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 01:49PMClaustrophobia 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 12:51PMLavender 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 12:22PMWhat 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 02:38PMOne 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 11:03AMWhat 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 12:59PMJenny 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 12:28PMViolence, 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 10:27AMThe 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 02:34PMManual 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 05:09PMThirty-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 09:59AMStupid 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 10:56AMPro 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 04:21PMNext 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 11:55AMSilent 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 04:43PMAll 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 10:29AMFilament 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 01:15PMCircus 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 10:50AMLookingglass 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 10:00AMIt 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 11:45AMReminiscent 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 05:28PMIf 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 04:55PMIt 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 02:19PMPrinters 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 03:33PMIf 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 10:11AMHere 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
