In Mamet's usual acerbic style, we learn that in a world of high-stakes competition there are no friendships. Each act is like a Socratic dialogue, brutal refutations of the virtues of kindn…
"Translations" is a provocative and brilliant play that stands alone as drama.
W. Kamau Bell started out as a popular presence on the Chicago comedy scene in the mid-nineties, and his biggest love has always been for performing as a stand-up.
Ten years ago, Vershawn Sanders-Ward created a piece about the pernicious nature of racial bigotry in America for her then young company. Now, for Red Clay's sixteenth season, Sanders-Ward i…
This isn't a feel-good or a perfect play, but it is a powerful one.
Prepare to be transported to an anthropomorphic wonderland in "Beatrix Potter Tea Party," presented by Chicago Children's Theatre and running through April 20 at Raven Theatre. Created and d…
With its total focus on the private and the domestic, "No Such Thing" never pulls us in.
If, by curtain call, you aren't at least marginally delighted by this rollicking musical comedy, feel free to sashay away.
Chicago-based playwright, producer and cultural activator LC Bernadine is a theater maker who thrives on the freedom and spontaneity of one-off projects. Bernadine would like nothing better …
The most stirring vocal moments in the opera are delivered by the large ensemble, whose humming could scare a banshee"but leave it wanting more.
Dance artists and organizations have been piecing together their budgets through philanthropy, donations, collaboration and shared resources for a long time. So perhaps dance orgs will be pa…
A Lyric Opera premiere, Charles Newell returns to direct at Court, and more.
Stand-up comedians dread the prospect of a tough crowd in nightclubs, but Jeanie Doogan and Tom Filline face tough crowds five days a week as schoolteachers. Each turned to stand-up as a sou…
How did one group, formed by often-feuding brothers from working-class North London, have this much depth and scope? "Sunny Afternoon," a musical playing at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, trie…
A blizzard notwithstanding, the stark change in weather couldn't have been more perfect for Lifeline's production of "Leaf," a children's story not only about being different but also about …
April marks milestones for dance companies from Chicago and beyond.
Depending on your mood and disposition, the magical ending of this play might make you roll your eyes. But I always find it moving, and more so now in a time of so much anger and bitterness.
Without question, "La bohème" has been the opera most performed at Lyric Opera over my decades as a critic.
Teatro La Plaza's "Hamlet" is nearly entirely about the actors themselves, framed by the playwright's agitprop on their behalf.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's classic late eighteenth century biting satire of the idle rich is given a fresh reboot.
The theme of the spring performance series at the Museum of Contemporary Art is "Lineages." Gutierrez speaks about how the work fits into his ongoing investigation of how art helps us naviga…
Themes of isolation and sexuality combine with light body horror in "Pussy Sludge."
Esho Rasho writes and stars in "Dummy in Diaspora," the one-man show presented by Jackalope Theatre through March 23 at Broadway Armory Park. Rasho plays a host of characters, but mainly Ess…
Longtime collaborators Sara Hook and David Parker have full schedules in separate cities. But the two still find time to creatively connect, and bring an evening of short dances, new and old…
The fifty-seven-year-old Opus One of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice is getting an amazing Technicolor facelift.