| Head of Passes |
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Steppenwolf Theatre |
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| Setting: The distant present, at the mouth of the shifting Mississippi River. Shelah’s family and friends plan a surprise birthday party for her. But the festivities are quickly overshadowed by a series of revelations that point to a dark secret in the family’s past—revelations that leave Shelah trying to find faith, a footing and a truer sense of God. Ensemble members Tarell Alvin McCraney and Tina Landau, the writer and director behind Steppenwolf’s lauded production of The Brother/Sister Plays, team up again for this ensemble drama, told in McCraney’s signature style—a vast and bustling landscape, where the spiritual world mingles freely with the day-to-day. |
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| Henry VIII |
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Chicago Shakespeare Theater |
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| As the sordid tale unfolds of England's most opulent king-notorious for his habit of wedding and beheading-Anne Boleyn rises to power, Queen Katherine is ousted from her throne, and the political machinations and exploits of a king's reign are laid bare. |
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| Homecoming 1972 |
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Chicago Dramatists |
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| In 1972, Frank limped out of the war in Vietnam and back into the world, a world outwardly similar but inwardly very different from the one he left. In his small, Midwestern hometown, Frank is having a difficult time re-adjusting to his old life, including interacting with his family and childhood friends. Frank finds that his once-mundane world of football, cars and Sunday dinners has turned suddenly strange and threatening. Caught between the realities of war and the retrospective absurdities of his old life, he stares down the iconic celebration of returning local heroes – the high school homecoming game. |
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| The Hunting Of The Snark |
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Strawdog Theatre |
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| Based on the classic Lewis Carroll poem, The Hunting Of The Snark, is a family friendly show inviting its guests to come aboard for a tall tale of mischief and mayhem, of high sea hijinks and impossible voyages, of an improbable crew and an extraordinary task, of an inconceivable creature in a peculiar land, and of the unquenchable thirst for adventure. A design and ensemble-based piece mixing theatrical influences from Chicago and around the world; Strawdog stretches, flexes, trips over a ladder and treats the audience to a hilarious and touching take on one of the world's best loved poems. |
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| If You Split A Second |
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Pegasus Players at
Beacon Street Hull House |
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| Formby's IF YOU SPLIT A SECOND asks the question: What happens when a man makes a choice that is so devastating it explodes the lives of everyone he loves? Mick Johnson is a man who has everything but doesn't know how to keep it: a new job promotion, promise of a home, a loving wife and two young kids. In one second he was given a choice-to give into his rage and risk it all or walk away. As Mick sits in prison with nothing but time, he recounts his decisions and watches the life of family unfold through another man's eyes. This contemporary drama explores crime and punishment, choices and consequences and the gift/curse of family. |
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| In A Garden |
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A Red Orchid Theatre |
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| In 1989 an ambitious American architect is summoned to the fictitious Middle Eastern country of Aquaat where the Minister of Culture commissions him to build a thing of beauty; something to remind him of his happiest childhood memories. Architectural plans get sidelined as interest shifts to debates of politics and pop culture. Allegiances shift and the men find themselves caught up in history and warfare, demanding to know “what is the use of beauty?” |
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| In the Company of Men |
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Profiles Theatre - The Main Stage |
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| Two frustrated young executives vent their pent-up rage via a childish prank and end up paying a price in the psychological dark comedy, In the Company of Men. Former college buddies Chad and Howard, now in their late 20s, work for the same company. When the two begin expressing their mutual frustration regarding their lack of rapid advancement at work and their recent bad luck with women, they hatch a nasty scheme to be enacted over an upcoming six-week-long business trip: Find a vulnerable young woman to court, slather with affection, and then callously dump. They choose a lovely, hearing-impaired typist named Christine, but soon their scheme creates escalating tension and psychological games not only with hapless Christine, but also with each other. |
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| Incident on Run #1217 |
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Prop Theatre |
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| A group of unsuspecting passengers boards a westbound CTA train that takes them on the ride of their lives in Incident on Run #1217, a highly-charged new play written by Factory Theater ensemble member Manny Tamayo and directed by fellow ensemble member Matt Engle. From loitering winos to folks just trying to get home, this motley crew soon realizes that their train is destined for a truly terrifying final destination: hell. Founded in Chicago in 1992, Factory Theater is dedicated to the writing, directing, performance and production of original works written by ensemble members. |
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| It's All-Right To Have A Good Time (The Story of Curtis Mayfield) |
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Black Ensemble Theater |
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| Black Ensemble's first tribute of the season is the story of a musical giant. He was the master song writer of his time. From the music of the Impressions like "Gypsy Woman," "I'm So Proud," "Choice of Colors" to the movie hits like "Superfly," he was a genius of a musician, a dynamite songwriter and a loving human being. The music of Chicago's own Curtis Mayfield is known and celebrated all over the world. |
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| Ivywild: The True Tall Tales of Bathhouse John |
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The Hypocrites at
Chopin Theatre |
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| With the help of his best friend Hinky Dink and a deformed nosed alcoholic elephant named Princess,
Alderman John Coughlin (better known as Bathhouse John) is determined to build an amusement park--
an actual true story from Chicago’s early 1900’s. The spectacle of the abandoned park, Ivywild, was
built in the mountains of Colorado with millions of dollars grafted from Chicago's vice district at
the height of its corruption by a loud mouthed alderman who wrote bad poetry and wore
eccentric clothing. Ivywild is an original tale of a dodgy group of odd and colorful friends
revisiting us from one of our city's truly corrupt yet entertaining pages of history. |
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| The Knowledge |
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Steep Theatre |
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| The Knowledge premiered in 2011 at London's Bush Theatre as part of their "School Series": a pairing of plays examining
the current state of education in Britain. Playwright John Donnelly worked as a teacher in various schools across England
and, in The Knowledge, offers a disturbing, blisteringly funny account of a young teacher going off the rails in a failing
school system. Mr. Donnelly is a past winner of the Tom Erhardt Award, the PMA Award for Best New Writer, and the
NSDF Sunday Times Playwriting Award. |
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| The Lake Effect |
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Silk Road Rising at
Chicago Temple |
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| From the playwright of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, comes the world premiere of The Lake Effect. In a depressed Cleveland neighborhood amidst a fierce winter storm, an Indian American brother and sister, long estranged, are reunited by the sudden death of their father. Enter their late father's African American confidante and gambling bookie, and a slew of family secrets get unearthed. The Lake Effect sets in motion a complicated web of relationships and conflicts that challenge our perceptions of race, gender, and success. |
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| Lascivious Something |
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Signal Ensemble Theatre |
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| On a secluded Greek island, an American ex-pat (August) pursues his passions: winemaking and his breathtaking young wife Daphne. Then, on the eve of Ronald Reagan's presidential inauguration, the first tasting of the new wine is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of August's former lover. Inspired by Greek tragedy, Lascivious Something combines evocative language with sympathetic yet deeply flawed characters straight out of Euripides. |
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| Late Nite Catechism |
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Royal George Theatre |
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| Late Nite Catechism is an uproariously funny play, written by Vicki Quade and Maripat Donovan, where the irrepressible Sister teaches class to a roomful of "students." Throughout the course of the play the benevolent instructor rewards audience members for correct answers with glow-in-the-dark rosaries and other nifty prizes. Naughty students may well find themselves on stage sitting in a corner reflecting their actions. Now in its 20th year in Chicago, Late Nite Catechism is a sharp satire, but never mean. It’s simply an evening of fun and laughter. |
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| Lear |
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Red Tape Theatre - St. Peter's Episcopal Church |
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| It's King Lear. But there's no King Lear. Experimental playwright and Doris Duke Artist Award winner Young Jean Lee has penned a whimsical and psychologically disturbing look at a world in which the pater familias is noticeably absent. The children are left to run the show but they must first overcome their anxiety and regret. As the story goes off the rails, Big Bird arrives to help us make sense of the madness. |
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| Let Them Eat Chaos - The Second City Mainstage |
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Second City |
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| For better or worse, we're someone to everyone. Sometimes the title is friend and sometimes the title is enemy - unfortunately, we can't always dictate our role nor can we control our path through the world. The cast of The Second City Mainstage invites you to grab the people that mean the most to you and take a journey with them from the high seas of the Atlantic to the bohemian home of Panamanian poets. Let's leave the rest and let them eat chaos. |
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| The Magic Parlour |
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The House Theatre of Chicago at
The Palmer House Hilton Hotel |
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| The performance contains some of his favorite pieces of magic, alongside some brand new routines in an hour-long show packed with mind-reading, levitations, escapes, and a ridiculous new adaptation of the classic “Card Stab” during which Watkins climbs inside of a fully inflated 7 foot balloon! |
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