aMID Festival a Celebration of Movement
Performers threw themselves against the wall, stood nearly motionless practically balanced on their heads for minutes on end, carried each other across the stage and moved deeply and intricately. […]
Neil LaBute X 11: Profiles Theatre Proves the Value of Great Writing
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 […]
Oracle Rekindles Message in O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape 94 years later
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 […]
Hedwig Dances Finds New Home in the New Year
Hedwig Dances kicked off the new year with a move to the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. Headed by founder and artistic director Jan Bartoszek, Hedwig Dances becomes one of […]
Another Word for Beauty—A Musical Beauty Pageant Behind Bars Goes Awry
The world premiere of Another Word for Beauty at the Goodman Theatre was packed. Written by playwright Jose Rivera, the musical centers around the importance of an annual event at El […]
The Mutilated at Red Orchid Celebrates a Joyous Goofy Christmas
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 […]
Timeline’s Sunset Baby Is a Tough Story of Broken Dreams
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 […]
Griffin Theatre’s London Wall: Marriage Was the Only Escape for a Working Girl
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 […]
In ATC’s Bruise Easy, Two Siblings Try to Remedy a Broken Past
American Theater Company’s world premiere of Bruise Easy is a troubling play about two siblings trying to establish a relationship after years of estrangement and a lifetime of parental […]
Rhinofest Back for 27th Year; Beau O’Reilly Tells About It
Rhinofest is about to kick off its six-week run at Prop Thtr, from January 16 to February 28. As usual, it will provide all manner of thespians, musicians, playwrights and performers an […]
Chicago’s “SketchFest,” the Largest of Its Kind, Runs Its 15th Festival
Chicago may be mocked as the second city, but one thing the city excels at is comedy — especially sketch and improv-based comedy. In fact, the Chicago Comedy Sketch Fest (“SketchFest”) […]
Q&A With Story Sessions’ Jill Howe and Rachael Smith
Like the Poetry Slam of the ’90s and early aughts, storytelling is having its live lit moment in the sun in recent years. Popularized by shows such as The Moth […]