Most human life consists of an ongoing, benumbing experience of mundane, routine existence. What “drama” appears isn’t all that pretty. We seek out events and connections that transport us beyond that limited experience, that can add hope, context and meaning. We long for joyful release in living our often-frustrating lives. Truly creative theatre can transport … Continue reading
Thomas Ward·Saturday, November 11, 2017 Last night I saw Prism Movement Theater’s LEAR. It is a wordless adaptation of KING LEAR focusing on Lear, her Daughters, and the Fool. It was a fantastic piece and I’m so glad I was able to see it. This isn’t a review of the production, I’m just trying to … Continue reading
““I’m a person who doesn’t like summer or sunshine,” said Ellen Fairey, playwright and self-proclaimed melancholic.” opens a February 2010 nytimes.com article about then emerging playwright Ellen Fairey. For a woman with a decidedly pessimistic view of life, good fortune has certainly flooded her creative path. Chicago’s established Profiles Theatre booked her play Graceland before … Continue reading
Conventional, traditional productions of William Shakespeare’s King Lear, included in the 1623 First Folio, feature a substantial cast that includes fourteen speaking characters of some primary impact, plus an assortment of officers, soldiers, attendants and messengers. In Prism Movement Theater and Theatre Three’s co-production, called Lear, running through November 19th in the intimate Theatre Too … Continue reading
The concept of “re-imagining” performance art seems to be en vogue lately, discussed and debated as if it’s something new, innovative. There’s nothing much new about it. William Shakespeare “re-imagined” virtually every play published under his name, and it has worked out quite well for him and about 500 years’ worth of theatre audiences. Very … Continue reading
Bat Boy: The Musical is no Spring Awakening, if that’s what it aspires to. Are you easily offended? If so, give this show a pass. It’s an equal opportunity, multi-level offender. But if you find a parody concerning a disabled, blood-sucking, kind of effeminate, part human lad, widely misunderstood by stereotypically violent, rural hicks a … Continue reading
No goofy teen Hayley Mills bebops about in Bathsheba Doran’s hour long Parents Evening, presented by Proper Hijinx at the Addison Conference Center Studio Theatre through Sunday, October 1. An embattled, bickering, relentlessly flagellating homage to the ritual prep some couples with progeny must go through prior to engaging in parent-teacher conferences at the dreaded … Continue reading
Go, team — 6 of 9 lauded directors are women…. OUTSTANDING DIRECTION Robin Armstrong, Ripcord, Circle Theatre Emily Scott Banks, Stupid Fucking Bird, Stage West; The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord, WaterTower Theatre Cheryl Denson, Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches, Uptown Players Marianne Galloway, Stiff, Risk Theater Initiative (Festival of Independent … Continue reading
Underwhelmed. Puzzled about it. When I attend a play heralded as a product of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, I expect to experience a performance of depth, resonance and drama. I attended Water Tower Theatre’s opening night regional premiere performance of Ike Holter’s Hit the Wall (running through August 20), anticipating a wow. I waited and waited. … Continue reading
Lenny Bruce is back and looks damn good for a guy who died of a morphine overdose in 1966. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. When he stepped out on the Dallas Comedy House stage Friday August 4, he looked like a million greenbacks, sparkling with macho swagger and lady-killer grin. From the slick, … Continue reading
