Hell in a Handbag Archives

Five actors stand in a row, with a woman dressed in an 80s-style flowered dress center and slightly ahead of the others. On the right are actors dressed like Joan Crawford and Christina is evening gowns. On the left are actors dressed in a tan pantsuit and a man in a gray suit.

Murder, ReWrote is dirty-minded fun

by Kerry Reid August 18, 2023September 5, 2023

Last summer, Hell in a Handbag presented A Fine Feathered Murder: A Miss Marbled Mystery, a spoof of Agatha Christie’s famous spinster detective, Miss Marple. Now, they’re putting Angela Lansbury’s Jessica Fletcher through the comedic spin cycle in Murder, ReWrote, a world-premiere comedy with songs featuring book and lyrics by Ed Rutherford of Black Button […]

Close-up of actor parodying Jessica Fletcher, with a magnifying glass held very close to one eye. An elegant high-rise apartment living room is in the background.

Arts & Culture

Murder, she sang

by Jack Helbig August 1, 2023August 1, 2023

The last episode of Murder, She Wrote aired on May 19, 1996. Yet, 27 years later, the Internet bristles with fan sites. There’s Murder, She Watched, and two rival sites that both use the name Murder, She Blogged (though one of those is actually a site about true crime, not the television series). And on […]

A Black man wearing a silvery cross-strapped top over his chest and sequined loincloth, with sparkly sneakers, stands next to a futuristic figure in a black coat with pointy silver shoulders, a silver codpiece, and leather boots with many buckles. The man on the right carries a silver striped pole.

Theater Review

Out in orbit

by Dan Jakes March 30, 2023April 21, 2023

Originally developed by the Philadelphia-based Pig Iron Theatre Company in 2015, this queer adventure drag alt-comedy feels both like a natural fit for Hell in a Handbag Productions and a reach light-years away from its usual projects—sisters from across the multiverse, you could say. Depressed and apathetic about modern dating, a young gay man (Robert […]

Eight actors stand in a line, holding onto each other from behind and facing to the left. They are in various costumes, including festive holiday outfits, a nun's habit, a nurse's uniform, and at the end, a man dressed in a sparkly fish costume.

Theater Review

The Golden Girls camp up Christmas

by Josh Flanders December 7, 2022December 7, 2022

Now in its 21st year, Hell in a Handbag Productions has a ridiculously hilarious new show playing at the Center on Halsted in their The Golden Girls: The Lost Episodes series subtitled The Obligatory Holiday Special. With the holidays looming, December is a time to see happy, funny shows, and Golden Girls does not disappoint. […]

Four people stand in a line onstage. Behind them is a tinsel curtain and a table with a doll, a boombox, and other items. On the left is "Frau," (played by a male actor), wearing a red wig and a black jumpsuit. Next are two people dressed as Barry Gibb and Barbra Streisand, holding microphones and singing. They are in costumes and wigs from the late 70s. At the far right is a person in a green wig, wearing a buckled leather jacket and long denim shorts.

Theater Review

On a clear day you can clone forever

by Matt Simonette October 6, 2022October 6, 2022

Dr. Barbra Joan Frankenstreisand (Tyler Anthony Smith)—that ultimate hyphenate: superstar-mad scientist—has commandeered the stage at the Raven Room at Redline VR bar for what she calls a “clone-cert” to duplicate her beloved and very dead pooch. Few theater companies understand characters toeing the line between stardom and monstrousness like Hell in a Handbag Productions. Frankenstreisand, […]

A line of Black dancers of all genders. The male-presenting dancers are shirtless and wear dark trousers. The female-presenting dancers are in cream-colored slip dances.

Arts & Culture

Some best bets for the fall harvest of performance

by Kerry Reid, Irene Hsiao and Deanna Isaacs September 16, 2022September 16, 2022

It’s impossible to summarize everything that’s happening onstage this season. (It’s also hard to tell you exactly what COVID-19 precautions are required at venues now; we suggest checking ahead and being prepared to show proof of vax, and wearing a mask as a courtesy to other patrons.) But here are ten offerings that promise to […]

A drawing-room setting. Six people in evening clothes and feathers are seated in a semi-circle in the rear. A man in a combination of plaids is doing a chicken impression before them.

Theater Review

Flying feathers

by Dan Jakes June 30, 2022July 25, 2022

There are a lot of substantive and weighty criticisms to be levied at the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise and its global juggernaut influence over drag culture. Then there are petty ones, like mine: the series sucks at showcasing scripted camp. Nothing hushes even the most raucous, shoulder-to-shoulder packed bar viewing parties quite like the competition’s […]

Portrait of white woman with long gray hair, wearing a black striped sweater and strand of beads.

Ghost Light

Deb Clapp takes final bows at the League of Chicago Theatres

by Kerry Reid February 22, 2022February 22, 2022

When I was first doing theater in Chicago back in the Pleistocene era (that is, the late 1980s), the League of Chicago Theatres (formed in 1979 as the Off Loop Producers Association) seemed most notable for running the Hot Tix discount ticket booth and offering co-op advertising rates to member theaters in publications like the […]

Man in drag as Joan Crawford stands center, with actors kneeling or standing in the background

Theater Review

Joan-sing for the holidays

by Albert Williams December 8, 2021December 8, 2021

Hell in a Handbag Productions’ campy spoof of A Christmas Carol replaces miserly moneylender Ebenezer Scrooge with hard-hearted Hollywood icon Joan Crawford, played by author (and Hell in a Handbag artistic director) David Cerda. In Cerda’s reworking of Charles Dickens’s behavior-modification fable, Joan—a tyrannical, tough-as-nails diva who abuses everyone around her, including her loyal personal […]

Five actors in drag as the Golden Girls. One holds a flogger.

Theater Review

These girls are still golden

by Albert Williams September 21, 2021October 15, 2021

Hell in a Handbag’s Golden Girls parody sexes it up at the Leather Archives & Museum.

Theater Preview

Not a drag: The Golden Girls find a new home

by KT Hawbaker September 16, 2021September 18, 2021

When we talk about The Golden Girls, we need to talk about sex. According to Buzzfeed, the four women had over 260 lovers over the course of seven seasons, with Blanche Devereaux clocking in at 165. (Get it, girl.) In a truly stupid culture that often treats women over 40 as untouchables, the sitcom’s depictions […]