Author: Tom Williams

When you think of Hell, what do you see? Do you see fire and brimstone? Pitchforks and torture? Or, do you see something entirely different? These assumptions are the groundwork that George Bernard Shaw builds on in Don Juan in Hell. In Shaw’s Hell there is no torture. There is joy, art, and endless pleasure for an eternity, but without contemplation of the purpose of such pleasures, or something beyond this base pleasures, what’s the point? This is where we begin.

The message of Leo Lionni’s book and this musical adaptation is simple; everyone has something to offer to the world. Practical or impractical, technical or creative, everyone fills a part and everyone matters. Together, Frederick and his mischief of mice learn that they are, as a team, greater than the sum of their parts. There were some tears in the eyes of audience members near the end of the play, and I must admit I was choked up, too. As the play came to a close, numerous children were begging their parents to take them back to the mice. Suzanne Miller and the Chicago Children’s Theatre have successfully created a world where children feel happy and wanted. What a beautiful thing to have.

The Gift Theatre plays home to Bethany, making it’s Chicago debut. We all remember when the recession hit in 2009. We all knew we should’ve seen it coming, yet somehow so many of us still went through struggles. Those struggles are no stranger to Crystal or any of the other pieces in the puzzling production that was Bethany. Bethany tells us a tale of hardship and desperation and begs the question “How far would you go?”