Stage Top 5: October 2021 by Brian Hieggelke

More of the big theaters get back into the business of live shows in October

Can't-Miss Stage Events (Fall Arts Preview 2021) by Brian Hieggelke

Fall highlights.

Collision Course: Steppenwolf Emerges from the Pandemic with New Leadership and a New Theater (Fall Arts Preview 2021) by Brian Hieggelke

Last May, three days before the murder of George Floyd, the company announced that executive director David Schmitz was leaving. And then this May, artistic director Anna Shapiro, who took o…

On the Brink: City Lit's "Thirteen Days" Gender-Swaps the Cuban Missile Crisis by Brian Hieggelke

As the closest the world's ever come to nuclear war, The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the most consequential geopolitical events of the twentieth century and Brian Pastor chose to adapt a…

Stage Top 5: September 2021 by Brian Hieggelke

Live theater and opera make a comeback in a dramatic way.

No Idea: A Preview of TJ and Dave at the Annoyance by Brian Hieggelke

The Beauty Myth: A Review of "School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play" at Goodman Theatre by Brian Hieggelke

Set in 1986 in the Aburi Girls Boarding School in Ghana, five teenagers gossip and primp as they prepare for beauty pageant auditions the following day. The social hierarchy of "mean girls''…

Cruel to Be Kind? Veteran theater executive Brian Loevner issues a bold manifesto for these times by Brian Hieggelke

Loevner foresees the demise of many performing arts organizations as the effect of the pandemic plays out.

Sportsmanlike Conduct: A Review of His Shadow at 16th Street Theater by Brian Hieggelke

A theatrical take on the controversy surrounding NFL players' protests against police violence during the national anthem over the last couple of seasons.

In Truthiness: A Review of Dana H. at Goodman Theatre by Brian Hieggelke

A world premiere of Lucas Hnath's most truthful play, one about his mother's kidnapping. Or is it?

Stranded in a Strange Land: A Review of Come From Away at Broadway In Chicago by Brian Hieggelke

This Tony Award winner mines its parochial material for outstanding humor, showing these small-town residents as far more open-minded than their mostly big-city counterparts.

Summer 2017: Shakespeare As Summer Sport by Brian Hieggelke