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 […]
A Shayna Maidel at Timeline Theatre: A Timely History Play Full of Ghosts and Terrors
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Review: 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 […]
Review: Career and Life Come Crashing Down on Linda at Steep Theatre
Linda, the Steep Theatre production of Penelope Skinner’s 2015 play, is entertaining and poignant, cataloging the life and career of the successful brand strategist for a beauty company. Robin Witt’s smart […]
Bus Stop at Eclipse Theatre: William Inge’s Road Story Lacks Energy
Playwright William Inge is considered a quintessential midwestern writer. Born in Kansas, he worked in Kansas and Missouri, and died (by suicide) in Hollywood. His 1955 play Bus Stop is one […]
Review: The Color Purple Is As Powerful and Moving As Ever
Every now and then, when I’m feeling particularly down, I’ll queue up this segment from the 2016 Tony Awards: a performance from the 2015 revival of The Color Purple featuring […]
Victims of Duty Showcases the Shape of Michael Shannon
Ubiquitous big-budget bad guy Michael Shannon returns to his roots, his theater company, his kind of town in the remount of A Red Orchid’s Victims of Duty. He reunites with […]
At Brown Paper Box Co., Everybody Is a Hip Meditation on Death and Mortality
Last weekend in Spring Green, I saw the Ionesco play, Exit the King, an absurdist but moving play about death and mortality. My first night at home, I attended another […]
Review: Marriott’s Murder for Two Proves Less Is More in Absurd Comedy
There are lots of dynamic duos—Batman and Robin, peanut butter and jelly, Italian beef and fries. Now there’s murder and dancing. Murder for Two is a horse of a different color […]
Review: Stacy Keach As Aging Ernest Hemingway in Goodman Theatre’s Pamplona
As the Goodman Theatre opens Pamplona, a one-man show starring Stacy Keach as an aging, rambling Ernest Hemingway, the production’s primary claim to fame may be its rough road to […]