Monday, October 5, 2020
The Neo-Futurists create short digital plays about the often-overlooked women in the White House.
Time was when the future looked rather grim indeed for the late…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 06:45PMMonday, September 21, 2020
Fire, break-ins, and COVID: the Motor Row drag palace has had a bumpy first year.
Like many drag queens, Chicago’s Tori Sass has been through it this year. It …
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 02:30PMWednesday, September 9, 2020
Their annual festival is on pandemic pause, but CLATA still celebrates the diversity of local theater companies.
When Myrna Salazar founded the Chicago Latino Th…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 01:40PMTuesday, August 25, 2020
Emmanuel Neal joins CHRP as interim managing director, but the founder's comments on Black Lives Matter spark outrage.
Add the Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 01:30PMTuesday, August 11, 2020
The 88-year-old musical theater icon talks about staying home—and coming out.
Back in early March, Broadway icon Joel Grey, 88, was finalizing his plans to vis…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 12:20PMMonday, July 27, 2020
Zoom past the COVID doldrums with these August workshops.
Shadow and light. Wood and paper.…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 03:45PMMonday, June 29, 2020
The Drag Race all-star challenges racism both onstage and off.
To describe the driving ethos of Chicago’s drag house Maison Couleé, you need look no further t…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 02:40PMWednesday, June 24, 2020
This year, queer performers dismantle digital boundaries while creating their own spaces.
As Pride Month unfurls amid plague and long-overdue global upheaval, yo…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 10:30AMMonday, May 25, 2020
Restructuring at the top causes an exodus—again.
Friday’s resignation of seven playwrights from Chicago’s Tony-winning, 46-year-old Victory Gardens Theater…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 03:00PMTuesday, May 5, 2020
The company's interest in the marginalized led them to Mask-er-Aid.
Since founding Uprising Theater Company in 2014, Iymen Chehade and Maren Rosenberg have worke…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 06:00PMTuesday, March 24, 2020
Her show at Steppenwolf is off for now, but the 'difficult' SNL vet still has plenty to say.
Two weeks ago, Saturday Night Live alum and west-side native Nora Du…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 06:10PMTuesday, February 25, 2020
James Ijames puts the audience on trial in this TimeLine production.
Of all the inescapable truths that James Ijames bombards his audience with in Kill Move Para…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 03:15PMTuesday, February 4, 2020
Underscore Theatre Company survives in a challenging landscape for new-works festivals.
New musicals are inherently fragile. Festivals devoted to them, exponenti…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:00PMThe Duke Ellington revue is pure fire and joy.
I'm no fan of imperatives, but on occasion one simply must make an exception. To wit: Stop reading this.…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 06:30PMTuesday, January 28, 2020
Lisa Loomer's docudrama examines the landmark abortion rights case.
In 1984, my roommate drove across two states so she could get a legal abortion. It took a wee…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 05:25PMJason Narducy and Brett Neveu's portrait of a 1983 teen punk band needs more edge.
The opening tune Jason Narducy penned for his autobiographically inspired musi…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 04:45PMThursday, January 23, 2020
Trent James lights up Wednesdays at the Chicago Magic Lounge.
The intersection of comedy and magic has ballooned since the art form's vaudevillian heyday. Case i…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 12:10PMWednesday, January 22, 2020
Lookingglass produces the first in J. Nicole Brooks's planned quartet of Chicago plays.
Playwright-actor-director J. Nicole Brooks wasn't yet in kindergarten whe…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 06:00PMTuesday, December 17, 2019
Lucas Hnath's drama feels overheated but undercooked at Redtwist.
Toward the back end of Lucas Hnath's 90-minute series of overheated monologues, Todd, a nursing…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 06:30PMTuesday, December 10, 2019
Eli Newell's self-directed holiday play at Raven asks us to suspend too much disbelief.
If there's a workable drama within the rambling, under-rehearsed confines…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 06:05PMTuesday, December 3, 2019
A contemporary gender-flipped take on the Greek tragedy blames everyone else.
In Aaron Mark's one-man, 90-minute Another Medea, Marcus—a gay, cis male contempo…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 06:20PMThe longtime cabaret producer turns her own children's book about a lonely rag doll into a new holiday musical.
Some artists hone their craft at college or conse…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 05:50PMTuesday, November 26, 2019
The biography is prosaic, but this touring bio musical captures the dark harmonies of the folk-rock superstars.
Even when it's as jubilant as the pots-and-pans p…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:15PMTuesday, November 19, 2019
Sugarplums, sparkle, and a stellar cast can't quite overcome a treacly script.
In commercializing Jane Austen's enduring appeal, playwrights Margot Melcon and La…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:08PMGenerational and racial divides light the fuse at Writers Theatre.
In 2015, Yale University was rocked by student activists demanding change within an organizati…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 06:04PMWednesday, November 6, 2019
Jane Martin's story of a pregnant rape victim kidnapped by antichoice extremists wallows in both-sidesism.
For decades, there has been speculation as to the iden…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 05:00PMTrap Door Theatre
It's not uncommon for newbies to leave Trap Door wondering what just hit them.…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 01:00PMMuntu Dance Theatre
Muntu's ambitions are vast, both in terms of space and time. Helmed by executive director Sekou Tepaka Lunda Conde, the 47-year-old South Sho…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 01:00PMRed Clay Dance
Unlike musicians, dancers never put their instruments down. That's especially true of Red Clay Dance, where the intersection of art and activism f…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 01:00PMCourt Theatre
Under artistic director Charles Newell, Court Theatre is all over the place in the best possible way.…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 01:00PMThree one-acts from the fight for women's franchise provide a cutting history lesson with Artemisia.
If nothing else, this trio of one-acts that explore the uphi…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:00AM 
