Haven Theatre presents DON’T GO GENTLE. “Charity begins at home” is a phrase Sister Gerald Francis pounded into her students’ heads. When I was a kid, I didn’t get it. It sounded fairly selfish for a nun’s mantra. How could I make a difference in the world at home? As I made my way out into ...
Review “Stickfly” (Windy City Playhouse): Genuine Family Drama
Windy City Playhouse presents STICKFLY. As the insect enthusiast, Celeste M. Cooper (Taylor) explains that flies are glued to sticks so scientists can closely observe their winged struggles to get free. Well in this show, the audience is the scientists. The cast is the flies. Director Chuck Smith provides the stick. And Playwright Lydia R. Diamond ...
Review “La Raison D’Etre” (Tapman Productions): Opposites Attract
Tapman Productions presents LA RAISON D’ETRE, A Tapman Repertory Performance. Tap is back! This was my third tap dancing show in 2015. Each show has had a different story angle; a tap dancing super hero and then a traveling circus. This time, the show is set in a nightclub. The owner’s wife steps out on him, ...
“Another Kind of Love – A Punk Rock Play” (Infusion Theatre): Rocking Mayhem!
InFUSION Theatre Company presents ANOTHER KIND OF LOVE - A PUNK ROCK PLAY. Playwright Crystal Skillman cleverly spins a musical family into rocking mayhem. The premise is the 25th anniversary of a rock legend’s fatal overdose. Since the demise of the late, great Melanie Singer, her three daughters have struggled in the shadow of her fame. Their ...
Review “Chalk” (Sideshow Theatre): Sci-Fi meets Lifetime Channel Original
Sideshow Theatre Company, in conjunction with Boston’s Fresh Ink Theatre, presents a two-city rolling world premiere of CHALK. The world is coming to an end. In an abandoned building, two women and an alien are separated by a circle of chalk. Playwright Walt McGough pens a homespun thriller. In the broader realm, a world invasion is ...
Our New Girl (Profiles Theatre): Everyone Hates a One Upper
Reviewed by Tom Lawler Profiles Theatre presents the Midwest premiere of OUR NEW GIRL. Playwright Nancy Harris may hail from the UK, but the scenario in her Our New Girl is all too recognizable for a certain echelon of the striving upper class on our own shores. Hazel (a magnificent Sarah Chalcroft) and Richard (Layne ...
Review “Trust Us / Screw You” (Neo-Futurists): Getting conned never felt so good!
Reviewed by Jennifer Benoit-Bryan Trust Us / Screw You is a rollicking two-man show (with supporting band) that explores confidence men and the art of the con: often with humor, but sometimes with honest vulnerability. The ensemble delves into the history of the con, focusing on a few key characters from Chicago, but also involves the ...
Review “Miracle!” (Hell in a Handbag): Savagely Hilarious!
Hell in a Handbag Productions presents the Midwest Premiere of MIRACLE! Playwright Dan Savage has penned a drag parody of “The Miracle Worker.” If Savage’s premise sounds irreverent, tacky and completely politically incorrect, it’s because it is. And if you never thought you should-could-would laugh at a blind and deaf person, you’re about to prove yourself ...
Review “LUNACY!” (Jackalope Theatre): Pure Lunacy!!
Jackalope Theatre Company presents the World Premiere of LUNACY! (A Cryptohistorical Comedy). lunacy |ˈlo͞onəsē| noun (pl. lunacies) the state of being a lunatic; insanity • extreme folly or eccentricity The title says it all. Jackalope’s world premiere is pure lunacy! Playwright Andrew Burden Swanson imagines the moon landing conspiracy as a 1969 reality. Since President ...
Review “Belfast Girls” (Artemisia Theatre): Scrappy and Optimistic Survivors
Artemisia Theatre presents the American Premiere of BELFAST GIRLS. Playwright Jaki McCarrick pens a tale of five young women fleeing the Irish Famine on a ship bound for Australia. Promises of rich husbands and endless food beckon these gals to leave their beloved homeland for an unknown country. McCarrick’s play dramatizes the real life women ...