The Romanian "Juliet"

A play by Andras Visky

Talking about his play, which performed from September 10 until October 3 at the ‘Royal George Theatre Center’ in Chicago, the Romanian playwright Andras Visky says  “Juliet gives life to my soul.”

‘Theatre Y’ presented “Juliet: A dialog about love” the true story of Visky’s mother, who is trapped in a world of desperation between her husband and her God.

She challenges the divine power to answer her cries of agony and prays for survival in a country that is not hers, and a language she does not understand.

Visky’s father was a minister in a Hungarian Reformed Church and because he didn’t want to renounce God the Romanian communist authorities sentenced him to 22 years in prison, while his family was deported to a Romanian gulag.

The play, one of few from the East European contemporary drama that deals with the concentration camps of the Gulag, is a one woman performance show which encloses a ninety minutes monologue delivered with precision by the actress Melissa Hawkins.

“Who calls Sears Tower Willis Tower?"

Who doesn’t recognize the most famous building in Chicago and the tallest in the Western Hemisphere? The 36-year-old skyscraper, which doesn’t require any introduction, needs to be introduced again to the world by a different name.

Even thought Sears Tower has become Willis Tower almost 2 years ago, it seems that Chicagoans and tourists aside have a hard time coping with the new name.

 Gwen Ritter, Chief-Administration Officer of Deutsche Bank in Chicago said, “It will be a log process until both city and the tourists will embrace the name.”

 On July 16, 2009 Sears Tower had officially became Willis Tower. Willis Group Holdings, an England-base insurance brokerage company with no recognition in Chicago or in America for that matter, has won the rights for renaming the tower in exchange for leasing 140,000 square-feet of the famous building.

A Willis spokesman said the naming rights were obtained as part of the negotiations at no cost to Willis.