Posted inTheater Review

Upending the narratives

Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Fairview won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize, but is only getting its Chicago premiere now courtesy of Definition Theatre. After seeing Tyrone Phillips’s staging at the cozy Revival space in Hyde Park, I’m glad that Definition snagged it, and not just because this company (which has been doing excellent work for years and […]

Posted inGhost Light

Chicago Theatre Week kicks off

Update February 24: Chicago Theatre Week has been extended through March 5. “If you see our show, that’s at least two spots on your bingo card!”  That’s what Jimalita Tillman, global director for the Harold Washington Cultural Center, said at the Chicago Theatre Week kick-off party Monday night at Wicker Park’s Den Theatre. She wasn’t […]

Posted inTheater Review

Infatuation and identity

When The Revival theater opened its doors in 2015 at the corner of 55th Street and University Avenue, its intent was to pay homage to improv’s earliest roots. Paul Sills formed the Compass Players in that exact spot, bringing his knowledge of his mother Viola Spolin’s theater games (outlined in her seminal work Improvisation for […]

Posted inTheater Review

Art and appropriation

Of the two plays exploring race that Steppenwolf has on stage right now—King James and WHITE—the latter definitely stands out for being not only funnier, but more complex and satisfying in its critique of race, privilege, and power. Written by James Ijames and directed by Ericka Ratcliff, Definition Theatre’s production is a delightfully silly yet […]