C.J. Fernandes

TEENAGE WASTELAND Growing up is hell in Tim Venable’s funny, disturbing and morally murky gearshift play In the late 1990s, filmmaker P.T. Anderson coined the term “gearshift movie” to describe a film that switches up its tone/theme in an instant. If we were to extend that term to the theatre, Tim Venable’s Adolescent Salvation would…

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS Five headlines become five new plays, with one terrific entry leading the edition Jackalope Theatre Company’s 17th Annual Living Newspaper Festival, currently being performed at the Jackalope Theatre in the Broadway Armory, is an anthology show. Conceived as a discovery showcase for writing talent, the festival comprises five new plays. The…

DYING TO BREAK THE CYCLE Three generations speak across time in a harrowing, beautifully orchestrated exploration of trauma and inheritance To a theatre-lover, going to a first production from a theatre company is like being on a blind date. You don’t know what to expect. You’re slightly nervous, slightly apprehensive, slightly excited, but most of…

WINDOWS NEEDS MORE SPIT AND POLISH An appealing young cast can’t overcome a world-premiere script that remains frustratingly unformed On a couch in a small apartment sits a sullen young woman. Piles of snack bags and junk food remnants surround her. She doesn’t move, except to adjust the blanket on her lap. Behind her is…

SOUND AND FURY, SIGNIFYING PLENTY A sound artist steps out of the booth with a powerful, deeply personal work that, in production, may be better heard than seen Over five thousand shows: that’s how many productions Ryn Hardiman has sound engineered for the Neo-Futurists, an avant-garde group of performers who delight in violating the rules…

A CRACK IN THE ORDINARY Four remarkable performances make the leap from surrealism to domestic drama worthwhile Marina Carr’s Marble, now in its Chicago premiere at the Copernicus Center as part of The Gift Theatre‘s 25th Anniversary “Homecoming” season, opens with a delicious premise. Two old friends, Ben (John Gawlik) and Art (Paul D’Addario), are…

CRAM SESSION, CRASH COURSE Natalie Margolin’s sharply observed comedy captures the fleeting intensity of college friendships Natalie Margolin’s All Nighter, which opened Off-Broadway in 2025, makes its Midwest premiere at Rivendell Theatre in a production from The Village Theater. The play unfolds over one long night in a study hall at a small liberal arts…

ALL ABOARD THE S.S. SEX FARCE These gender-liberated pirates need to boink more and bicker less On the deck of the pirate ship Revenge, a buxom young lass leads a blindfolded young man to a chair. Asking him to trust her, she ties him up and then promptly walks off with a bag of money…

GOOD PEOPLE, GREAT SHOW David Lindsay-Abaire’s poignant drama delivers a powerful reminder that luck, circumstance, and class often shape lives as much as talent or determination In an alley behind a Dollar General store in South Boston, a middle-aged woman is embroiled in an argument with her manager. Margie has been late to work for…

YESTERDAY’S REBELS Time has softened the musical’s edges, but not its beating heart In 1968, a rock musical featuring a ragtag group of hippies took Broadway by storm. With book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado, a score by Galt MacDermot, and featuring a large cast of mostly unknowns, minimal dialogue and no…

STILL ANGRY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS A daring revival proves the musical’s power endures, even when one major directorial gamble doesn’t When people think of musicals, the stereotype is a show with a large cast, lots of singing and dancing, an orchestra, and usually an elaborate set. And that’s not entirely untrue. But there is…

THE HAIRY APE COMETH This gleefully unhinged musical comedy is a strong play’s journey into wisecracks The Goodman closes out its centennial season in spectacular fashion with a big, brash new musical composed by Mark Hollmann (Urinetown), lyrics by Hollmann and Jay Reiss (Spelling Bee), and book by Reiss and Erin Quinn Purcell. Directed by…

CRITIC’S BITE A gripping solo performance anchors this haunting tale I had not encountered arithmomania in any form of entertainment media in well over two decades. Now it’s popped up twice in a few weeks on two different Chicago stages: in Kevin Douglas’ hilarious Untitled Vampire Play at Lookingglass, and now in Black Button Eyes‘ sharp…

BAD FENCES MAKE GOOD COMEDY Big laughs bloom from a tiny patch of disputed ground. In a tony suburb of Washington, D.C., a young upwardly mobile Hispanic couple move into their first house, a charming fixer-upper with a small backyard. Pablo Del Valle (Rio Soliz Ragazzone) is an attorney—the only one of color—in a prestigious…

THE WEIGHT OF HERITAGE A thoughtful work that doesn’t always come together An unusual and ambitious production, L.M. Feldman’s A People is a sort of theatrical mosaic. Mounted by Arts Judaica and YI Love Jewish and currently playing at Theater Wit in Lakeview, the show attempts to condense five thousand years of Jewish culture and…

OUT OF TUNE WITH CHEKHOV Chekhov’s quiet desperation is drowned out by one very loud performance What would a season of theater be without a Chekhov play? Or five? Following Red Theater’s excellent The Seagull in February, we now have a new iteration of Uncle Vanya from AstonRep Productions, currently on stage at The Edge Off-Broadway…

SUCKING FACE Chemistry, comedy, and a little bloodlust make for an irresistible evening. Is there a quality more indefinable and unpredictable than the chemistry between two people, whether in real life or on stage or screen? It cannot be predicted by mien, talent, or secondary sexual characteristics. It’s either there or it isn’t. And in…

GETTING CAUGHT UP WHEN THERE’S A CATCH A baffling experiment eventually reveals a powerful emotional core Why? That one-word refrain was what repeatedly popped up in my head through most of the first hour of Mia Chung‘s Catch as Catch Can, the final production of Steppenwolf’s mostly excellent 50th season. The show features three actors—two…