As a year filled with many losses in Chicago’s theater community wound down, word came in late December that Gustavo Mellado, a founding ensemble member of Teatro Vista, had died at age 69. A December 29 tribute on the company’s Facebook page noted that Mellado was “a wonderful actor with a beautiful singing voice,” and […]
Category: Ghost Light
Posted inGhost Light
Prop Thtr finds new places and plans
In July of 2020, Prop Thtr, one of the oldest off-Loop companies in the city, announced that they were giving up their longtime two-venue home on Elston in the Avondale neighborhood. At the time, current Prop artistic director Olivia Lilley told the Reader, “I am very sad. I am mourning. Absolutely. But I’m also excited […]
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Fire in Oak Park and changes in Oak Brook and Jefferson Park
Oak Park Festival Theatre was one of the first companies back to live performance this year after the COVID-19 shutdown with their production of The Tempest, staged in their longtime outdoor home at Austin Gardens. They weathered that storm, only to suffer a fire on November 23 at their offices in downtown Oak Park, located […]
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Wild about Harry
Harry Teinowitz is an affable guy. When I call him up to talk about his first play, When Harry Met Rehab (opening in previews next Wednesday at the Greenhouse), we easily slip into a conversation that runs over 30 minutes, which Teinowitz peppers with sly one-liners—reminders of his background in stand-up comedy and as a […]
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Steppenwolf sets up Loft-y ambitions in new building
Steppenwolf finally cut the ribbon on their new theater and education center on Tuesday after two and a half years of construction, and everybody from Governor Pritzker and Mayor Lightfoot (whose wife, Amy Eshleman, is on the theater’s board of trustees) to many current members of the ensemble showed up to mark the occasion, which […]
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Chita Rivera lights up the stage for Porchlight
The word “icon” gets tossed around pretty liberally, with every eye-catching ensemble on the red carpet at awards shows declared an “iconic” look. But if anyone deserves that designation, it’s Chita Rivera. The 88-year-old theater legend is in town tomorrow night for Porchlight Music Theatre’s annual fundraising gala, where she’ll receive the company’s ICON Award […]
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Digital theater options haven’t fallen away
With so many theaters opening their doors again for live performances (we have at least a half-dozen new reviews coming up next week, which is the most we’ve run since March 2020), it might be easy to overlook the ongoing digital drama produced by local companies. But there are still plenty of online shows to […]
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More changes at the top for Chicago-area theaters
Goodman, Congo Square, and Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights all announce major changes at the top.
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Humboldt Park theaters on the move
Two Humboldt Park theaters take steps to secure new venues.
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Misalliance Repertory does it on the radio with The Music Cure
A pandemic hasn’t stopped Chicago theater artists from starting new companies and producing shows. Last year, Perceptions Theatre on the south side began producing digital work by BIPOC writers as well as offering online readings and training programs. Possibilities Theatre produced their inaugural offering (Noah Haidle’s Smokefall) outside in summer of 2020, moved to online […]
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The Fine Arts theater team makes no little plans
Back in the Pleistocene era (that is, 1986), I spent a few months living downtown in the now-gone Herman Crown Center, a Roosevelt University residence hall that also sheltered students from Columbia College Chicago (where I was enrolled) and the School of the Art Institute. (The building was torn down to make room for Roosevelt’s […]
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A tsunami of news and a new path for Actors’ Equity membership
Changes in faces, places, and union rules might carry harbingers of a shifting landscape in Chicago theater.
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Remy Bumppo and Teatro Vista name new artistic directors
Marti Lyons takes over at Remy Bumppo, while Lorena Diaz and Wendy Mateo share the top job at Teatro Vista.
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Black Ensemble Theater scores big with MacKenzie Scott grant; Victory Gardens announces new playwrights ensemble
$5 million helps BET regain lost ground from COVID, while Ken-Matt Martin reignites a VG tradition.
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PrideArts hires Jay Españo as artistic director
Jay Españo brings international perspective as the new AD for PrideArts; plus Leaders for a New Chicago awards and a new fund in honor of the late Malcolm Ewen