Chicago’s theater community suffered a trio of losses this past month. Paola Coletto, Beth Murphy, and Vincent Williams all made major contributions to supporting local theater artists in very different ways. And while none of them had a high profile onstage (indeed, two of them weren’t known as performers at all), they all created vital […]
Author Archives: Kerry Reid
Posted inTheater Review
Nip-and-tuck Oscar
Cutting Oscar Wilde’s 1895 classic comedy of manners down to a sleek 90-minute running time is a bold step, but Theatre Above the Law’s current staging, directed by Tony Lawry, manages that task pretty handily. All the greatest Wilde lines (“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in […]
Posted inTheater Review
The price of blood
Aleshea Harris’s What to Send Up When It Goes Down, produced by Congo Square Theatre last year, provided a trenchant and sometimes anguished portrayal of how racialized violence affects Black Americans over generations through a series of vignettes, rituals, songs, and more. Is God IsThrough 6/4: Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 3 and 7:30 PM, Sun […]
Posted inTheater Review
Star turns
Jessica Dickey’s world premiere at Remy Bumppo (directed by Marti Lyons) has some echoes of Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife: the playwright appears as a character, researching the life of a historical figure as a way to come to grips with her own personal narrative. But unlike the ethically complicated (but still remarkable) […]
Posted inGhost Light
It’s season-announcement season
The warmer temperatures, blossoming flowers, and budding trees aren’t the only harbingers of spring. It’s also the season of the season announcements, with the major Chicago companies letting us know what to expect in 2023-24 on their stages. The Goodman presents the first season selected by Susan V. Booth, who took over as artistic director […]
Posted inTheater Review
Dancing on the edge of disaster
The last great production of The Cherry Orchard I saw was at Steppenwolf, nearly 20 years ago. Tina Landau turned the company’s upstairs theater into a near-immersive experience, with Riccardo Hernández’s set design incorporating swathes of lacy white cloth all around us—perfect for Anton Chekhov’s characters, who spend so much time hiding from visible truths […]
Posted inTheater Review
Army tragedy
Though it premiered in 1981 with the Negro Ensemble Company, won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for drama, and was subsequently turned into the well-received 1984 film A Soldier’s Story, Charles Fuller’s A Soldier’s Play didn’t get a Broadway production until nearly 40 years after it first appeared. Fuller, who died in October 2022 at 83, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Best local stage director ready for next big steps
A few years ago, I wrote a story for American Theatre on Chicago as a great town for stage directors. One name that wasn’t totally on my radar then has since become a top favorite. Georgette Verdin, who has been managing artistic director for Interrobang Theatre Project since 2015, has a special gift for bringing […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Best place to pretend you’re running an art salon in your eccentric aunt’s basement
Some of Chicago’s coziest theater lobbies are in Wicker Park. Upstairs at the Den, overstuffed leather chairs and an electric fireplace provide a great place to warm up on a cold night. But the Chopin Theatre’s basement lobby has always been my favorite weird place to hang out before a show, especially when the show […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best way to combine theater, exercise, and history
In 2017, the members of Theatre Y completed the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain—a 500-mile route followed by pilgrims for centuries. That sparked the company’s annual ambulatory “Camino” productions, which invite audiences to walk through different Chicago neighborhoods while experiencing a series of environmental performances. In 2019, the Camino Project focused on neighborhoods surrounding […]
Posted inTheater Review
Silly swan song
Barbara Gaines started her tenure as artistic director for Chicago Shakespeare Theater (then called Chicago Shakespeare Workshop) in 1986 by staging Henry V on the rooftop of the Red Lion Pub. She’s closing it out with a production of The Comedy of Errors that contains a sly homage to that debut in the form of […]
Posted inGhost Light
The return of “theater prom”
The Non-Equity Jeff Awards, affectionately known as “theater prom,” came roaring back after a four-year hiatus at the Park West on Monday, March 27. And it’s safe to say the program, directed by Adrian Abel Azevedo, was a lovefest through and through. The awards show (coming on the heels of the packed opening of the […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
The city in bloom
I have a personal tradition each vernal equinox of posting on social media some recorded version of “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most.” (This year I opted for Sarah Vaughan.) But the truth is, it’s hard to feel hung up when I look over this week’s spring theater and arts preview issue. (Feeling […]
Posted inPerforming Arts Feature
Spring in our steps
Winter might have been more mild than usual this year, but spring is coming in hot with live performances to light up the season. From remounts of favorites to world premieres, Chicago stages offer an intriguing seasonal bouquet in dance, opera, theater, comedy, and more. Here are 20 shows to consider in the days and […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Understudy is ready for the spotlight
Almost a year ago, I talked to Danny Fender and Adam Crawford about their plans for the Understudy, a new theater bookstore and coffee bar in Andersonville. At that time, they were aiming for an opening in August 2022. City permits and supply chains being what they are, those plans got pushed back by several […]