Review, Stages, Theater

Review: Some of Chicago’s Best on Stage in Porchlight’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Gentleman's Guide

The longer I write theater reviews, the more familiar I find myself becoming—at least via playbills—with the talent overflowing from Chicago’s stages. What’s more, I figured it would only be […]

Lisa Trifone /
Stages, Theater, Theater Festival

Review: Us/Them Explores Chechen Terrorism with Energetic Pas de Deux in CST Belgium Series

Pink Floyd sang about “Us and Them”: Haven’t you heard it’s a battle of words The poster bearer cried “Listen son”, said the man with the gun There’s room for […]

Karin McKie /
Review, Stages, Theater

Review: Discovery, and What Could Have Been, in Court Theatre’s Photograph 51

Photograph 51

Once this awful cold snap breaks (because let’s be honest, we’re all hibernating until then), there’s a show on the south side that’s worth seeking out: Photograph 51 is a play by […]

Lisa Trifone /
Stages, Theater Festival

30th Annual RhinoFest Brings 41 Fringe Productions: Our Capsule Reviews

The Rhinoceros Theatre Festival, created for the 30th year by Curious Theatre Branch and Prop Thtr, is presenting a full schedule of 41 plays in a six-week performance marathon in […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Lit, Reviews, Stages

Review: Hamilton Is the Star in Tribune Critic Chris Jones’ Broadway Book Rise Up!

Picture of the author

The Capitol building in Washington DC is sometimes referred to as the People’s House, a great gathering place where the exchange of ideas (some new, some radical, some contradictory) is […]

Matthew Nerber /
Stages, Theater, Theater Festival

Review: Ajijaak on Turtle Island Opens Puppet Theater Festival with Stunning Visuals and a Soaring Soundtrack

Michigan Avenue holds a lot of history in Chicago. Some of the most memorable and historic buildings populate the busy street–from Symphony Center to the Cultural Center and the Art […]

Marielle Bokor /
Stages, Theater

Review: The Realistic Joneses, A Play About Nothing, Laced With Existential Dread

Awkward dialogue. Misunderstood references. Two people with obscure diseases. Two couples named Jones. Two marriages in flux. The Realistic Joneses is about life and the fear of death—and about the […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Review, Stages

Review: A Woman of Means and the Women She Loves in I Know My Own Heart

I Know My Own Heart

Perhaps best known as the writer behind 2015’s Room, the film that won Brie Larson a Best Actress Oscar, Emma Donoghue has been producing plays, short stories, novels and more […]

Lisa Trifone /
Comedy, Stages, Theater

Review: Evil Dead the Musical Is a Bloody Bucket of Laughs

The Evil Dead series is one that I hold dear to my heart, and I was excited, and worried, to see it in musical form. Evil Dead, especially the later […]

James Brod /
Stages, Theater

Review: City Lit Stages Fuente Ovejuna, a Thoroughly Modern Tale 400 Years Old

Spanish playwright Lope de Vega wrote a compelling drama about a village that rebelled against its lecherous overlord to protect its women—a very 21st century story. De Vega wrote it […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Review, Stages

Review: Windy City Playhouse Stages Another Must-See with Noises Off

Noises Off

Last year, Windy City Playhouse, the storefront theater company on West Irving Park Road on the north side, debuted a production so impressive they’ve recently launched a new venue in […]

Lisa Trifone /
Stages, Theater

Review: Compass Theatre’s What We’re Up Against Shows 1992 Workplace Sexism Is Still Alive and Well

Playwright Theresa Rebeck is a master of dialogue and never hesitates to portray the bad manners of her contemporaries. Her 2011 play, What We’re Up Against, just opened as the […]

Nancy S Bishop /