Eclectic Full Contact Theatre’s first full-length production in Chicago since 2019, a world premiere penned by Maggie Lou Rader, is haunting, literally. Based on the first reported instanc…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 02:48PMIt feels early to stage a play set during, and concerning the effects of, the early days of COVID-19 on its characters. We can still feel those days intimately, given the short passing of ti…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:25PMPromethean Theatre’s world premiere of local playwright Trina Kakacek’s two-act dramedy, directed by Anna C. Bahow, is a unique and meaty thought experiment that would benefit from some …
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:31PMAlexis J. Roston’s sixth go-round playing jazz legend Billie Holiday in the last year of her life is beautifully layered, heartbreaking, and still affirming of the great vocalist’s accom…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 11:39AMFor the uninitiated like I was, just entering the Chicago Magic Lounge on a chilly Wednesday evening was a thrill. Via a secret door, the faux-laundromat entry gives way to a luxe theater bo…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:01PMAfter thoroughly enjoying the shameless perversity of Kokandy Productions’s Cruel Intentions, under Adrian Abel Azevedo’s direction, I found Azevedo’s Rent at Porchlight to bring a sta…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 11:35AMThe game Clue taught me what “confidential” means, that a conservatory is just a fancy greenhouse, and that Miss Scarlett is always the right choice. Any armchair detective that could [�…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 09:43AMIn partnership with the University of Illinois Chicago’s Disability Cultural Center, Babes With Blades’s interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s darkest plays is exciting and subversive…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 04:43PMMore than 30 years into his second act as a mind reader and psychic performer, Ross Johnson, a former schoolteacher, is still eliciting gasps. The second performer at Rogers Park’s new Rha…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 03:28PMOn its ten-year anniversary and return from a COVID-19 hiatus, Midsommer Flight is restaging A Midsummer Night’s Dream,the play that started it all in 2012. On the night I attended, the cr…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 11:01AMWe all remember where we were when we saw Cruel Intentions. Its iconic soundtrack (anyone else melt to Counting Crows’ “Colorblind”?) and “shameless perversity” (thank you, Buzzfee…
SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 10:35AMThe tragedy of a single elephant's death has universal implications in Griffin's production. This Lynn Nottage drama is pure kinetic energy, exploring the illici…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:20PMTwo standout performances anchor Raven's production of the Ibsen classic. In the Chicago premiere of this Henrik Ibsen adaptation, Raven Theatre and director Lau…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:30PMOrlagh Cassidy centers this one-woman show, but the script needs more depth. Nancy Pelosi is having her moment. From her literal clapback at President Trump to h…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 05:15PMKids and families are in charge at this Portage Park theater It could have been Lord of the Flies. Filament Theatre was giving over complete control of its space…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 05:15PMLifeline Theatre KidSeries brings children and animals together for a family-friendly yarn. Based on Annie Silvestro's children's book of the same title, this Li…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 05:10PMHell in a Handbag's Midler revue is middling. Iconic singer Bette Midler cut her teeth at New York City's Continental Baths, earning the nickname "Bathhouse Bett…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 05:55PMGitha Sowerby's long-neglected drama has a strong cast at TimeLine, but drags at times. For a mostly forgotten 1912 play, written by Githa Sowerby (but presented…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:15PMForty-three years after its first production, Jackie Taylor's African American adaptation still enchants and empowers. Now in its 43rd year, this Black Ensemble …
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:00AMA coworker's suicide leads to soul-searching in Kate Tarker's darkly comic meditation. We spend at least 40 hours a week next to them and countless more rehashin…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:00AMDelicious acerbic drag performances spice up this whodunit. "I think the most important thing a woman can have—next to talent, of course—is her hairdresser,"…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:00AMMary Bonnett's drama has intriguing subject matter, but doesn't fully connect. The world premiere of Her Story Theater producing artistic director Mary Bonnett's…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:00AMFilament Theatre's staging helps the audience feel right at home. Recommended for ages four through ten, Filament Theatre's production of this one-act by Ramón …
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:00AMGlass Apple Theatre's production localizes and humanizes the opioid epidemic. A woman struggles to reconnect with her family while battling opioid addiction in S…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 05:00PMDouglas Post's new adaptation for Remy Buppo resonates in our age of class unrest and digital disconnects. More than 100 years after its publication, E.M. Forste…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:00AMA lack of detail prevents the characters from appearing as complex, multifaceted personalities. Traci Godfrey's dramedy, now in its midwest premiere at Artemisia…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 12:00PMBlack Ensemble Theater’s latest bio-musical tells the stories of two great jazz divas. Lena Horne and Nancy Wilson were two iconic voices, separated by a gener…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 12:00PMHalcyon Theatre goes beyond mommy issues to examine three complicated women. The world premiere of Kari Bentley-Quinn's one-act marks Halcyon Theatre's last prod…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:00AMIt's a moving depiction of crippling homelessness and how solutions feel completely out of reach. The world premiere of this Northlight Theatre- commissioned wor…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:00AMA troupe of actors struggles to tell the story of the near-forgotten Herero people. This Steppenwolf for Young Adults (SYA) production's full title is worth shar…
SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:00AM