Samantha Nelson

CARRYING THE ALBATROSS Adrift takes its inspiration from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which tells the story of a sailor stricken by horrible misfortune after he shoots down an albatross, his ship left stranded on still seas. Things aren’t so bad in David Alex’s modern day play, which makes its world premiere…

GOING UP Piper’s Alley has long been a destination for Chicago comedy fans, with Second City bringing in sold out crowds for nearly every performance. Now you can get even more laughs under one roof by visiting the third floor UP Comedy Club, which opened  last December. The spot hosts nightly shows, plus matinee performances Saturday…

SOMETIMES YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN Playwright John Godber grew up in a Yorkshire mining town before going off to college to become a writer. It gives Salt of the Earth, which follows 40 years in the life of family in a mining town, an autobiographical quality, strengthened by the fact that the sections featuring…

SOUTH OF SETTLING PROVIDES AN INTIMATE LOOK AT FAMILY LIFE The best part of the Emmy-winning television series Friday Night Lights isn’t the football drama, but the amazing chemistry between the actors that play the power couple of Coach Eric and Tami Taylor as they navigate life in small town Texas. Set in neighboring Louisiana,…

A RUDE AWAKENING In his 2011 Northwestern commencement address, Stephen Colbert told alumni that they may have been told to follow their dreams, but that sometimes dreams can change, especially if your first dream is a stupid one. That’s not advice that protagonist John Chapman is prepared to accept in I am Going to Change…

GOING NOWHERE Regarded as one of Bruce Springsteen’s best works, the 1982 album Nebraska has inspired tributes from Johnny Cash, Aimee Mann, Chris Cornell and other artists moved by its bleak look at ordinary life. Now Tympanic Theatre Company has brought its tales of murder, mortality and the unfairness of life to the stage with…