscape 9.28-11.02-12.07.22 + 1.11-5.31.23 The Collective Mending Sessions 3.25.23 Ende, Taul, Yu 10.18.22 BOUNDARYMIND 5.28.22 Drift 9.25-10.16.21 In-betweening 7.23.21 Twin Cities 3.29-5.9.21
Featuring Mark Alcazar Diaz, Christopher Corey Allen, Crystal Beiersdorfer, Lichen Bouboushian, Jared Brown, Maddie Brucker, Joseph Bryant, Ruth K. Burke, Salome Chasnoff, Ben Creech, Leslie Crum, Shir Ende, Eliza Fernand, Noa Micaela Fields, Ellie Durko Finch, FRUTAS, E. Mar Garcia, Rojo Génesis, Ali Georgescu, Amber Ginsberg, Laura Glover Rivera, Laura Goldstein, Sky Goodman and Cris War, Remy Guzman, Andres L. Hernandez, HIJACK, Felicia Holman, Michael James, Linda Jankowska, Lucky Pierre, Hyeji Kang, Mel Keiser, Robert Kelsey, Tracie Kunzika, Maya Lea, JeeYeun Lee, Elaine Lemieux, Ro(b)//ert Lundberg, Matt Martin, Regina Martinez, Lynneah McCarrell, AJ McClenon, Carole McCurdy, Kristin McWharter, Ana Mercado, Mitch Monroy, Sofía Moreno, Laleh Motlagh, Craig Neeson, blake nemec, Kim Nucci and Driven Arts Collective, Lola Ayisha Ogbara, Abby Palen, Willy Palomo, Mina Patel, Alan Perry, Carissa Pinckney, Klaus Pinter, Ruby Que, Catherine Reinhart, Jordan Rosenow, Christine Shallenberg, Karen Sherman, Anna Marie Shogren, Aurora Tabar, TAITAI xTina, Ramin Takloo-Bighash, Jane Tao, Oona Taper, Paige Taul, Gizeh Trejo, Tianjiao Wang, Loraine Wible, Emilie Wingate, Katherine Young, Cherrie Yu, Sara Zalek, Gwyneth Zeleny Anderson, and visitor-participants.
soccer island
Berger Park Cultural Center Theater
6215 N Sheridan Road, Chicago IL
Readings
Friday, June 12 at 7 PM
Saturday, June 13 at 2 PM
Written and Directed by Gabriel Chalfin-Piney-González
Performed by Rosé Hernandez, Amari Amai, Zachary Nicol, and Fionn Casper-Strauss
Two young people are on a soccer field, held up by a pole in the middle, one of those humid late summer afternoons. The platform of the field appears to balance, like a golf ball on a tee. The pole travels down about a hundred feet below the field before getting lost in the ocean and travels up about ten or so feet through the middle of the field, like a newly planted tree. There are no landmarks around, the field balances alone in the ocean. At times, the platform seems motionless, floating, other times it teeters back and forth guided by the breeze, always managing to come back to center. There are a few prominent holes in the field. The holes have been patched up with the netting from the soccer goals. A chicken bounces on the netting, high above the ocean.
The reading runs 40 minutes with no intermission. The play is written for an adult audience and includes scenes of drug abuse. Please email with access questions.
Gabriel Chalfin-Piney-González is a craft-centered artist from Poughkeepsie, NY.World building, oral and ecological histories, prison dismantling futurism, self taught artistic practices and multi-sensorial reciprocal performance centers much of their artistic practice. Chalfin-Piney-González has shown work at Patient Info (2026), Evoke Gallery (2025), Design Museum of Chicago (2024), Heaven Gallery (2024), WeatherProof (2024), apexart (2024), Arts of Life/Circle Contemporary (2024), Comfort Station (2023), Tiny Table Gallery (2023), Bird Show (2023), Speedwell Projects (2022), Buoy Gallery (2022), Chicago Artists Coalition, (2021, 2020), Terrain Exhibitions (2020), High Concept Labs (2019), The Kleinert James Center for the Arts (2017), The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (2017); and featured on WBEZ, ArtNews, New City Magazine, Spaces Archive, The Chicago Sun Times, The Chicago Reader, Hey Alma, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and The Chicago Humanities Festival.
These events are being shared as part of Movement Studies – a programming series investigating social and environmental transitions. This project is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; Reva and David Logan Foundation; Teiger Foundation; and through in-kind support from Chicago Park District.
What to Keep?
(a talk circle guided by Carole McCurdy)
Berger Park Cultural Center
6205 N Sheridan Road, Chicago IL
Spring Sessions
Wednesday, June 3 from 4-6 PM
Wednesday, June 17 from 4-6 PM
We all own physical items—clothing, photographs, mementos, to name a few—that we aren't sure what to do with. We may no longer use or even see them on a regular basis. Some may feel burdensome and hard to think about.
This is an invitation to talk about such items, to think aloud about what you want or need to keep . . . and what you want or need to let go of.
Our supportive talk circle will encourage discussion of:
- things that hold stories about you or loved ones;
- things that you’ve intended to sift through (and maybe discard) for a long time, but it’s been too overwhelming;
- things that you absolutely need to hold on to, or save for others;
- things that are hiding away in storage, and who even knows what they are;
- things that you’ve already discarded, and how you managed it.
The goal is to share our experiences and ideas without any judgment, advice, or insistence on solutions. Talking and listening together may help us find our individual solutions at our own pace. In other words, no pressure! If you can, please bring an item you’d like to talk about, or a photo of it. If you have questions, please reach out to us!
Carole McCurdy is a Chicago-based artist whose work addresses grief and anxiety, duty and resistance, and the absurd mysteries of embodiment. She has performed at spaces including the Chicago Cultural Center, Epiphany Dance, Links Hall, Hamlin Park, High Concept Laboratories, Defibrillator Gallery, and Movement Research (NY). She received a 2016 Lab Artist award from the Chicago Dancemakers Forum and was a Fall 2016 Sponsored Artist at High Concept Laboratories, Chicago. She created and directed an ensemble piece, WAVER, with support from Chicago Dancemakers Forum, High Concept Labs, and 3Arts Chicago. Recently, she created Just Passing Through (2022) and Death Cleaning (2024) at Roman Susan. For more information, please visit carolemccurdy.com.
These events are being shared as part of Movement Studies – a programming series investigating social and environmental transitions. This project is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; Reva and David Logan Foundation; Teiger Foundation; and through in-kind support from Chicago Park District.