Review: Sleater Kinney and Black Belt Eagle Scout Astound at the Riviera Theatre
I’ve been a fan of Sleater Kinney for a very long time. Long enough that my heart was broken after The Woods (probably my favorite album of theirs) where they […]
Review: Paramount Theatre’s A Streetcar Named Desire Brings a Gritty Corner of New Orleans to Life
New Orleans has a kind of disheveled luxury as it’s portrayed in Tennessee Williams’ 1947 play, A Streetcar Named Desire. In this production in Aurora, co-directors Jim Corti and Elizabeth Swanson […]
Review: Love Song, a Quirky Rom-Com by Remy Bumppo, Shows Us That Love Can Be Magical
Beane is a bit peculiar. He doesn’t seem to enjoy life. His apartment attacks him. He answers questions before they’re asked or doesn’t answer at all. But once Beane meets […]
Dialogs: Kara Swisher Talks Tech Bros— They’re “Frequently Wrong But Never in Doubt”—at CHF Event
Kara Swisher has a lot of opinions—and she doesn’t hesitate to share them, both in her new book and in her conversation with social work professor Brené Brown before a sold-out […]
Review: Jake Gyllenhaal’s Road House Reimagining Is Violent and Funny, Sometimes at the Same Time
Here’s my dark, dirty secret: I don’t hold the 1989 Road House in especially high regard. I certainly don’t dislike it, but as far as I can see, it’s a […]
Interview: Poet Hannah V. Warren on Apocalypse and Digging Up the Past
In the humid loam of a Jurassic-era feeling Southern United States, poet Hannah V. Warrendebuts her collection, Slaughterhouse for Old Wives’ Tales (Sundress Publications, January2024). Betraying the old adage, you […]
Review: What the Weird Sisters Saw by Idle Muse Reenvisions Macbeth Through the Eyes of Its Most Elusive Characters
Reminiscent of the Three Fates of Greek mythology and famous for their incantation, “Double, double, toil and trouble,” the weird sisters of Macbeth are an iconic trio. But what does the world […]
Review: Bill W. and Dr. Bob Is an Inspirational Play for Its AA Community
I was sitting in the lobby of the theater, waiting for the house to open. The lobby was crowded with people, chatting. A man came up to me and said, “Young […]
Review: Lenny Bruce Lives Again in I’m Not a Comedian… I’m Lenny Bruce at the Biograph Theater
Cancel culture started with Lenny Bruce. His mother, standup comic and entertainer Sally Marr, encouraged him to emcee his first show in 1947 where he found his calling. Bruce practically […]
Review: In Rivendell’s Wipeout, Three Friends Navigate the Waves, and the Aging Process, With Humor and Tenacity
“This is what I love about being old!” proclaims one of the characters in Aurora Real de Asua’s new play, Wipeout, directed by Rivendell artistic director Tara Mallen. “You can get […]
Review: Post-War Drama One Life Recounts One Ordinary Man’s Extraordinary Efforts and Their Generational Ripple Effects
Based on the book If It’s Not Impossible?: The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton by Barbara Winton, One Life is a true story about an elderly man who is forced […]
Review: Composer Amy Wurtz Celebrates Women’s History Month on Stage and on Video
In celebration of Women’s History Month, composer Amy Wurtz gave an inspiring piano recital of music by Chicago-based women composers at Harold Washington Library on Wednesday afternoon. She is also […]