Mitchell Oldham

A FAMILY IN FLUX, A PLAY IN FREEFALL Wild Door’s debut digs deep into love and legacy, even when Haidle’s sprawling story gets in its own way Chicago’s robust theater community got even stronger several days ago when Wild Door Theater made its debut in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. By “embracing bold theatrical storytelling to…

PLAYING THE CARDS YOU’RE DEALT: THE PILON SHUFFLES LOVE, VALUE, AND IDENTITY Sometimes theater takes you places you never expected — or even wanted — to find yourself. For some, Red Theater’s latest production, The Pilon, might fall somewhere along that spectrum. Set in a contemporary Seattle shop that sells sports cards, nothing about it…

ST. SEBASTIAN PLAYERS HONORS SHIRLEY JACKSON’S EERIE INTELLECT There are more than a few reasons to head over to Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood and catch the St. Sebastian Player’s (SSP) production of The Haunting of Hill House. Chief among them is that it reintroduces us to one of the most interesting and underrated Gothic fiction…

Redtwist’s Smashing New Play Rattles the Status Quo with Laughter and Wisdom Are there limits to happiness? Can any one of us remotely comprehend the countless forms it can take? Those two questions rest at the heart of Sarah Ruhl’s rakish rebel of a play, How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, now stirring things up…

BIG TOP, BIGGER DREAMS: ETHIOPIA FLIPS THE SCRIPT AT NAVY PIER (OR “GRAVITY? NEVER HEARD OF IT!”) Despite their being a part of nearly everyone’s lives, dreams hold a never-ending fascination in our psyches and imaginations.  And all around the world, they routinely act as a fuel that focus and power our aspirations. One of…

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO BAGHDAD: COMEDY BUMPS INTO HISTORY TO CREATE A MASTERPIECE We sometimes forget how much the theatrical stage can be a place of true discovery—until we stumble upon islands of magic like Iraq, But Funny, a marvel now running through July 20. Written by the immensely talented Lookingglass…

TO KNOW HYMN IS TO LOVE HYMN It’s not unusual to hear creatives, especially Black creatives, quote Toni Morrison when talking about what inspires them to write, paint or compose. “If there’s a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” That notion seems to have…

UNCONVENTIONAL SPIN, DARING THEATER, CAUTIOUSLY RECOMMENDED There are sequels and there are sequels. Few can be considered as aspirational or as pioneering as Taylor Mac’s Gary, a continuation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus now playing at Redtwist Theatre. Easily the Bard’s most sensational blood fest, Redtwist brought Titus’s “vicious circle of revenge and counter-revenge” to their…

Red Theater’s Kairos Makes Us Look at Time and Life from an Unexpected Perspective Chance encounters rarely end this interestingly. In Lisa Sanaye Dring’s new play Kairos—premiering now at The Edge Off Broadway by Red Theater—a run-of-the -mill fender bender leads to love and the opportunity to attain immortality. The latter prospect raises a myriad…

MAMET’S HENRY JOHNSON PROVES A DIFFICULT PROTAGONIST Along with blazingly rapid dialog, there’s something aggressively determined about David Mamet plays—like Glengarry Glen Ross now being revived on Broadway—and his latest Henry Johnson is no exception. Written in 2023 where it premiered at the Electric Lodge in Venice, California, Mamet’s stage effort is now enjoying its…

JOYOUSLY, GUYS & DOLLS HAS IT ALL Still touted as one of the greatest Broadway musicals of all time, Guys and Dolls turns 75 in November. You’d never know it based on Music Theater Works feisty little production of this all-American classic playing now in Skokie’s North Shore Center. Frisky as a rambunctious puppy, this…