Articles in Theater + Stage
Chicago Shakes announces ‘Shakespeare in Love’ and lots more of the bard in 2016-17
This Just In: The following is a news release written by an arts organization, submitted to Chicago On the Aisle.
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CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER ANNOUNCES 2016-17 30TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
Chicago—April 7, 2016—On the heels of announcing the Theater’s …
‘The Matchmaker’ at Goodman: A (very) funny thing happens when sly widow decides to wed
Review: It’s Dolly’s world, the charming milieu and crazy circumstances of Thornton Wilder’s perdurable farce “The Matchmaker.” All the other characters on stage just live in it. So say hello to a delightful Dolly whose world is well worth a visit in the Goodman Theatre production starring — with a capital S — Kristine Nielsen. ★★★★
‘Othello’ at Chicago Shakespeare: Evil cedes center stage to a figure tragic and splendid
Review: What is so striking about the current, altogether marvelous production of “Othello” at Chicago Shakespeare Theater is that the beleaguered Moor is no mere catalyst in the very events of which he is the object, but rather presents himself as a man – a great military general — worthy of his reputation. In the person of James Vincent Meredith’s Othello, and in the care of British director Jonathan Munby, Shakespeare’s play for once does not seem to be first and foremost about Iago. ★★★★★
‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’ at Court: Dissembling, denial and a family on the edge
Review: The Court Theatre’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s brutal masterpiece “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” is the blazing star of Chicago’s stage season. Here, with a magnificent cast directed by David Auburn, is a close-up photograph of the human condition at its most vulnerable, unretouched and utterly devastating. ★★★★★
Role Playing: Mierka Girten, actor with MS, knows wound behind her character’s scars
Interview: In the most intimate and empathic way, Mierka Girten connects with Trinket Dugan, the character she plays with disarming honesty in Tennessee Williams’ “The Mutilated” at A Red Orchid Theatre. Actor and character share deep, physical, albeit invisible, wounds.The big difference is that while Trinket conceals her mastectomy – her mutilation — in sorrow and shame, Girten talks openly about the multiple sclerosis she has struggled with since her days as a drama student at DePaul University.
In 2016-17, TimeLine plans Midwest premiere of ‘Paradise Blue’ by Dominique Morisseau
This Just In: The following is a news release written by an arts organization, submitted to Chicago On the Aisle.
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TIMELINE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES 20TH ANNIVERSARY 2016-17 SEASON
Chicago, IL — TimeLine Theatre Company, recipient of the prestigious …
‘2666’ at Goodman: Epic saga of lust, murder and other scholarly pursuits in old Mexico
Review: After five and a half hours spent watching the dramatic evolution of “2666,” the adaptation by Robert Falls and Seth Bockley of Roberto Bolaño’s sprawling novel at the Goodman Theatre, I could think only of that sublimely ironic lyric made famous by Peggy Lee: Is that all there is?This ambitious enterprise affords a goodly share of rewards along its meandering narrative as a sort of whodunit for intellectuals. But in the end, in its totality, “2666” as theater is a shaggy-dog story of St. Bernard proportions. ★★★
World premiere comedy by Tracy Letts among new works in Steppenwolf’s 2016-17 season
This Just In: The following is a news release written by an arts organization, submitted to Chicago On the Aisle.
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STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES 2016/17 SEASON
First Season Curated by Artistic Director Anna D. Shapiro Features Expanded …
Writers Theatre announces plans for 2016-17 – company’s first full season in new Studio Gang home
This Just In: The following is a news release written by an arts organization, submitted to Chicago On the Aisle.
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Writers Theatre announces 25th Anniversary Season — the company’s first full season in its new home …
Under Navy Pier’s tent, Chicago Shakespeare Theater expands for flexible family-friendly spectacles
News Release: Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Navy Pier announce partnership that will expand Chicago Shakespeare’s campus and establish a year-round cultural hub on Navy Pier
‘The Flick’ at Steppenwolf: A double feature of illusions — or reel life vs. the digital option
Review: Annie Baker’s “The Flick,” at Steppenwolf Theatre, offers a clear-eyed meditation on friendship as it flowers and fades in the workplace, where strangers of different backgrounds grope toward a rhythm of working together and easing through their days, perhaps getting a little wiser in the process. ★★★★
The Hypocrites wins $200k MacArthur Award for creativity and effectiveness
News Release: CHICAGO (February 18, 2016) – The Hypocrites today was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. The Award recognizes exceptional nonprofit organizations who have demonstrated creativity and impact, and invests in their long-term sustainability with sizable one-time grants. The Hypocrites will use the $200,000 that accompanies the Award to build a working capital reserve for the company and as seed capital for a variety of diversity initiatives.
American Theater Company names Will Davis as its new artistic director
This Just In: The following is a news release written by an arts organization, submitted to Chicago On the Aisle.
AMERICAN THEATER COMPANY NAMES WILL DAVIS ITS NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
February 18, 2016 (CHICAGO, IL)—Following a six-month national …
Chicago Sinfonietta receives $625k grant for creativity, effectiveness
This Just In: The following is a news release written by an arts organization, submitted to Chicago On the Aisle.
CHICAGO SINFONIETTA RECEIVES MACARTHUR AWARD FOR CREATIVE AND, EFFECTIVE INSTITUTIONS
Chicago, Illinois, February 18, 2016 – Chicago …
Lookingglass Theatre receives $1 million MacArthur grant for creativity, effectiveness
This Just In: The following is a news release written by an arts organization, submitted to Chicago On the Aisle.
LOOKINGGLASS: RECIPIENT OF THE 2016 MACARTHUR AWARD FOR CREATIVE AND EFFECTIVE INSTITUTIONS
We’re honored to have been …
Timeline Theatre receives $625k MacArthur Award for creavity, effectiveness
This Just In: The following is a news release written by an arts organization, submitted to Chicago On the Aisle.
TIMELINE THEATRE COMPANY RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS MACARTHUR AWARD FOR EXTRAORDINARY CREATIVITY AND EFFECTIVENESS
Chicago, IL — TimeLine Theatre Company …
Silk Road Rising probes life in Muslim society from the Far East to Middle East to America
Preview: Preview: The spirit of Chicago’s Silk Road Rising theater lies in its name, says artistic director Jamil Khoury. It’s about the global span of connectedness along the ancient corridor linking Middle Eastern desert peoples to the Far East, and the modern extension to life in America, Silk Road Rising opens its winter season Feb. 20 with the premiere of Ronnie Malley’s “Ziryab: The Songbird of Andalusia,” about a famed 9th-century musician.
‘Mothers and Sons’ at Northlight: Gay peace achieved, bitter mom presses her private war
Review: There is a quality, an esprit, about Terrence McNally’s “Mothers and Sons” that transcends mere affirmation of what one might characterize as gay normalcy. The play, now in a tightly knit and persuasive production directed by Steve Scott at Northlight Theatre, has a spiritually cleansing essence – and a resolute narrative that is nothing short of celebratory. ★★★
What good is sitting alone in your room? Willkommen to a beautiful, bleak ‘Cabaret’
Review: If there are two words not commonly associated with touring Broadway shows, they are daring and courageous. Both apply in stunning fashion to “Cabaret,” a not-to-be-missed experience presented by Broadway in Chicago at PrivateBank Theatre. ★★★★★
Broadway in Chicago rounds out 2016-17 season with ‘Hamilton,’ ‘Aladdin’
News Release: CHICAGO (Feb. 15, 2016) – Broadway In Chicago is thrilled to announce its next season lineup: the Broadway musical HAMILTON, the North American tour premiere of Disney’s ALADDIN, 2014 Tony Award®Winning Best Revival of a Musical HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, the 2015 Tony Award®Winning Best Play THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME and THE BODYGUARD. The upcoming Season will go on sale to the public March 1, 2016.
Love with knife in heart or tongue in cheek, Valentine’s Day brings out kiss and scratch
Critic’s Pick: In a tribute to the downside of love, Chicago theaters send superb “anti-Valentines.” If you favor sarcastic greeting cards on the subject of romance, and aloof lyrics about love affairs “too hot not to cool down,” here are some shows that serve up the subject of love on Cupid’s big day with an appropriate grain of salt.
‘The Drawer Boy’ at Redtwist: Tragedy buried in distant past, and a present unremembered
Review: Inevitable in every theater season is the sleeper play, the one you overlook: the curiously titled unknown quantity you don’t quite connect with as a lure from the hearth on a cold Thursday night. Such an unforeseeable beauty and memorable winner, a genuine sleeper, is Michael Healey’s “The Drawer Boy” at Redtwist Theatre. ★★★★
‘King Lear’ spun as a parable of oppression when Belarusian troupe goes for dark farce
Review: What’s the first image that overtakes you when you think of Shakespeare’s “King Lear”? Perhaps the broken old man, carrying forth the dead body of his youngest daughter. Or the powerless king, cheering the all-shaking thunderstorm as he howls his rage. In the Belarus Free Theatre production on view at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, the unwavering focus is the insanity and chaos of life in the king’s repressive regime. ★★★
‘The Mutilated’ at A Red Orchid: Two lonely souls touched by Tennessee Williams’ grace
Review: Life, Tennessee Williams’ plays insist again and again, is a painful passage. Bitter, sweet, paradoxical, farcical. Never mind that other business about sound and fury and nothingness. Williams views the world through a lens of dark existential comedy, and it is on display in all its sad glory in A Red Orchid Theatre’s trenchant take on “The Mutilated.” ★★★★
‘Sunset Baby’ at TimeLine: Empty past, sordid present, fragile dreams haunt crusader’s child
Review: Nina’s life is nowhere. She’s a twentysomething black girl with no real prospects, living in a dumpy apartment and attached – emotionally, financially, perhaps forcibly – to a tough but needy dude with great dreams and no solid plan. Then who should pop back into her tenuous world but her dad, she would say dad in name only, once a big player in the black power movement and recently released from prison. The old man wants something. Nina just wants him out. That’s the setup for Dominique Morisseau’s taut, gritty, redemptive play “Sunset Baby,” in a blistering account at TimeLine Theatre. ★★★★
Snap, crackle and popcorn: Black Ensemble Theater to benefit from Garrett discounts thru February
This Just In: The following is from a news release written by an arts organization.
GARRETT POPCORN SHOPS® WILL DONATE 10% OF ALL FEBRUARY 2016 GOURMET TIN SALES TO BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER
Black Ensemble Theater’s Greatest Hits …
‘Posh’ at Steep Theatre: Rich British boys behaving horridly, on sure path to success
Review: British playwright Laura Wade’s “Posh,” now on graphic display at Steep Theatre, drives home a somber message: Great wealth rules. Anything is possible or tolerable if you can hand over a blank check to pay the freight or pay for the damage. ★★★
In Russian troupe’s ‘Measure for Measure,’ virtue and its opposite bear a close kinship
Review: One well might argue that Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” is a less than perfect play. But the neatly framed picture of hypocrisy at its core is so clear, indeed so ringingly universal in its human embrace, that it resonates in any culture. Witness the Russian-language production (with English supertitles) that officially popped the cork Jan. 27 on Shakespeare 400 Chicago, a yearlong aggregation of events dramatic and otherwise spearheaded by Chicago Shakespeare Theater. ★★★★
Chicago Shakespeare Theater lights lamps, world comes in remembrance of the Bard
Preview: This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, and surely nowhere is that big round number being observed with greater zeal, diversity and, well, relentlessness than here in Chicago-Upon-Avon. Throughout 2016, the plays of Shakespeare, adaptations of the plays in various forms and creative applications of Shakespearean themes will be found across the metro area in a coordinated, nonstop festival dubbed Shakespeare 400 Chicago.
American Players Theatre announces 37th Summer Festival June 3 – Oct. 16, 2016
This Just In: The following is from a news release written by an arts organization.
American Players Theatre announces 37th Summer Festival Season June 3 – October 16, 2016
Diverse lineup of eight classical and contemporary works
Return of …
