122 stories by "Lauren Whalen"
This La Gringa is worth the trip west, with an energetic cast and a lovely message about home and family. A solid production from beginning to end, La Gringa is heartwarming but not sappy, p…
Despite a few strong performances, City Lit Theater's The Sundial fails to fully deliver. Though based on the novel by influential author Shirley Jackson, it's clear here that not every lite…
Christopher Wheeldon's new Chicago-centric version of Tchaikovsky's timeless ballet, set 5 months before Chicago's 1893 world's fair and beautifully executed by Joffrey Ballet, is imaginativ…
Twist Your Dickens is a must-see for hardcore Christmas Carol fans and Dickens holiday naysayers alike. Thanks to incredible writing, direction and comic timing, the Second City's tribute-pa…
Barrel of Monkey's That's Weird, Grandma--The Holiday Special Returns is a testament to the power of creativity in children and adults, a celebration of live theater and storytelling, and a …
Smart, snappy and almost hyper-realistic, Levi Holloway's world-premiere The Haven Place is a road trip adventure with edge-of-your-seat action, fully-realized characters and a sense of hope…
A holiday tradition that's pure fun, Black Ensemble Theater's The Other Cinderella is family-friendly and incredibly enjoyable. The cast's concentrated oomph fills the stage, and the story h…
In Greenhouse Theater's Uncle Philip's Coat, by Matty Selman, actor Gene Weygandt gives excellent interpretations of struggling actor Selman, his loving but judgmental father and his eccentr…
Unless you made your home under a rock in the early 90's, or weren't born yet, you remember the ice-skating drama of Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. Underscore Theatre's Tonya and Nancy - …
Most people know George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion through its musical adaptation My Fair Lady. Fortunately, thanks to Shawn Douglass' elegant direction and two phenomenal leads in Nick Sandys…
Created in 1991 by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, STOMP is an hour and forty-five minutes of pure energy and stage craft. No special effects, just movement and music with ordinary hous…
The House Theatre of Chicago's "The Nutcracker", directed and choreographed by Tommy Rapley, is a beloved annual production, and this year its message is more important than ever. With a mos…
Thanks to the late, great Charles M. Schulz, the Peanuts gang lives on " and Emerald City Theatre's glowing adaptation of A Charlie Brown Christmas is a sweetly existential reminder that the…
Farce is hard to do well: it's a strange balance of comedy and satire that often falls flat. With First Floor Theater's world premiere of Emily Zemba's Deer and the Lovers, sadly this is the…
Eclipse Theatre has a challenge on their hands in topping this fascinating 2016 season. Playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis' Little Flower is both tragic and strangely optimistic, leaving the au…
With actress Sarah Gise serving as The Amish Project's sole performer, Jessica Dickey's one-woman production is a much-needed and powerful reminder that hope can arise from the direst of cir…
Theatre Y's Macbeth, workshopped and directed by Georges Bigot, borders on gimmicky, and almost cheapens Shakespeare's text. If only Bigot and company had stepped back a bit, lessened their …
With Agency Theater Collective's Chagrin Falls, a play set in small town Oklahoma, playwright Mia McCullough has done an excellent job in giving her characters a tangible sense of humanity. …
Simply put, I was really impressed with what Collaboraction's The Mars Assignment, a world premiere by Elsa Hiltner and Ronan Marra, was trying to do in exploring depression and how it affe…
End of the Rainbow is a sad but respectful tribute to the end of an icon, Judy Garland, and the end of an era. Rich with beautiful music and nuanced portrayals, Porchlight Music Theatre's la…
Betrayal explores an affair from all angles: primal, emotional and intellectual. A Last Five Years of infidelity, Harold Pinter's *Betrayal* gives both woman and man the respect they deserve…
Interrobang Theatre Project's *Still*, by Jen Silverman, deftly explores the phenomenon of the stillborn child with a distinctive twist - it is told from the perspective of the child himself…
