Like it or not, Chicago is probably most famous these days as a sort of shorthand for the plague of gun violence in America - every year hundreds in this city fall victim to bullets. The impact of this daily threat of lethal violence on those who actually live within it, is oft-lamented but just-as-often left unexamined, beyond the lurid headlines it generates. Alex Kotlowitz, best known for There Are No Children Here, set out to change that. In An American Summer, he chronicles a single, summer in Chicago by following the heartbreaking, frustrating, and invariably powerful stories of those left in its wake. Lolly Bowean of the Chicago Tribune joins Kotlowitz in conversation.

This program is available to Teen Arts Pass holders. To purchase a ticket using your Teen Arts Pass, you must call the box office at (312) 605-8444.

Preorder your copy of An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago through the CHF box office and save 20%.