Smile Design Studio Welcome 2025
The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon
The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon
Smile Design Studio Welcome 2025
The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon
Smile Design Studio Welcome 2025
Mural on The Alley’s side depicting the surroundings of the original store at Belmont and Clark and one of Mark Thomas’s hearses parked nearby.

Long Live the Alley

By Agathe Demarolle / October 1, 2025
Rock ’n’ roll isn’t dead—the proof lives with Mark Thomas, founder and owner of The Alley, Chicago’s alternative haven.
Peter Michel leans into his guitar.

Hibou Dishes Up Summer Nostalgia at Chop Shop

By Saroya Ornelas Pagnucci / September 30, 2025
Peter Michel’s solo dream pop project freezes moments in time.
Sunrise at Promontory Point.

Hyde Park First-Date Spots

By Nolan Shaffer, Shawn Quek, Emily Sun, and Elizabeth Eck / September 22, 2025
Arts editors present a dozen options for dates—with budding romances, new friends or, in proper UChicago form, your course book.
Even in the enormous crowd for Gracie Abrams, it still felt like she was singing just to you. Courtesy of Charles Reagan.

What’s in a Festival Performance? Four Headliners at Lollapalooza Make It Look Easy

By Nolan Shaffer / August 21, 2025
Head Arts Editor Nolan Shaffer analyzes what made the biggest names of Lollapalooza so special.
With the precision and energy that Timothy Edward Kane brings to his role of the Poet, An Iliad feels real and relevant. Photograph courtesy of Court Theatre.

In An Iliad, Revelation and Illumination (Again)

By Nolan Shaffer / August 21, 2025
Court Theatre’s fourth restaging of the play continues to punch, reminding audiences of the power of contemporary adaptation.
Jacinda Ratcliffe and Dano Duran in Evanston Salt Costs Climbing. Courtesy of Michael Brosilow.

Evanston Salt Costs Climbing Skids Off the Road

By Zachary Leiter / June 28, 2025
This production of Evanston becomes about so many things—anxiety, suicide, climate change, technology, the supernatural, grief, love—that it isn’t really about anything.
John Judd and Esteban Andres Cruz in Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin. Courtesy of Evan Hanover.

Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin Dazzles and Delights

By Zachary Leiter / June 28, 2025
Such sweet, magical, well-constructed art as A Red Orchid’s Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin is not just rare to find in the theater. It is rare to find in the world.
Jade Chinese Music Ensemble members take a final bow after their Spring Concert of "Music in Popular Chinese Culture." Courtesy of Emma Edwards.

Jade Chinese Music Ensemble Blends East and West

By Jessalin Nguyen / June 20, 2025
On a rainy Sunday afternoon, the ensemble performed a dozen arrangements, taking listeners through centuries of musical history.
In her first night at the Salt Shed, Michelle Zauner cultivated a dreamy aura with a graceful stage presence and an unabashed flair.

Japanese Breakfast Brings a Bittersweet Taste to the Salt Shed

By Nolan Shaffer and Ciara Balanzá / June 16, 2025
At the For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) tour, Michelle Zauner refreshingly evoked the album’s dreaminess and titular emotion.
"Dance for me Wallis" choreographed by Siqi Xu. Courtesy of Rhythmic Bodies in Motion.

Rhythmic Bodies in Motion Stuns at Annual Showcase

By Violet Conklin / June 14, 2025
The UChicago dance RSO reminds the audience to be Here, There, Everywhere.
Chad Bay and Justin Albinder in Yasmina Reza’s Art. Courtesy of Nomee Photography.

Remy Bumppo’s Art Is Bright White and Brilliant

By Zachary Leiter / June 8, 2025
Art is fleeting, of a time and place, and, at its best, transformative.
Tyler Hyde, de facto lead vocalist of Black Country, New Road, exemplifies their new sound with her bow poised over the bass strings and her pick hanging out of her mouth.

Black Country, New Road is Back with a New Sound

By Josie Barboriak and Sofia Hrycyszyn / June 8, 2025
Folksy and upbeat, with colorful strings reminiscent of its cover art of a sun in sunglasses, Black Country, New Road’s Forever Howlong is the album of the summer.
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