Review: Female, Ashkenazi With a Sewing Machine Tells a Story of Love and Illness
This oddly named play is a love story as well as the drama of a serious health risk faced by many women. Rather than treating it in documentary style, its […]
Review: Buddha’s Birthday by Lucid Theater Focuses on One Character—Plus That Raccoon
Buddha’s Birthday by Lucid Theater is a little slip of a play, a story of family relationships and conflicts—husband/wife, mother/daughter, aunt/niece. One character in each of those pairs is played […]
Review: Griffin Theatre Company’s Girls & Boys Shines After a Rough Start
For the first half hour of Dennis Kelly’s Girls & Boys, making its Midwest debut at the Bramble Arts Loft, one could be forgiven for calling it a Fleabag rip-off. […]
Review: Tin Drum Theatre Makes Magic on a Small Stage With Incognito
Two chairs, a piano and a big bird. That simple scenic design—combined with a creatively structured script and superb performances by four actors playing 20 roles—creates magic on a small […]
Review: Blank Theatre’s Passion Showcases Sondheim’s Breathtaking Score
As fans of Stephen Sondheim may know, Passion is not as widely prod’suced as some of his other musicals. There are many reasons for this. The music can be quite […]
Review: Red Orchid’s Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin Is Drama, History and a Love Letter to Theater
Last week, the Russian government erected a new statue of Joseph Stalin in Moscow. Apparently Vladimir Putin is resurrecting the image of the brutal dictator. And this week, a Chicago […]
Review: First Floor Theater’s Evanston Salt Costs Rising Borrows a Lot and Reveals Little
First Floor Theater brings something strange but not altogether original with its debut of Evanston Salt Costs Rising, written by Succession writer and Pulitzer Prize finalist Will Arbery and directed […]
Review: Theatre Evolve Unleashes a Redeemed MedeaMedeaMedea
The tale of Medea presents a paradox in contemporary times. Euripides, Ovid, and Seneca cast her as a villain who manipulates Jason, the Argonaut, to achieve her ambition of becoming […]
Review: Pegasus Theatre’s Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery Is an Uplifting Coming-of-Age Story
Pegasus Theatre first performed Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery in 2017. Playwright Shay Yougblood’s story of Black women raising one of their own in 1960s Georgia has been remounted by Pegasus at […]
Review: Robots Rule in Century-Old Play, R.U.R. Rossum’s Universal Robots, at City Lit Theater
Will robots or humanoids some day rule the world? A play written 105 years ago predicts the rise of the robot over its human creators. You can see the clever, […]
Review: Charlotte’s Web by Young People’s Theatre Is the Perfect Show for Children and Families!
Young People’s Theatre of Chicago presents an endearing and entertaining rendition of the classic children’s novel, Charlotte’s Web by E.B Webb– play adaptation by Joseph Robinette. This tale follows the […]
Review: Avalanche Theatre’s Time Is a Color and the Color Is Blue Builds Dramatic Pressure Despite Its Flaws
This Avalanche Theatre world premiere, at the Bramble Arts Loft, might win the Adam Kaz Critic Award for Year’s Coolest Title. Time Is a Color and the Color Is Blue by […]