Emma S. Rund

KNIGHTS AND ACROBATS AN ODD PAIR AT LOOKINGGLASS Circus Quixote—Lookingglass Theatre’s fun spectacle best suited for a family crowd—is an ambitious attempt to merge Miguel de Cervantes’ timeless tale, Don Quijote of La Mancha, with impressive circus artistry. While the production offers tantalizing talents, it ultimately feels like an unfinished work. Michel Rodríguez Cintra The…

NOW VS. THEN A historic confrontation between James Baldwin, the leading literary voice of the civil rights movement, and William F. Buckley Jr., America’s most influential conservative intellectual, took place on February 18, 1965 in a packed Cambridge Union in England. Broadcast live on the BBC and later re-broadcast across America, the question up for…

A HEARTWARMING ADAPTATION The world premiere of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women adapted by Lauren Gunderson as a co-commission from Northlight Theatre, City Theatre, People’s Light, and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is a delightful yet imperfect exploration of the beloved classic novel. By framing the story with Alcott herself as a narrative presence, Gunderson offers audiences a meta-theatrical…

AN INCREDIBLE SCORE; A FINE PRODUCTION; A FUNNY AND POIGNANT FRACTURED FAMILY PORTRAIT; WHY, THEN, DOES THIS REVIVAL NOT EMOTIONALLY RESONATE? Court Theatre and Timeline Theatre‘s joint production of the sung-through musical Falsettos offers a technically superb exploration of a family in flux during the cusp of the AIDS crisis with exceptional vocal talent and…

INTO THE WOODS ACCOMPANIED BY TWO PIANOS? IN A STOREFRONT THEATRE? IT’S A DREAM COME TRUE Kokandy’s production of Into the Woods directed by Derek Van Barham with music direction by Nick Sula is a clever reimagining of this Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine classic for a storefront theatre space. Most notably, this production reimagines the orchestrations…

The devil’s voice is sweet to hear. — Stephen King, from the novel Needful Things Steppenwolf’s production of Leroy and Lucy by Ngozi Anyanwu is a seductive and life-affirming reimagining of the legend of Robert (Leroy) Johnson and his deal with the devil. Little is known about Robert Johnson’s life, largely because it was so…

THE SKOOBY ON HAND IS WORTH TWO IN THIS BUSH, OR SKOOBY DON’T GO? DEPENDS ON YOUR TASTE Hell in a Handbag Productions‘ world premiere of The Golden Girls Meet the Skooby Don’t Gang: The Mystery of the Haunted Bush promises a highly entertaining evening with drag, raunchy humor, and beloved characters young and old….

YOUR PRIMARY CHOICE FOR GREAT THEATER. TRUST ME. The Goodman’s Chicago-premiere production of Primary Trust by Eboni Booth is everything I’ve been craving in theatre lately. Directed by Malkia Stampley, this Pulitzer Prize-winning play about loss and loneliness is intimate, dripping in empathy, but most importantly full of hope. I’ll even dare to say it’s…

AN EXTREMELY HEAVY PORTRAYAL OF ABUSE IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH It’s no secret that the Catholic Church has a sordid history of covering up sexual abuse, and many have made art on this topic to keep it in the spotlight (pun intended, as the 2015 film Spotlight is an excellent example). This is the first…

A WITCH’S BREW WHICH EFFECTS HOPE AT HALLOWEEN There’s a play about the Salem witch trials playing in Chicago, and amazingly it’s not Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Sarah Ruhl wanted a turn at telling the story but from a modern lens, folding in Trump’s America and the opioid crisis. The resulting play is Becky Nurse…

A SWEET, QUEER, NEURODIVERGENT LOVE STORY Open Space Arts’ Chicago premiere of Light Switch by Dave Osmundsen is a charming play with representation that is refreshing to see on stage. The play follows Henry Sullivan, a queer man on the autism spectrum, as he tries to find a love that stands up to the fervor…

THEATER THAT BINDS Raven Theatre’s production of Martyna Majok’s Ironbound directed by Georgette Verdin is a brilliantly patient drama supported by a stellar cast and a detail-oriented creative team. Lucy Carapetyan Darja, a Polish immigrant, has few constants in her life, but a bus stop in a run-down New Jersey town is one of them….

NOISES OFF AND ON AND OFF AND ON Presented in partnership with L.A.’s Geffen Playhouse (where Steppenwolf Ensemble Member Tarell Alvin McCraney is the new Artistic Director), Steppenwolf’s production throws some of Chicago’s top talent on Todd Rosenthal‘s spectacular set to perform an outdated farce. Many regular theatregoers have probably come across Noises Off at…

SCIENCE VS. RELIGION; THE GOODMAN HAS THE PLAY OF THE MOMENT Dubbed “The Trial of the Century,” the inspiration for Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s Inherit the Wind was a milestone in the American legal system: It’s the first time science vs. religion found its way to the public courthouse. The Scopes trial pitted…

LET IDLE MUSE’S INDULGENCE SET YOU FREE Idle Muse Theatre Company’s production of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest immerses its audience in a dark and stormy night full of magic and mischief. This quirky cast delivers comedy and a complex tapestry of character connections. Joel Thompson, Michael Dalberg and Jennifer Mohr The moment you step into…

A NEW MUSICAL THAT JUST MIGHT RIP YOUR HEART OUT Preston Max Allen’s new musical Never Better at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre is an emotionally raw folk-punk musical. It sometimes struggles with forward motion but makes up for that shortcoming with overflowing heart. Ismael Garcia, Travis Shanahan, Emma Samuelson First, I want to celebrate Theo…