Latest from Chicago Critic

I admire the hutzpah of Silk Road Rising for taking a chance with this most problematic play. Paulus may stretch credulity and be a tad too much for many to handle yet it is daring, provocative and enticing work. It will bore some, offend others, and yet I found it theatrically appealing in a strange way. It sure challenges us to think, analyze, and consider the nature and essence of our beliefs. Jews and Christians will find much to rile about. So make the effort to stay with Paulus’ style, it’ll payoff.

Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is an African-American playwright who loves to be provocative and stun audiences with outlandish works. But here in Appropriate, now playing at Victory Gardens Theater, he has written about a most dysfunctional white family gathered to liquidate the estate of their recently departed patriarch. Jacobs-Jenkins demonstrates his talents by creating fully flashed-out characters with language that is both bitingly bitter and razor-sharp. Jacobs-Jenkins is an emerging major talent who bravely doesn’t hesitate to write about a white family that has a most racist past that none of the family will recognize.

Playwright Dominique Morisseau’s first play in her The Detroit Projects trilogy, Detroit ’67 is a glimpse into the world of African-Americans struggling to exist in a violent and changing urban city. We meet Chelle (Tyla Abercrumbie) and her younger brother Lank (Karmal Angelo Bolden) who run a “blind pig” (a non-licensed bar with musical entertainment) in their basement. These private neighborhood establishments were often harassed and shook-down by the mostly white Detroit police.

  By Rainer Werner Fassbinder Translated by Denis Calandra Directed by Beata Pilch At Trap Door Theatre, Chicago Enticing dark comedy speaks to the folly of  judging human behavior by language alone Remounting the show that 17 years ago put Trap Door Theatre on the Chicago theatre map, Blood on the Cat’s Neck celebrates the … Read more

Some of director Jason Gerace’s staging left large portions of the audience blinded by pillars during key moments. Also the use of multiple narrators quickly became an irritant. The lack of articulation and the thick accents made the already complex story impossible to follow. What I did gather was that PIP (Mike Tepeli) is an orphan boy who is plucked from poverty and thrust into the upper class by a hidden benefactor. Pip has various adventures as he strives to find his way and a soul mate. The saga is adventurous and the supporting five actors play 40 characters in various accents and personae.

The world premiere of Kate ans Sam Are Not Breaking Up by Joel Kim Booster is a hoot! It combines dark humor with an absurd depiction of the weird world of dysfunctional losers whose obsession with the film stars of a book-to-film series (Ghost Forest) that compels them to kidnap the stars in order for Kate and Sam to reconcile their relationship.