Back in 2014, Theater Wit presented Madeleine George’s acerbic but aching comedy, Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England, in which the denizens of a small New England college town wres…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 11:53AMMaybe it’s a sign of our times that musicals about the aftermath of loss and grief have become so prominent in 21st-century life, from Next to Normal to Dear Evan Hansen. But while both th…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 09:49AMThis is the first time we’ve done a summer theater and arts issue, and judging by the full-to-bursting content, that’s surprising—especially given how much Chicagoans love getting outd…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 07:41PMHere’s some events and activities to close out the month of June and start the summer right. FRI 6/24 Today the Chicago Park District cut the ribbon and officially opened the newly renovat…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 05:26PMSiah Berlatsky just graduated this month from ChiArts, but though she’s taking a gap year before college, the 18-year-old playwright-director-actor isn’t letting the grass grow under her…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:02PMOn the wall of the big-box retail warehouse that forms the setting for Eboni Booth’s Paris, now in a midwest premiere at Steep Theatre under Jonathan Berry’s direction, there’s a sign …
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 10:57AMI hardly ever start reviews this way, but trust me: stop reading this and hop online to get tickets for Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s cullud wattah, now in its local premiere at Victory Garde…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 05:20PMI spent most of the 90s in the Bay Area, where outdoor theater in the summer is a given, and the weather generally cooperates (if you’re not facing the threat of forest fires, that is). Bu…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 04:45PMSummer is officially here, in case the sweat and lightning bugs weren’t enough of a clue. In addition to the shows and artists we profiled in our summer arts preview issue this week, we’…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 04:01PMMany ways to celebrate and honor Juneteenth this week, as well as other outdoor and indoor gatherings and events—check it out! The post Juneteenth, Pride, and legacies appeared first on Ch…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 03:36PMLots of behind-the-scenes news in Chicago theater, and some well-deserved plaudits to note as well this week! At the Tony Awards this past Sunday, longtime Chicago sound designer and compose…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:08PMLike the rest of the world, Second City has been through its share of upheavals in the past two years. Longtime owner, CEO, and executive producer Andrew Alexander stepped down in June 2020 …
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:13PMSo many outdoor events to share with you this week, so make sure you wear sunscreen (everyone needs a little at least, even you) and stay hydrated (you’ll feel better, seriously). And trea…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 03:14PMSamm-Art Williams’s Home, first produced in 1979 with the seminal Negro Ensemble Company and then in a Tony-nominated run on Broadway in 1980, is considered a contemporary American classic…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 11:36AMNoel Coward’s 1941 comedy about a socialite writer who finds himself haunted by his vivacious (if annoying) dead wife—while his living wife first questions his sanity, then finds herself…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 11:14AMLooking for stuff to do this weekend and beyond? Read on! FRI 6/3 Do-Division Street Fest (Division between Damen and Leavitt) benefits from handing over its music programming to outside loc…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 08:00AMBack in 1996, the late playwright August Wilson delivered an address at the annual conference for Theatre Communications Group, the national service organization for theaters in the U.S. Ent…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 01:14PMThe Uvalde school massacre put a somber hue on my mood going into 57 Blocks, Free Street Theater’s latest ensemble-created piece that takes a sharp look at public education. But by the end…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 01:58PMHappy days are here again with these upcoming events and things to do in the week ahead! FRI 5/27 This weekend the Martin (2500 W. Chicago) is hosting an exhibition by Tigray Art Collective …
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 04:13PMSix years ago, Brian Quijada and Teatro Vista teamed up to present Quijada’s solo show, Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, an endearing and poignant portrait of growing up in the Chicago suburb…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 10:30AMLooking for some things to do? Consider these options! We found some happenings all over the map this time around, including Evanston, Back of the Yards, downtown, Logan Square, South Shore,…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 05:39PMLast August, I caught up with Jacob Harvey just as he was taking over as the new (and first-ever) managing artistic director of theaters for the Fine Arts Building. At the time, he noted tha…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 01:15PMAaron Sorkin’s gonna Sorkin, even when he’s working off someone else’s material. In his new adaptation of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, now in a short touring stop with Broadwa…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 04:13PMWhether by design or happenstance, Writers Theatre has focused on the theme of women in competition and collaboration this season. In Eleanor Burgess’s Wife of a Salesman, two actors portr…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 03:56PMIf you’re a fan of Henry Louis Gates’s Finding Your Roots on PBS, then you can probably relate to Annabelle Lee Revak’s impulse to create a musical out of the World War I-era letters o…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 03:49PMReproductive rights cuts both ways: the government deciding that you may not have a child comes from the same authoritarianism that tells you that you must continue an unwanted pregnancy. Gi…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 03:26PMLooking for some mid-month fun? Check out the following events and ideas. FRI 5/13 Broken Nose Theatre continues its season with the Chicago premiere of Zoe Kazan’s dystopic drama After th…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 02:47PMEle Matelan didn’t plan on making a career out of sound effects. Like a lot of Chicago theater artists, she moved here after college (at Southern Methodist University) to pursue acting. Sh…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 02:13PMLaura Schellhardt’s Digging Up Dessa was commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center as part of its Theater for Young Audiences program in 2018. But this play, now in its Chicago premiere w…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 07:00AM“Here is a theater. No curtain, no wings, no scenery. Just an empty space.” Konstantin Treplev, the young and hungry artist manqué in Anton Chekhov’s Seagull, intones these words befo…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 03:57PMTimeLine Theatre unveils plans for their new Uptown home, while their longtime managing director transitions to a new role. TimeLine Theatre's mission is to pre…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 03:40PM