Driving Dialogue Carries Writers’ THE SCENE

Driving Dialogue Carries Writers’ THE SCENE

Pictured: Mark L. Montgomery and Deanna Myers. Photo by Liz Lauren. Review: THE SCENE at Writers Theatre By Kelsey McGrath Theresa Rebeck is a master of dialogue and a craftswoman of character. Her 2004 work, THE SCENE — according to Writers Theatre where it is now playing — “explores the...

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Creatives is a Workshop Production Not Just Brimming With Potential, it’s Overflowing

Creatives is a Workshop Production Not Just Brimming With Potential, it’s Overflowing

Pictured: Irvine Welsh, Don De Grazia and Tom Mullen. Photo by Jay Kennedy. Workshop Production: CREATIVES at Chicago Theatre Workshop By Jude Hansen The plot centers on eight students in a songwriting class at a progressive university competing for the chance to win $5,000 and the approval of a celebrity judge, an alumnus of...

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THE SNARE Is an Intimate Inquiry of Ideas

THE SNARE Is an Intimate Inquiry of Ideas

Jackalope Theatre Company’s THE SNARE conjures up a courageous choice by tackling the most taboo of topics—religion.

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Lifeline’s A WRINKLE IN TIME Captures the Emotion and Humor of the Beloved Novel

Lifeline’s A WRINKLE IN TIME Captures the Emotion and Humor of the Beloved Novel

Mrs. Whatsit’s metamorphosis into a character with long, colorful wings was a particularly effective moment — aided by a clever scaffold set which supported the children as they “flew” upon the creature.

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Porchlight’s LITTLE ME Leaves a Big Impression

Porchlight’s LITTLE ME Leaves a Big Impression

Porchlight Music Theatre’s three-night-only concert staging of the 1962 Broadway musical LITTLE ME as part of its Porchlight Revisits series is every bit as effervescent as a glass of champagne—and it’s certainly an evening of theater worth toasting.

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BEST OF BRI-KO Takes Audience Participation a Step Too Far

BEST OF BRI-KO Takes Audience Participation a Step Too Far

Upon exiting Stage 773’s THE BEST OF BRI-KO it was unsettling to have to check that I was not tracking mushed lettuce into the carpeted lobby. This vegetable was just one of many unlikely props wielded by three actors as they explored status and relationship in this hour-long silent sketch show.

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THE COLUMNIST Struggles to Engage

THE COLUMNIST Struggles to Engage

Joseph Alsop (Philip Earl Johnson), our journalist protagonist, as a character draws similarities to Kushner’s’ Roy Cohn, but is not pathetically endearing or despicably hypocritical or even conflicted enough to hold the fascination that Kushner’s’ depiction of Roy creates. There is little urgency for this character and nothing particularly captivating about him.

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Goodman’s UNCLE VANYA Embodies the “Russian Soul”

Goodman’s UNCLE VANYA Embodies the “Russian Soul”

Pictured: Marton Csokas and Kristen Bush. Photo by Liz Lauren.  [Editor’s note: Our reviewer, Tonika Todorova, broke a clearly defined PerformInk rule, as she will mention. Reviewers are asked to disclose any conflicts of interest to editors in advance and to decline to review shows that they may have a bias...

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Powerful Content Prevails in Collaboraction’s GENDER BREAKDOWN

Powerful Content Prevails in Collaboraction’s GENDER BREAKDOWN

The stats are revealing. Kay Kron’s research shows that only 36% of directors and 25% of playwrights for Jeff-nominated shows in Chicago are female. 30% are scenic designers and just 12% are sound designers.

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Circle’s VENUS IN FUR Explores Fantasies and Fetishes

Circle’s VENUS IN FUR Explores Fantasies and Fetishes

Did you know that Austrian author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch is the “M” in S&M? In 1870 he published a novella VENUS IN FUR expressing his fantasies and fetishes which mostly revolved around dominant women wearing, you guessed it, fur.

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