When everyone on the stage is excellent, it shows a director fully in command of the material. That’s the case with Cody Estle’s production of The Luckiest by Melissa Ross, receiving its Chicago premiere at the Raven Theatre. Plays about a young woman’s disability and impending death always risk straying into Love Story-style bathos, while […]
Tag: Raven Theatre
Posted inTheater Review
The chill of other suns
Before it was retrofitted into an upscale wedding and corporate events hall, the landmark Motor Row building at 2400 South Michigan was home to the Chicago Defender, the iconic Black newspaper of record that in no small part empowered and facilitated the Great Migration of Black southerners to northern cities during the early 20th century. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A tsunami of news and a new path for Actors’ Equity membership
Changes in faces, places, and union rules might carry harbingers of a shifting landscape in Chicago theater.
Posted inArts & Culture
ComedySportz moves out of its Belmont Avenue venue
But the comedy games continue online; plus Raven announces a new-play development commission.
Posted inArts & Culture
Ghost Light: a roundup of offstage performing arts news and notes
Victory Gardens and Raven name new leadership; J. Nicole Brooks wins a prestigious playwriting grant.
Posted inArts & Culture
A new adaptation brings contemporary verve to A Doll’s House
Two standout performances anchor Raven’s production of the Ibsen classic.
Posted inArts & Culture
Cold Town/Hotline can’t overcome its preposterous premise
Eli Newell’s self-directed holiday play at Raven asks us to suspend too much disbelief.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
In search of a happier ending
Raven Theatre has wiped its founders from its history.
Posted inArts & Culture
Magic and music combine in the Memphis-set Hoodoo Love
Katori Hall’s play takes its time but weaves a spell.
Posted inArts & Culture
Sundown, Yellow Moon does best in quiet shadows
Raven’s production has heart, but doesn’t fully connect the pieces.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Roosevelt’s revolving door
In: a new Auditorium Theatre CEO; out: 16 board members, an associate dean, and the Joffrey Ballet
Posted inArts & Culture
The Undeniable Sound of Right Now enables an aging rockist with dying dreams
The nostalgic tones don’t resonate quite as fully with the modern music scene as they could.
Posted inArts & Culture
Yen shows two neglected teenagers struggling to grow up
It starts as grotesque comedy but ends in tragedy.
Posted inArts & Culture
Jackalope and Raven Theatres take audiences on a trip back to 1992
Dutch Masters and The Undeniable Sound of Right Now ask how much has really changed in politics and music.
Posted inArts & Culture
Raven’s How I Learned to Drive lacks horsepower
Paula Vogel’s play is a stunner, but this production hits a few wrong notes.