Last summer, my wife and I spent a memorable weekend in Bar Harbor, Maine. We hiked through Acadia National Park and made the low-tide crossing to Bar Island for a spectacular view of the ha…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 06:00PMLast summer, my wife and I spent a memorable weekend in Bar Harbor, Maine. We hiked through Acadia National Park and made the low-tide crossing to Bar Island for a spectacular view of the ha…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:43PMThe setup is that of a globalized, post-modernized update of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” as two culturally upscale couples get together for an evening that goes very, very bad. …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 01:35PMIt’s hard to find a consistently good improv troupe. To gain the distinction of being good at anything requires a record of success, which is hard enough for the subjective art that is com…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:00PMRECOMMENDED “An Asian actress?” A character in Nandita Shenoy’s “Washer/Dryer” laughs in utter disbelief that such a thing could exist. It is that mindset coupled with the lack of …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:00PMRECOMMENDED “Gem of the Ocean,” set at the beginning of the twentieth century, is, chronologically, the first in August Wilson’s Century Cycle, a one-play-per-decade examination of the…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:45AM“Track 13” can’t be reviewed as one would review a typical theatrical production. Discussing the acting, design, and arguably even plot, is to ignore the most salient part of the produ…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 06:10PMComedy gets very little respect, considering how difficult it is to perform. As a comic like Chick Sherman, the suffering, titular funnyman in Bruce Graham’s new play at Northlight, will a…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:00PMRECOMMENDED It is actually not easy putting on an opera. That is what producer and best great-grandson-ever Arlen Parsa said when he took the stage at the end of his triumphant production �…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:00PMRECOMMENDED With all the magic in Shakespeare’s plays, “The Tempest” still stands out for its wizardry, with the magician Prospero using supernatural forces to both seek revenge and a…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 06:30PMChicago Fringe Festival: Part 4 Over the span of the Fringe Festival’s ten days, I regularly heard this argument from non-Fringe goers: the Chicago theater scene is already pretty “fring…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:00PMRECOMMENDED If you consider yourself a true theater aficionado; if you like collecting shows you’ve seen and theaters you’ve been to; if you don’t mind some nonsense; if you enjoy show…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:00PMHannibal Buress is having a good year. Among other developments, the Chicago-born comedian, who has written for "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock" and has a recurring character on the popul…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:32PMHannibal Buress is having a good year. Among other developments, the Chicago-born comedian, who has written for "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock" and has a recurring character on the popul…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:49PMChicago Fringe Festival: Part 3 The Chicago Fringe Festival philosophy is one of minimal interference. There is little that suggests a policy of enforcement beyond the occasional presence of…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:00PMRECOMMENDED In honor of the way our generation has chosen to represent ourselves in art – and, as it follows, in life – I am lovingly filing The Runaways Lab’s latest productio…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:33AMBy Logan West On the hottest day of the Chicago summer, Julie Proudfoot appeared perfectly cool and relaxed as I approached her outside an Argo Tea in Lakeview. The founding and executive ar…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:00PM“We are bibliophiles, we know every book known to man.” So begins “Dan & Kate’s Book Club,” a Friday-night foray into literature for the ludicrous. If you are truly a bibliophi…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:30AMRECOMMENDED When you hear “Porn Minus Porn,” that is, porn without the sex and all of the naked people, you might think, “Why?” After all, the most deplorable part about porn, okay, …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:30PM“Soap Box Derby King,” the titular theme song, is still circling through my head the morning after seeing the show, though I wish it wasn’t. I also wish I knew more of the lyrics than …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:40PMLess than a year ago, if you would have asked stand-up comedian Dave Maher what his plans were for the next five years he wouldn't have answered. Not because he was shy or unsure. Because he…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:43PMStorefront theaters vary wildly in professionalism from place to place, and when a curtain call concludes with the director getting onstage and introducing his mother, grandparents and music…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:00PM“Jamaica, Farewell” had quite the buzz going on a packed opening night. Clearly, the audience is there for a thoughtful, engaging theatrical treatment of life on the island, in all its c…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:45AMRECOMMENDED More than ever before, we are capable of surrounding ourselves with people who validate our belief systems. Sometimes it seems that the only way we will listen to those who don�…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 01:00PMPrelude Note: I use “Fringe” to signify the Chicago Fringe Festival and “fringe” to signify the broad idea of fringe theater. A fascinating and magical aspect of a theater festival i…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:00AMRegardless of what comes next, I want to say this: Under The Gun’s “Camp Tree Top” is Chicago’s premier onstage exhibition of short shorts. Bar none. Critics talk about “courage”…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:45PMThere are a substantial number of reasons why I should enjoy “Patchwork Drifter,” Jennifer L. Mickelson’s new work that opens Babes With Blades’ eighteenth season: it’s an all-…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:35AMAs subject matter goes, national tragedies are a slippery slope. Seldom do you get to see the proverbial forest and the trees. Take for example “Katrina: Mother-in-Law of ‘em All,” the…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:45AMRECOMMENDED Green Day’s “American Idiot” sounds like someone took a real work of art, hammered and sanded it into an orb of commodified meaninglessness, cooked it up under the flame of…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 06:00PMPrelude The Chicago Fringe Festival is about as “off Loop” as theater gets around these parts. Fringe’s anti-establishment streak goes even deeper than its DIY spaces. It goes straight…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:45AMRECOMMENDED More scary than conventional horror is the play that preys upon its audience with an almost plausible storyline, framed by the believable extremism that lurks in the margins of…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 03:30PM
