In the world of Chicago Storefront Theater, one name stands alone. The New Colony has been on the forefront for 4 years, dedicating their lives to the the craft of collaboration in creating new aesthetics. Now, they open "Rise of the Numberless," a co-production with the venerable Bailiwick Theater. Billed as an underground rock.... Read More

When you're cast as Stanley Kowalski in high school (an all-boy's school yet!), you quickly abandon hopes of someday playing Romeo, or Hamlet—or any role where you get to kiss the girl, for that matter. Steve Pickering has made a career of playing tough guys—Iago in Othello (twice), Kent in King Lear, Harry Brock in Born Yesterday. "When.... Read More

The Jeff Awards announced 124 nominations in 25 categories for Non-Equity Jeff Awards for productions that opened between April 1, 2011, and March 31, 2012. The Non-Equity Awards honor excellence in Chicago theatres not under a union contract. Jeff Awards judges covered opening nights of 154 productions offered by 71 Non-Equity producing organizations. The judges recommended 64 of.... Read More

Realism in scenic design was a response to the formal wing-and-border stage decor of the 17th and 18th century, replacing artificial symmetry with more natural arrangements. The theaters of the 19th and early 20th century were much more spacious than those today, however—certainly larger than the 23 X 34-foot classroom in the Irish-American Heritage Center that houses the.... Read More

New Artistic Directors are a celebrated people in Chicago. They become our leaders of organizations and have a hand in the direction of the Chicago Theatre Scene, the largest subculture in the continental United States. We had a chance to meet with the brand new Artistic Director of Strawdog Theatre, the great Brandon Bruce on a spacecraft made.... Read More

Broadway In Chicago announced the complete 2012-2013 subscription series. The upcoming season will include I Love Lucy Live on Stage, Kinky Boots, Sister Act, Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical, War Horse and Peter Pan. Off-season specials include Stuffed And Unstrung, Rock Of Ages, Rain: A Tribute To The Beatles and Les Miserables..... Read More

For almost 20 years, Mike Beyer has been a prolific Chicago playwright. Writing only comedies and working exclusively at The Factory Theatre, Beyer is taking a step forward. His new piece, "Johnny Theatre" (co-written with Kirk Pynchon) is being produced at Chicago's laugh sanctuary Chemically Imbalanced Comedy Theater. The Factory Theatre is also re-producing his 16 year old.... Read More

When Ron OJ Parson, resident artist at Court Theatre, looks in the mirror, he sees an athlete forever young in the guise of a middle-aged stage director. "The discipline you learn in sports definitely carries over into theater," declares Parson, who at fiftysomething still chases down fly balls in the Chicago Theater Softball League.

The Buffalo (NY).... Read More

It's not uncommon for Hollywood to shape movies around non-acting celebrities—swimming stories for Esther Williams, opera stories for Luciano Pavorotti—and in theater, the currently-running Death and Harry Houdini at House Theatre was created to showcase the company's resident illusionist, Dennis Watkins. The hero of Lookingglass Theatre's Rick Bayless In Cascabel, however, is a cook. Not just any.... Read More

Some people are just touched by God. They are amiable, kind, and relentlessly watchable onstage. One of our heroes in Chicago is the great Gene Weygandt. A man who got his start in theatre in Chicago and has moved his way up to performing one of the classic roles of our time, "The Wizard" in Stephen Schwartz's musical.... Read More

Humor based in male body functions have been a part of popular comedy for centuries—indeed, during the 1990s, the legendary Torso Theatre forged a reputation for plays featuring precisely such anal-infantile imagery—but the fashion nowadays is for women getting in touch with their grosser selves. Not just any women, either—in Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage, it's the chic.... Read More

In big custom-built theaters, rip-and-throw costume changes are implemented with the aid of hidden dressers, but the room that houses Timeline Theatre's production of Lucy Prebble's Enron is buried in the depths of a church community hall, its in-the-round configuration mandating that the nine actors who play more than two dozen characters frequently exit, only to dash.... Read More

When they come, we must be ready—and not with glib approximations. Our alien visitors will want to know everything about us. They will want honest answers—especially about theater. It's wrong to fool an inquisitive extraterrestrial. They came this far because they care.

As the not-so-top-secret Rockwell files disclose, past star trekkers have been especially interested in why we act.... Read More

It's one of those years. Everybody has a lot going on, and it's hard to get excited about the new seasons of our beloved theatre companies. Maybe we are jaded. We decided to take it to the street and meet up at a Quizno's with a couple youngsters who are the bright future of the scene.
.... Read More

Collectors, stockpilers, scavengers and archivists all have their limits, but there was nothing to stop the wealthy and privileged Collyer brothers from saving everything, and so they did—living in a house with rooms filled floor-to-ceiling with miscellany acquired over fifty-plus years. Mark Saltzman is the most recent of many writers to find in this eccentric compulsion a lesson.... Read More

Signal Ensemble has become a watershed company here in Chicago. Since 2003, they have established themselves as the go-to place for new and exciting works - whether they were beautiful Midwest premieres of published properties or original works like the smash hit "Aftermath", a jukebox Rolling Stones extravaganza with more on its mind than just amazing rock.... Read More

They call it a "passion project." And if pain proves passion, they're pros. Though abandoned by their original producer, the young thespians of (re)discover theatre have begged and borrowed a lot--rugs, shovels, cars, chairs, tables, and more. Each now does the work of three, contributing their salaries from day jobs and rehearsing in a vast, unheated (but free!).... Read More

The widow Darby is heir to a vast ironworks empire, but rather than relinquish her leadership status through remarriage or delegation, she proposes to manage the business herself—no easy task in the mid-19th century, when men ruled the world of commerce. This independence is not to be shared with her daughter— nicknamed "Little Cog" by her late father—who.... Read More

Timothy Findley's Elizabeth Rex proposes a dialogue between Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth I, and the members of the Lord Chamberlain's Men—William Shakespeare's troupe—on a troubled night when the crown weighs heavily on its wearer. The underlying theme of their discussion, however, is the stress of denying your true nature: The monarch must be unflinching in her.... Read More

TheatreInChicago presents its annual list of the top-rated plays that were produced in the Chicago area in 2011. The list was compiled objectively from critics' reviews, based on the Highly Recommended to Not Recommended scale.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, 2011 was another good year to be a revival of a classic musical in Chicago. Of the twenty-five plays that.... Read More