First Fridays, Film, and a Circus Reborn

Your daily guide to what's popping in Chicago

By Raj Singh · Published November 6, 2026.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6

Wicker Park First Fridays @ Wicker Park galleries

On the first Friday of every month, Wicker Park and Bucktown galleries throw their doors open late, and tonight's your window: spaces along and around Damen stay lit until 8 p.m. so you can wander in, meet the people who made the work, and wander back out. Graveface Chicago, Little Broken Things, Heaven Gallery and David Leonardis Gallery are among the stops.

It's free, runs 6 to 8 p.m., and the Blue Line drops you right at Damen in the middle of it. If the walking leaves you hungry, Big Star is a reliable Wicker Park stop for a late taco.

Year One @ Greenhouse Theater Center

Ego Death Theatre Collective's Year One drops you at a full dinner table: Anna is juggling her medical practice and a house that holds her brother, her mother-in-law and her adult son — and as the son slides into a dangerous new political ideology, the values she raised him on collide head-on with the ones the country keeps handing out. It's billed as a play about movements, alliances and the worst-case version of talking politics over dinner.

Tickets are $25, the show runs 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Greenhouse Theater Center on North Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park, and it plays Thursday through Saturday into late November if tonight doesn't fit.

Black Harvest Film Festival Opening Night @ Gene Siskel Film Center

The Black Harvest Film Festival — Chicago's showcase for Black film across the diaspora, now in its 32nd year — opens tonight at the Gene Siskel Film Center with four short films, the presentation of the Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Prize, and a post-screening reception for the filmmakers. The festival itself runs through November 15.

Opening night is $40 general admission (students $35; Gene Siskel members and SAIC students, staff and faculty $25), 7 to 9 p.m., on State Street in the Loop.

Tiki Happy Hour @ Trader Todd's

If a gallery crawl or a play isn't the move, Trader Todd's in Lakeview runs its tiki happy hour tonight: half-off tiki drinks and $1 pizza slices (with a drink, no to-go) from 5 to 7 p.m., with karaoke — which the bar bills as the greatest in the world — going open to close.

It's a cheap, easygoing way to start a Friday, and you can keep singing long after the pizza deal ends.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7

Hoop Dancing with Starr Chief Eagle @ Indian Boundary Park

Starr Chief Eagle brings a rare performance to Indian Boundary Park on the Far North Side: hoop dancing, using up to 22 hoops to build shapes, animals and stories in motion, built around an interactive, educational look at the language, art and knowledge of the Lakota people. She'll call volunteers up from the audience for hands-on moments.

It's free, all ages, and runs 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon, part of the Park District's Night Out in the Parks series.

Artist Conversation: Jordan Ann Craig @ Art Institute of Chicago

Saturday afternoon at the Art Institute, Northern Cheyenne artist Jordan Ann Craig sits down with curator Andrew Hamilton to talk through her work — abstract painting in conversation with Indigenous beadwork, quillwork and textiles, including her large-scale 2025 diptych "to you my happy girl."

The talk runs 2 to 3 p.m. in Fullerton Hall and is free with museum admission — but registration is required, so reserve a spot before you go. Closed captioning will be available.

ON THE HORIZON

Ringling Bros.: The Greatest Show On Earth @ Allstate Arena, Rosemont

If you want a weekend spectacle, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey is back with a reimagined Greatest Show on Earth — no animals this time, just musical performances threaded through aerial artistry, modern comedy and never-before-seen acts on highwire, trapeze and bicycles. Watch for the Navas Troupe on the Double Wheel of Destiny, unicyclist Weslley Williams and the trapeze act Flying Cáceres.

It runs this weekend, November 6 through 8, at the Allstate Arena out in Rosemont, with tickets from $30 — so these are the only Chicago-area dates. The 222 bus serves the arena; check the site for showtimes.