A huge hit when it opened at Theater Wit as a vibrnat world premiere by Caitlin Montayne Parrish, "A Twist of Water" has made a major move. This just triumph reopens at Lakeview's Mercury Theater on May 1 to deliver even more shocks of recognition to appreciative audiences. The biggest one is that cities and families.... Read More

When your theatre company gets serious about growing and being the best, you look for the best Managing Director you can find. One woman has proved herself TWICE (Victory Gardens and TimeLine) to be the best and her name is Elizabeth Auman. We invited her to our new home and pill factory in the basement of an old.... Read More

There are basically two kinds of scenic disorder: the jumble representing accumulated clutter, usually applied by crew members during intermission (as employed in True West, for example), and the chaos created right before our eyes when characters give way to grief, anger or frustration with an old-fashioned temper tantrum.

Pandemonium can be generated cheaply by knocking over furniture, pulling.... Read More

Artistic Directors Joe Jahraus and Darrell W. Cox announce Profiles Theatre's 2011 - 2012 Season. Profiles, one of Chicago's longest-running storefront theatres, presents its 23rd season of new and challenging works, including the Midwest premiere of the Broadway hit A Behanding in Spokane by Martin McDonagh, directed by Steppenwolf ensemble member Rick Snyder; the Midwest premiere of.... Read More

There is an irony to actors' favorite roles being non-human ones. But who wouldn't relish playing creatures unshackled by socialized behavior, propelled by ego surpassing even the amorality of babies and cave-dwellers? How better for an artist to display their individual creativity?

Bryce Wissel's Ephemera, currently in production by the Polarity Ensemble, recounts the adventures aboard.... Read More

The Chicago Park District's 59th annual Theater on the Lake season features reprisals of eight artistically diverse Chicago theater companies June 15 - Aug. 7, 2011. The season opens with The Improvised Shakespeare Company (June 15-19) and continues with popular productions by Infamous Commonwealth Theatre (June 22-26); At Play Productions in association with Chicago Dramatists (June.... Read More

This interview was one of our best. We were SUPPOSED to meet Ele Matelan, House Theatre Ensemble Member and member of the Jeff A/T Committee, in the Heart O' Chicago Hotel for a nice talk and maybe some sodas, but Eric had to try some Angel Dust our neighbor was throwing out. At least we THOUGHT he was.... Read More

Bibliophiles whose homes are filled with reading matter are accustomed to visitors asking, "Have you read all these books?"-as opposed to lining the rooms with them as a cheap source of building insulation, presumably. But the question inevitably raised when a stage setting incorporates floor-to-ceiling shelves of weighty tomes is "Are those books all real?"

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Sometimes, being an actor is hard on a relationship. You usually have a day job, and then add 40 hours a week of another job on top of it, and it can make things stressful for your love life, because you spend so much time apart. Eric and Andy decided to investigate how hard it is when BOTH.... Read More

Lookingglass Theatre Company has announced its 2011-2012 season, featuring three productions about three moments in American history-The Great Fire that razed Chicago, Jackie Robinson's game-changing signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the 1915 Chicago tragedy of the sinking of The Eastland. This upcoming season, Lookingglass will tell the stories of those who, whether famous or.... Read More

Broadway In Chicago has announced that three-time Tony Award - winner including the award for Best Musical Revival, La Cage Aux Folles, is coming to the Bank of America Theatre (18 W. Monroe) Dec. 20, 2011 - Jan. 1, 2012. This hilarious new production of La Cage Aux Folles was the biggest hit of the 2010 Broadway.... Read More

Bringing young children to see live theatre is often a tricky proposition, for various and obvious reasons. In fact, I was just at a show the other night where I was somehow fortunate enough to sit directly in front of a family who decided to bring their (literally) infant child along with them. And no, he/she was not.... Read More

Heroes move fast. We know this to be true, and one hero that moves the fastest is longtime Chicago storefront director Louis Contey. Winner of every Jeff Award over the last 15 years, this titan has brought his A-Game since day one. He now brings his prodigious talents to Strawdog Theatre's production of The Master and Margarita..... Read More

If you have ever wanted to experience live hippieness up close and personal, and were either too young or too scared Back In The Day, then you will want to read further. Because for two weeks only starting March 8, the national touring production of Hair will be coming to the Ford Center for the Performing Arts.... Read More

Brett Neveu, important American playwright and father agreed to an interview with us. Neveu has 3 plays onstage in Chicago right now, so naturally we needed the big scoop. There was only one problem! He is in L.A. and we are here in Chicago! So we decided to split the difference and meet somewhere in the middle; a.... Read More

How has Chicago theatre developed from a grassroots movement to a global phenomenon over the past 50 years? What is the current state of "the beating heart of American theatre," as British critic Michael Billington recently described Chicago? And what is the future of theatre in Chicago - in America and around the world - in a time.... Read More

Working is a vital new musical based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Chicago's own Studs Terkel. Adapted by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin and Godspell) from the original adaptation by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, Working is the working man's A Chorus Line. We caught up with hot, up-and-coming star of the Chicago Theatre.... Read More

Les Miserables, perhaps France's third best-loved export after champagne and Brigitte Bardot (or fourth, after champagne, Bardot, and the two paired together), is coming to Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre for four weeks only starting February 2 in a new 25th Anniversary touring production that the London press has been calling "a five-star hit" (London Times), "overwhelmingly.... Read More

Jonathan Berry has been one of Chicago storefront's leading directors for the last few years. After graduating from Northwestern University, he got his start at Mary Arrchie Theatre Company directing Nicky Silver's The Altruists. He has also worked with Steep Theatre and Remy Bumppo, each time receiving more praise than the last. He met with us at a.... Read More

William Shakespeare's tragicomedy The Merchant of Venice from the acclaimed Theatre for a New Audience comes to Chicago for a limited two-week engagement at the Bank of America Theatre from March 15 - 27.

Starring Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham ("Amadeus," 1984) in his riveting portrayal of Shylock, and directed by Darko Tresnjak.... Read More