Arts & Entertainment
An Artist Lecture and a ‘Science on Screen’ Film Series: 4 Arts Picks for Your Week
John Travolta and Nicolas Cage in ‘FACE/OFF’ (Paramount Pictures)
Every Thursday, WTTW News newsletter producer Josh Terry highlights his picks for the week’s must-see cultural events.
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I tend to associate March with sports. There’s the month’s titular men’s and women’s college basketball “Madness,” of course, but Major League Baseball begins its new season this week, too. And don’t forget Major League Soccer, NWSL, the NBA, the NHL and all the major tennis tours being in full swing. While there are few things more fun than taking in individual and team-based athletic accomplishments, your month can’t just be sitting behind a TV screen spectating. You should diversify your schedule with enriching cultural events, like these four things happening in the Chicago area.
Film: “Trading Faces: ‘FACE/OFF’ with Michelle Rinard and Dr. David Morris” — Gene Siskel Film Center
“Face/Off” was a 1997 John Woo-directed action film where an FBI agent (John Travolta) swaps faces with a terrorist (Nicolas Cage) in order to stop another major crime. On its face, it’s an outlandish premise, but the Gene Siskel Film Center’s latest installment in its Science on Screen series asks, “How wild is it, really?” At 6 p.m. Friday, the theater will screen the film and host a Q&A discussion with Michelle Rinard, director and curator of the International Museum of Surgical Science, and plastic surgeon Dr. David Morris. They “will explain how plastic surgery, facial reconstruction, and even facial transplants aren’t new sciences, but something the medical community has been working on for decades.” Buy tickets here. (FYI: The repeat screenings don’t feature the post-film interview).
Comedy: Margaret Cho — the Vic Theatre
Margaret Cho is an Emmy-nominated stand-up comedian and actress who you might recognize from “All-American Girl,” “30 Rock” and “Fire Island.” Her decades-long career has had one constant and that’s Cho being consistently funny, blending searing social commentary with incisive introspection and yes, some crude humor, too. On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. she makes a stop in Lakeview on her “CHOLIGARCHY” tour. Buy tickets here.
Play: “The Ally” — Theater Wit
The Tony-winning playwright behind “The Band’s Visit” has a new story that’s right at the center of some of the world’s thorniest political debates. “The Ally,” a 2025 Pulitzer finalist from Itamar Moses, promises to be a “timely exploration of campus politics, family dynamics, and the fraught terrain of contemporary social discourse.” It follows a college professor who is asked by a student to sign a manifesto that ignites an explosive debate. Despite its national acclaim, reviews have been mixed: the New York Times wrote that it was “almost too artful, arraying its eloquent arguments in clever pairs of impossible contradiction,” while the left-wing magazine Jacobin called it “an exercise in liberal ambivalence.” Buy tickets here.
Art: Lauren Lee McCarthy Lecture — Art Institute of Chicago
On Tuesday, March 31, at 6 p.m., the Art Institute of Chicago is hosting a lecture and Q&A with Lauren Lee McCarthy, an artist focused on “examining social relationships in the midst of surveillance, automation and algorithmic living.” The talk is free and open to the public. Registration isn’t required, but you can click here for more details.
WTTW News arts coverage is supported by the JCS Arts, Health & Education Fund of the .