2,444 stories from chicagoreader.com
Mark St. Germain's play outlines an unlikely friendship between a Black civil rights activist and a onetime member of the KKK.
Some plays seem tailor-made for sm…
Lili-Anne Brown's staging of the musical based on Alice Walker's classic novel brings down the house.
There is no doubt the 2005 musical adaptation of Alice Walk…
Ron OJ Parson's production for Court Theatre hits with torrential force.
In his epic masterpiece King Hedley II, the penultimate play in his Century Cycle, Augus…
Water People Theater's contribution to Destinos is sobering but poetic.
According to a recent NPR story, 12 journalists have been murdered in Mexico so far this …
Chicago Shakespeare's production is pretty and witty, but lacks dramatic tension.
The rise of Albert, Duke of York, from stammering puddle of self-doubt to globa…
The newest company members have international roots but a common passion for the art.
A decade ago, Joffrey Ballet made a major investment in its future with the…
Mixing the Bard up with the Gunpowder Plot doesn't help Bill Cain's play ignite dramatically.
The setup to Bill Cain's revisionist Shakespearean fairy tale is th…
At 20, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre celebrates immigrant, Native, and African American identity in two programs of new work.
Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, founded …
Michael John LaChiusa's riff on Arthur Schnitzler's 1897 play gets a stellar production from Theo Ubique.
Ten pairs of lovers, ten pairs of strangers. This music…
Theresa Rebeck's comedy of sexual politics tests the limits of women in power.
Back in 2007, New Yorker theater critic John Lahr dismissed Theresa Rebeck's play …
Jane Anderson's drama doesn't invest enough in the mother-daughter bond.
Jane Anderson's 2018 play retells the oft-dramatized life of Joan of Arc from the point …
The Tony-winning play gets a smart and timely local premiere from TimeLine.
If A Walk in the Woods, Lee Blessing's 1988 play about the private talks between two …
Everything Must Go pays tribute to the displaced working-class of Wicker Park.
Kevin Coval's poetry has always focused on the margins of identity and community.…
Artist Adela Goldbard draws from Mexican traditions to address issues in the neighborhood today.
Have you ever wanted to see a police car set on fire? You may so…
Acres of art and a chance to observe capitalism at its looniest
Let's get right to the important stuff: the hot fashion tip from EXPO Chicago 2019, the big inter…
This fall has plenty to offer from spaces big (Navy Pier) and small (Pilsen's Baby Blue Gallery).
Every September Navy Pier is flooded with gallerygoers from Ch…
The weirdo-comedy staples perform a sold-out show before heading west.
The first Helltrap Nightmare I attended was in 2016, in the bar half of Cafe Mustache. Sar…
Endangered: Chicago's 'best' postmodern building
Hello, global visitors to the third Chicago Architecture Biennial. Welcome!…
Trap Door's production captures the narrative of no narrative in the Internet age.
Kim McKean directs Caryl Churchill's 2012 assault on the senses disguised as a…
Lifeline's revival of this 2002 Dorothy Sayers adaptation could use more breathing room to fully come alive.
Lifeline Theatre's stage has been something of a hom…
Choreographer Michelle Kranicke and architect David Sundry's latest collaboration has echoes of 1980s postmodernism for the age of social media.
Michelle Kranick…
The Artistic Home gives Jason Hedrick's world premiere about a grim future a life-affirming production.
More postapocalyptic plays about staging Chekhov in peopl…
Loy Webb's parable occasionally uses a heavy hand, but lands an emotional gut punch.
Loy Webb's new play is subtitled "A Parable," and on those terms, it succeed…
Writer-photographer Lee Bey's new book Southern Exposure showcases architectural masterworks on the typically neglected south and west sides.
Lee Bey has long be…
Mickey "Mixin'" Oliver's new autobiographical musical has charm, but is too talky.
The rise of house music is a large chapter in Chicago's story, yet Revolution …
