Review: About Face’s Time Is on Our Side Shines a Light on Queer History
Queering history is the theme of Time Is on Our Side by R. Eric Thomas, now at About Face Theatre. It’s the story of podcast creators Annie and Curtis; their […]
Review: (Wo)Mano a (Wo)Mano in Chicago Shakespeare’s Mary Stuart
Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Mary Stuart aligns with the zeitgeist of today’s #TimesUp moment, where women seize the front and center, onstage and off, trying to harness and wield what power […]
Black Ensemble Theater’s Hail Hail Chuck Will Make You Get Out Your Chuck Berry Records
The Black Ensemble Theater has a new musical story on stage, a tribute to the late great guitarist Chuck Berry, who died a year ago. Hail Hail Chuck: A Tribute […]
Review: At Windy City Playhouse, Southern Gothic Invites You to the Party
RI was supposed to see Southern Gothic a week ago, but life got in the way and I didn’t make it then. Thankfully, the team at Windy City Playhouse (3014 W. […]
Review: Six Corners, A Quintessential Chicago Story, Bad Cops and All
Keith Huff’s Six Corners, the world premiere now at American Blues Theater, is quintessentially Chicago. It’s the story of a pair of shady cops, not always on the up and […]
Steppenwolf’s The Burn Remixes Mean Girls With Young Witches of Salem
Theater review. Philip Dawkins’ new play, The Burn, blends today’s online world with Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The real life “mean girls” in The Burn are distant cousins of the […]
Breach at Victory Gardens: Love and Relationships, Sitcom Style
Breach: a manifesto on race in america through the eyes of a black girl recovering from self-hate is a world premiere at Victory Gardens Theater. The play’s long title might […]
Haven Theatre’s Fear and Misery in the Third Reich: Brecht’s Ghost Warns Us About Fascist Dictatorship
Fear and Misery in the Third Reich can be described as Bertolt Brecht’s ghost arriving to warn us about the United States of Donald Trump turning into a fascist dictatorship. […]
Steppenwolf’sYou Got Older Succeeds as a Quietly Realized Family Story
After seeing Steppenwolf’s Chicago premiere of Clare Barron’s poignant play, You Got Older, I felt the need to text my sister. Much like Barron’s protagonist, Mae (Caroline Neff), my sister, […]
Ragtime at Marriott Theatre a Powerhouse, Wake-Up Call
It’s not for nothing that director Nick Bowling selected Ragtime for the 2018 season at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. When he read the book for the 1996 play, which was based on […]
Bobbing and Weaving in Red Tape’s Catastrophic I Saw Myself
Red Tape Theatre inaugurates its new “The Ready” space with Howard Barker’s scenery-chewing angst-fest I Saw Myself. The 13th century widow Sleev (Carolyn Hoerdemann), vulnerable in a black slip, is weaving […]
Nice Girl at Raven Theatre: Sweet, Heartfelt Story of Four People Whose Lives Aren’t What They Hoped
Josephine is the nice girl. She’s so nice that she remains living at home with her mother, working in a dead-end job, when she really wants to do what she […]