Zeppo (Peter Moore) is driving around the ring road in Manchester, eating Chicken McNuggets (he buys ’em by the hundred) and reeling off the entire plot of Raiders of the Lost Ark. […]
Review: Pomona at Steep Theatre Tells a Sci-Fi Horror Story
Nancy Bishop
Nancy Bishop is a Chicago native, who writes about things she loves, like theater, film, books, music, art and design. Nancy is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and a 2014 Fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. You can read her personal writing on pop culture at nancybishopsjournal.com, and follow her on Twitter @nsbishop. Nancy is editor and publisher and Stages editor of Third Coast Review.
Viewpoint: Art and Politics Tangle Around the Irish Troubles … in Books, on Stage and Screen
The Irish are known for their devotion to language and their love of talking. In his one-man show, On Beckett, multitalented artist Bill Irwin pays homage to the Irish playwright with whose […]
Review: Ensemble-Made Chicago Lets Us Peek Into Some of Chicago’s Most Inventive Theaters
Chicago is home to 200 to 250 theater companies, depending on who’s counting. Most of them are what we might call traditional theaters that stage scripted productions, both new works and revivals. […]
Review: Ada and the Engine at the Artistic Home Weaves a Love Story of Poetry, Music and Technology
Ada and the Engine at the Artistic Home is a magical play about poetry and technology, tinged with tragedy. Ada Byron Lovelace was the daughter of the famous poet, a man whose work […]
Review: If I Forget at Victory Gardens Tells a Rich Story of Family Angst
If I Forget is very much about religion, specifically about Judaism—and yet it isn’t. It’s a complex human story in which you’ll find something relevant and moving, no matter whether you regularly attend […]
Review: Jez Butterworth’s The River Casts a Mood of Mystery at Boho Theatre
Basketball is loud and fast. Soccer is sheer perfect action. Football is hard-hitting, even brutal. But there’s a different kind of intensity in another sport: Fly fishing. Fly fishermen say there’s a […]
Review: Ms. Blakk for President Is a Raucous Campaign Rally and Reminder of the AIDS Crisis
Chicago had a candidate in the ring during the 1992 presidential election. Ms. Joan Jett Blakk ran for the Democratic nomination that year. What? You don’t remember her? She won zero votes […]
Preview: Write Your Own Story at the American Writers Museum’s Tools of the Trade Exhibit
Typewriters, inkwells, Braille writers and more of the tools that writers use will be featured in the Tools of the Trade exhibit opening at the American Writers Museum on Saturday, June 22. Exact […]
Review: Artemisia’s Sweet Texas Reckoning Resolves a Culture Clash a Bit Too Slickly
Sweet Texas Reckoning is a family story set up as a kitchen culture clash. It’s the story of a biracial, same-sex couple from New York vs. religious, bigoted Texans. The script by Traci […]
Review: At Red Tape Theatre, We Can All Be Pussy Riot–and If We’re Not, Why Aren’t We?
They say all you need to become a punk rock band are three chords and the truth. Punk songs are short, loud and not musically sophisticated. But they usually have a visceral […]
Review: Theater Oobleck’s It Is Magic Reveals the Curse of Auditions and a Few Surprises As Well
Every once in a while, some magic happens in a theater. And it’s just as likely to be a storefront or a church basement or a former school as a big Equity […]
Review: Trap Door’s The Killer Perplexes, But That’s Why It’s Called Theater of the Absurd
The Architect (a nattily dressed Michael Mejia) welcomes a slightly frazzled Bèrenger (Dennis Bisto) for a tour of the Radiant City. It’s a paradise where everything is quiet, sunny, green, lush and […]
