Emilie Modaff Archives - Chicago Reader

The actors portraying the members of Alison Bechdel's family in Paramount Theatre's Fun Home stand together. Mother Helen is on the left, in a dark blue cardigan, followed by John in a blue jacket, Alison in a red cardigan and striped top, Christian, also in a blue jacket, and father Bruce in a gray checked suit.

The Bechdels, tested

by Kerry Reid August 17, 2022August 17, 2022

Alison Bechdel’s family, captured first in her 2006 graphic memoir Fun Home and then in a Tony Award-winning 2015 chamber musical (music by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics by Lisa Kron), feels right at (uneasy) home on the intimate Copley Theatre stage in downtown Aurora. Presented as part of Paramount’s “Bold” series of seemingly more […]

Three people in exaggerated blonde wigs and blue dresses in a row.

Theater Review

Dictator dictation

by Melissa Renee Perry May 19, 2022May 19, 2022

The energy in the Den Theater last Thursday was electric, as The Secretaries, written by Omer Abbas Salem and directed by Laura Alcalá Baker, made its highly anticipated debut with First Floor Theater. The dark comedic play was first developed through Goodman Theatre’s Future Labs and marks Salem’s first full production as a playwright in […]

Two people sit back-to-back in wooden chairs center. In the background, four other people (three with musical instruments) stand playing, while one of them approaches the seated couple.

Theater Review

Quirky true love songs

by Jack Helbig November 24, 2021November 24, 2021

There are shows that break a writer’s heart, and brain. This is one of those shows—openhearted, genre-defying, utterly overwhelming, glorious to watch but confounding to write about. (My hard drive is littered with drafts of this short review.) Structured as a live concert, with bits of storytelling woven in (the songs are by Abigail Nessen-Bengson […]