Can the Arts Help Curtail the Killing?

Last week in Chicago, we all seemed to suddenly hit a kind of tipping point when it comes to shootings. It has taken a long time coming, in part because of the concentrated nature of the gang-related violence in certain areas of the city that are easy for some to ignore, and that allow more privileged lives to continue, seemingly unaffected, in the parallel beauty of a sunbaked city with its summer-turquoise lake.

Still, last week, the steady drumbeat finally became a more widespread alarm. You could hear it ringing all over town.

Two performance pieces that deal with themes of gang violence happened to open within 24 hours of each other in Chicago last weekend: “Crowns” at the Goodman Theatre and “Oedipus el Rey” at the Victory Gardens Theater. In the former, a young girl sees her brother get shot in Englewood and is sent away to South Carolina to a community of church-going African-American women who teach her how to develop personal pride and make more of her life when she gets back home to Chicago. See it, and you'll want to charter buses for more of the city's kids.