All stories by Kimzyn Campbell on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Never Better hits a nerve by Kimzyn Campbell

Avoidant and in denial. Most of us have been there. But when college girl Davy, played by Emma Samuelson in Never Better, leans into these strategies, it causes problems. Still mourning the …

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 01:49PM
Thursday, July 18, 2024

Pet project by Kimzyn Campbell

Claustrophobia versus freedom—it’s a theme of sorts in this dramatic fantasy by Elizabeth Egloff (billed as a psychosexual thriller, directed by Erin Sheets, produced by Theatre L’Acad…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:51PM
Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Lavender Men is a time-traveling queer fantasia by Kimzyn Campbell

Lavender Men—in its midwest premiere with About Face Theatre—is giving opportunity; opportunity to see the story from another angle, perhaps. It’s a chance to trip lightly through a fa…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:22PM
Wednesday, May 15, 2024

The power of Ten by Kimzyn Campbell

What started as a birthday party celebration for the Gift has since become an annual tradition, featuring ten ten-minute plays by a variety of playwrights. Adding to the numerical energy, ea…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 02:38PM
Friday, April 19, 2024

Suburban circus extravaganza by Kimzyn Campbell

One of Chicagoland’s best-kept circus secrets is the Triton Troupers Circus, a motley cast of 80-plus circus performers who put on a traditional show every spring in Triton College‘s gym…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 11:03AM
Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Time travel, Babes With Blades style by Kimzyn Campbell

What is better than a time travel play? Not much. A rare species in itself, it can only be improved upon by something equally awesome—like centering women, impeccable stage combat, and a r…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:59PM
Wednesday, April 3, 2024

The Good, the sad, and the funny by Kimzyn Campbell

Jenny Magnus, as a theater cofounder, surely has a lot on her plate: working at Curious Theatre Branch for 35 years, producing the amazing Rhino Fest, being a human in 2024. Perhaps that exp…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:28PM
Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Short, sapphic, and stirring by Kimzyn Campbell

Violence, vengeance, and a moment’s glimmer of peace and love in between the mayhem. That is the ageless story amongst humans. This time it comes to Chicago in stereo: the tragedy of Romeo…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 10:27AM
Thursday, February 1, 2024

The best things we saw at the 6th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival by Kimzyn Campbell, Irene Hsiao and Kerry Reid

The 6th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival swept through Chicago as vigorously as the cold front that accompanied much of it, and puppets dominated venues all around Chicago for t…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 02:34PM
Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol returns to Writers Theatre by Kimzyn Campbell

Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol (devised and directed by Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, Ben Kauffman, Julia Miller, and Kyle Vegter) is a charming remix of an old classic, but with added layers …

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 05:09PM
Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Beetlejuice is a demonic good time by Kimzyn Campbell

Thirty-five years after its film debut, the classic Tim Burton Halloween comedy Beetlejuice has been reimagined, first set loose like a demon as a 2019 Broadway musical (score by Eddie Perfe…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 09:59AM
Thursday, November 9, 2023

Stupid F#@*ing Bird makes Chekhov both timeless and contemporary by Kimzyn Campbell

Stupid F@*#ing Bird is my kind of play—the kind that plumbs the depths of despair as if it were a vaudeville skit. “I’m in mourning for my life,” says Mash, quoting a line straight o…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 10:56AM
Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Lucha Teotl brings bodyslamming storytelling to the Goodman by Kimzyn Campbell

Pro wrestling fans take heed: a lucha libre play is now up at the Goodman Theatre that celebrates the lively art form and spectacle of Mexican pro wrestling, where técnicos (the good guys) …

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 04:21PM
Thursday, August 10, 2023

Next to Normal is worth the ride by Kimzyn Campbell

Next to Normal is a musical that takes on a mental health crisis to destigmatize. This is a good thing. Go to Paramount’s Copley Theatre for Jim Corti’s staging. Be proud, open your hear…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 11:55AM
Wednesday, May 24, 2023

The Dream King delivers heartbreaking hilarity by Kimzyn Campbell

Silent Marvin is living in a silent world that is just as monotonous as ours. The daily grind of shuffling papers at his office job and flipping channels at night leaves him unsatisfied. Whe…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 04:43PM
Thursday, May 18, 2023

The Gender Play‘s the thing by Kimzyn Campbell

All of the world is a stage, and Will Wilhelm knows it. Their new production at About Face (cocreated and directed by Erin Murray), Gender Play, or what you Will, is the perfect platform for…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 10:29AM
Thursday, March 23, 2023

Interactive inclusivity by Kimzyn Campbell

Filament Theatre’s Think Fast, Jordan Chase!, written by Sonia Goldberg and directed by Jamal Howard, is full of plot twists which weave in and out of schoolyard and fantasy. Addressing di…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 01:15PM
Thursday, February 23, 2023

Quixote goes airborne by Kimzyn Campbell

Circus Quixotic, the winter circus production at The Actors Gymnasium, flips the story of Don Quixote into a modern retelling. Through metaphor and audience asides from the actors, director …

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 10:50AM

Take that, Jane! by Kimzyn Campbell

Lookingglass Theatre Company’s world premiere of Villette, a modern adaptation (written by Sara Gmitter and directed by Tracy Walsh) of Charlotte Brontë’s novel, explores the travails o…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 10:00AM
Wednesday, November 23, 2022

A Steadfast seasonal favorite by Kimzyn Campbell

It begins festively enough with a giant advent calendar revealing hints of the story to come. Some symbols are cheering, like wreaths and a violin. But others are mysterious—why a […] Th…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 11:45AM
Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Bardfoolery by Kimzyn Campbell

Reminiscent of Shakespeare’s first play The Two Gentlemen of Verona, the new Shakespeare-inspired comedy titled Malapert Love by first-time playwright Siah Berlatsky would make the bard pr…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 05:28PM
Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Puppet peep show of horror by Kimzyn Campbell

If you want to move beyond schlock and shock into an elevated horror experience this October, look no further than House of the Exquisite Corpse—A Haunted Puppet Anthology at Chopin […] …

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 04:55PM
Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Mystery train by Kimzyn Campbell

It is 2022 still, so . . . a nostalgic romp through a bygone era with a whodunit twist? Bring it!  Ken Ludwig transformed Agatha Christie’s novel into a riveting […] The post Mystery tr…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 02:19PM
Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Printers Row Lit Fest embraces Chicago’s writers by Kimzyn Campbell

Printers Row Lit Fest has been bringing all things literary to the streets of the Printers Row neighborhood for 37 years. The festivities return for the second weekend of September […] The…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 03:33PM
Thursday, June 9, 2022

Musical makeover by Kimzyn Campbell

If you spend any time breathing, you may have noticed polarities everywhere these days, most emanating from a belief gulf that is exponentially widening between conservatives and liberals wi…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 10:11AM
Thursday, May 19, 2022

Chess, circus, and the game of life by Kimzyn Campbell

Here is a riddle for you: What do a game of chess and life have in common?*  Inside the tidy, rule-driven universe of a chess board, seven-year-old Alice stumbles upon the inexplicable and …

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 10:26AM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 15, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
TBA: Titanic