Stages, Theater

Midsummer Merriment: BITE: A Pucking Queer Cabaret

On a hot midsummer’s night, two young couples stumble into a fairy forest and play out the mischief and trickery of knavish sprites and spirits, only to wake the next […]

Lucas Garcia /
Stages, Theater

Steppenwolf’s Between Riverside and Crazy: Wildly Funny and Profane, Touched by Today’s Drama

The setting was once a large and elegant apartment on Riverside Drive in Manhattan. There’s a spacious living room and a view of the Hudson River. The place has a […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Stages, Theater

Steep Theatre’s Wastwater: Three Tense Stories About the Choices We Make

Frieda, an Englishwoman of indeterminate age, is one of the links among the three parts of Wastwater, a new play by English playwright Simon Stephens in its U.S. premiere at […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Art & Museums, Beyond, Classical, Comedy, Dance, Festivals, Film, Film & TV, Film fest, Food

CST’s Doreen Sayegh Brings the Bard to the City of Big Shoulders with Shakespeare 400 Chicago

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  Doreen Sayegh has been a skosh busy. Playwright and quote-machine William Shakespeare died 400 years ago this year, and a few folks still like to produce his work, so […]

Karin McKie /
Circus, Stages

Stacey Comes Home: We Interview an Artist from Cirque du Soleil’s Toruk

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Stacey Magiera is a gymnast turned circus artist who shows her incredible versatility by playing three different characters in Cirque du Soleil’s new show Toruk, which is coming to United […]

Kim Campbell /
Beyond, Stages, Theater

Actors of Theatre at the Center’s Odd Couple Try to Redefine “Space Oddity”

Before there was a film rendition, a sitcom, an animated sitcom featuring a cat and a dog, a revival sitcom featuring the 1980s, and finally yet another sitcom featuring Chandler […]

Lauren Garcia /
Stages, Theater

Gift Theatre’s Grapes of Wrath Weaves Powerful Human Story of Depression Eras

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  The Gift Theatre’s eloquent new production of The Grapes of Wrath is a story of Dust Bowl migrants during the Great Depression of the 1930s, but it bears witness […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Dance, Stages

Chicago Dancemakers Forum Announces 2016 Lab Artist Recipients

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Chicago Dancemakers Forum announced Wednesday the four Chicago-based dance artists chosen for the organization’s 2016 Lab Artist Awards. This year’s recipients are Catherine Sullivan, Onye Ozuzu, Carole McCurdy, and Pranita […]

Miriam Finder Annenberg /
Comedy, Stages

Get Ready for Batsu! Where Improv Meets Pain

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Batsu! Is the kind of gameshow where you might drink sake, you might sign a waiver if you are up for a little on-stage challenge and you might find yourself […]

Kim Campbell /
Stages, Theater

Griffin’s Bat Boy A Bold, Bizarre Blast

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The winner of the 2001 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical has, at long last, come to Chicago. Bat Boy: The Musical, in a triumphant Chicago premiere by Griffin Theatre […]

Brent Eickhoff /
Stages, Theater

Company Transcends Its Era at Writers Theatre

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It wasn’t immediately clear what to expect from Wednesday’s press opening of the 1970 Stephen Sondheim musical Company. On its first run,  this musical was a smash hit, nominated for […]

Marielle Bokor /
Stages, Theater

The SpongeBob Musical Makes Joyous Chicago Splash

  Some seem incredulous based on the piece of intellectual property that spawned this production; however, unlike a certain New York fiasco with a “friendly neighborhood Spider-Man,” The SpongeBob Musical […]

Brent Eickhoff /