Time continues its mind-boggling push through dimensions as we find ourselves entering the fifth month of 2022, and there’s no shortage of fun things to do on the horizon. FRI 4/29 House Theatre of Chicago’s artistic director Lanise Antoine Shelley’s latest production honors her Haitian heritage, and the story of Henri Christophe, a leader of […]
Author Archives: Kerry Reid
Posted inTheater Review
Special needs
Kristine Thatcher’s drama about a couple adopting (or not adopting, as it turns out) a child born with profound disabilities kickstarted Thatcher’s profile as a playwright in its 1996 Victory Gardens premiere. It’s back at City Lit, once again under Terry McCabe’s direction. And while some parts don’t hold up well, the production builds to […]
Posted inTheater Review
Red windmills of your mind
Full disclosure: I don’t think I’m the target audience for Moulin Rouge, inasmuch as the 2001 film on which it’s based mostly left me feeling like I had a case of the bends, what with all the swooping and zooming camera action. But if you’re a fan, then you’ll probably want to see the current […]
Posted inTheater Review
Magic wars
Sean Masterson is cut in the mold of the classic Chicago close-up magician, with a puckish demeanor and a donnish interest in the history of the art form. Those qualities all appear in his new show at Chicago Magic Lounge, Message in a Bottle. The backstory comes from a 1912 memoir by impresario Michael B. […]
Posted inPerforming Arts Feature
Ventriloquism and Oobleck
When I think of ventriloquism in film, my thoughts flash to the commercials for 1978’s Magic that creeped me out as a kid. I wasn’t alone; according to the IMDb trivia page, the original trailer for this psychological horror film was pulled from broadcast after parents complained. (“Fats,” the murderous dummy who seemingly possesses Anthony […]
Posted inCity Life
Earth Day, lechon, and Zoomin’
We’re seeing spring temperatures burst out all over now, so we’re sure that many of you are going to use the next few days to emerge from your hibernation caves. Even though some of the masking requirements have changed at various venues and sites, please stay safe as you roam through the city. And we’ll […]
Posted inGhost Light
Lynn Nottage makes it work
If you’re up for journeys to the suburbs this weekend, it’s possible to see two plays by Lynn Nottage; Sweat, which earned Nottage her second Pulitzer Prize in 2017, is closing Sunday in Aurora at Paramount Theatre’s new Copley black-box space. (Reader contributor Catey Sullivan called the production, directed by Andrea J. Dymond, “gripping” and […]
Posted inTheater Review
Tudor lessons
After starting life at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017, then getting its North American premiere at Chicago Shakespeare in 2019 before heading off to Broadway, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s sassy rock musical (directed by Moss and Jamie Armitage) about the most famous sextet of spouses in history is back for a three-month run […]
Posted inCity Life
Bunnies, Rollins, and poetry
Looking for some action? We can’t promise that, but we do think you’ll have a great time at the following events! Reader, read on. FRI 4/15 Barbara Burdick opened Cuddle Bunny in Lakeview (2901 N. Clark) in June of 2020, inspired by the animal cafes of Japan. At the shop, visitors can enjoy hanging out […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A Den of comedy
The last few months have been busy ones with theaters announcing new venues: if all goes well, American Blues, Steep, Northlight, and TimeLine will all be producing in their new homes sometime in the next couple of years. But the long COVID shutdown of 2020-21 also took away some venues that had provided rentals to […]
Posted inTheater Review
The big meal
In a recent New Yorker profile of Natasha Lyonne, star and creator of the trippy Netflix series Russian Doll, Lyonne reflects on her heritage as the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, and how that trauma creates ripple effects through the generations. “I joke that there’s a straight line from Hitler to heroin,” she says. The Levi-Katz […]
Posted inCity Life
April showers us with events
It may be a little damp and dreary outside, but there are loads of ways to warm up with some cultural events this week. FRI 4/8 At 5:30 PM tonight, catch a free performance by Xochitl-Quetzal, the dance troupe founded by Henry Cervantes that’s keeping the Concheros dance tradition alive. As the event host—the International […]
Posted inGhost Light
Will the Understudy be a star in Andersonville?
Those of us who have been kicking around Chicago theater for more than a couple of decades fondly remember Scenes, the Lakeview theater-focused bookstore and cafe that provided a Clark Street hangout for all the companies producing in storefronts around the neighborhood (and their audiences), as well as a source (in those pre-Internet days) for […]
Posted inTheater Review
Darkness and light
Inspired in part by Oliver Sacks’s 1995 New Yorker essay “To See and Not to See,” Brian Friel’s 1996 play in monologues, Molly Sweeney, shares Sacks’s ability to translate the medical into the metaphysical. It’s also a natural successor to Friel’s 1979 Faith Healer, which also unfolds as three monologues involving two men and one […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Springing ahead with live performance
While the BA.2 variant of COVID-19 looms as a possible impediment to attending live performances (even as some of us now qualify for a second booster), shows are booming. We’ve got a baker’s dozen of events to consider if you feel up to getting out and about in the next couple of months. We also suggest […]