Preview: NERD ALERT!! Bring Your Friends and Your Pets for the Virtual Chicago Nerd Comedy Fest
Way back when, when I was, I guess, a “cub” writer, I was unofficially assigned the “nerd beat.” This was in no small part due to the fact that my […]
Review: CST’s Audio Offerings Twelfth Night and Measure for Measure Present the Music of the Meter
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents two 100-minute productions on its Chicago ShakesSTREAM platform through May 16: Twelfth Night and Measure for Measure. The music of the meter might be more appreciated […]
Review: Discourse Without Grammar Displays Trap Door’s Ingenuity in Performance Art
Matei Vişniec’s plays are a bit bewildering and disorienting. They‘re theater of the absurd with a twist. But Trap Door Theatre can be counted on to turn the work of […]
Review: Did You Miss Smokefall the First Time? Catch Goodman’s 2013 Story of Love and Pain Streaming Now
Violet is pregnant with twin boys, due to arrive soon. She talks and sings to them constantly, introducing them to their family and friends and to their lives to come […]
Review: Remy Bumppo’s Radio Play—Artist Descending a Staircase—Is a Tom Stoppard Delight
Modern art, death and trippy art talk, as only Tom Stoppard can write it. That’s the best reason to listen to Remy Bumppo Theatre Company’s latest production, a radio play […]
Review: Strawdog’s How Do We Navigate Space? Choreographs Chicagoans in Pandemic Living
Strawdog Theatre’s final entry in their season of resilience celebrates Chicagoans and how they are blundering through and surviving a raging pandemic. How Do We Navigate Space? is a series […]
Review: Steppenwolf’s Duchess! Duchess! Duchess! Skirts Issues in Favor of Entertainment
Many Americans seem to have a British-Royals obsession that has never made sense to me. Steppenwolf Theatre’s newest online production in its Steppenwolf NOW streaming series plays on that royals […]
Review: Theatre in the Dark Creates Audio Theater Version of Melville’s Great White Whale
It begins with the familiar refrain, arguably the three most famous words in American literature. “Call me Ishmael.” But the voice of this Ishmael is different. The voice is unmistakably female […]
Review: Lauren Gunderson’s The Catastrophist Dramatizes Viruses and a Scientist’s Life
The Catastrophist, by Lauren M. Gunderson, succeeds as a story that informs us about science and tears at our hearts about love, death and grieving. It soars from the scientific […]
Review: National Theatre’s Julie Provides a Fascinating Glimpse Into the Talents of Golden Globe Nominee Vanessa Kirby
Review by Brooks Whitlock British actress Vanessa Kirby is going to be nominated for an Oscar this year for her performance in Pieces of a Woman. With the acclaimed Best […]
Previews: Chicago Theaters Schedule New Works and Classics for Streamed Performances
Chicago theater companies are scheduling new virtual experiences as we approach the first anniversary of pandemic theater. Some are live streamed and some filmed—all will be available from your living […]
Review: Ike Holter’s I Hate It Here Is a Cathartic, Kinetic and Emotionally Gripping Audio Play
Review by Brooks Whitlock Chicago-based playwright Ike Holter is assuredly keyed into, like so much else in his captivating bibliography, the moods that defined the previous calendar year. Exhibit A: […]