By Johnny Oleksinski Last year’s Sketchbook, Collaboraction’s annual festival of new work, was remarkably impressive. The unexpectedly profound and profoundly enjoyable “Ho…
A Hawaiian shirt and a cowboy hat! That's surely not what writer Alexandre Dumas had pictured in his mind's eye when he penned "The Three Musketeers" in 1844. When Porthos (Christopher M. Wa…
Although the writer Sherod Santos is known in literary circles for his body of poetry, his words are taking the stage in “Lives of the Pigeons,” receiving a world premiere at The…
With their popular and tuneful musicals, John Kander and the late Fred Ebb fashioned a storied career essentially from derivation. That's not to slight the duo's awesome achievements because…
There are a couple playwright-screenwriters that are of particular interest at the moment. One is Elizabeth Meriwether, scribe of the hilarious and twisted "Heddatron" and the far less funny…
By Johnny Oleksinski Another year, another Non-Equity Jeff Award Ceremony. Folks around these parts call it “Theater Prom” for a reason. The banter is awkward, the recipients are…
On the far wall of Rivendell Theatre is an illustrated moon cycle, starting from waxing crescent transitioning all the way to a big full moon and back again in the opposite direction. In the…
A fabulous teacher once described to me, in a harsh English screech, the probable conditions that Shakespeare was working under during the late sixteenth century. "On one side," she said, "w…
The story of the solider returning home from war is as ancient as Odysseus and as contemporary as the evening news. The specifics may vary, but the central conceit of the Greek legend is the…
By Johnny Oleksinski Right away I knew something was up at the Civic Opera House on January 5. The lights dimmed and the familiar, soothing British brogue of Lyric Opera principal conductor …
By Johnny Oleksinski Playwright and Chicago native son David Ives is receiving a rolling homecoming by happenstance this season and next. Last winter, Chicago Shakespeare Theater presented h…
Late in Neil LaBute's ”In The Company of Men,” the most deplorable character I've ever seen in a domestic drama relaxedly watches “Seinfeld” after confessing to ho…
RECOMMENDED Few works of theater have the adrenaline-fueled urgency of "Roadkill." But it’s not the familiar rush of exhilaration; it’s the primal clamor for survival that pulsat…
By Eric Shoemaker The Back to Back Theatre ensemble is no ordinary group of performers. The company has existed since 1987 to bring disabled actors to the stage in order to build, together, …
The biggest revelation of Craig Wright’s “Orange Flower Water” is that it wasn’t written in 1982. Wright, a playwright particularly relevant after the recent Broadway…
As Rhea Perlman walks into Lou’s, the kind of neighborhood bar you wind down the holidays at, a warm sensation creeps its way from your toenails to your topmost follicles. Carla is bac…
The hubbub in the men’s restroom at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre a couple years ago was highly energized. During intermission of J.T. Rogers’ “Blood and Gifts…
There is churchly ambience to “Henry VIII,” which opened Wednesday night at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Catholic clergymen clad in red vestments descend the central aisle to the…
RECOMMENDED One hopes the producers and creative team of the deeply problematic "Big Fish," which recently completed its pre-Broadway tryout here in Chicago, caught a preview of "Ivywild: Th…
The sturdiest moments of "By The Way, Meet Vera Stark," which opened on Monday night at the Goodman Theatre, have the audience gazing up at the stage, eyes fixated on actress Tamberla Perry,…
There's disagreement on exactly what mood House Theatre is trying to achieve within its campfire concert, "Ploughed Under: An American Songbook." The upstairs theater at the Chopin is config…
RECOMMENDED Rick Cluchey's performance in Samuel Beckett's "Krapp's Last Tape" is a surreal exploit that goes far beyond docile entertainment and way past profundity; it's living history. Pr…
By Johnny Oleksinski David Adam Moore is an anomaly in the cast of Lyric Opera’s upcoming production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” A baritone who performs …
RECOMMENDED Writing a play of divisive issues is no small feat. Some critics will decry the work as preachy, manipulative and disguising the playwright's political agenda, while others might…
RECOMMENDED A blizzard rages outside of an Indian restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio. Weather being nature's indicator of theatrical tumult yet to come, the wind howls maliciously. Unlike Tenness…