Kurt Chiang and Melinda Jean Myers (known to friends as Mindy) have wanted to collaborate for years. But it took a pandemic for the former Neo-Futurist artistic director and the Lucky Plush ensemble member to finally develop a full-length piece together. Unfinished Business, the fruit of that longed-for collaboration (much of it conducted remotely, and […]
Tag: Doug Wright
Posted inTheater Review
Sea legs
Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, “The Little Mermaid,” is a load of hooey. Consider: The titular mermaid throws herself on a dagger in the end, because she can’t bear to go on after some dude she first encountered days earlier marries someone else. Also, she gives up her voice in exchange for legs so she […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The drama of addiction
There are currently two plays running in Chicago that talk about self-medicating, addiction, and how one’s actions impact those around them. One involves working-class people, a snapshot of reality for many across the country, and the other a figure in popular culture, a wealthy man whose lived experience is far from the reality for most. […]
Posted inTheater Review
Chit-chat on the high wire
In his 1940 memoir, A Smattering of Ignorance, composer-raconteur-pharmaceuticals enthusiast Oscar Levant recalls a train journey he took with his idol, George Gershwin. After offering the talkative Gershwin a sleeping pill (“with the air of a man offering a friend an after-dinner mint”), Levant was mildly surprised that Gershwin commandeered the more comfortable lower berth […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Refuge Theatre lifts Hands on a Hardbody out of complete banality
“If you want something,” they sing, “keep your hands on it.”
Posted inArts & Culture
After the Dance, End of the Rainbow, and ten more new theater reviews
A Chicago premiere from Runcible and another success from Porchlight are among this week’s best bets.
Posted inArts & Culture
Ten best bets for fall theater
A satanic hand puppet, a live version of Cheers, and a Twelfth Night in Hindi are among this season’s highlights.
Posted inArts & Culture
The Goodman’s War Paint is too rosy
True divas Christine Ebersole and Patti LuPone shine in a musical about two cosmetics tycoons.
Posted inArts & Culture
Antiques Road Show
Young fogey cartoonists Adrian Tomine and Seth discuss their own work and some neglected masters at Quimby’s.
Posted inNews & Politics
Don’t Call It a Gay Play
Moises Kaufman, the celebrated director of The Laramie Project and I Am My Own Wife, talks about the injustice of labels, theater that’s stuck in the past, and his new project—a Tennessee Williams script too daring for its time.
Posted inArts & Culture
Kind of a Drag
Justin Hayford reviews Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife and Alexandra Billings’s Before I Disappear.