Lisagone

Theater reviews are not ordinarily posted here. But your LakeCountyEye is a huge fan of the performing arts -- and the Lake County Kabuki Theater is now appearing in Buffalo Grove with performances of Antigone. Their interpretation of the ancient Greek classic is titled Lisagone and features some local talent. Former Buffalo Grove mayor Sid Mathias has the role of King Creon; the current Buffalo Grove Trustees stand in as the Greek Chorus; and former Buffalo Grove Trustee Lisa Stone has the title role, Lisagone.

The print media has nothing but rave reviews:

Pressure on Mathias over Stone

Mathias publicly severs ties with former Buffalo Grove trustee

Mathias distances self from Stone

A spokesman for the Lake County Kabuki Theater explained that some of the dialog was liberally reworked to give the Sophocles play a contemporary feel:

LISAGONE

King Creon didn't abandon me when I stood up for the people, and didn't sell my soul for power. Instead, I went the distance and stayed true to my oath. Thank you, Creon, for having the integrity and courage to follow your beliefs.

CHORUS

King Creon has been asked repeatedly to declare where he stands. Is he in league, as she claims, with the person who holds the ignominious distinction as the only elected official in state history to be recalled from office? This is not an academic inquiry. It is a matter of his reliability, credibility and judgment. It directly calls into question his capacity to adapt to changing circumstances and his ability to make sound decisions. The continuing silence from him is deafening. And it is telling as well.

CREON

I do not support Lisagone. There is no collaboration between us. I have never supported her political agenda nor her methods or behavior at the royal palace. She is not now, nor has she been, affiliated with my campaigns for many years. Furthermore, I have told her repeatedly not to use my name in her statements and blogs.

Lisagone can be seen in Buffalo Grove through the November election. And scheduled for the 2012-2013 season is the Lake County Kabuki Theater's revival of the Shakespeare comedy, Adieu, Gentlemen of Motorola.

Eat Hearty

Your LakeCountyEye wishes Buffalo Grove's Sid Mathias a speedy recovery from heart surgery. According to the News-Sun, Mathias plans to challenge Carol Sente for State Representative District 59, in the 2012 election:

Mathias on mend after heart surgery

Judging from the News-Sun story, Mathias already has a fund-raiser scheduled this week at Lou Malnati's:

Your LakeCountyEye is not divulging any trade secrets to say that when it comes to pizza in Lake County, nothing approaches the deep-dish served up at a Lou Malnati restaurant:

Lou's is the home of the BEST Chicago-style deep dish pizza in the world! If you love a buttery, flaky crust, sweet and tangy tomatoes, gooey mozzarella cheese, perfectly seasoned sausage, and other fresh ingredients- you've come to the right place.
Lou Malnati's Pizzeria

In fact your LakeCountyEye is salivating right now just thinking about a thick gooey slice of that world-famous deep-dish ...

Reserve your LakeCountyEye a seat at that Lou Malnati fundraiser!

Ha ha, better also reserve some more beds, afterwards, at that Northwestern Hospital Cardio-Ward.

Cooked Over

The operatives are not feeling the love. A McHenry County campaign survival guide posted here, this week ...

Ozymandias, I Met a Traveller from an Antique Land

touched off a torrent of angry responses. Nearly all demanded to know why this blog -- so generous when it comes to aiming the satirical eye toward McHenry County -- virtually ignores the much more populous and relevant Cook County to the south. Well your LakeCountyEye wants to take this opportunity to reassure all you Cook County operatives who aren't feeling the love that, no, you aren't chopped liver.

In fact, as readers of this blog are handsomely aware ...

Not 100% Strange Bedfellows

there is now a distinct possibility that Lake County will get its very own Cook County legislator, for the 59th District, Sid Mathias. Cook Countians venture north of the border rarely, except when to buy Lake County's duty-free cigarettes and beer. Any Cook County politician planning an election campaign in Lake County would be advised to respect the laws and customs up here. To that end, your LakeCountyEye has compiled a Lake County campaign survival guide. Here are ten best-practices for seeking election in Lake County:

A Lake County Political Survival Guide for Cook County Politicians: Ten Campaign Tips

Make friends with the country club Republicans at the TeamAmerica10th blog. For discounted petition signatures, Waukegan is your best bet. Ask for their bulk rates. The county clerk counts the votes. Address those birthday & holiday cards to Mr Willard Helander. Lake County is home to 75 major inland lakes, and coincidentally 75 county repositories for your opponent's yardsigns. Looking for that perfect venue for a fundraiser? Lake County has plenty of casinos. If you blow a red-light on the way to that fundraiser, Sen Dan Duffy can take care of that ticket for you. And if you need to be there immediately, the Route 53 Extension is only minutes away. No, RALC is not lolspeak. Don't forget that goldfish are eligible to vote in Lake County. Free train rides for the entire family at the Sidney H Mathias Metra Station, Buffalo Grove IL!

Look for your LakeCountyEye, ragin' against the Cook County machine.

Not 100% Strange Bedfellows

Your LakeCountyEye, like most political bloggers, wakes up no later than 1pm every day to a hot cup of Red Bull (with a Mountain Dew chaser), and a copy of the latest news from the CapitolFaxBlog. One item in particular caught the LakeCountyEye eye this past morning:

A Lake County blogger wonders aloud why Rep. Ed Sullivan got such a sweet new map...
Republicans "leaning against" filing their own remap proposal as Dem map tweaked for Latinos and congressional map release date still uncertain

Hmm, your bleary-eyed LakeCountyEye wondered, which Lake County blogger could that be? Perhaps because your LakeCountyEye was of yet insufficiently caffeinated, it took a while to comprehend that the clicky-click-link goes directly to this blog, right here -- the LakeCountyEye. Just how dope is that anyways?

Suffice it to say, the trenchant post in question in the work of esteemed colleague, the Mr Redtail ...

Madigan ♥s Sullivan

where it is revealed that Lake County may be seeing a lot more of one legislator who hails from south-of-the-border, Sid Mathias. With the new legislative remap, a safe Democratic District 59 is being crafted for the benefit of State Rep Carol Sente. As a necessary consequence, all of those yucky & gross Republican precincts in Sente's district will be dumped without ceremony into the more-than-accommodating Rep Ed Sullivan's commodious 51st District. While nearby warm & fuzzy Democratic precincts will be drawn-in from unguarded turf, like from Sid Mathias's 53rd District.

But if the proposed new legislative map becomes law, Sente's district will not only pick up a bunch of Mathias's Democratic precincts, it will scoop up Mathias -- who lives in one of those precincts -- as well. All of which leaves the door open to the real possibility of a Sente (D) vs Mathias (R) contest in 2012, for District 59.

And Lake County may be facing the unlikely but real prospect of seeing one of its central Representative districts held by a legislator from Cook County. Sure, District 59 is being carved out for a Democrat, with the goal of securing a (W) for Sente in 2012. But, um, who doesn't know that Mathias is a Democrat as well -- one that because of some typographic mixup happens to have an (R) after his name? Your LakeCountyEye thinks the law of unintended consequences might come to haunt District 59. Mathias, a 12-year legislator, is highly regarded throughout the area. There's even a train station named for him in Buffalo Grove. There may be no truth to the rumor that Mathias gets to ride his Metra train for free. But this particular Machiavellian plan to derail Mathias's long string of election-day free-rides may just backfire. Springfield Democrats, be careful what you wish for.