Culture Club
By Naperville Magazine
July 2025 View more Featured
By Jeff Banowetz
A preview of upcoming art, theater, music, and comedy offerings
Art
Morton Arboretum introduces Vivid Creatures
A few years back, drivers heading west on I-88 through Lisle could spot a familiar figure atop the large hill on the grounds of the Morton Arboretum. A large wooden troll stood watch, spear in hand, overlooking the cars below, part of the “Troll Hunt” art installation by Thomas Dambo on display until 2021. Motorists will now notice a new creature atop the hill, one that may be more appropriate depending on the diving conditions: a giant snail.
It’s one of five sculptures created for the Vivid Creatures exhibition, the latest art installation that takes full advantage of the natural settings. It’s the brainchild of Portland-based artists Heather and Fez BeGaetz, who designed and built each of the larger-than-life sculptures in their studios before taking them apart and reassembling them on the arboretum grounds. The five creatures they created are animals “essential to the Illinois ecosystem,” according to Amy Scott, the arboretum’s head of exhibitions. Ranging in size from eight feet to 23 feet tall, they include a white-tailed deer, dragonfly, sandhill crane, fox squirrel, and brittle button snail. “I came across Heather and Fez’s work, and I was just drawn to the scale of their pieces and the colors that they used,” Scott says. “After speaking with them, I found that they each have a definite connection to nature and feel that nature is very important in our lives, and I thought they would be great partners.”
The artists came to visit the arboretum in 2023 and walked the grounds for inspiration, with the idea of creating “large and colorful” works, according to Scott, but otherwise she left it up to them on how to interpret the commission.
The results are animal forms that are in some ways realistically rendered, apart from their size and color. But the scope and vibrancy of the pieces will hopefully encourage people to think about how they interact with wildlife. “These are the normal animals that you see around you every day in northern Illinois, but maybe you don’t notice them all the time,” Scott says. “Maybe you get a little bit more curious and observant about the trees and plants and the nature and wildlife that you see everyday.”
The husband-and-wife team used steel and fiber-reinforced concrete construction—a steel skeleton is made before being coated with the fiber concrete, with lots of additional metalwork that adds a surprising sense of movement to the work. (The feathers on the sandhill crane and squirrel’s tail are particularly impressive.) “We really wanted to tell a story with each piece,” Fez says. “For the buck, we learned that deer love acorns, so we liked the idea of the deer being part of a tree, and we ended up with a sculpture that looks as if it’s extending up but still rooted in the ground.” The 22-foot-tall piece is stunning—and the legs are as if four tree trunks suddenly gave birth to this creature. “We love that image, and that sense that we’re entangled individuals, that our lives are wrapped up in each other,” Fez says.
While Heather tends to be known as the designer and Fez, with his background in construction, figures out the logistics of bringing what’s on the page to life, they emphasized that it was a collaborative effort to bring creatures of this size to life. “We’re both involved in every step of the process,” Heather says. “It’s not like I can just draw something and say ‘make this.’ It’s a long process of figuring out how the materials will work together to tell a story and create our shared vision.”
The five sculptures are displayed around the arboretum’s grounds, primarily within easy walking distance from the visitors’ center. The only one requiring a bit of a hike is the snail at the top of the hill, and a parking area nearby means it still accessible to most people. “We want people to explore the grounds, but we also want to make sure that everyone can see these pieces,” Scott says. “They’re here to bring joy to people, and if you make them too hard to find, that’s limiting who can see them.”
The exhibit is expected to run for two years, and the arboretum is already planning on for future art installations in 2027 and 2029. “I think art is just a wonderful way to provide a different way to motivate people to introduce people to the arboretum,” Scott says. “It also helps people maybe connect with nature in a different way that they weren’t connecting with before.”
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FAIR WEATHER
Organized by the Naperville Art League, the Riverwalk Fine Art Fair will bring the work of more than 100 artists to downtown Naperville on Sept. 20 and 21. This year the fair—one of the top-rated art fairs in the country—celebrates its 40th anniversary with the display of original paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and other fine artwork. Children’s activities, food booths, and music make this a family-friendly destination for art-lovers of all ages. For more info, visit napervilleartleague.com.
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Ride the Hokusai Wave
Even if you don’t know it by name, chances are you’ve seen a recreation of The Great Wave off Kanagawa, the 19th-century woodcut print by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. This summer, you can see the real thing as part of an exhibition running through September at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art and McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn (425 Fawell Blvd.) Featuring works from Japan’s Edo period (1603–1868), Hokusai & Ukiyo-e: The Floating World centers arounds a 70-piece collection on loan from the Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art in Genoa, Italy. Never seen in the United States before, the collection features original works from Hokusai as well as artifacts and other pieces from artists of the era. Additional elements custom-created for this exhibit include a re-creation of Hokusai’s home, a woodblock print workshop, a teahouse storefront, an immersive display on the history of manga and anime, a kids activity area, and an outdoor garden. Another component is Waves of DuPage: Beautiful Cities, presenting Rich Lo’s Ukiyo-e-style take on iconic DuPage County landscapes created for the public art project.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the MAC is hosting lectures, film screenings, classes, workshops, happy hours, and special events (like the Great Wave Print Fest on July 19).
Music
A symphony of choices
Listening to a symphony is always a treat, but summer offers the joy of hearing one in the great outdoors. The DuPage Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of guest conductor Andrew Dogan, will perform “All Creatures Great and Small” July 20 at Wheaton Memorial Park. The free concert will include sections from composers Leroy Anderson, Johann Strauss, Henry Mancini, and John Williams. Later that week the DSO will perform another free concert, at 6:30 p.m. July 24 in Naperville’s Central Park.
The symphony has announced the dates for its 2025–26 season, just not the programs yet. Musical director and conductor Barbara Schubert returns for another season with the orchestra, which has been performing since 1954. Held at Wentz Concert Hall (171 E. Chicago Ave.) in downtown Naperville, the concerts will be Oct. 11, Nov. 16., Dec. 14., Feb. 15, March 21, and May 16.
The Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra will hold its summer pops concert July 20 at the Aurora University’s Crimi Auditorium (1347 Prairie St.) The concert, titled “John Williams the GOAT,” will offer selections to please movie fans and classic music aficionados alike. The FVO has yet to announce its 2025–26 season, but it typically offers a half-dozen performances throughout the year, including at least one with the Fox Valley Orchestra Chorus.
The New Philharmonic is the professional orchestra in residence at the McAninch Arts Center, under the direction of Kirk Muspratt. It will kick off its season on Oct. 4 and 5, when it’s joined by 80 members of the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra Chorus to perform Carmina Burana, a cantata composed by Carl Orff. The next concert (Nov. 1 and 2) features two popular ballet suites—Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet and Prokofiev’s Cinderella. For the holidays, the symphony will accompany the Salt Creek Ballet in a performance of The Nutcracker (Dec. 20 to 21). On New Year’s Eve, soprano Alisa Jordheim will join in for a collection of classics, Strauss waltzes, and arias. The New Philharmonic begins 2026 with Broadway Through the Years (Jan. 31 and Feb. 1), again featuring the NISO Chorus in performing songs from 17 popular musicals. Its season concludes with Harp of Ages (April 11 to 12) by composer Michael Daugherty.
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FESTIVAL WATCH
The four-day St. Charles Jazz Weekend returns Sept. 11 to 14, bringing a variety of live jazz to several establishments along the Fox River. You’ll find more than three dozen acts throughout the festival, including jazz soloists, quintets, and big bands among the offerings this year. Among those performing are the Glen Miller Orchestra, American Idol vet Haley Reinhart and the Wayne Messmer Quartet. For more info visit stcjazzweekend.com.
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Touring and Local Acts
The Arcada Theatre (105 E. Main St.) in St. Charles offers everything from cover bands to music industry legends across genres. The 900-person venue was built in 1926 for vaudeville performances and has been both a movie theater and live entertainment venue over the years. The current owners completed a renovation in 2021, and it now primarily hosts musical acts. In the months ahead, you’ll be able to see bands like Night Ranger (July 29); Debby Boone with her father, Pat Boone (Sept. 21); and Sheena Easton and Tiffany (Oct. 2). You’ll find big bands, country music and folk among its crowded lineup.
The Venue (21 S. Broadway Ave.) in downtown Aurora is owned and operated by the nonprofit Fox Valley Music Foundation, and it’s another local spot with a packed schedule of live music. It books all genres of music, and often open acts feature local musicians and songwriters. It also hosts lectures, workshops, dances, films and other community-oriented events.
Theater
The curtains will rise
The Paramount Theatre (23 E. Galena Blvd.) in Aurora has become one of the largest regional theaters in the country, with its annual Broadway Series attracting nearly 40,000 subscribers and 350,000 people attending a show each season. The art-deco-influenced theater, which dates back to 1931, has been beautifully refurbished, creating an inviting venue to view its Broadway-quality productions.
This season’s four shows in the Broadway series begins with Come From Away, a 2017 Tony winner that’s making its Chicago-area regional premiere. The show, which runs from Aug. 20 to Oct. 12, is based on the true story of what happened on 9/11, when 38 airplanes were rerouted to the small town of Gander, Newfoundland, in Canada, stranding 6,579 passengers from more than a hundred countries. The population of the town doubled overnight, and the musical highlights how the small-town generosity changed the lives of both the visitors and the locals during a tragic time. That’s followed by the holiday show, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, based on the 1954 film of the same name, which will run from Nov. 12 to Jan. 11. Set in the immediate aftermath of World War II, the musical features two former soldiers who are now song-and-dance men who help save a small Vermont in by putting on a show. The third show of the season, Dear Evan Hansen, won the six Tony Awards in 2017, including for Best Musical—and it’s another Chicago-area regional premiere for Paramount. The innovative story, with music and lyrics by the team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (the duo behind The Greatest Showman), follows an anxious high schooler who gets trapped in a white lie that snowballs beyond his control. It runs from Feb. 4 to March 22. The final show of the season is the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic South Pacific, which won 10 Tony Awards when it debuted on Broadway in 1949. Based on the book Tales of the South Pacific by James M. Michener, the musical follows the wartime drama on an island in the Pacific while examining issues like racism and cultural differences.
Across the street from Paramount’s big theater is the Copley Theater (8 E. Galena Blvd.), which is home to its Bold Series of productions on a smaller scale. The smaller space (165 seats) has been home to several outstanding shows that benefit from being seen in a more intimate setting—A Streetcar Named Desire and Fun Home come to mind. This year’s slate of three shows begins with True West, a play by Sam Shepard about a sibling rivalry, that will run from July 16 to Aug. 31. It’s followed by the Chicago-area debut of Covenant (Oct. 1 to Nov. 9), a play by York Walker inspired by the mythology around blues musician Robert Johnson. The final production will be Ride the Cyclone (March 18 to May 24), a 2008 musical about six teenagers who die in a fatal roller coaster disaster and compete for a second chance at life.
Finally, Paramount’s production of Million Dollar Quartet at its (relatively) new Stolp Island Theatre (5 E. Downer Place) has extended its run that began this time last summer. The theater was created to replicate the famous Sun Studio in Memphis, where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins met one night for an unforgettable jam session. About a hundred seats line the studio for patrons, who are treated to an up-close look at the performance. Tickets are now on sale through Jan. 4.
The 971-seat Drury Lane Theatre (17W275 Butterfield Road) in Oakbrook Terrace offers both big Broadway-style musicals along with a play or two as part of its season. Running now through Aug. 3 is Always…Patsy Cline, a musical biography of the late country singer featuring 27 of her songs. That’s followed by Dial M for Murder (Sept. 3 to Oct. 26), a thriller about the perfect murder that goes wrong, based on the classic Alfred Hitchcock film with Grace Kelly. For the holiday season, Drury presents Sister Act (Nov. 12 to Jan. 11), the musical based on the 1992 movie with Whoopi Goldberg, which involves a woman in witness protection who joins a convent to hide from the mob. The final show of the season is On Your Feet (Jan. 28 to March 22), which highlights the career and music of Gloria Estefan.
BrightSide Theatre, a professional theater company in Naperville, returns in September for its 14th season, titled “For the Fun of It.” Most of its performances are at the Meiley-Swallow Hall (31 S Ellsworth St.), a cozy space with a thrust stage that BrightSide consistently uses to its fullest advantage. This year’s season begins with the cult-classic Rocky Horror Picture Show, followed by a singing of Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit’s Phantom. Based on the 1909–10 serial The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, this musical had the unfortunate timing of being completed just after the Andrew Lloyd Webber blockbuster, so it never had its own Broadway production. But the musical continued development over the years before finally being produced in 1991 in Houston and has since developed a strong fan base with over a thousand productions around the world.
This year’s play for BrightSide will be the Noel Coward comedy Private Lives, about a couple who can’t live with or without each other. The season concludes in the spring with Mel Brooks’s classic comedy musical The Producers, in which two out-of-luck Broadway producers scheme to create the worst musical in history, only to succeed beyond belief.
The Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, a professional theater troupe that performs at the MAC, has been putting on shows since 1986. This year’s season includes three shows, starting with Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley (Nov. 20 to Dec. 21). This is the final show in the Christmas at Pemberley trilogy, with BTE having performed the other shows over the last two holiday seasons. Each takes place in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice universe around the holidays, and viewing the earlier shows aren’t necessary to enjoy this one. In the winter, BTE will lean into comedy with Unnecessary Farce (Jan. 29 to March 1), with all the slamming doors, mistaken identity, and slapstick that you would expect from a farce. The final show of the season will be Birthday Candles (May 7 to June 7), a poignant and funny look at a woman as she ages from 17 to 101.
For an outdoor twist on the traditional theatrical experience, consider attending a Walking Play at the Morton Arboretum. The open-air plays are performed with professional actors outside at several locations in the arboretum over the course of about two hours. The actors (with the audience in tow) begin at one location, perform a scene, and then walk together to another setting for the next scene. A typical performance usually covers about two miles. This year’s summer show will be a performance of Pride and Prejudice and will run on Saturdays and Sundays from July 12 to Aug. 3. The romantic and funny show is told through the eyes of the Bennet sisters. The fall show—Farewell, Mr. Poe—runs Oct. 4 to 26, portraying the last four days in the life of a dying Edgar Allan Poe.
Comedy
An evening of standup is closer than you think
Banks aren’t usually considered funny. But at the Comedy Vault (18 E. Wilson St., Batavia)—the former home of the Batavia National Bank—you’ll find one of the region’s best comedy clubs with both local and touring comics performing each week, plus open-mic night Mondays for those brave enough to test their skills onstage. Shows typically last an hour and 40 minutes with an opening act, featured comic, and headliner each performing. Appetizers and drinks are available, and the comfortable room keeps everyone close to the stage. The fall’s headliners include David Koechner (The Office) Oct. 16 to 18, Tom Arnold (Roseanne and True Lies) Oct. 26, and Brian Posehn (The Big Bang Theory) Nov. 13 to 15. Ticket prices vary by comedian, but most shows are between $30 and $40.
CG’s Comedy Club (619 E. Boughton Road) at the Promenade Bolingbrook features standup on Friday and Saturday nights. Entry is typically $20, and you’ll often be able to see some of the best local comics around. CG’s hosts “standup throw-downs” and all-star nights as well.
Photos: The Morton Arboretum (crane and snail); Jen Banowetz (squirrel, artists, and Hokusai); the MAC (New Philharmonic); arcada theatre; Brett Beiner Photography (Cats); Brett Beiner Photography (Million Dollar Quartet); Brightside Theatre (Midsummer); The Comedy Vault (portraits)
