Lucas Hnath’s play The Christians at Steppenwolf Theatre challenges the belief systems of its characters on stage as well as those of religious and nonreligious audience members. The heart of The Christians […]
Standing onstage, Laura Jane Grace is the embodiment of a punk rocker. Part Joan Jett, part Debbie Harry, Grace commands her pop-punk band Against Me! with ease and a crooked smile. […]
The major retrospective examining the works of László Moholy-Nagy at the Art Institute of Chicago presents not only his prolific output, but also the amazing range of his art despite his […]
Illusions of Magic: Love and Intrigue in 1933 Chicago resurrects three little-known aspects of history: the 1933 assassination attempt on Franklin D. Roosevelt that killed Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, the […]
One of the better purely hand-drawn animated films of 2016, Long Way North tells the tale of Sasha (voiced by Christa Théret), a Russian teenager circa 1882, whose grandfather was […]
Sometimes a movie is bad just because it’s bad, and sometimes it’s bad because it wants so passionately to be good that it chokes on its noble intentions. The last […]
Despite what you may have been led to believe, writer-director Damien (Whiplash) Chazelle’s La La Land is not some type of homage to the Hollywood musicals of old. It only […]
I’ve had a lot of people ask me variations on “How can there be any suspense within Rogue One if we already know how it ends?” But it became evident […]
We’re midway through the month and winter has finally arrived. There’s a fair amount of snow on the ground and it’s regularly well below freezing. While I’m sure huddling up […]
Ron Faiola is no stranger to supper clubs, especially those scattered throughout our neighbor state to the north. Wisconsin Supper Clubs: Another Round is his second glossy coffee-table book focusing on […]
Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde is a documentary-style play set in a courtroom. Lest you think that sounds dry, it isn’t. The script is flush with the […]
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a Holmesian mystery told from the perspective of a 15-year-old British boy with autism. I was apprehensive to attend the […]
