Theatre with a side of life
Lifeline Theatre presents MISS HOLMES RETURNS. A pandemic, the Trump administration, and six years have passed since Playwright Christopher Walsh (no relation) premiered “Miss Holmes”. Walsh has a clever twist on the legendary characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He has made them female! Walsh imagines Sherlock and Watson as women detectives navigating their profession under the ...
Lifeline Theatre presents MIDDLE PASSAGE. In 1830s New Orleans, a young black man is running from debt and an arranged marriage. He escapes by boat only to find out he is now a stow away on a slave ship. Ilesa Duncan and David Barr III adapted Dr. Charles Johnson’s riveting tale of a man challenged with ...
Lifeline Theatre’s KidSeries presents BUNNY’S BOOK CLUB, based on the children’s book by Annie Silvestro; illustrated by Tatjana Mai-Wyss. Adapter Aly Renee Amidei skillfully translates Silvestro’s learn-to-love-reading story. A bunny (played by u/s LaRose Washington at my performance) is encouraged by her woodland creature friends to find a hobby. They (Tyra Bullock -Mole, Jose M. Cervantes - Porcupine, & Matt Patrick -Bear) nudge ...
Lifeline Theatre presents WHOSE BODY? When a dead body is found in a bathtub, the duchess (played by Katie McLean Hainsworth) relays the scandal to her son and amateur sleuth Lord Peter (played by William Anthony Sebastian Rose II). A mysterious murder entices Peter to skip the book sale and head to the crime scene. Author ...
Lifeline Theatre presents an adaptation of Jane Austen’s EMMA. The creative team of Phil Timberlake (adapter) and Elise Kauzlaric (director) put an imaginative spin on Jane Austen’s tale of a plucky 19th century matchmaker. Emma is played by Emma Sipora Tyler. And the rest of the characters are played by Peter Gertas, Jeri Marshall, Madeline Pell, ...
Lifeline Theatre presents THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY. Gabriel Syme (played by an outstanding Eduardo Xavier Curley-Carrillo) infiltrates an anarchist movement by going undercover. He becomes ‘Thursday’ in the group of sophisticated villains named after days of the week. As these anarchists unleash their reign of terror, the absurdity goes off the chain. Beards come off. ...
In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, four Chicago theaters will be debuting their version of the infamous tale; Lifeline, Remy Bumppo, Lookingglass and Court. Lifeline Theatre presents the world premiere of Robert Kauzlaric’s adaptation of FRANKENSTEIN. Kauzlaric spins his tale of resurrection around Victoria -not Victor- Frankenstein (played by Anne Sonneville). Kauzlaric makes ...
Lifeline Theatre presents Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. Robert Kauzlaric’s adaptation of Neverwhere premiered at Lifeline in 2010. I saw it and loved it....hard! The 2018 revisit to Neverwhere was a trip I highly anticipated taking since I heard mention of the reboot last year. Although Kauzlaric's impressing storytelling still has heaps of intrigue, humor and heart, Director Ilesa Duncan goes more theatrical ...
Lifeline Theatre presents the world premiere of ANNA KARENINA. Leo Tolstoy's classic could be dubbed "War and Love." Tolstoy's lengthy Russian novel focuses on the tortures of all-consuming love. Anna (played by an outstanding Ilse Zacharias) desperately loves her son (played by skillful puppeteer Michele Stine) and her lover (played by the sensual Eric Gerard). Her ...
Lifeline Theatre presents the world premiere of HER MAJESTY'S WILL. The imaginative concept of this play intrigued me. Author David Blixt wrote a novel about the origin story of two Elizabethan playwrights: William Shakespeare (played by Javier Ferreira) and Christopher Marlowe (played by Bryan Bosque). Shakespeare is teaching school under the name Falstaff. He's hiding from ...