Theatre with a side of life
Porchlight Music Theatre launches its 27th Mainstage season with Pump Boys & Dinettes. Just off Highway 57, the vibe is upbeat and casual! The premise of the show is a bus broke down. The stranded bus riders aka ‘the audience’ are greeted by the friendly staff at a random gas station and diner. The fourth wall completely ...
November 1, 2021 It’s a two month check-in! September was a whirlwind month of unexpected tragedies. Three of my close friends lost loved ones… a mother, a husband and a father-in-law. Although the three funerals brought unexpected touching reunions of Michigan, high school and Fort Wayne friends for me, the passage of life for my grieving ...
Broadway in Chicago presents WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME. This show is politics as unusual! USA’s favorite 230+ year old document gets dusted off and dissected down. As a 15 year old, Playwright Heidi Schreck participated in constitutional debates. Schreck used these teenage competitions to win scholarship money for college. Her play starts by setting ...
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents a Beatles inspired AS YOU LIKE IT. Adapter and Director Daryl Cloran takes a1620’s comedy and infuses it with 1960’s music. The brilliant pairing, centuries in the making, is a poetic explosion of joy and words. Cloran, along with the Bard of the Beach Shakespeare Festival, conceived this unusual compilation. At first, ...
Chef Rick Bayless and Windy City Playhouse present the World Premiere of A RECIPE FOR DISASTER. Chef Bayless brings his extensive knowledge of restaurant catastrophes to the stage. Bayless conceived the story and wrote it with the support of WCP Amy Rubenstein and Carl Menninger. They have created another Windy City Playhouse immersion experience. This one ...
Goodman Theatre, in conjunction with Dallas Theater Center, presents AMERICAN MARIACHI. The mere mention of the word ‘Mariachi’ cues up a familiar, upbeat tune in my head. It conjures up images of strolling musicians bringing colorful tradition to otherwise indistinguishable Mexican restaurants. The performers, however momentarily at a table, become the focal point of the evening’s ...
Mid-August, Chicago was hit with an indoors mask mandate. Illinois followed suit a week later. The positivity rate was too high. Was it Lollapollooza or other festivals? Who knows? I’m not mad at the Mayor or the Governor for inflicting a mask mandate. Masks have proven to stop the spread. I’ll wear one for the ...
Goodman Theatre presents SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY. Playwright Joselyn Bioh’s story is a tribute to the best and worst parts of being a girl in high school. The ladies bond and giggle over boys, clothes and makeover parties. They also confront the clique pressures of trying to fit in, being cool and ...
Well, masks are back! The un-muzzling lasted about a month and a half. My office and my yoga studio re-initiated mandates. And at the CDC recommendation, I’m voluntarily wearing one indoors. It makes me cranky! I’ve been living a limited life for 16 months. I’ve sheltered-in-place, worked from home, and gone without seeing friends and ...
July 3, 2021 Happy Independence Day! Our freedom celebration is particularly relevant this year, especially to us vaccinated folk! After a year and half of self isolation, I’m back out in the world. Chicago opened up officially in early June. Restaurants are welcoming people back at full capacity. Masks are optional for the vaccinated. My condo restrictions ...