704 stories by "Zach Freeman"
I took an Introduction to Philosophy course in college. One of the few questions posed in that class that still seems interesting to me is the one that playwright Scott T. Barsotti addresses…
RECOMMENDED There's a lot to say about A Red Orchid Theatre's latest production. A lot. But there are three things you need to know up front. They're all equally important, but you need to k…
RECOMMENDED "Who can solve the mystery of dreams?" demands actor/director Toni Servillo as the increasingly disheartened Alberto Saporito in Piccolo Teatro di Milano's production of the dark…
RECOMMENDED There is a sketch early on in the second act of "A Clown Car Named Desire" that starts out seeming like your standard hipster-mocking (and let's be honest, who doesn't enjoy a go…
"You'll have plenty of time to hold her tomorrow. You'll have the whole rest of your life." So says brand-new daddy and eager-to-sleep husband Peter (Gabriel Franken) to his excited but exha…
Stewing alone in his cramped, book-filled apartment in New York City, smug yet self-loathing Bob (Richard Cotovsky) has vague plans to write, think and generally just complain during the fin…
The pre-show music for Lyric Opera shows don't typically include selections from Deltron 3030. And you can't usually order mixed drinks with clever names like The Boozy Baritone or The Icy M…
RECOMMENDED This weekend I watched "Fast & Furious 6," alternately gaping, cheering and shaking my head in disbelief at scene after scene of various insane stunts that Dom and his team o…
RECOMMENDED Following six years in the complex relationship between an established writer/professor and her aspiring protégée, Donald Margulies' "Collected Stories" is a study in mentor/me…
By Zach Freeman As a twenty-six-year old graduate student studying Shakespeare at Berkeley and working on her dissertation, a frustrated Young Jean Lee, fed up with academia, went to a thera…
RECOMMENDED Look at the Head of Passes on a map and you're not likely to think of it as a place to set up a bed and breakfast. A no-man's land of bayous and marshes sticking out into the Gul…
There's realism and there's allegory. And "In A Garden," playwright and screenwriter Howard Korder's discourse on beauty, culture and nationalism, falls somewhere in between. Unfortunately, …
By Zach Freeman "We're out on the fringe," says Jeremy Menekseoglu, artistic director of Dream Theatre Company, sipping a beer in the brightly lit underground area of Sakura Karaoke Lounge i…
RECOMMENDED "What the hell is Mike Tyson gonna do up here on stage tonight?" This is the thought that Tyson attributes to every member of the audience early on in "Mike Tyson: Undisputed Tru…
RECOMMENDED A suicide is always a tragedy. And in the hands of various interest groups and media outlets, as agendas are pushed and stories are filtered or distorted, a tragedy can become a …
"Why did the chicken cross the road?" It's a simple enough question and there are any number of suitable punchlines. But when this trivial setup-line is asked, needled, demanded three times …
RECOMMENDED Actor/magician Dennis Watkins, hot off of last year's widely praised extended run of "Death and Harry Houdini," is currently enjoying an open run of his one-man magic show, "The …
RECOMMENDED Right from the start, director Shade Murray lets the audience know that he isn't afraid of the (often lengthy) silent patches between Annie Baker's careful slice-of-life dialogue…
My how the busty have fallen. Two years ago "Boobs and Goombas" surprised and delighted audiences across Chicago with its carefully calibrated mix of playful geekery and partial nudity. But …
RECOMMENDED Peter Pan, that familiar little scamp, always seems to get away with his shenanigans scot free. We’re meant to root for him despite his egomania and thoughtlessness because…
RECOMMENDED The atmosphere for this superbly haunting piece of Halloween fare is firmly established from the moment you're guided by hand from the dimly lit lobby through the cramped and dar…
THE LANGUAGE OF THE ZOMBIE Over a decade ago, author Tony Burgess penned the experimental novel Pontypool Changes Everything, which featured what could be called "zombies" but focused more o…
It's Christmastime in London and if the serial killer on the loose doesn't take you out, the deadly plague that's quickly spreading across town certainly will. WildClaw Theatre's latest horr…
RECOMMENDED In the cavernous space of the Broadway Armory, "Black Watch" feels both massive and intimate, at once communicating the tedium and (sometimes literal) explosiveness of war. Follo…
Opening and closing in the tight quarters of a ship on the Arctic Sea, most of playwright Bo List's adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel unfolds as a recounting of events from a traumatized Vi…
