Latest from Chicago Critic

Hey! Mr. Spaceman! Deconstructs the 1950’s horror flick by juxtaposing teens at a drive-in movie watching a film, and the characters from the film eventually invading their lives.

Raven Theatre, a treasure chest of outstanding non-Equity Chicago theatre, under Michael Menendian’s tight direction, have mounted a moving, deeply emotional production of Arthur Miller’s 1949 Pulitzer Prize drama, Death of a Salesman

Directed by Robert Ayres Produced by Shapeshifters Theatres At the Irish American Heritage Center Cute Irish kitchen sink comedy delivers wacky humor My first visit to Shapeshifters Theatre, the resident theatre company at the Irish American Heritage Center in Albany Park, was a good time as Irish playwright John B. Keane’s Moll delivered enough comedy … Read more

Fedra (aka Phaedra) is a modern retelling of a Greek myth of unrequited lust and revenge. Queen Fedra (J. Nicole Books) – much like Potiphar’s wife in the Bible – fails to seduce the object of her affection and retaliates by crying rape

Schaffer utilizes a farcical comedic motif as he introduces us to the flamboyant Lettice Douffet, a most memorable character. Essentially, Lettice and Lovage is a funny look at coming to terms with the modern world by two kindred spirits trapped by their imaginations and their social-economic status.

Seeing Opelka’s trimmed and polished remount, now called C’est La Vie here in 2009, I was struck once again at the brilliance of Opelka as a tunesmith. This guy can write songs that aptly depict an era, a culture and a period style with an authenticity and a heart

What a cast. Under the fine direction of Michael Halberstam, actors Sean Fortunato and Timothy Edward Kane as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are masters of comic timing, effortlessly batting repartee at each other. Their forlorn faces wonderfully register bemused puzzlement. Bright eyed, charismatic Allen Gilmore brings humor and authority…

MPAACT and Pegasus Players have mounted Shepsu Aakhu’s world premiere drama, Ten Square. This futuristic look into the world of African-Americans after the federal government’s Reparations Movement issued checks to the relatives of slaves.

This foul-mouthed hip-hop styled narrative was offensive and came across as a dumbing-down of the language and cultures. Borges does deliver his story with humor, irony and a high-octane flair. It’s the overuse of the F-word among others that becomes redundant.

Kill the Old Torture Their Young follows a filmmaker who returns to his hometown to make a documentary about the city and its inhabitants. All of the characters are unhappy with their current disposition, and desperately searching to connect to someone or something.