Park freebies
CHICAGO
Through Oct. 10
Sophomore year for Millennium Park sizzles with a crowded calendar of free concerts, exhibits, and events at the 24 1/2-acre downtown oasis. The Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus returns for 10 weeks of music at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday evenings June 15-Aug. 20. ''Made in Chicago: A Jazz Celebration" premieres on five Thursdays and one Monday July 14-Aug. 29 with an impressive lineup of jazz stars. Among other notable performances are Chicago Lyric Opera and Steppenwolf Theater, both Sept. 10, Chicago Symphony Sept. 11 and 25, and a World Music Festival Sept. 16 and 19. The Lurie Garden hosts a multi-arts festival with tours, talks by landscape architects and horticulturists, and music and dance July 8-10. Among exhibits is ''Revealing Chicago: An Aerial Portrait," an outdoor photography exhibit in the
Michigan Avenue, between Randolph and Monroe streets.312-742-1168. www.millenniumpark.org for full schedule.
'King Tut'
LOS ANGELES
June 16-Nov. 16
King Tut returns to Los Angeles after a 26-year absence. The Egyptian National Museum's touring exhibit, ''Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," makes the first of four US stops at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The landmark exhibit has more than 50 objects that were found in 1922 from King Tut's tomb, among them the gold crown that encircled the ruler's mummified head and a gold and gemstone inlaid canopic coffinette that held his organs. The exhibit also includes recent CT scans that provide a three-dimensional image of the young ruler. Among 70 other objects in the exhibit are treasures from other Valley of the Kings tombs of the 18th Dynasty (1556-1305 BC), and other ancient sites. After LA, the tour goes to the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale (December), Field Museum in Chicago (next May), and the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia (February 2007). Admission is by timed tickets.
5905 Wilshire Blvd.323-857-6000.www.kingtut.org (for tickets); www.lacma.org.
Sand soccertourney
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA.
June 10-12
The beach becomes a sea of soccer fields for the 12th annual North American Sand Soccer Championships. The sport took root in Brazil, but Virginia Beach's Hampton Roads Soccer Council has cultivated the national championships since 1994. Stretched out along 1 1/2 miles of beach, or the equivalent of 15 city blocks, the tournament is the largest event of its kind in the United States with more than 727 teams scheduled to compete in 30 divisions. The US Men's Open has a cash prize of $15,000. The 7,000-plus players represent at least 20 countries, among them Brazil, Norway, and Canada.
On the beach beween 2 d and 16th streets. 757-368-4600.www.sandsoccer.com.
Summer theater
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.
June 17-July 31
While the Vassar College Powerhouse Theater and New York Stage & Film prepare for their 21st annual season as an incubator of new plays and musicals and of young actors, the team will keep an eye on tonight's Tony Awards. Last summer's collaboration yielded five plays that were staged or are about to be staged in New York, among them ''The Argument," by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros and ''Doubt" by John Patrick Shanley. ''Doubt," which won the Pulitzer Prize earlier this year, is up for eight Tonys, among them best play. This summer Shanley returns to Powerhouse to read his new play, ''Chain of Command." The theater's Martel Musicals stages three new originals: ''Urinetown" Tony winners Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann's ''The Man in the White Suit," Christopher Curtis's ''Behind the Limelight," and ''Dangerous Beauty by Michele Brourman, Jeannine Dominy, and Amanda McBroom. The season also includes five workshop plays and a reading series with 10 new works over three weekends. As part of training future actors, the apprentice company performs three classic plays outdoors between July 7-24.
Various theaters on campus. 845-437-5599. http ://www.vassar.edu/powerhouse/home.html.
Sculpture park
MOUNTAINVILLE, N.Y.
June 8-Nov. 13
The Storm King Art Center inaugurates a new season by focusing on kindred spirits in ''Richard Bellamy and Mark di Suvero." Bellamy (1928-98), an influential New York art dealer, is credited with launching sculptor Di Suvero's career in 1960 and that of other post-Abstract Expressionists. For the museum building, Storm King director David R. Collens chose photographs of Di Suvero and his work taken by Bellamy from 1975 until his death. For Di Suvero (born 1933), the center installs six sculptures on the patio and lawn and seven small ones indoors. The center's Di Suvero fields include new installations, among them ''Origins" (2001-04), never before shown in the States, and ''Beethoven's Quartet" (2003).
Old Pleasant Hill Road. 845- 534-3115. stormking.org.
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