Katie Powers, author at Chicago Reader

A Black woman with long braids, wearing an orange hoodie, is seated on a nearly bare stage at left. To the right is a younger white person (Tristin Hall, who is nonbinary) wearing all black and standing astride a ladder.

Missing girls

by Katie Powers March 15, 2023March 15, 2023

In the world premiere of MIA: Where Have All the Young Girls Gone?, writer and director Mary Bonnett uses interviews and research to illuminate the crisis of missing young women in the United States. The performance interweaves the fictitious story of a missing young girl named Mia (Jamise Wright) with real-life cases and statistics, emphasizing […]

A cutout of a bus in front of a colorful abstraction of a skyline. A man holding a pigeon puppet stands left. On the bus, from left, is a driver, a big dog puppet, a man in a striped shirt and blue vest, an older woman in an orange cardigan, and a man in a gray business suit.

Theater Review

Little bird, big dreams

by Katie Powers February 9, 2023February 9, 2023

In the musical stage adaptation of Mo Willems’s Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (book by Willems and Mr. Warburton, music by Deborah Wicks La Puma, and lyrics by Willems), a down-on-his-luck pigeon (Brade Bradshaw) is fed up with never getting to do anything fun. He’s an underdog who wants nothing more than to […]

A middle-aged white woman in a holiday dress, leggings, and plaid high heels sits at a kitchen table, her feet propped on the table. She is holding a cigarette and has her head thrown back as if in the middle of a funny story.

Theater Review

Season of the Grinch

by Katie Powers November 30, 2022November 30, 2022

After earning rave reviews during its Chicago premiere last year, Matthew Lombardo’s provocative take on a holiday classic makes a triumphant return to Theater Wit. Who’s Holiday follows a now 40-year-old Cindy Lou Who (Veronica Garza) as she tells the story of the infamous night she met The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and the not-so-heartwarming […]

Four women in pajamas sit in a circle on the floor of a cabin. There is a piece of cardboard and a box of chalk on the floor between them. A lot of beer cans are visible on the coffee table behind them.

Theater Review

Cabin in the woods

by Katie Powers November 9, 2022November 9, 2022

In Cat McKay’s queer comedy Plaid as Hell, Cass (Reagan James) hopes that a weekend away in the Wisconsin woods will be a fitting opportunity for her best friend Emilie (Cayla Jones) to bond with her new girlfriend Jessica (Ashley Yates)—who Emilie hasn’t been so keen on getting to know, thanks to an unrequited crush […]

Two men seen behind a chicken wire fence, as if in a prison yard. A young bearded Latinx man is seated on the ground to the left. Behind him, seated slightly above, is an older Latinx man.

Theater Review

Whose life is it, anyway?

by Katie Powers September 28, 2022September 28, 2022

What is an artist’s relationship to their art? The complexities of that question form the central story in Franco-Uruguayan playwright Sergio Blanco’s Tebas Land, now appearing under the direction of Argentinean director Juan Parodi in its U.S premiere as part of the fifth Destinos: Chicago International Latino Theater Festival. Presented by the Chicago Latino Theater […]

On a screen above the stage, we see the live projection of a young Black person with a puppet of a purple monster. On the stage, we see a table with projectors and other equipment. The actors and puppets are standing behind the table.

Theater Review

Monster mash-up

by Katie Powers September 14, 2022September 14, 2022

The Chicago Children’s Theatre’s 18th season kicks off with Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster, an innovative production from the Emmy Award-winning multimedia performance collective, Manual Cinema. Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster Through 10/16: Sat-Sun 9:30 and 11:30 AM, Chicago Children’s Theatre, 100 S. Racine, 312-374-8835, chicagochildrenstheatre.org, $25-$36 Based on […]

A white man sits left and a Black mans sits right in a cabin setting

Theater Review

Fight or flight

by Katie Powers July 20, 2022July 20, 2022

The Chicago premiere of David Alex’s sociopolitical drama ENDS, directed by Davette J. Franklin, follows two men who represent conflicting visions of life in America. Set in 1967, the story begins with Kingsley (Rejinal Simon), a 30-year-old Black man who has spent the past 18 years living in a remote forest cabin as a response […]

Three men stand in a cluster, looking at a phone screen with looks of surprise on their faces.

Theater Review

The celluloid closet

by Katie Powers June 24, 2022June 24, 2022

The Chicago premiere of British playwright Chris Woodley’s Tommy on Top, now playing at Pride Arts Center, is a witty farce that elevates crucial questions about representation and authenticity in contemporary media. The show is centered on Tommy Miller (Ryan Cason), a closeted actor who’s just been nominated for his first Academy Award. He’s the […]

Two young women sit at a table. The woman on the left has a bandaged face and holds a coffee mug. The woman on the right is looking up and sitting in front of a large open book.

Theater Review

Take shelter

by Katie Powers May 19, 2022May 19, 2022

In the Chicago premiere of Sarah Treem’s When We Were Young and Unafraid with AstonRep, a group of multitudinous women navigate domesticity, violence, and identity in a cultural landscape that both oppresses and empowers. Set in 1972, just before the Roe v. Wade decision and 22 years before the passage of the Violence Against Women […]

A young girl in a party dress stands in front of a colorful backdrop. An older boy in a striped shirt and baseball cap stands behind her to the right.

Theater Review

Birthday dreams

by Katie Powers April 27, 2022April 27, 2022

The world premiere of Carmela Full of Wishes at the Chicago Children’s Theatre offers young audiences a vibrant story of hope, family, and community. Directed by Michelle Lopez-Rios and adapted by Alvaro Saar Rios from the children’s book by author Matt de la Peña and illustrator Christian Robinson, the play tells the story of Carmela […]

A man in a dark coat and hat sits at a cabaret table in dim light next to a woman in black gloves and hat, who is smoking a cigarette.

Theater Review

Space mystery

by Katie Powers March 31, 2022March 31, 2022

In Otherworld Theatre Company’s Murder on Horizon: An Immersive Sci-Fi Noir, the cast and crew have devised an immaculate hyperspace straight out of a video game. The story begins when audiences step inside the theater, and the ensemble welcomes them into a new world. They’ve been transported onto the space station Horizon, situated in a […]

Arts & Culture

“Anthem” addresses the past and present of voter suppression

by Katie Powers September 22, 2020August 18, 2021

The virtual exhibit reached beyond Chicago to battleground states in the upcoming election.

Arts & Culture

International Voices Project brings the world to your home

by Katie Powers September 1, 2020August 18, 2021

This year’s virtual festival of plays breaks through our global isolation.

Music

On Black Friday, Palehound explore love in the face of anxiety

by Katie Powers March 13, 2020August 18, 2021

Update: To help slow the spread of COVID-19, this show has been postponed until a date to be determined. Tickets already purchased will be honored at that time, but contact point of purchase for refund information. On their third full-length, 2019’s Black Friday (Polyvinyl), Boston band Palehound offer candid meditations on love—its many forms and […]

Arts & Culture

A soldier and a shrink find common ground in Boogieban

by Katie Powers August 14, 2019August 18, 2021

D.C. Fidler’s drama about the lingering psychic wounds of war makes its local debut with Ohio-based None Too Fragile Theatre.

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