704 stories by "Zach Freeman"
RECOMMENDED Just like they sing it in the title song, "Hair" is indeed "fuzzy, snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty, … bangled, tangled and spaghettied." But for all of its loose-jointed, self-ind…
RECOMMENDED Quiche is a pretty funny word. It's funny enough when it's just used to represent the quaint egg-pie dish that it is, but once it starts getting thrown around as a euphemism for …
RECOMMENDED The eternal story of love grasped for and lost, lost forever or regained resounds all the way back to Eve and that snake's apple, and goes down easiest with musical accompaniment…
Like the 1981 movie starring married couple Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn, Rebekah Theatre Project's production of playwright D. L. Coburn's first play also stars a husband and wife team, Pa…
RECOMMENDED A historical reenactment "is an educational or entertainment activity in which people follow a plan to recreate aspects of a historical event or period." Critics of previous moun…
By Sean Kelley In a city with such an established and vibrant theater scene, there are many institutions that could easily make the case that the beating heart of Chicago theater lies within…
RECOMMENDED Seven Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama celebrated the first production of this Frank Loesser-musicalized story about an ambitious young man who stumbles upon a book wit…
RECOMMENDED The second entry in Lyric Opera's five year traversal of the blockbuster entries of the Rodgers and Hammerstein canon fares far better than last year's inaugural entry "Oklahoma!…
RECOMMENDED "Avenue Q," originally conceived as a television series, developed as a stage production in 2002, moved Off-Broadway and then to Broadway in 2003, and garnered three Tony Awards.…
We're not too far into "Lay Me Down Softly" before we learn that the carnival where the play takes place isn't the sort of traveling sideshow that features freaks; if there were any freaks, …
RECOMMENDED From the very beginning of Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge," you know there's a train coming, but you can't get off the track. All you can do is watch as the train moves …
RECOMMENDED Having spent time in the mid-1880s dipped in some sort of madness reminiscent of Lewis Carroll's Hatter, August Strindberg dug himself out of his personal rabbit hole and continu…
By Aaron Hunt In her autobiography, "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers," Maria von Trapp wrote of her confusion when the Mother Abbess of Nonnberg Abbey encouraged her to forsake her asp…
Route 66 Theatre Company introduced itself to the Chicago and national scene with total transparency, both in name and in mission statement, undertaking to introduce, develop, produce and "e…
RECOMMENDED Flashing lights, club music, alcoholic beverages, a coat rack, wristbands and people mingling seem more like traits of a party than a play. However, this is what audience members…
By Hugh Iglarsh "What are the hallmarks of American culture that are also typical of ADD? The fast pace. The sound bite. The bottom line. Short takes, quick cuts … High stimulation. Restle…
RECOMMENDED Artistic Director Ann Filmer (who serves as director for “Pinkolandia”) and the 16th Street Theater stay in stride in this multi-layered, culturally-significant, fict…
It's been one of those days for Jamie (Brett Schneider), the shaky protagonist of Next Theatre's "The Great God Pan." First, he discovers that his live-in girlfriend Paige (Kristina Valada-V…
RECOMMENDED A topical family drama that reaches its true heights in its comic moments, The Fine Print's production of Erik Gernand's "A Place In The Woods" is unassuming and refreshingly unp…
RECOMMENDED "God's Work" isn't a theater piece that unfolds linearly, but more of a concept constructed from moods and feelings, with scenes often tying together or melting into each other i…
RECOMMENDED This gal's got some real balls. Is that too blue for you? Sorry, I just couldn't resist such a nice opening. Oh, she's got one of those too. Lest you think I'm being too irrevere…
The early spring evening turned ominously autumnal as I approached the holy stone building that houses City Lit Theater. Unfortunately nothing nearly as spooky transpired inside, during City…
Superhero origin stories are interesting beasts. We know precisely where the story will end up (a hero is born!) before it even begins. What matters in this subgenre (if that's what it can b…
RECOMMENDED That old axiom about the strength of family ties is given a careful re-examination in Melissa Ross' "Thinner Than Water." Relentless from the start, the play begins with three ha…
RECOMMENDED The musical or operetta or opera or lyric theater phoneme (depending upon whom you speak with and how empty the champagne bottle) "Candide" was birthed by Voltaire, and enjoyed t…
