Paul Kubicki

A MAIDENLY DEATH Victory Gardens Theater’s Death and the Maiden is one of the most highly anticipated Chicago productions this year: Ariel Dorfman’s well-known play (made famous by Roman Polanski’s film) is rarely done, and stars Sandra Oh, who recently left her recurring role in the primetime drama Grey’s Anatomy. Oh plays Paulina Salas, a…

COME ON AND SHOOT A PRESIDENT Assassins ushers together the horde of maniacs who have made attempts on the lives of US Presidents, seeking to examine their varying degrees of sanity, as well as their motivations. A sleazy proprietor entices each character to try their hand at shooting a president, presented as a carnival game,…

EVOLUTION OF  REVOLUTION IN THIS JUST-SO STORY Trap Door’s Regarding the Just shakes the dust off of Camus’ 1949 play, Les Justes, about Russian socialists who assassinate a Grand Duke at the turn of the century. As their plan comes to fruition, each of the revolutionaries contemplates the nature and extent to which they are committed…

AN UNFOCUSED VIEW FROM THE BALCONY In Jean Genet’s The Balcony, authority, sexual desire, and violence are so intricately intertwined that they’re nearly indistinguishable. Outside Madame Irma’s brothel, rebellion licks at the very foundations of civilized society, disrupting the rule of law and overthrowing the monarchy. Inside, cowardly men pose as judges, cardinals, and generals…

A HIGHLY ENGAGING SLOWGIRL After a traumatic accident, millennial teenager Becky (Rae Gray) visits her uncle Sterling (William Petersen) in Costa Rica, where her constant chattering disrupts his nearly monastic lifestyle. As the two learn to live with each other, layers of regret, anxiety, and fear begin to surface. Playwright Greg Pierce treats his characters…

A GREAT PLAY (BASED ON SOMETHING) Though little happens and nothing is resolved in the Pulitzer-nominated Thom Pain (based on nothing), the play is oddly and intensely captivating. Will Eno’s extended monologue wades into an ethereal spot where conscience and consciousness collide, using his everyman Thom Pain as a lens to reveal the gaps and…

HOUSE THEATRE PULLS A RABBIT OUT OF ITS HAT The House Theatre has, once again, remounted its wildly successful Death and Harry Houdini at the Chopin Theatre – and why not? It’s still as fresh as ever. The death-defying wonders of the world’s most famous escape artist are recreated right before our eyes, and it’s…

THE BURDEN OF NOT HAVING A GOOD SCRIPT Having now seen Sideshow Theatre’s The Burden of Not Having a Tail, I can report that, despite its billing, it did little to prepare me for the apocalypse — but then, it didn’t do much for me at all. It’s founded on an interesting idea: A woman…

THE MOTHER OF CHICAGO THEATER Workers and theatergoers of Chicago unite! Oracle Theatre is mounting a rousing defense of Karl Marx and the Bolsheviks, and demands your undivided attention. Though my experience is admittedly limited in the realm of communist propaganda, The Mother is not only the best  agitprop I’ve seen to date, but it packs…

SOMEWHAT SOUTH OF WHERE IT NEEDS TO BE Chicago Dramatists’ world premiere is a tale of murder, spirituality, and heartbreak: A black man named Stranger, after being accused of the murder of his white employer, Widow Luckey, recalls to the town sheriff the events that led up to his arrest. It’s a compelling, complex story…

ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF A PLAY Anarchy is not chaos. The former means “without law,” and the latter means “without form.” This is an important distinction to consider in a play that intends to make an argument for anarchy. After a government scandal, a schizoid anarchist poses as certain government officials to disrupt the government from…

HAVEL UNVEILED AT TRAP DOOR While most probably know Václav Havel as the Czech Republic’s first president, he has gained notoriety in the avant garde world for his absurdist plays’”making him the patron saint of edgy liberal arts students everywhere. Just before the holidays,   Trap Door opened up two Havel one-acts: The Unveiling and its…

OXYGEN? YES. FUEL? YES. HEAT? NO. There are arsonists who want to burn down  a town, and they want  the citizens  to help. In Max Frisch’s absurdist play, a  city has whipped itself into a frenzy over manmade fires, but they won’t acknowledge their complicity in the conflagrations. And while they know theoretically how to stop the arsonists, they…

IF THERE’S NO WATER, WHY IS THIS SCRIPT DROWNING IN PRETENTION? A group of bad artists resent their (dare I say) “frenemy” because she is a more successful artist than they are, and because she is “distant.” The group takes pleasure when she has a near death accident, and find a darker side of art…

SOME FRAGILE  PERFORMANCES CAN’T BREAK MENAGERIE’S  SPELL The Glass Menagerie is getting lots of airtime this summer. Having just been produced in the Steppenwolf Garage, Redtwist Theatre now takes a shot at Tennessee Williams’ semi-autobiographical memory play. Given the current economic climate, it’s not surprising that theatres are tempted to revisit it. The play gives a hard,…