Essay: Streaming Theater in the Age of Covid — and Beyond
By guest author W.C. Turck On Sunday, February 21, from 1-3pm CST, Kerri Kendall and Bill Turck will hold a radio roundtable on streaming theater one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
Review: Ike Holter’s I Hate It Here Is a Cathartic, Kinetic and Emotionally Gripping Audio Play
Review by Brooks Whitlock Chicago-based playwright Ike Holter is assuredly keyed into, like so much else in his captivating bibliography, the moods that defined the previous calendar year. Exhibit A: […]
Review: Missed Connections Is Virtual Magic and Mind-Bending Tricks With a Few New Friends
Missed Connections, Jon Tai’s magic and mystery show, is a cozy hour of entertainment laced with his stories of, yes, actual missed connections. Tai and his co-creator, Alex Gruhin, offer […]
Review: Chicago Shakes’ The Journey Livestreams a Visit to the Home and Mental Feats of Scott Silven
As part of their WorldStage series, Chicago Shakespeare is offering a visit with illusionist and mentalist Scott Silven from his childhood home in rural Scotland—or as he says, “in the […]
2021 Preview: A Wish List for Theater, Virtual and Live
There’s no need to say how devastating 2020 has been for live theater and all forms of live entertainment. Millions of careers, lives and families have been turned upside down […]
Essay: Revisiting Stoppard’s Magnificent The Coast of Utopia on Its 14th Anniversary
This week I had a chance to revisit the most spectacular theater experience I’ve ever had. It took place on a weekend in February 2007. Over the course of two […]
Holiday Season Shows, Streaming to Your Living Room
Hit ‘em on the Blackside Congo Square Theatre Company’s new sketch comedy show Free on demand December 19 through March 2021 No subject is off-limits in Congo Square Theatre Company’s […]
Review: Robert O’Hara’s Barbecue, Newly Cooked Up for Our Virtual World
Robert O’Hara’s funny, snarky familyish drama Barbecue was staged by Strawdog Theatre in 2017 in Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theatre. It’s set in a public park where four siblings, led by one […]
Report: How Virtual Theater Can Expand the Influence of Local Theaters Post-Pandemic
Virtual theater has come in many forms during the last eight pandemic months. Our most recent theater review was actor/clown Bill Irwin’s new version of his bravura performance of On […]
Theater, Virtually: Actor/Clown Bill Irwin Re-creates Samuel Beckett’s Irish Voice in On Beckett / In Screen
The other night I watched Bill Irwin repeat his bravura performance of On Beckett in a new version adapted for livestreaming. I saw the original in October 2018 at Irish […]
Review: Stage Left’s The Project(s) Documents a Story of Community Found and Community Lost
The Project(s), a documentary-style theater piece that tells the story of Chicago public housing, past and present, had its world premiere in May 2015 at American Theater Company (shut down […]
Theater, Virtually: See What the Constitution Means to Me on Prime Video
On March 8, just a week before theater and most other live events shut down, I began a theater review this way: “What the Constitution Means to Me is partly […]