704 stories by "Zach Freeman"
RECOMMENDED "Moby Dick" is the leviathan of American literature, diving deeper than any other work into the mysteries of human nature and destiny. Shakespearean in scope, biblical in flavor,…
RECOMMENDED At first, given the emphasis on magic and the dirgey, chant-oriented music, one could be forgiven for thinking "Storm," a collaboration between international collective Moon Fool…
By Elle Metz Last year saw a surge of a certain type of film, the mid-life crisis, coming-home movie (see: "The Judge," "This is Where I Leave You," or “Are You Here” for example…
RECOMMENDED While many adolescents take their parents' values as a challenge, rarely do they grasp what's at stake for them. A child's success can completely reverse years of fatalistic cyni…
RECOMMENDED "The America Play" presented by Oracle Theatre is not for the faint of heart. Actually, scratch heart and insert the word mind. Playwright Suzan Lori Parks demands of her audienc…
Before we get into the meat of this review, I should make it clear that I love fantasy novels. I read George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series back in 2005 and I've read it two mor…
RECOMMENDED While watching Second City alum Ithimar Enriquez, I couldn't help but think of "Geri's Game," the Pixar short film wherein an elderly man plays an increasingly erratic and high s…
I have to hand it to Underscore Theatre Company; their world-premiere production of "Borderlands: Three Chords and the Truth" is about as ambitious as it is long. And at more than two…
By Loy Webb, When I was younger my two sisters and I shared a room. One of our many Saturday rituals was flipping through magazines to find pictures to decorate our walls. Most of the pictur…
RECOMMENDED Who knew the composer Gian Carlo Menotti was a serious, prophetic social critic? Not I. I remember watching his charming fantasy, "Amahl and the Night Visitors," on black-and-whi…
The trouble with theories is that they never quite measure up to reality. The trouble with people is that they never quite live up to the expectations set by themselves and others. This fund…
RECOMMENDED Early on in "Miracle!" queen of queens Crystal Pain (David Cerda) makes a point of welcoming all the straight people in the audience. "Once you get a couple of drinks in you then…
RECOMMENDED Back in 2007, the film "Once" struck a chord with anyone who'd ever witnessed a mysterious, brooding stranger leave it all on stage at a small town open mic night. Likely it reso…
RECOMMENDED It has been at least seven-hundred years since the Pied Piper first began playing his (or maybe her) flute. In all that time, I doubt there have been many more imaginative retell…
RECOMMENDED For better or worse there has been no shortage of plays about the plights of living in Chicago lately. Yet Collaboraction's revisitation of their original work about violence in …
RECOMMENDED In Regina Taylor's thrilling new play "stop. reset." aging businessman Alexander Ames (Eugene Lee) tells the story of his most precious possession"his family bible. This old tatt…
RECOMMENDED Don't get too comfortable in the plush space of the new Windy City Playhouse. With the smooth jazz filling the air and comfy leather chairs that hug your body like a lover after …
Science fiction, fantasy, and comic books are lousy with circuses. From the Flying Graysons to the Circus of Crime to whatever creepy clown Stephen King last wrote about, nerds seem to love …
By Dennis Polkow Gloria Estefan has made an international career out of singing and dancing, the very essence of what happens in a Broadway musical. As such, it might seem she would be a nat…
Polish critic Jan Kott likened Hamlet to the surly, punky James Dean, flaunting his alienation like a fashion accessory. Director Dennis McLernon pushes the action a decade later, setting it…
"The Wild Duck" is an incomparable masterpiece. 120 years ago, George Bernard Shaw wrote, "Where shall I find an epithet magnificent enough for 'The Wild Duck!'" At the Halcyon Theatre Frida…
Currently playing at Angel Island, Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company's production of Colleen Murphy's "The December Man (L'homme de Decembre)" tells the story of a family dealing with the afterma…
RECOMMENDED Those who say punk rock is dead have been spending too much time at the Wicker Park Urban Outfitters and not enough time right down the street at the Flatiron Arts Building, wher…
By Mary Kroeck Emjoy Gavino, Michael Patrick Thornton and Chay Yew are familiar names in the Chicago theater circuit. Gavino is a teaching artist with Barrel of Monkeys, ensemble member of R…
Radium has a half-life of about 1,600 years, losing half its radioactive potency over that period. If evil and infamy have a half-life, then the tale of the "radium girls" will still be red …
