Home » Archive by Tags

Articles tagged with: Chris Chmelik

‘Red Rex’ at Steep: When theater stages local story, fantasy lifts curtain on one man’s pain

Jan 28, 2019 – 3:42 pm
Feature 1 Lee Miller

Review: The latest installment in Ike Holter’s now six-play saga of the fictional Chicago neighborhood of Rightlynd is part social commentary, part inside-theater sendup. From all angles, it is smartly written – provocative, witty and taut. “Red Rex” takes its title from a Rightlynd storefront theater, a struggling enterprise that finally may get over the hump with a compelling new play devised by the company’s resident playwright Lana. Devised, as in borrowed and adapted. There’s the rub. ★★★

‘Motortown’ at Steep: Danny comes marching home, but the emotional shelling doesn’t stop

Oct 29, 2013 – 7:25 pm
Danny (Joel Reitsma) tries to fan the old flame with Marley (Julia Siple) in 'Motortown' at Steep Theatre (Lee Miller)

Review: Danny has no visible scars, no missing limbs, but this former British soldier bears deep wounds from his tour of duty in Iraq. He is the tormented, dangerous antihero of playwright Simon Stephens’ “Motortown,” now in a riveting North American premiere run at Steep Theatre. ★★★★