Review: Maggie Andersen Writes a Highly Readable Memoir in No Stars in Jefferson Park
When I open a book to review it, I view it as an assignment. Read it as thoroughly as practical, and perhaps skim over some sections. But by the time […]
Review: Gift Theatre’s The Rise and Fall of Little Voice Barely Registers
Thirty years ago, Jim Cartwright’s play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice made a big noise first on London’s West End and then on Broadway and at Steppenwolf Theatre. […]
Feature: Chicago Theaters on the Move as the Environment Changes …. Dramatically
Two lean years of pandemic economics, entwined with continuing, insistent calls for real racial justice and gender equity and an end to sexual abuse. The ‘20s have started as a […]
Preview/Review: Gift Theatre Celebrates Its Birthday With Ten 10-Minute Theater Pieces
Winter seems to be the season for stage fests in Chicago (Rhinofest, Musical Theater Festival, Pegasus’ Young Playwrights Festival, Fillet of Solo) and Gift Theatre, one of our fine storefront […]
2019 in Review: Our Favorite Nights at the Theater
This isn’t a “best theater of the year” list. As we’ve noted about past lists, we don’t see everything. Most of our writers are freelancers, all with other gigs, and […]
Review: Kentucky by Gift Theatre, an Homage to the Meaning of Home and Happiness
Kentucky is a richly drawn study of a family of characters who disagree and battle and are not quite sure they love each other. Mostly it‘s a story of what […]
Review: Magical Wolf Play at Gift Theatre Will Make You Think and Break Your Heart
It sounds like a sad story. A couple adopts a child from another country, then decides “it’s not a good fit” and decides to un-adopt him. But if I tell […]
Monty Cole’s Direction of Hamlet at the Gift Theatre Focuses on the Power of Language
Sometimes you see a familiar play, one that you’ve seen many times, and it gains new power because of the casting and staging or the mood created by the director. […]