While the Republicans were playing clown car with 17 candidates on the debate stage, the Democrats had three. And the best one—I believe the most electable one—never got any traction, never got above 3 or 4% in national polls. I’m…
When we launched Third Coast Review in January, we defined the Beyond page this way: We’ll go Beyond. Our focus will clearly be Chicago but occasionally—because of travel or whim—we’ll report on an artist, event or venue beyond Chicago, Cook County…
The Chicago European Union Film Festival continues through the end of March at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St. See Colin Smith’s preview. Each week, we’ll provide brief reviews of some of the next week’s films. Details and…
Lookingglass Theatre’s new production of Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca, directed by Daniel Ostling, is set in the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Lorca’s simple and poetic language tells the story of conflicted love, deception and fate—all…
The Chicago European Union Film Festival runs through the end of March at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St. See Colin Smith’s preview. Each week, we’ll provide brief reviews of some of the next week’s films. Details and…
In a Little World of Our Own is a benign name for a tightly wound thriller that spins out of control in 80 minutes. The Irish Theatre’s new production of the Gary Mitchell script, directed by Jeri Frederickson, is set…
The Chicago European Union Film Festival just opened and runs through the end of March at the Gene Siskel Film Center. See Colin Smith’s preview. Each week, we’ll provide brief reviews of some of the next week’s films. Details and…
New Country at the Den Theatre is great entertainment before or after a dinner at one of Wicker Park’s many Milwaukee Avenue restaurants. It’s a short, snappy comedy with a human side. Written by Mark Roberts and directed by…
William Inge’s A Loss of Roses at Raven Theatre explores the lives of three people in a small Kansas town in Depression-era 1933. The play, directed by Cody Estle, provides an up-close look at the lives of people making…
The Goodman Theatre’s new production of 2666, adapted from the massive novel by the late Roberto Bolaño, takes five stories and threads them loosely together with a couple of mysteries that keep us wondering until the end. And the end…
Annie Baker’s Pulitzer-winning script for The Flick, newly opened at Steppenwolf Theatre, gives us a chance to get to know three people, underpaid workers in a movie theater in Worcester County, Massachusetts. Their story of the minimum-wage economy could as…
Pop Waits, the Neo-Futurists’ new production, directed by Halena Kays, is a punk rock operetta with some sweet and sad moments. Created by Malic White and Molly Brennan, Pop Waits tells their stories of love, depression and music with…
Hans Fleischmann developed a distinctive poetic vision for his production of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, which ran for about six months in 2013 at Mary-Arrchie Theatre and then at Theater Wit. Fleischmann reprises this production as director and lead…
If you want to see classic Shakespeare without flying to London, you can drive up to Stratford, Ontario, to see a production of Macbeth or As You Like It this summer. But if you want to experience classic Chicago theater,…
It was 57 years ago, early in the morning of Sunday, Feb. 3, 1959, when a small plane crashed in a snowstorm soon after taking off from Clear Lake, Iowa. A few hours earlier, Buddy Holly had been performing at…
An evening of Vices. An evening of Virtues. That’s how Profiles Theatre describes the collection of 11 short plays by Neil LaBute now being staged at the theater in Buena Park. Each play has its own cast and directors.…
Oracle Productions’ new play, The Hairy Ape, was one of Eugene O’Neill’s early works, written in 1922. It’s written in an expressionistic—rather than linear–style, which makes it suitable for director Monty Cole’s powerfully dark and physical production. O’Neill wrote the…
A Red Orchid Theatre has mounted a joyous, goofy production of a Tennessee Williams eccentric rarity, The Mutilated. Oh, it’s also a sad story about the strained relationship between two women—one wealthy and mutilated by disease, the other homeless…
The bluesy, politically charged music of Nina Simone is the aural background for Sunset Baby, Timeline Theatre’s Chicago premiere of the 2012 play by Dominique Morisseau. Nina (AnJi White), the stubborn, independent woman whose life, dreams and family are the…
Griffin Theatre creates a perfect microcosm of the pre-feminist age in London Wall, the 1931 John Van Druten play about the personal lives and work culture in a London law firm. Robin Witt directs a smart, sprightly trip into the…
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