First of all, there’s the bar. Jeffrey D. Kmiec’s design of Hank’s Bar is a classic and so realistic you will want to park on a stool and order a beer. It’s […]
Review: At Raven Theatre, Will Hank’s Bar Survive The Undeniable Sound of Right Now?
Review: Compass Theatre’s What We’re Up Against Shows 1992 Workplace Sexism Is Still Alive and Well
Playwright Theresa Rebeck is a master of dialogue and never hesitates to portray the bad manners of her contemporaries. Her 2011 play, What We’re Up Against, just opened as the inaugural production […]
2018 in Review: What We Liked on Stage
This isn’t a “best theater of 2018” list. We didn’t see everything. Most of our writers are freelancers, all with other gigs, and it’s hard for us to cover the hundreds of […]
There’s Little Brotherly Love But Plenty of Poteen in The Lonesome West by AstonRep
The Lonesome West by Martin McDonagh is a story of two Irish brothers, locked in a codependent relationship of affection and hatred (mostly the latter). Throughout the course of the 100-minute play by […]
Raven’s Suddenly Last Summer Tells Tennessee Williams’ Grisly Tale in a Garden
Playwright Tennessee Williams is a master of his craft. He is skilled at conjuring up a time or place and creating a story that snares you in its web from the beginning. […]
Two Great Playwrights on the Cusp of Their Careers: Philip Dawkins’ The Gentleman Caller at Raven Theatre
Tennessee Williams has been a local favorite for decades, ever since December 27, 1944, when Claudia Cassidy, the fearsome Chicago Tribune theater critic, said Williams turned the theater “into a place of […]
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 wants to […]
A Family 20 Years Later in Raven’s Assembled Parties
“Times change,” Julie’s neurotic-if-charming sister-in-law, Faye, tells her near the end of The Assembled Parties, now in its Midwest premiere at Raven Theatre. “Yes,” is Julie’s reply. “Times change and new symmetries […]
