Jacob Davis Adapted and Directed by David Catlin From the Novel by Herman Melville Produced by Lookingglass Theatre Company Death to Moby Dick! Lookingglass has a well-earned reputation for providing classic stories with imaginative, beautiful, and evocative living images. What more can I add to what has already be written in praise of everything from the work … Read more
By Ayad Akhtar Directed by Ron OJ Parson Produced by Victory Gardens Theater What’s a Moderate? After Ayad Akhtar’s first play, Disgraced, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2013, he must have been feeling the pressure to create an equal work. However, he says in an interview in the Playbill program note, his new … Read more
Adapted by Christopher Sergel From the Novel by Harper Lee Directed by Vaun Monroe Produced by Oak Park Festival Theatre Struggle for Justice Even Greater Under the Sky News that Harper Lee is publishing a sequel to her 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird should stoke even greater interest in the perennially popular stage adaptation. … Read more
Score by David Zippel and Cy Coleman Book by Larry Gelbart Directed by Nick Bowling Produced by The Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire Film Noir and Hollywood Studios Make a World of Song and Sleaze Since the original Broadway run of City of Angels won Tony Awards for best musical and best book in 1990, it would … Read more
By William Nedved Directed by Marti Lyons Produced by The Gift Theatre, Chicago A Family Loses Faith in God and Their Brother This year, The Gift Theatre is dedicating itself to the admirable, but risky enterprise of producing new works. The current offering, Body + Blood, was written by ensemble member Bill Nedved, who artistic … Read more
By Suzan-Lori Parks Directed by Vanessa Stalling Produced by Oracle Theatre, Chicago “Everyone who has ever walked the earth has a shape around which their entire lives and their posterity shapes itself.”—The Foundling Father Oracle Plunges Into a Great Hole James Baldwin’s metaphorical description of writing as archaeology had a big impact on Suzan-Lori Parks … Read more
By Charles Busch Directed by Tiffany Keane Produced by Otherworld Theatre, Chicago Cape and Sword Entertainment Returns to Stage When Charles Busch’s Queen Amarantha debuted in 1997, it was a drag-show with its author in the title role. According to reviews at the time, the campy melodrama seems to have clashed with the show’s exploration … Read more
By Christopher M. Walsh Music and Lyrics by Christopher Kriz Adapted from the Book by Austin Grossman Directed by Paul S. Holmquist Produced by Lifeline Theatre, Chicago A Very Big Superhero World For One Musical to Explore One of the main challenges of adapting a novel to the stage is having to simplify an experience … Read more
June 8th was this year’s award ceremony for the non-Equity wing of the Joseph Jefferson Awards, and the first such ceremony I’ve attended. My associate, Tom Williams, thought it might be fun for me to write a little about my impressions of the event, which is of great importance to performers in Chicago who are … Read more
By Brad Fraser Directed by Ernie Nolan Produced by Cor Theatre, Chicago A Grisly Story From a Dark Time What to do today with In-Yer-Face theatre, a genre from the 1990s which shocked mainstream audiences with frank depictions of loveless sex, violence, and often a homoerotic mixture of the two? Is it still shocking? And … Read more