Content to Drift Across the Surface by Kevin Greene

Resiliently Prescient by Kevin Greene

A Rare Creature by Kevin Greene

Stage Top 5 by Kevin Greene

Lean and Limber by Kevin Greene

Heaven is a Roller Rink by Kevin Greene

Elementary High-School Comedy by Kevin Greene

Successfully Self-Negating by Kevin Greene

Opening This Week: May 30-June 5, 2016 by Kevin Greene

Monday “P!nk: Sung By Her” at Firebrand Theatre. A one night concert celebrating of the music of pop icon P!nk. For tickets and more information visit firebrandtheatre.org Tuesd…

Review: Spinning/Irish Theatre of Chicago by Kevin Greene

The classical poets and dramatists knew that love compels the most heinous acts: infatuation led to the transformation of innocent maidens into laurel trees, river rushes, and weeping heifer…

Review: Prowess/Jackalope Theatre Company by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED There are opposing impulses at war in Ike Holter’s “Prowess”: talking shit and talking about shit. The result of this conflict is the feeling that Holter has …

Stage Top 5: June 1-15, 2016 by Kevin Greene

1 The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (Goodman Theatre) Lorraine Hansberry’s prophetic second play could clearly see the writing hanging over the wall 2 The Art of Falling (The…

Piecing It Together: Millennial Actors Face New Challenges in Age of Technology by Kevin Greene

By Danielle Levsky When Peter Masterton isn’t practicing a scene as the Green Goblin, he stands backstage and checks his smartphone, sometimes scanning his Facebook news feed or looking f…

Review: One Man, Two Guvnors/Court Theatre by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED The integration of improvisation, scripted text and fourth wall breaks is surprisingly smooth in Court Theatre’s Midwest premiere of “One Man, Two Guvnors” after its succe…

Review: Tug of War: Foreign Fire/Chicago Shakespeare Theater by Kevin Greene

From a purely economic perspective, Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s “Tug of War: Foreign Fire” is a pretty good deal. With a running time equivalent to three full-length plays (sans roug…

Review: The Body of an American/ Stage Left Theatre by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED “Body of an American” begins in 2007 with playwright Dan O’Brien listening to photojournalist Paul Watson being interviewed by Terry Gross on “Fresh Air.” Depressed a…

Opening This Week: May 23-29, 2016 by Kevin Greene

Monday “The Distance” at Haven Theatre. A show that explores the outer limits of “no matter what.” Through June 26. For tickets and more information visit haventhea…

Review: In the Penal Colony/Chicago Fringe Opera by Kevin Greene

Franz Kafka and Philip Glass are a match made in heaven. They both experiment with form within the boundaries of classic genres, displacing the audience just slightly to the left or right of…

Review: Twisted Knots/TTKD Productions by Kevin Greene

Fortysomething Bill can’t free himself from business—the American religion. He’s so obsessed about his failing sales job that he won’t stop thinking about it even on New Year’s Eve…

Review: Discord/Northlight Theatre by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED Dialectic—the creative interplay of seemingly opposing positions to produce advancement—is both the theme and structure of Scott Carter’s absorbing and illuminating play. T…

Review: 3 Sisters/Theatre Y by Kevin Greene

Theatre Y’s “3 Sisters” is both a continuation and adaptation of Chekhov’s play of the same name. Despite beginning at the end, we’re thrust right back into the original, albei…

Review: The Secretaries/About Face Theatre by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED “We don’t kill them because they’re bad. We kill them because we’re bad,” one of the seasoned vets of “The Secretaries” informs the new girl. As far as workplace b…

Review: The House of Blue Leaves/Raven Theatre by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED Raven Theatre’s production of “The House of Blue Leaves,” written by John Guare and directed by JoAnn Montemurro, begins almost unnoticed. The live audience chatters ov…

Stage Top 5: May 16-May 31, 2016 by Kevin Greene

1 Dry Land (Rivendell Theatre Ensemble) Take a deep breath, dive in and don’t stop till you reach the other side 2 Once in a Lifetime (Strawdog Theatre Company) A bittersweet yet fitti…

The Inescapable Past: Underscore Theatre Company’s Haymarket Musical by Kevin Greene

By Hugh Iglarsh The Haymarket affair remains not just a defining moment in Chicago history but also a contested and ambiguous one. The basic facts are well-established: at the end of a labor…

Review: The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window/Goodman Theatre by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” is steeped in the political, artistic and intellectual soup of the sixties. While Lorraine Hansberry evidently had no love (and littl…

Review: Little Shop of Horrors/American Blues Theater by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s celebrated “Little Shop of Horrors” is a tunefully amusing musical—and that’s partly what makes it so scary. Telling its story of love a…

Opening This Week: May 9-15, 2016 by Kevin Greene

Monday “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” at Goodman Theatre. The political and the personal collide in Lorraine Hansberry’s prescient mid-century drama. Throu…

Review: This Great Nation, Much Enduring/Chicago Slam Works by Kevin Greene

This election cycle is showing how irretrievably broken the two-party system is. There are candidates on both sides that no one is particularly enthused about, yet we are bullied by propagan…

Review: Even Longer and Farther Away/The New Colony by Kevin Greene

The wanderer’s dream, a haven in the moment of need, dims any disbelief the moment you walk into the 100 Miles Inn of The New Colony’s “Even Longer and Farther Away.” Seated at table…

Review: Taste/Red Theater Chicago by Kevin Greene

While watching “Taste” you won’t know whether to laugh or cringe. In other dramatic circumstances this might be considered a virtue. However in Red Theater’s production, Benjamin…