55 stories by "Dan Jakes"
A good play, suggests Tony Kushner in his 1995 anthology Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue, "should be overstuffed." Memorably comparing well-constructed theater to lasagna,…
A solo show about the man behind Bull Moose stands alone.
By the time I had the opportunity to see Derek Evans's 75-minute solo biographical lecture enactment, T…
Elaine Carlson delivers a biting title performance for Promethean Theatre.
To get an idea of just how convoluted the legal and moral attitudes toward sex work ar…
A woman chemist helps wives dispatch their plutocratic husbands.
In 2013, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Deborah Blum wrote an article for Wired magazine titl…
MPAACT's campus drama pushes some hot buttons, but casts an ugly pall.
Playwright and MPAACT founding member Shepsu Aakhu was inspired to write this campus sexua…
Political prisoners swallow their pride (and maybe some poison) in Rivendell's world premiere.
The gulags in Meghan Brown's world-premiere dystopian fable, The T…
A brutal homophobic assault tests the love between two women in Diana Son's drama.
To be queer and in love in a 90s play is a pitiable fate. At best, characters …
Call him "bone dry" if you must, but don't call him "alt."
The laid-back, unassuming, eminently cool aesthetic of Pilsen's Thalia Hall is such a harmonious fit f…
Blank Theatre Company shows off some chops in this Rupert Holmes musical.
One of the easier riddles to solve in Rupert Holmes's 1985 musical comedy is why so few…
The unconventional family structures of 19th-century mining camps widen the lens for LGBTQ history.
Neither Tom Selleck nor Steve Guttenberg nor Ted Danson have …
Scott Bradley's solo show for About Face creates an important document of queer life.
Living out and proud in a coastal queer mecca full of historic gayborhoods,…
The songs are strong, but the story needs work in this new musical about depression.
In David Gosz and Leo Fotos's clinically subtitled new show, Tru: A Musical …
Part hangout, part celebration, part theater of the mind, live podcast recordings are a performance medium all their own.
Sometime next month, Action Boyz podca…
A ghost-town saloon sets the stage for this zombie-spaghetti western hybrid.
Open up any horror auteur's toolbox, and you'll likely see some recurring devices: t…
Hell in a Handbag's spoof of Mrs. Garrett and 21 Jump Street is far from a drag.
As luck would have it, the most expedient way to describe vanguard camp comic an…
Mixing the Bard up with the Gunpowder Plot doesn't help Bill Cain's play ignite dramatically.
The setup to Bill Cain's revisionist Shakespearean fairy tale is th…
Lifeline's revival of this 2002 Dorothy Sayers adaptation could use more breathing room to fully come alive.
Lifeline Theatre's stage has been something of a hom…
The snake-haired Gorgon gets a narrative makeover in this touring devised piece.
Despite sporting the most recognizable hairdo in all of literature, general know…
The sight gags score, but the music falls short in this spoof/homage of the Wachowskis' sci-fi classic.
Ready to feel old? The Matrix"a movie that, upon its rele…
A comedian requests a roast in lieu of a wake in Harry Wood's debut play.
In lieu of a traditional funeral service, a young comedian asks for a livestreamed, no-…
When Joan Jett Blakk told us to lick Bush in '92
Neon shades of violet"not rainbows"radiate from Tarell Alvin McCraney and Tina Landau's world-premiere docu-part…
Bureaucracy, sweet bureaucracy!
Despite having one of the most radical and inspiring biographies of any theater artist, playwright-turned-
prisoner-turned-Czech …
Why do people always turn into sneering jackasses during dinner parties in plays?
A group of politically engaged Chicago north siders gets together for a casual …
Thankfully, the plot and performances become more compelling halfway through.
Ross Compton's world premiere one-act dramedy ends as a wholly different play than …
The drumming is fun, but the corporate-speak is not.
Everything about Djembe! The Show starts to make more sense when you imagine it out of its current context"t…
