Review: The Bob Mould Band Thrashes the Vic Theatre
Punk icon Bob Mould brought his energy, gratitude and tight trio to Lakeview’s Vic Theatre on September 24. His Distortion and Blue Hearts! tour started September 16 in Boston and […]
Karin McKie is a Chicago freelance writer, cultural factotum and activism concierge. She jams econo.
Review: The Art of Banksy Exhibit Shows the Artist as Anti-Capitalist Punster and King of the Mashup
“Nobody ever listened to me until they didn’t know who I was,” says anonymous graffiti artist Banksy. We think. That quote is included in the new The Art of Banksy […]
Vibrant and Subversive Chicago Comics: 1960s to Now at MCA thru October 3
Chicago is a printing town. In the early 20th century, the many printing houses spawned an entire Printer’s Row, located near the Dearborn train station where the paper arrived and […]
Preview: WTTW’s Ida B. Wells: A Chicago Stories Special Premieres May 21
Writer and producer Stacy Robinson’s documentary “Ida B. Wells: A Chicago Stories Special” offers an enlightening and engrossing hour witnessing Chicago’s hometown hero and “ultimate agitator,” coming to WTTW on […]
Review: CST’s Audio Offerings Twelfth Night and Measure for Measure Present the Music of the Meter
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents two 100-minute productions on its Chicago ShakesSTREAM platform through May 16: Twelfth Night and Measure for Measure. The music of the meter might be more appreciated […]
Chicago Theaters Go Virtual During the Virus; Goodman Streams School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play
In these “AC,” After COVID, times, Chicago theaters are offering online content to fill the gap of canceled shows and in-person instruction (as well as the yawning expanse of endless […]
Review: Theater in the Time of COVID-19 with Teenage Dick
Britain’s National Theatre Live has been presenting recorded plays in movie theaters for the past few years so American audiences can watch theater from across the pond. Large opera companies have been broadcasting taped […]
Review: Steppenwolf’s I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter Is Nearly Perfect
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter is a pretty perfect play, full of youthful exuberance and teen angst, righteous anger and pure joy, and seasoned with tacos and horchata, […]
Preview: City’s Transit Lifeblood Explored in WTTW’s “Chicago by ‘L’”
Geoffrey Baer’s latest “learn about where you live” offering, “Chicago by ‘L’,” premieres Wednesday, March 4, at 7:30pm on WTTW. The 130-minute special is a fantastic voyage through the bloodstream […]
Review: National Book Award-Winner Middle Passage Adrift On Stage
Lifeline Theatre presents Dr. Charles Johnson’s 1990 National Book Award winner Middle Passage, directed by Ilesa Duncan, who co-adapted with David Barr III. The result struggles from the page to […]
Action Alert: Chicago Volunteers Welcome Asylum Seekers. Learn How to Help on February 8
Harriet Tubman is back in the news as the first feature-length movie chronicling the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad is now available on DVD. Star Cynthia Erivo is […]
Review: Females Seek Agency in Remy Bumppo’s Top Girls
Note: Top Girls was reviewed by Karin McKie and Kim Campbell on Women’s March weekend. Caryl Churchill wrote Top Girls in 1982, in the middle of Margaret Thatcher’s 1979-90 fraught, […]