Dive into summer at Barefoot Bay open house

Family Fun: Explore Barefoot Bay in Mundelein, honor Memorial Day in Libertyville, take a wildflower walk in Waukegan and clean up Rollins Savanna in Grayslake.

Frequently hysterical ‘Hysteria’

HYSTERIA ★ ★ ★ 1/2 The Victorian era is justly famous for many fine developments: railroads, neo-gothic architecture, universal suffrage, the rise of the middle class and inventions such as photography, the phonograph and the telephone. Stuffiness, too. The Victorians developed stiff, stuffy propriety to …

Diversions: 4 picks for the coming week

Looking for fun, fancy or off-the-beaten-path options for the coming week? We present four, for your consideration.

Highland Park artist works in Japanese style

Highland Park’s Kay Thomas’ first exposure to sumi-e, or Japanese ink painting, was an art lesson show on public television in 1963. “This caught my attention and intrigued me,” explains Thomas.

Charactistically Asian, sumi-e painting, or literally, ink painting, is the art of extracting the …

One-woman show tells a hairy tale

Deborah Staples is playing a colorful role at Writers’ Theatre in Glencoe. Actually, she’s playing several of them as “The Blonde, The Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead.” Robert Hewett’s one-woman play begins when a redheaded housewife named Rhonda Russell reveals that her husband is moving …

Historic postcards are art in miniature

In England, around the turn of the 20th century, if you thought about greeting cards, Christmas cards and, especially, postcards, you were probably thinking of Raphael Tuck & Sons. The firm began in a small frame and print shop in Bishopsgate, achieved great success in …

New theater company debuts in Highland Park

There’s something about the ancient art of story-telling that simply will not go away. It’s been a draw as long as there have been campfires — and people brave enough to stand up and rap about whatever comes to mind. Hunting mastodons, wrangling with mothers-in-law, …

‘Pirates’ continues through June 10 at Marriott

Alene Robertson, (from left), Omar Lopez-Cepero and Kevin Earley are some of “The Pirates of Penzance,” running through June 10 at the Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire. Shows at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 4:30 p.m. and 8 …

Arts and entertainment calendar for May 24

Stage

“The Last Five Years” will be presented by Liberty Town Productions at 7:30 p.m. May 25-26 at Austin’s Fuel Room, 481 Peterson Road, Libertyville. The all-sung story explores a five-year relationship between a rising novelist and a struggling actress. Dinner-theatre tickets are $35 (buffet, …

Train Days chug into Libertyville’s Lambs Farm

Family Fun: Man the train controls in Libertyville, unwrap ‘Willy Wonka Jr.’ in Round Lake, enjoy ‘Chipwrecked’ in Mundelein, celebrate mom in Vernon Hills and visit Bonner Heritage Farm in Lindenhurst

Diversions: 4 picks for the coming week

Looking for fun, fancy or off-the-beaten-path options for the coming week? We present four, for your consideration.

Libertyville troupe stages ‘The Last Five Years’

You want to root for Cathy in the musical, “The Last Five Years,” when you know the young woman playing her, Carley Wilson Alcorn, of Buffalo Grove, is celebrating her second wedding anniversary on the closing weekend of the show. “The Last Five Years,” by …

Highland Park Strings in concert

Stephen Burns conducts the Highland Park Strings in the season’s finale, “Now and Then” at 3 p.m. May 20 at Highland Park High School, 433 Vine Ave. The program includes works by Haydn, Schubert and Mozart, as well as “Serenade for Flute, Strings and Percussion” …

Plan a ‘Girls Night’ Out

Although actress Tina Jensen, who plays Carol in the stage presentation of “Girls Night: The Musical,” believes that many audience members appreciate the great songs in the show, she also thinks there is a bit of a message.

“I think it speaks to women and …

Flawless cast celebrates life, love in ‘Music’

Full disclosure: We’ve seen “A Little Night Music” three times in the past year — twice with leading ladies of serious star wattage writ on bold on the marquee. And while it’s in bad taste and unfair to compare, we’re going to do so anyway. …