Stages, Theater

Goodman’s Objects in the Mirror: A Reflection on Stories

There’s a cinematic quality to Objects in the Mirror, now playing at Goodman Theatre in a production directed by Chuck Smith. Minimal and expansive, Riccardo Hernandez’s scenic design dwarfs the […]

Brent Eickhoff /
Comedy, Stages, Theater Festival

A Little Bit Not Normal Interprets Genetic Depression With Humor

Arlene Malinowski has written and performs in A Little Bit Not Normal, her solo show about struggles with depression, personified here, peppered with humor as well as sign language, since […]

Karin McKie /
Stages, Theater

Timeline’s Paradise Blue Examines a Detroit Jazz Club Amidst Urban Renewal

[soliloquy id=”13453″]   Paradise Blue by Dominique Morisseau muses on the troubled relationships of jazz musicians in an old jazz club, but she overlays their story with the political turmoil […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Stages, Theater

Chicago Shakes’ Shakespeare in Love A Charming and Clever Love Story

3cr-Ed Paschke's Sonnet at CST.

The Oscar-winning film, Shakespeare in Love, has been adapted for the stage, and what better company to present its Chicago premiere than Chicago Shakespeare Theater, whose lush costumes and dynamic […]

Brent Eickhoff /
Stages, Theater

Hookman at Steep Theatre Succeeds in Being Terrifying and Hilarious

3CR Hookman, Steep Theatre.

Playwright Lauren Yee calls her play Hookman an “existential slasher comedy.” And Steep Theatre’s new production takes her up on that with creative staging, solid performances, especially by the three […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Comedy, Music, Stages

Laurie Anderson Returns Home to Quell My Political PTSD in The Language of the Future

Picture of the author

Photo by Ebru Yildiz Glen Ellyn native and iconoclast Laurie Anderson returns home for a lovely, lyrical and melancholy meditation on the current state of affairs in her ongoing exploration, “The […]

Karin McKie /
Stages, Theater

City Lit’s Forty-Two Stories: Behind the Scenes at a High-Rise Condo Where Stuff Happens

Do you live in a highrise condo on Lake Shore Drive? Or spend time with someone who does? Then all your suspicions about what goes on behind the scenes will […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Stages, Theater

Aladdin Grants All Your Wishes at the Cadillac Palace

Broadway’s Aladdin takes a magical carpet ride into the Cadillac Palace Theatre! (no promises but I’ll try to keep the Aladdin-themed references to a minimum).  Director Casey Nicholaw alongside the […]

Andrea Palm /
Stages, Theater

Feeling Nostalgic? See Red Orchid’s 3C: R-Rated “Three’s Company” in ’70s Color

Picture of the author

A Red Orchid Theatre’s new production, 3C, reminds me of two things I’d rather forget. The silly sitcom, “Three’s Company,” that aired on ABC for eight years, ending in 1984. […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Stages, Theater

Raven’s Not About Nightingales Introduces Tennessee Williams’ Depression-Era Prison Tragedy

3CR-Raven-Nightingales.

Not About Nightingales, an early Tennessee Williams script, is a Depression-era tragedy with many elements that foretell Williams’ genius as a playwright. Its setting—a large prison where the prisoners revolt […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Stages, Theater

Teatro Vista’s La Havana Madrid: A ’60s Chicago Salsa Club Resurrected

La Havana Madrid, Sandra Delgado

 La Havana Madrid, a 1960s Latino nightclub on the corner of Belmont and Sheffield, has been resurrected for five weeks by Chicago’s Teatro Vista. Columbian-American actress Sandra Delgado wrote and […]

Emma Terhaar /
Dance, Stages

Stomping Grounds Spreads Message of Unity

Picture of the author

For Lane Alexander, Artistic Director of the Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Stomping Grounds is like a reunion of old friends. When the company started 27 years ago, Ensemble Español Spanish […]

Miriam Finder Annenberg /