What do you with a sold-out hit? This is a question that has bedeviled the nonprofit Chicago theater for decades. Consider the conundrum faced right now by the Windy City Playhouse on Irving…
The Lakeview performance venue Stage 773 has announced two new staff appointments: Jill Valentine as executive director and Jack Short as managing director. Valentine, a founding principal o…
According to Forbes magazine, Sebastian Maniscalco was the 10th highest paid comedian last year at $15 million " and he's done it all without a TV series to boost his profile. Born and raise…
Rough day, Monday? Luckily, by 9 that night, Doctor Patti was in the house. Prescription pad in hand. Or more accurately, in voice. Patti LuPone's sold-out appearances " two in one night " a…
This week's Showcase features a performance from the Paramount Theatre's hit production of "Cabaret." In the video, Joseph Anthony Byrd sings the Kander and Ebb second-act song "I Don't Care…
In this image from Sunday night, the Chicago-raised actor Michael Shannon sits in the Old Town Ale House and watches the movie in which he was a star win the Academy Award for best picture. …
It is Andrew Lloyd Webber's Auntie Vi " his Auntie Mame, to all intents and purposes " who inspires the most colorful language in Lloyd Webber's new autobiography: "clotted bollocks on stilt…
American Blues Theater announced its 2018-19 season Tuesday. Opening the season will be "Flyin' West" (Oct. 5-Nov. 3) by Pearl Cleage. Chuck Smith will direct the 1898-set drama about Africa…
Dr. Ricardo Rosenkranz is bringing his illusions back to the Royal George Theatre, the physician-magician announced Monday. In the 2016 Tribune review, Chris Jones said, "Rosenkranz crafts a…
Albany Park Theater Project will present the world premiere production "Ofrenda" this spring, the company announced Monday. Created and performed by the 34-member APTP youth ensemble, "Ofren…
Saturday "Cyrano": BoHo Theatre presents a new adaptation of the classic French romance about a big-nosed poet who turns to the power of his pen. Through April 15 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Bel…
The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Ayad Akhtar will adapt his autobiographical novel, "American Dervish," into a play. The work, based on Akhtar's experiences growing up in Milwaukee as a fir…
Northlight Theatre announced its 2018-19 season, the company's 44th, Monday. First up will be "Curve of Departure" by Rachel Bonds, featuring Mike Nussbaum and Sean Parris. Artistic director…
The premise of Kevin Douglas's "Plantation," now at the Lookingglass Theatre in downtown Chicago under the direction of David Schwimmer, is a doozy. A modern-day Texas matriarch comes to rea…
Hailing from Monaco, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo makes its Auditorium Theatre debut this weekend with "La Belle," by choreographer and artistic director Jean-Christophe Maillot. Princess Caro…
"Problem is … I got a problem with everything." So says comedian and Arlington Heights native Sebastian Maniscalco early on in his wide-ranging (but primarily problem-focused) set Friday n…
"Anna Karenina" âœâœâœ There aren't many towns in the world where you can roll up and find a completely new adaptation of the jottings of Leo Tolstoy. As you can currently find i…
At the Lifeline Theatre, the soon-to-be-departing artistic director Dorothy A. Milne gave the usual little curtain speech about cellphones and emergency exits, winding up to her climax: "And…
Friedrich Schiller was once a really big deal in Chicago: You still can see his statuesque likeness in Lincoln Park or even live on his street. For a price. But we rarely get to see the dram…
Northlight Theatre of Skokie is walking away from a plan to build a new theater inside a larger mixed-use development in the 1700 block of Sherman Avenue in downtown Evanston. In a statement…
David Cromer will take on the 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical "Next to Normal" in Writers Theatre's 2018-19 season, the Glencoe company announced Thursday. Cromer, who recently dire…
Steppenwolf Theatre Company will join with the National Theatre of Great Britain to stage a major world premiere by the oft-controversial author Bruce Norris, Steppenwolf announced Wednesday…
Ike Holter has written a major, seven-play series about the strife and humanity to be found in his home city of Chicago. You may have even seen some of them. You just likely didn't have the …
A house has been built inside the Windy City Playhouse on Irving Park Road. I speak not of a conventional setting nor the usual stage facsimile of a house. As you walk into the theater for t…
The lineup was announced Tuesday for the Onion Comedy & Arts Festival in Chicago, running at various venues May 30 to June 3 and celebrating the Onion's 30th anniversary as a publication. Th…