Chicago

BLOWN AWAY Jon Fosse’s haunting meditation on life, companionship, and depression becomes an extraordinary theatrical experience in the hands of two remarkable actors In a misty space, two roughly hewn planks of wood swing from the ceiling, suspended by nautical ropes. Flanking the planks are wide swaths of white cloth stretching from ceiling to floor….

THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS Kenny Leon finds new layers in Suzan-Lori Parks’s riveting battle between two brothers trapped by history, rivalry, and the roles they perform Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks is lauded as one of the greatest American plays of the 21st century, and it’s earned that label through blistering and rhythmic language, tension so…

A LIFE IN THE AIR Shana Carroll’s extraordinary theatrical memoir finds wonder in the moments between falling and flying Well, it’s finally happened; I’ve been rendered speechless. The Attic, subtitled Things I’ve Seen While Lying on My Back, is unlike anything I’ve seen on a stage. Is it a drama? A musical? A ballet? A…

FIVE MONOLOGUES IN SEARCH OF A PLAY A sharp, funny satire of academia wrestles with difficult questions—and nearly gets derailed by its sexual detours They’re back! After a four-year hiatus, during which time I’m sure some serious soul-searching was conducted, Victory Gardens Theater returns to the Chicago theater scene with The Humanities, a world premiere…

KOKANDY UNLEASHES ITS HYDE A problematic musical gets a thrilling jolt of theatrical electricity from Kokandy’s powerhouse performers and audacious design Kokandy Productions’ remount of Leslie Bricusse and Frank Wildhorn’s Jekyll & Hyde with Broadway In Chicago has no problem filling the Broadway Playhouse stage with raucous, dangerous fun. Seeing Kokandy produce outside of their…

AN EASY PILL TO SWALLOW The opening production of TimeLine’s first full season in its gorgeous new home in Uptown, the world premiere of Jessica Huang’s The Birth of the Pill, gets off to an inauspicious start. On Regina García’s lovely set, all warm earth tones and tourmaline tiles, a young woman, Ramona Delgado (María…

NO MIRACLE HERE Moments of brilliance cannot make this uneven García Márquez adaptation cohere It has been raining for several days, and in a small house, a husband (Dan Cobbler) and wife (Laura Nelson) are freaking out about the health of their child. He has a fever that will not abate, and the wife believes…

SCRATCH IT Silverman’s Jacobean reworking is hilarious, dark, and exhilarating How does one determine if an adaptation is a success? Does it require rigorous fidelity to the source material? What if it honors the spirit of the material but not its text? Or what if it just uses the bare bones of its source as…

THE CASE AGAINST AN EASY OUT A darkly funny, anxiety-inducing thriller loses its footing in the final stretch In the skies over Texas, a pregnant young woman called Nessa faints on a plane en route to New York. The plane is diverted to Dallas/Fort Worth, and she is rushed to the emergency room, where she…

HOME IS WHERE THE FIRE STARTS Steep Theatre opens its new home with the U.S. premiere of Simon Stephens’ post-apocalyptic drama What use is hope after the world has ended? That question sits at the center of A Slow Fire, the newest play by Tony and Olivier Award winner Simon Stephens, which will receive its…

HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE JOAN CRAWFORD Four Joans, three Christinas, and a torrent of gags make this trip to hell devilishly funny Beginning her film career as a body double for Norma Shearer, the Hollywood star she went on to overshadow in the classic MGM comedy The Women (1939), Joan Crawford’s success owed as…

KOKANDY GETS THE PICTURE A splendid revival turns this cranky critic into a dewy-eyed theatre kid again “Work is what you do for others, Liebchen. Art is what you do for yourself.” In a sense, I guess it’s appropriate that Sunday in the Park with George, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Pulitzer-winning musical, should be staged…

CITY LIT SADDLES UP A WINNER A terrific central trio and striking stagecraft make Mark Pracht’s world-premiere adaptation a winner The venerable City Lit opens its 46th season with Shane, a world premiere from multi-hyphenate Mark Pracht. Based on the novel by Jack Schaefer, which was previously adapted into a highly regarded 1953 film with…

TEENAGE WASTELAND Growing up is hell in Tim Venable’s funny, disturbing and morally murky gearshift play In the late 1990s, filmmaker P.T. Anderson coined the term “gearshift movie” to describe a film that switches up its tone/theme in an instant. If we were to extend that term to the theatre, Tim Venable’s Adolescent Salvation would…

STELLA! MEET TENNESSEE Once Tennessee met Brando, American theater would never be the same Before Marlon Brando bellowed “STELLA!” into theatrical immortality, he was a hungry 23-year-old actor who had yet to become Marlon Brando. And before A Streetcar Named Desire became one of the defining American plays of the 20th century, Tennessee Williams needed…

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS Five headlines become five new plays, with one terrific entry leading the edition Jackalope Theatre Company’s 17th Annual Living Newspaper Festival, currently being performed at the Jackalope Theatre in the Broadway Armory, is an anthology show. Conceived as a discovery showcase for writing talent, the festival comprises five new plays. The…