Review, Stages, Theater

Pirandello’s Naked at Trap Door: The Tragedy of a Woman Whose Fate Is in Her Own Hands

It’s Rome in 1922. In his play Naked, Luigi Pirandello, the Nobel Prize-winning author, concocts a puzzling tangle of death and passion. Directed by Kay Martinovich, Naked is now on stage […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Review, Stages, Theater

Shaw’s Wit Shines Through the Silliness in City Lit’s Arms and the Man

City Lit Theater’s new production of George Bernard Shaw’s 1894 play, Arms and the Man, takes full advantage of its broad humor. Perhaps Shaw’s most frothy script, director Brian Pastor directs […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Review, Stages, Theater

Persuasive Xenophobia Finds Voice in BigMouth at Chicago Shakes

Critics Kimzyn Campbell and Karin McKie jointly review BigMouth, running at Chicago Shakespeare Theater through September 22. Ticket discounts are available when two or more “Big in Belgium” shows are […]

Karin McKie /
Stages, Theater

Albee’s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? Tells a Tragic Tale of Love and Loss at Interrobang Theatre

Edward Albee’s 2002 play, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia, hasn’t been performed very often in Chicago. I told my plus-one, rather casually, that it’s a play about a man […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Stages, Theater

Shattered Globe’s Crime and Punishment: An Intellectualized Thriller That Needs More Tension

  Dostoyeksky’s Crime and Punishment is a thriller, a slow-paced intellectualized thriller. If you haven’t read the novel since college days, Chris Hannan’s 2013 adaptation—on stage at Shattered Globe Theatre—will […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Stages, Theater

Stage Shorts: Plays About Sex Trafficking, Big Oil, White Guilt, Youthful Angst

Chicago Crime and Sex Trafficking Stories Explode in Monger at Her Story Theater Mary Bonnett’s play Monger: The Awakening of J.B. Benton tells a complicated Chicago crime story with several […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Review, Stages, Theater

Review: Tres Bandidos Reaches for the Sky and Hits the Mark

If you’re familiar with the concept of a bottle episode of a TV show, you might also know how notoriously difficult they can be for writers. Bottle episodes keep a […]

Marielle Bokor /
Review, Stages, Theater

A Shayna Maidel at Timeline Theatre: A Timely History Play Full of Ghosts and Terrors

Picture of the author

The Holocaust. Armenia. Cambodia. Darfur. Bosnia. Rwanda. South Sudan. Native Americans. Rohingya. Whether or not you had family or ancestors in those hellish genocides, you may find it hard to […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Stages, Theater

Nightmares and Nightcaps at Black Button Eyes: Short Stories Become Funny, Spooky Theatrics

I read a lot of short stories, of varied styles and themes. I like the stories of George Saunders, Shirley Jackson, Philip K. Dick and Hilary Mantel, among others. But […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Review, Stages, Theater

Stage Shorts: Four Plays About the AIDS Crisis, Greek Tragedy, Missionaries and Swordplay in Skirts

Holding the Man Dramatizes True Story of Australian Actor’s Life With HIV Holding the Man, based on Timothy Conigrave’s memoir of the same name, tells the heartbreaking life story of the Australian […]

Matthew Nerber /
Film, Film & TV, Stages

Review: All the Pieces Fit in Moving, Well-Cast Puzzle

puzzle

Based on the synopsis alone—a housewife discovers she has a talent for solving jigsaw puzzles and enters a competition—you’d be forgiven for thinking that Puzzle, directed by Marc Turtletaub, is a […]

Lisa Trifone /
Review, Stages, Theater

Manual Cinema Creates The End of TV, a Magical Performance with Actors, Puppets and Retro Tech

Every once in a while you get to see a work of theater that seems as if it could reinvent the form. Manual Cinema is a Chicago-based company that has […]

Nancy S Bishop /