Bring Your Own Theater – Creating with the Community
Photo: Best Of BYOT (L-R) Lisa VanAusdall, Vinny Greco, Laura Rupert, Rachel Silvert By Abigail Trabue Bring Your Own Theater (BYOT) is a small group of artists that every month put a show together, comprised of strangers. For 24 hours anyone—artists, construction worker, CEOs, bus drivers, full-time stay-at-home parents—anyone who’s interested...
Off-Broadway Hit THE BARDY BUNCH is Headed to Chicago
THE BARDY BUNCH: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady, a musical parody by Stephen Garvey that gained cult status during its Off-Broadway run in 2014, is coming to Chicago, beginning a limited engagement September 15th at the Mercury Theater in Chicago’s Southport neighborhood. A mash-up of Shakespeare and...
THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW is Life Purging its Imperfections
Men with big dreams, women fighting for visibility and love at the same time, while ignorance and bigotry divide people; though this sounds like the ingredients to contemporary mayhem, its roots are found in a play set in the 1960s.
CHIMERICA—a Story for Today, Tomorrow, and Generations to Come
The relationship between America and China is complicated, and in a political season where China’s economic power is a constant talking point, Timeline’s production of CHIMERICA seems as timely as it is mentally exhausting.
Albany Park Theatre Project’s FEAST Makes Television Debut
Albany Park Theatre Project makes its television debut with their production of FEAST on WTTW.
VIDEO: First Look – The Design of THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL
Scenic and Costume Designer David Zinn takes us inside the making of THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL, along with Director Tina Landau and Choreographer Christopher Gattelli.
INSIDE LITTLE SHOP Part 4: Opening the Shop
Going into our first preview, I think we were all a little nervous about putting the show in front of an audience for the first time, especially with so many tech elements involved. And the first preview being completely sold out—mostly to a huge group of high school students, no less—added even more pressure. However, the audience was enthralled and delighted, and the responsive crowd brought the show to life in a whole new way. After curtain call, as the house lights came up, I overheard the teenagers in front of me chattering about how it was one of the weirdest and funniest things they had ever seen. And that audience was just the beginning of a hugely successful preview week. One patron on Goldstar said “This was a great show! The singers were exceptional and the music was rousing.”
Red Orchid Extends Ike Holter’s SENDER
A Red Orchid Theatre will add six performances to the run of the world premiere of SENDER by Ike Holter, directed by Ensemble Member Shade Murray. Our Tonika Todorova says SENDER is “a hot summer plate of Chicago-hipster-rooftop-realness strewn with beer cans and honesty, lost in its desire to reject...
Sleek CHICAGO Has Plenty of Polish But Lacks Grit
The national tour of CHICAGO that arrived at Broadway In Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre Tuesday night has glimmers of the shine and glitz at the heart of this musical about Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly’s ruthless journey towards fame and notoriety—timely themes that have allowed the current Broadway revival to play on for two decades.
Keeping Magic Relevant in the 21st Century
Wonder and amazement through secrecy, surprise, and trickery are difficult to pull off these days. We may not know how a magic trick works, but we comprehend enough about how magicians dupe us not to be surprised by another version of sawing a lady in half or the cups and balls.