Review: At Victory Gardens Theater, In Every Generation Focuses on Family, Faith and Sisterly Arguments
A family’s Passover seder table at several time periods is the center of In Every Generation, a play about family, faith and history. Victory Gardens Theater is staging this world premiere […]
Chicago Theaters Go Virtual During the Virus; Goodman Streams School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play
In these “AC,” After COVID, times, Chicago theaters are offering online content to fill the gap of canceled shows and in-person instruction (as well as the yawning expanse of endless […]
Review: Help! The Help Has Disappeared in Congo Square’s “Satirical Fantasy,” Day of Absence
The playwright conceived it as a reverse minstrel show, with black actors playing in whiteface. But Douglas Turner Ward’s Day of Absence is a lot more. As staged by Congo […]
Review: The Adult in the Room Tells Nancy Pelosi’s Leadership Story
Politics. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. This article is a review of The Adult in the Room, a one-woman show about U.S. House Speaker […]
Interview: Larry Neumann Jr. Talks About Beckett, About His Acting Career and Growing Up on the South Side
Larry Neumann Jr. is known as one of Chicago’s finest character actors. I have seen him in a wide variety of roles in the 30-plus years I’ve been a Chicago […]
Review: Words of Wisdom Shine in Victory Gardens’ Tiny Beautiful Things
If you need an actor to carry your show on her shoulders, might I recommend the talents of one Janet Ulrich Brooks? Last year, she dominated Timeline Theatre’s Master Class as opera […]
Review: If I Forget at Victory Gardens Tells a Rich Story of Family Angst
If I Forget is very much about religion, specifically about Judaism—and yet it isn’t. It’s a complex human story in which you’ll find something relevant and moving, no matter whether you […]
Review: Cambodian Rock Band Mixes Joyous Cambodian Rock Music and a Genocide Story
Cambodia’s violent and genocidal past doesn’t sound like a story that will have you leaving the theater smiling. But Lauren Yee manages to create a small miracle with her brave, […]
Review: Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline Explores the Troubled School to Prison Route at Victory Gardens
The pipeline in Dominique Morisseau’s play is the school-to-prison path followed too often by young people from disadvantaged backgrounds because of harsh school and police policies. The route is explored […]
Ike Holter’s Rightlynd Is a Story of Chicago Politics: It’s the City We Love Despite Its Flaws
“Once you’ve come to be part of this particular patch, you’ll never love another. Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies. But never […]
Paula Vogel’s Enthralling Indecent Haunts Us With Messages From the Past
Theater history, immigration, censorship and persecution are some of the ingredients in Paula Vogel’s compelling play, Indecent, which just opened at Victory Gardens Theater. Gary Griffin directs a multitalented cast […]
Sideshow Theatre’s Tilikum: A Bleak Fantasy, Ripped From the Headlines
“Tilikum, the infamous SeaWorld killer whale, has died.” That was the headline in the Orlando Sentinel on January 6, 2017. Sideshow Theatre’s world premiere production of Tilikum takes the story of that […]