Eric and Andy were LIVE From the 39th Anniversary Non-Equity Jeff Awards Ceremony that took place at the Park West in Chicago on Monday, June 4. If you missed the show don't worry, you can watch the full show below.                                    .... Read More

At the Non-Equity Jeff Awards held at Park West on Monday, June 4, Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre took most awards with 6 honors for their jewel box production of A Light in the Piazza" including Production-Musical, Director-Musical for Fred Anzevino and Brenda Didier, Principal Actress for Kelli Harrington, Supporting Actor for Justin Adair, Music Director for Jeremy Ramey.... Read More

Eric Roach and Anderson Lawfer, interviewers for TheatreInChicago and curators and founders of the insider Chicago Theatre blog Reviews You Can Iews!, will be holding a "Red Carpet" style event from the Park West Theater at the 39th annual Joseph Jefferson Awards on June 4th, 2012 that will be streamed live and can be seen right here at.... Read More

In Shakespeare's play, our hero, Timon of Athens, has been abandoned by those he thought were his friends, so what he does is to throw one last party, where he tells them all to go to hell, trashes the table in a clatter of silver plates and cutlery, and finishes his tirade by snatching up a piece.... Read More

Ricky Harris is new to the scene. He is hard to miss because he is about 6'3" and the laugh of someone twice his size. This bodes well for his career choice as a musician and actor, because once you hear this guy's voice, you will never forget it. We ran into the generally jovial Ricky Harris on.... Read More

It was an illness that led Kimberly Senior to the first principle of successful stage directing: Be a good listener. Senior has carved a prominent place on Chicago's theater scene since arriving here straight out of Connecticut College in 1995. But her revelation came just two seasons ago while she was directing Martin McDonagh's "The Pillowman" at Redtwist.... Read More

Musical revues usually strive for easy-on-the-ears melodies, warbled by attractive vocalists, often with an emphasis on romantic ballads—but when your theme's satirical edge centers on the oft-distorted portrayal of ethnic minorities by chauvinistic host countries, the score runs the risk of incensing audiences, even when performed by representatives of the very cultures described therein.

Some selections in Silk Road.... Read More

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