Emma S. Rund

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Steppenwolf’s production throws some of Chicago’s top talent on Todd Rosenthal‘s spectacular set to perform an outdated farce.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…

ENJOYABLE, BUT WHO IS THE AUDIENCE FOR THE AUDIENCE? The Audience at Drury Lane Theatre is a slightly stuffy drama best suited for audience members who are very interested in British politics. I fear that might be a rather niche group. The Audience imagines the life of Queen Elizabeth II through the window of her…

TOO MUCH HEART; NOT ENOUGH BLOOD Directed by Braxton Crewell, the Factory Theater’s production of Cody Lindley and Nate Hall‘s new rock musical Stabbed in the Heart has some hilarious moments and memorable music, but doesn’t quite hit the mark as a slasher-movie parody, if indeed that is the mark. Trish (Madeline Ackerlund) drags her…

A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE AT THE THEATER First Floor Theater’s Chicago premiere of In His Hands by Benjamin Benn, which opened last night,  is breathtaking from start to finish. Benn’s writing is a poem of the mundane turned miraculous, and the deeply intimate, visually striking production does Benn’s words justice. Alex Benito Rodriguez and Matt Klingler This…

ALICE BY HEART: FULL-HEARTED PRODUCTION; HALF-HEARTED SCRIPT Alice by Heart follows a young girl, Alice (Caitlyn Cerza), during the London Blitz of World War II as she takes refuge in her beloved copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alice and her friend Alfred (Joe Giovannetti), who is deathly ill with tuberculosis, seek shelter in an…

BORED OF THE RINGS In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo Baggins famously states to his nephew and adoptive heir, “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.  You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” It’s also a…