Friday, March 26, 2021
Two streaming shows from Theatre in the Dark and Strawdog capture the drama of obsession and isolation.
Whether you're on the vast endless seas or stuck in your …
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 12:45PMWednesday, March 24, 2021
The Infinite Wrench marks an anniversary in shutdown; plus Refugee Rhapsody wins the Blue Ink Playwriting Award.
When the shutdown hit a year ago, the Neo-Futuri…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 10:00AMThursday, March 18, 2021
After a tumultuous year, the theater's new artistic director is ready to listen as well as lead.
It's been a dramatic year for Victory Gardens Theater, even thou…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 03:30PMThursday, March 11, 2021
The new artistic director wants to take 'amazing feats of storytelling' into more diverse realms; Rick Bayless wants to give more money to local theaters.
The st…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 06:20PMFriday, March 5, 2021
The longtime Chicago playwright joins a new mini-renaissance of aural drama.
In Willy Russell's 1980 play Educating Rita, the title character (a working-class ha…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 02:40PMTuesday, March 2, 2021
The crown jewel of Chicago nightclubs lives on at the Newberry Library and in an upcoming documentary.
Back when nightclubs were smoke-filled rooms, where people…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 03:15PMThursday, February 25, 2021
This year's lineup offers a smorgasbord of online options; plus honoring Felicia P. Fields and remembering Edward S. Weil Jr. and Sally Banes
As the numbers of t…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 02:00PMFriday, February 19, 2021
Private equity firm ZMC acquires the comedy institution, while AICE advocates for representation.
This has been a helluva week for Second City news. On Wednesday…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 02:20PMFriday, February 12, 2021
But the comedy games continue online; plus Raven announces a new-play development commission.
When venerable comedy institutions in Chicago get shout-outs, Comed…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 03:30PMWednesday, February 10, 2021
Theatre Above the Law and A Red Orchid Theatre dive into the physics and magic of being alive together.
For the past year, I've been making the same (extremely b…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 05:45PMTuesday, February 2, 2021
Chicago writer and theater artist David Blixt uncovers a trove of previously unpublished novels by the original Lois Lane.
In 1885, the Pittsburgh Dispatch ran a…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 05:00PMMonday, January 25, 2021
"We need to not only be trusted, but also championed."
In my last column, I wrote about Brian Loevner and the white paper he's created through his company, BLVE …
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 03:00PMThursday, January 21, 2021
They're bringing kids and families together through storytelling, crafts—and a viral 80s dance video.
When the COVID-19 lockdown first hit in March, a lot of …
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 05:05PMFriday, January 15, 2021
Brian Loevner thinks arts organizations should consider new ways to survive—and close.
This is the first of two columns that will examine the ideas of "cultura…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 01:15PMThursday, January 14, 2021
Links Hall and Chicago Shakespeare host two virtual interactive shows on isolation and connection.
Even before the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last w…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 02:50PMTuesday, January 5, 2021
Three plays by teen writers offer historical twists, absurdity, and some on-the-nose social commentary.
Nothing about this past year has been normal. (You're wel…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 06:20PMWednesday, December 23, 2020
Christmas Eve goes to 11 in Isaac Gómez's workplace comedy; About Face celebrates Black queer lives, past and present.
If you're not working retail this Christm…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 12:30PMFriday, December 18, 2020
Charles Dickens and Ike Holter are unlikely twin spirit guides in two online shows.
"Ring out the old year, ring in the new, ring-a-ding-ding," says Shirley MacL…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 04:10PMGetting back to normal isn't going to happen. And in many ways, it shouldn't.
On Monday, March 16, I walked into a theater for the last time in 2020. It was at T…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 02:30PMTuesday, December 15, 2020
The Goodman joins the national #Enough: Plays to End Gun Violence initiative; plus a new documentary on the August Wilson Monologue Competition and an award for a dance documentarian
…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 02:40PMThursday, December 10, 2020
A Dickens chestnut and a spoof of 1970s celebrity specials join the online holiday theater lineup.
For a lot of performing arts organizations, the holiday seaso…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 02:40PMFriday, December 4, 2020
A departure at PrideArts, an arrival at Second City, and the closing of the Frontier and Understudy; Kristiana Rae Colón wins a new prize.
In late June, Pride F…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 03:15PMWednesday, November 25, 2020
Allegations of mismanagement and harassment rock the fantasy/sci-fi theater.
Since its founding in 2012, Otherworld Theatre has been a haven for theater fans wh…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 01:30PMThursday, November 19, 2020
Stages are dark, but Chicago theater and dance companies still keep a light on.
This unholy year is winding down (or so we're told), and as we veer between image…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 03:45PMWednesday, November 11, 2020
The good, the bad, and the ugly of our politics are on display in two streaming shows.
The long national nightmare of the past four years may not be over, but as…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 04:40PMFriday, November 6, 2020
Matthew-Lee Erlbach wants to cut the creative sector in on a new deal; the Equity Jeff Awards go virtual.
When he was a kid in Rogers Park, Matthew-Lee Erlbach s…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 03:15PMMonday, November 2, 2020
Invictus's streaming production brings new angles to Marsha Norman's real-time drama.
Embarrassing Theater Critic Admission: I've never seen Marsha Norman's 1983…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 02:30PMThursday, October 22, 2020
Black women deal with loss in new digital plays by Perceptions Theatre and Black Lives Black Words.
Starting a theater company any time is tough. Starting one ri…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 06:10PMFriday, October 16, 2020
The Neo-Futurists and Theatre in the Dark offer shows for the spookiest of election seasons.
After the uproar around Bill Burr's recent SNL monologue taking whit…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 04:15PMFriday, October 9, 2020
Thinking about The Boys in the Band, Broadway, and Chicago
Last weekend, I watched Ryan Murphy’s Netflix production of The Boys in the Band, adapted from Mart …
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 04:15PMThursday, October 8, 2020
Rastus and Hattie and Run the Beast Down bring nightmarish scenarios to virtual life.
How do you write dramas about dystopia and alienation in the middle of a pa…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 12:55PM 
