Last night I drove to Chicago to hang out with my sister. One of her friends is the lead in a play, so she suggested we go see it. The play was called Beirut, and it was showing at the Gorilla Tango Theatre in Bucktown. It was a tiny theatre that we passed right by because there was no sign outside, and the audience consisted of about six people, the majority of whom were friends of the lead actress. The context of the play was a futuristic world in which nobody is allowed to have sex and everyone who has HIV is quarantined. It centers around a man who has HIV, and his girlfriend who sneaks in to see him. The hour-long play is mostly them talking, with her trying to convince him that they should be together despite the HIV and the strict laws, and him resisting. The whole idea is that she would rather be dying on the outside with HIV but living on the inside because of their love instead of living without the disease but dead on the inside. Or something. Anyways, the acting was very good, but I’m still trying to figure out what the point of the story was. Was it a political or social commentary? Was it a prediction of where the AIDS crisis is going? Was it just a plain old love story? To be honest, I have no idea, and I think that’s where the play was flawed. I suppose the best angle would be the love story, because the other options just don’t make a lot of sense. But all that aside, I enjoyed it because it was such a different experience for me.

After the play, my sister and I went out for dinner. I left the decision up to Kristin because she knows the area a lot better than I do. After throwing out a bunch of suggestions, we finally ended up at a restaurant called Jane’s, which is by Club Lucky, where Kristin and her actress friend work. This was also a a bit of a different experience for me. The place was almost pitch black, save for a candle on the table and maybe one or two dim lights throughout the joint, if only so the servers could see where they’re going. My sister, foodie that she is, insisted on ordering an appetizer and dessert, with each of us getting our own entree. The food was very good, but it was definitely one of those places where everything is made with arugula and gouda rather than iceberg lettuce and cheddar cheese. The bill ended up being quite large, which always makes me cringe because I’m really anti-spending-a-lot-of-money in general, but I sucked it up for this one occasion.

It was a good night. I’m really trying to expand my horizons in terms of what I do when I go out, and I think I succeeded last night. Rather than go see a movie and have dinner at Panera, I saw an obscure play and ate at a unique restaurant in Chicago. I enjoy branching out. I’ve been doing it more lately, and it’s been good for me.