Arts & Entertainment
From a Documentary on Elie Wiesel to a Satirical Play, Here Are 4 Arts Picks for Your Week
"Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire" (Panorama Films)
Every Thursday, WTTW News newsletter producer Josh Terry highlights his picks for the week’s must-see cultural events.
It’s a new year. If you’re like me, it’s taking longer than expected to exit your holiday-induced hibernation. Maybe you caught an illness over Christmas and New Year’s, or maybe you’re more content to stay on the couch and watch sports. While that’s definitely an understandable impulse, you should start your 2026 on the right foot by being greeted by a wealth of cultural offerings in the city and its surrounding suburbs. Get out of the house and experience some art.
Art: “Spaces for People, Systems for Spaces” — Western Exhibitions
On Friday, West Town gallery Western Exhibitions is debuting “Spaces for People, Systems for Spaces,” described as “a group show about the built environment — cities, buildings, structures, urban planning.” The exhibit boasts 15 artists from across the country who “make art about architecture.” For more details, click here.
Film: “Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire” — Gene Siskel Film Center
Elie Wiesel, the Romanian-born humanitarian, author and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, survived the Holocaust and documented his experiences in the influential 1957 memoir “Night.” Nearly 10 years after his 2016 death at 87, Wiesel is the subject of a documentary called “Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire.” On Friday, it makes its Chicago premiere at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Over the weekend, producer and editor Michael Chomet will be in attendance for a Q&A following the screenings on Saturday, Jan. 10, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 11, at 4:30 p.m. For more details, click here. (If you can’t make any of the Siskel showings, the doc will premiere on PBS later this month.)
Play: “Eureka Day” — Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place
Why are we so divided? How can Americans get anything done when so few people agree on what’s true? These are some of the questions at the heart of “Eureka Day,” Jonathan Spector’s Tony Award-winning play that makes its Chicago premiere at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place. For more details, click here.
Film: “You Got Gold: A Celebration of John Prine” — Music Box Theatre
John Prine, the iconic folk and country songwriter, was discovered by Roger Ebert in Chicago during a show at an Old Town bar. Prine would go on to have a career that’d span almost a half-century before his death in 2020. In 2022, a tribute show celebrating his legacy was held at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium featuring Bonnie Raitt, Tyler Childers, Bob Weir, Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam, Jason Isbell and more. It was filmed and is now a concert documentary that’s premiering in Chicago at the Music Box. Fiona Whelan Prine, John’s widow, produced the movie and will be giving a Q&A at its Wednesday, Jan. 14, premiere at the Music Box. Details here.
WTTW News arts coverage is supported by the JCS Arts, Health & Education Fund of the DuPage Foundation.
