Preview: Our Future Metropolis/Lookingglass Theatre Company

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The Daniel Burnham bandwagon has left the station on this, the hundredth year since the famed architect and urban planner pitched his vision for our city and set Chicago on a new course to greatness. You could settle for sculptural tributes in the park or explore the future of the man’s legacy on public radio, or you could just meet the man yourself. You have only four chances to catch Lookingglass Theatre Company’s “Our Future Metropolis: Mr. D.H. Burnham Presents a Plain Talk for the Development of Chicago, ” adapted and directed by Lookingglass ensemble member John Musial and featuring ensemble member Raymond Fox. The dexterous company, often under the leadership of Musial, has made a fine practice of creating special events celebrating iconic Chicago events and people. Developed through careful research in the Art Institute’s Burnham Library, this show recreates the great thinker’s original sales pitch to Chicago’s powers that were. Think of it as an early-twentieth-century PowerPoint presentation with monumental stakes. (William Scott)

“Our Future Metropolis” plays July 13, 14, 20 & 21 at Lookingglass Theatre, 821 N. Michigan, (312)337-0665.

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