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The Listening Room Series presents unforgettable audio work in theater/cafe/gallery settings and offers radio fans the opportunity to listen together and share opinions about what they hear. Each event features a diverse selection of documentary audio stories from around the world.
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| UPCOMING PROGRAMS: |
| Monday, May 19 / 6:30 pm
Feinberg Theater, Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies
610 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL
The Lemon Tree, by Sandy Tolan
Hosted by TCF's Gwen Macsai, with special guest Sandy Tolan
The Lemon Tree, which originally aired on WHYY's Fresh Air in 1998, explores the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict through the story of one deep but complicated friendship. Bashir was six during the height of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, when his family was forced to flee his stone home in old Palestine and live as refugees in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Three months later, six-month-old Dalia, whose Bulgarian family had survived the Holocaust, arrived by boat in the new nation of Israel, and moved in. Two decades later Bashir crossed the threshold of his old house and rang the bell. Dalia answered.
The entire forty-minute audio documentary will be "screened", after which producer Sandy Tolan will join host Gwen Macsai for a Q&A session about the documentary. Tolan's book, inspired by the radio story and also titled "The Lemon Tree," will be available for purchase.
And you can grab a snack before the program at Spertus Cafe, which will be kept open especially for the occasion.
Tickets: $10 / $8 for students, Spertus members and Chicago Public Radio members.
Purchase tickets online, or at the door.

This event is held in collaboration with Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.
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Saturday, May 31
The back room, Portland, OR
Hosted by TCF's Julie Shapiro
What does it mean to listen collectively? What possibilities are there for understanding the world, and your place in it, solely through your ears? Julie Shapiro joins forces with the back room's Michael McManus to explore these questions while navigating through a sound-rich evening of deliberate listening. Compelling stories and beautiful sounds - from childhood memories of apocalyptic awareness to the glorious BBC Radio Ballads from the 1950's - will be shared and discussed througout this audio program compiled especially for a room full of curious, devoted listeners.
The back room is an occasional series of presentations/symposia/bacchanals in Portland, Oregon, replete with food, drink, music, and general boisterousness garlanding the central pleasure of bright intellects voicing their excellent texts, winging it in conversation, and screening or presenting various textual, visual and audio delights. The back room is hosted by Stephanie Snyder, with Michael McManus and live music curated by Sarah Dougher.
To read a bit more about the event click here and scroll down.
To reserve a ticket send an email to the back room. They'd love to hear from you!
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Sunday, June 1st / 8:00 pm
Cafe Du Nord
2170 Market St., San Francisco, CA
Hosted by the TCF's Johanna Zorn and Julie Shapiro, with special guests the Kitchen Sisters
Come out for an evening of incredible stories and beautiful sounds. The TCF Listening Room brings some of its favorite documentary and feature audio work to San Francisco for an evening of careful listening amongst fellow radio fans, in the classic lounge environment of the Cafe Du Nord. Dynamic public radio producing team the Kitchen Sisters will be on hand to talk about their award-winning work, and copies of their book "Hidden Kitchens" will be available for purchase.

Presented in collaboration with 91.7 KALW, Local Public Radio.
Tickets: $12, available online and at the door.
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And you can shift time to enjoy the audio work we've featured at past TCF Listening Rooms since 2002:
2002 I 2003 I 2004 I 2005 I 2006 I 2007
The Listening Room is inspired by the Listening Room of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (R.I.P.) |
| RECENT PROGRAMS: |
Friday, April 11th @ 8 pm
Donna's Bar and Grill, New Orleans, LA
Hosted by TCF's Julie Shapiro, with special guests Peter Spring, John Biewen and Katie Mingle
Tapping into the city’s vibrant radio scene and joining forces with New Orleans’ Jazz and Heritage Station, WWOZ, the Third Coast Festival presented an evening of lively, sound-rich and NOLA-relevant radio stories—all in the comfortable, cool setting of Donna’s Bar and Grill.
King's Candy (Kitchen Sisters / Hidden Kitchens on Morning Edition / 6:30)
Fixing the Pianos of New Orleans (Peter Spring and Nick Miroff / Weekend Edition / 10:51)
The Steeple of St. Augustine (George Ingmire & David Freedman / New Orleans Narratives / 3:00 exc.)
Digging Up Thelonius Monk‘s Southern Roots (John Biewen / All Things Considered / 8:05)
The Dead Can’t Do You Nothin’ (Katie Mingle / Center for Documentary Studies, Big Shed Podcast / 10:52)
Samples from the TCF Dollar Storeys project:
The Mousetrap Enthusiasts (Jamie Dell’Apa)
My Life as a Cup (Sean Hurley)
[Thanks to Jamie Dell'Apa for helping this event happen in the first place!]
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Wednesday, April 9th @ 7pm
Steppenwolf Garage, Chicago, IL
Wait for the Beep: Stories about Phones and the Messages Left Behind
Hosted by the TCF’s Johanna Zorn and Julie Shapiro and presented in collaboration with Steppenwolf's production of Dead Man's Cell Phone, a new work by Pulitzer finalist and MacArthur “genius” Sarah Ruhl.
We live in a telephone-obsessed, voice mail-dependent culture. Each conversation and message is a story unto itself…and then there’s the story behind the story. No wonder they make such great fodder for radio.
This Listening Room featured an evening of radio stories—some whimsical, some darker—inspired by the telephone. Steppenwolf Theatre Company kicked things off with actors Cora Vander Broek and James D. Farruggio reading two scenes from “Dead Man’s Cell Phone." Then the following radio stories were presented:
To Hear this Message Again (Sue Schardt / :58)
Callers of Feathers, Flocking Together (Larry Massett, All Things Considered / 3:10)
Cell Phones (Benjamen Walker / Theory of Everything / 8:13)
Take Me Out (Carma Jolly / TCF commission / 2:37)
Sensory Deprivation, with Cell Phone (Jonathan Goldstein and Howard Chackowicz / Wiretap / 6:13)
Debt Collector (Roman Mars / TCF commission / 3:38)
Don’t Hang Up (Mark Burman & Alan Dein / BBC Radio 4 / 8:45 excerpt)
I’ve Got a Question For You (Zak Rosen / TCF Dollar Storeys / 2:52)
Also! The TCF was asked by Steppenwolf to create an installation of mysterious short phone "plays" to complement its production of Dead Man's Cell Phone. We hope you'll check it out! Or listen to the five commissions in our audio library.
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Wednesday, February 6, 2008 @ 7:00 pm
Secrets, Whispers, and Lies: The Art of Personal Storytelling
How do you take a good story and figure out which parts are worth telling? Or tease a good story from an idea that, at first glance, may not seem especially compelling? Gwen Macsai, host of Chicago Public Radio's Re:sound, and Neil Sandell, senior producer of the CBC's Outfront, will swap examples of memoir-style storytelling at its best—and pull back the curtain on how it works when it works.
Presented in collaboration with Chicago Public Radio Presents.
When: Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. / Doors and the bar open at 6 p.m.
Where: Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont, Chicago, IL 60657
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