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There are plenty of shows, films, and other events happening this weekend. Here’s what our critics say about what we recommend: Fri 4/13: “Bob Dylan has famously and relentlessly toyed with the melodies and arrangements of his voluminous repertoire, using his songs as perpetual works in progress despite the iconic status of many of them. His open-ended mind-set makes his ouevre particularly well suited for treatment by veteran soul singer Bettye LaVette, who in 2005 rebooted a largely moribund career by putting an indelible mark on songs by Dolly Parton, Aimee Mann, and Lucinda Williams on her now-classic record I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise....

I can think of at least 60 billion reasons why the Democrats changed the rules to allow Michael Bloomberg a spot at future presidential debates. Back to the rules change. Democratic candidates will be allowed on the debate stage if they reach a threshold in national polls—but there will be no threshold requirement for the number of contributors to a campaign. Donny and the MAGA hat crew will be crying their crocodile tears about the process being rigged against Bernie and Bernie bros getting screwed—when, in fact, they care about Bernie bros almost as little as they care about Black people....

Director Robin Witt places 34 audience seats—two groups of 12, two groups of five—on the stage surrounding the playing area for her keenly observed production of Lucas Hnath’s heady 2017 play. In essence, two juries and two galleries observe the proceedings: Nora, the proto-feminist heroine of Ibsen’s 1879 scandalous classic, returns to the household she left 15 years ago when she abandoned her husband, children, and all material comfort in the name of self-actualization, and Hnath spends 90 intellectually hypercharged minutes asking us to weigh everyone’s culpability....

If you want a sense of what Janine Nabers‘s Welcome to Jesus aspires to be—its ideal Platonic form—take a look at the Jordan Peele movie Get Out. The two productions have an awful lot in common—except that, where Get Out is a nasty-great piece of satire, there’s not much reason to come to Jesus, running now at American Theater Company. Out of the woods and into this misery walks Him (yes, that’s as much of a name as he gets), a mysterious black teen who, it happens, can throw a football hard, far, and accurately....

Some days, everything we try to say as journalists comes out wrong. People notice, and people are picky. Wife of a Bears’ lineman wins a bronze medal today in Rio Olympics https://t.co/kwZoGY0xAX pic.twitter.com/VZrjOvr80h — Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) August 7, 2016 And so forth. As always, there were men who stepped up in their own way to sound supportive: @chicagotribune filled with hope for my daughters’ future that this anonymous woman’s husband gave her permission to #bringhomethegold...

Old Town Pour House Damen Tavern Finalists: Kroll’s South Loop, WestEnd

Half Acre Beer Company Band of Bohemia Finalists: Forbidden Root Restaurant & Brewery, Marz Community Brewing Company, Bungalow by Middle Brow

Glitterguts 773-615-5446 glitterguts.com Runner-Up: Rainbo Club

Wolfbait & B-girls Runner-Up: Neighborly

People often talk about machines taking over society like it’s a bad thing, but Connecticut multi-instrumentalist Carl Testa envisions a relationship in which musicians and computers coexist just fine. Testa plays double bass and electronics with bandleaders such as Anthony Braxton and Tyshawn Sorey, but in his own groups he likes to focus on playing his strings while computer processing adds dynamics to the sound. Testa has developed a series of computer systems that analyze the playing of his collaborators and respond to it by imposing changes in amplitude, reverberation, and decay on each musician’s output....

Video games, dance shows, a parody of high school movies like Heathers—there are plenty of events this week. Here’s some of what we recommend: Tue 3/27: Throughout April, Chicago Dance Month hosts 60 to 80 dance events throughout the city, beginning with the Kickoff Celebration in Preston Bradley Hall at Chicago Cultural Center (77 E. Randolph). Enjoy performances by companies like Natya Dance Theatre, Deeply Rooted, Cerque Rivera, and more. 4:30-5:30 PM, freeWed 3/28: VGA Gallery’s (2418 W....

The Chicago area’s premier Korean spa is located in an unassuming strip mall in Niles, next to a Super H Mart and across from a Subway, a dental clinic, and a handful of other typical suburban businesses. The entrance to King Spa & Sauna is flanked by stone lions gazing over a dreary landscape of parking lots and an apartment complex. But through its doors and down a long hallway with mirrors, fake plants, and canvas prints of Audrey Hepburn is an alternate dimension....

In an October 2009 cover story, “The Actor’s Letter,” Reader film editor J.R. Jones chronicled the Chicago upbringing of Robert Ryan, whom Martin Scorsese has called “one of the greatest actors in the history of American film.” Drawn from a short memoir Ryan wrote for his children, the story details his own father’s ties to the Democratic machine as owner, with his four brothers, of a construction company that built city sewers....

To be or not to be? That’s pretty much the question in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Only the answer isn’t contingent on what ’tis nobler in the mind. Beckett suggests that we put up with the awfulness of being mainly because we’ve decided, on no proof whatsoever, that a mysterious, white-bearded absence called Godot is on his way, and when he finally shows up we’re going to get a big meal and a cozy spot in his attic, furnished with beds of soft straw....

When Aleksandar Hemon started expanding an unpublished short story into his latest novel, The Making of Zombie Wars, he decided that he should keep it a secret from his agent and his editor. They kept asking him about his next book, and he’d respond, “Well, I have some ideas.” In the Chicago-set The Making of Zombie Wars, misfortune befalls protagonist Joshua Levin, but only because of his misguided decision making—he’s like Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm, without the financial security....

When Donald Trump said “Two Corinthians” during a speech at Liberty University when what he ought to have said was “Second Corinthians,” he made the kind of headlines that lets us know journalists are beginning to suffer from battle fatigue. “Donald Trump faces questions over ‘Two Corinthians,’” said a Telegraph headline. “Donald Trump flubs Bible verse during speech at Christian university,” headlined Mashable. “Donald Trump Knows The Bible So Well He Misquotes It At Christian University,” said BuzzFeed....

He held a lighter to the dish, producing a tiny, nearly invisible flame. Adding more ouzo didn’t help it burn better. Tasting it, Huston said, “It’s got a lot of ouzo in it. It’s good, but we’ve got to figure out the ouzo problem. I don’t think we could do this at the table. People wouldn’t be as excited as I am.” Combine all ingredients and place in freezer until almost frozen....

The set for Mikhail Baryshnikov’s tribute to Joseph Brodsky consists of a structure resembling a ruined old greenhouse—something you might picture surviving in a neglected corner of the Ranyevskaya estate years after the sale of the cherry orchard. Baryshnikov’s route to the stage takes him through a door at the back of the structure, across its near-empty interior, and finally out a downstage set of doors. Almost comically circuitous, it’s not what you’d call a star entrance....

Michael Gebert Doughnut dessert course at Elizabeth Ready for doughnuts and ramen? They’ll both be on the menu on opening day for Iliana Regan’s Lakeview microbakery and pop-up space, Bunny the Micro Bakery/Wunder POP, which is now set for Friday, May 22. Regan confirms that the bakery will have pretty much everything listed on its menu, including the doughnuts which are currently a dessert course at Elizabeth (and are improved since her doughnut and pierogi pop-ups at Elizabeth, which drew huge crowds, in case you had any doubt that there was enough demand to support yet another doughnut shop in Chicago)....

ARTISTS: Delicious Design League SHOWS: Godspeed You! Black Emperor at Metro on Sun 3/18 and Mon 3/19 MORE INFO: deliciousdesignleague.com