RECOMMENDED In Regina Taylor's thrilling new play "stop. reset." aging businessman Alexander Ames (Eugene Lee) tells the story of his most precious possession"his family bible. This old tatt…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:35AM[SHARE]RECOMMENDED Don't get too comfortable in the plush space of the new Windy City Playhouse. With the smooth jazz filling the air and comfy leather chairs that hug your body like a lover after …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:45PM[SHARE]Science fiction, fantasy, and comic books are lousy with circuses. From the Flying Graysons to the Circus of Crime to whatever creepy clown Stephen King last wrote about, nerds seem to love …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:25PM[SHARE]By Dennis Polkow Gloria Estefan has made an international career out of singing and dancing, the very essence of what happens in a Broadway musical. As such, it might seem she would be a nat…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:04AM[SHARE]Polish critic Jan Kott likened Hamlet to the surly, punky James Dean, flaunting his alienation like a fashion accessory. Director Dennis McLernon pushes the action a decade later, setting it…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:02AM[SHARE]"The Wild Duck" is an incomparable masterpiece. 120 years ago, George Bernard Shaw wrote, "Where shall I find an epithet magnificent enough for 'The Wild Duck!'" At the Halcyon Theatre Frida…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:35AM[SHARE]Currently playing at Angel Island, Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company's production of Colleen Murphy's "The December Man (L'homme de Decembre)" tells the story of a family dealing with the afterma…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 03:45PM[SHARE]RECOMMENDED Those who say punk rock is dead have been spending too much time at the Wicker Park Urban Outfitters and not enough time right down the street at the Flatiron Arts Building, wher…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:15PM[SHARE]By Mary Kroeck Emjoy Gavino, Michael Patrick Thornton and Chay Yew are familiar names in the Chicago theater circuit. Gavino is a teaching artist with Barrel of Monkeys, ensemble member of R…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:09AM[SHARE]Radium has a half-life of about 1,600 years, losing half its radioactive potency over that period. If evil and infamy have a half-life, then the tale of the "radium girls" will still be red …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:30PM[SHARE]With "Our New Girl," a show that's ostensibly about a nanny that shows up unexpectedly on an overwhelmed (and very pregnant) mother's doorstep and then insinuates herself a little too far in…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:05PM[SHARE]RECOMMENDED Initially, Trap Door Theatre's "The Woman Before" feels like a sitcom. Wife and husband, Claudia and Frank (played by Loretta Rezos and Kirk Anderson, respectively), are packing …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 01:00PM[SHARE]RECOMMENDED Midway through Michele Lowe's "Inana," an Iraqi museum curator (Demetrios Troy) argues that the value of art cannot be properly assessed without historical context. His interlope…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:30PM[SHARE]RECOMMENDED "You are all complicit in our little adventure," intones the smarmy MC of the hit game show "False," where "perception is reality." Indeed, viewers become part of the act in Brit…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:02AM[SHARE]RECOMMENDED If all theater is a lie, as repeatedly asserted by co-creators Dan Kerr-Hobert and Phil Ridarelli, then "Trust Us/ Screw You" is a masterpiece of manipulation. It is also an insi…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:00PM[SHARE]With its raft of good intentions, talented cast and relevant theme, this is a play that one very much wishes to like. But PJ Paparelli's and Joshua Jaeger's interview-based documentary take …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AM[SHARE]RECOMMENDED It takes a certain kind of integrity"or perhaps better still, gall"to stage a production of John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt: A Parable" in an actual church. And while Glencoe Union…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 01:15PM[SHARE]RECOMMENDED Oh the joys of being a teenager. Making reckless decisions without contemplating an ounce of repercussion. Thinking you know everything but in actuality knowing nothing. Discover…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:00PM[SHARE]By Dennis Polkow Composer Ricky Ian Gordon has written instrumental music over the years, but "there's no getting around it," he admits, "I'm most excited by the voice. My mother was a singe…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:05AM[SHARE]By Hugh Iglarsh The area premiere of Sarah Ruhl's "Melancholy Play: A Chamber Musical" at Evanston's Piven Theatre Workshop is a big event in a small venue, and therein lies a tale. The Wilm…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:33AM[SHARE]RECOMMENDED In college, the old adage goes: sleep, work, social life; choose two. For Anton Chekhov, a similarly triangular logic exists: happiness, knowledge, safety; choose two and constan…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:45PM[SHARE]RECOMMENDED Coming on the heels of their insightful production of "Sondheim on Sondheim," Porchlight Music Theatre provides just enough silly to make "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to th…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:15PM[SHARE]Written and directed by Ruben D. Echoles, “Sounds So Sweet” follows the Harris family on their journey to lay their matriarch to rest. As the Harris' gather in Mississippi to hos…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AM[SHARE]RECOMMENDED Satire works best when it has enough of a bite that even those laughing can feel the teeth marks. Too gentle and the jokes just feel safe and congratulatory for those in agreemen…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AM[SHARE]RECOMMENDED If you're looking for an enchanting emcee who can walk the fine line between low-key and high class while sipping a giant martini, look no further than MsPixy, the quick-witted h…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AM[SHARE]A high school student in Germany, alienated by the hypocrisy and materialism of his surroundings, turns to religious literalism. Soon, he becomes a gleaming-eyed fanatic at war with society …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:30PM[SHARE]RECOMMENDED We all have secrets. Some bind us to others; some keep us bound in silence to ourselves; very few remain concealed. "Between You, Me and the Lampshade," a world premiere written …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:30AM[SHARE]By, Mary Kroeck The arts community lost a staggering number of incredible talents in 2014. Arguably, no death caused the world so much shock as the suicide of Robin Williams. He and hi…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:07AM[SHARE]Some people, when moved to frenetic laughter, are prone to requiring so much air to replace the air lost due to their audible guffaws that they suck in through their noses, creating a snorti…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:15AM[SHARE]RECOMMENDED The depth of a woman's love is unmatched. For the man lucky enough to capture a woman's heart, she will move heaven and earth for him, even at times to the detriment of bo…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:15AM[SHARE]By no coincidence whatsoever, my saddest, oldest, drunkest (SOD) friend is a big fan of pro wrestling, so a trip to the Annoyance to see some ladies go at it seemed like just the ticket. Dir…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:00PM[SHARE]
