Writing teachers ask their fledgling essayists to answer the question: “So what? Why write this? What’s the point?” Theater artists also should have a similar rubric for plays. Walkabout’s music, […]
Through the Elevated Line at Silk Road Rising is a play about a stranger in a new land. We meet Razi Gol (Salar Ardebili) as he arrives from Iran. We […]
Cyrano, the new adaptation of Edmund Rostand’s poetic Cyrano de Bergerac, by Michael Hollinger and Aaron Posner, is lean and hilarious. The man with the famously large nose is played […]
The Picture of Dorian Gray, the only novel by the brilliant Irish playwright and poet, Oscar Wilde, is loaded with Wildean bon mots. It is one of the most quotable […]
Plantation!, now receiving its world premiere in a production at Lookingglass Theatre directed by David Schwimmer, is a comedic take on race and reparations in the 21st century. Written by […]
You for Me for You is a play that can tear at your heart and also remind you of current politics. (From which there is no escape.) Coincidentally, the president’s […]
You’ll be uncomfortable. The things you’re hearing when you see The Condition of Femme by Circle Theatre will be incredibly unpleasant. If you have had the experiences, you’ll relate, and it might be painful. If you […]
In late 2016, all the skeletons in the Neo-Futurists’ closet were dragged out into the open, as a schism between the company and its founder resulted in the end of […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]