On Thursday, the Auditorium Theatre and American Ballet Theatre unveiled a four-year partnership, beginning with the previously announced "Whipped Cream" performance to be staged in April 20…
On Thursday, it was announced that Stephanie Miller will return to the Athenaeum Theatre with the all-new "Sexy Liberal Blue Wave Tour." A follow-up to Miller's 2017 "Sexy Liberal Resistance…
Friday "Hurricane Damage": Long-term partners Oscar and Dennis' Florida home weathered Hurricane Gilda, but when an old friend shows up, their commitment has to withstand its own kind of sto…
The Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, known as "Destinos," will return for seven weeks this fall, featuring homegrown work running alongside stories from around the world. Produ…
"Are you filming me?" comedian-podcaster (or podcaster-comedian, depending on who you ask) Marc Maron asked an audience member with a mix of annoyance and genuine curiosity early in his hour…
As tens of thousands of jubilant Chicagoans partook of the bacchanal known as Lolapalooza, a few tens of we diehard melancholics shuffled into the Den Theatre in Wicker Park on Thursday for …
On Wednesday, New American Folk Theatre announced casting for its world premiere of "Scraps," which tells the story of the Patchwork Girl of Oz after her adventures in the "Oz" books. Writte…
In its greatest moments, the Chicago theater has invented entirely new forms of creative expression. In 1955, for example, David Shepherd created a comedy-cabaret group called the Compass Pl…
On Tuesday, TimeLine Theatre Company announced casting for its revival of Terrence McNally's Tony-winning show, "Master Class." The show follows opera icon Maria Callas as she teaches a seri…
You might recall Christine Ebersole was once on "Saturday Night Live" (same cast as Eddie Murphy and Tim Kazurinsky). You might now know that she got the gig after smoking the right joint in…
About an hour into director Scott Weinstein's production of "Murder For Two" at the Marriott Theatre on Sunday afternoon, an actor's microphone went out. If you've read the title, it won't c…
Back in 1997, I watched a guy named Rick Stone appear in a Black Ensemble Theater tribute to Otis Redding. A few weeks later, I went back to see another show there. Stone was taking my ticke…
In 2004, Dove launched its "Campaign for Real Beauty," one of the most successful marketing plans in history and, inarguably, a prescient bit of Madison Avenue understanding as to how the ad…
On Friday, the Goodman Theatre announced that artistic director Robert Falls will direct the world premiere of David Cale's musical memoir, "We're Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time," its…
On Friday, AstonRep Theatre Company announced its 2018-19 Season, under new co-artistic directors Derek Bertelsen and Sara Pavlak McGuire. Starting things off in the fall will be "The Loneso…
Sir Philip Sidney, a modest and courtly chap of Shakespearean vintage, self-described his 1580 heroic prose poem "Arcadia" as "a trifle, triflingly handled." Back in the misogynistic wastela…
At the age of 80, the Michigan-born Martha Henry has played many of the roles in the Shakespeare canon during her 44 years at the flagship theater of her adopted Canada. As 10 artistic direc…
On Thursday, the Gift Theatre announced casting for the Midwest premiere of Tony Award-winning playwright and ensemble member David Rabe's "Cosmologies," directed by artistic director Michae…
On Thursday, Collaboraction announced the lineup for its third annual "Peacebook," a citywide festival that uses an array of media to advocate for peace in Chicago. 24 "chapters" from over 2…
"20,000 Leagues Under the Seas" âœâœâœ 1/2 Say "Nemo" and most kids now think of the Disney clown fish. But in 1870, the great Jules Verne imagined Captain Nemo as a misanthropic…
The costs of warfare on the home front come into sharp " and at times almost unbearable " focus in "The Hero's Wife," Aline Lathrop's taut two-character piece at Berwyn's 16th Street Theater…
Stage 773 has announced the roster for the 7th Annual Women's Funny Festival, running Aug. 23 through 26. The event, which calls itself the "largest of its kind in the nation," will include …
On Tuesday, Promethean Theatre Ensemble announced the lineup of its 2018-19 season, a trio of shows that use the past to illuminate the present. Kicking things off in the fall will be Tom St…
In April, the Paramount Theatre in Aurora will stage its first pre-Broadway tryout: "August Rush," a new musical by Mark Mancina and Glen Berger, based on the Keri Russell movie about an 11-…
On Monday, Skokie's North Shore Center for the Performing Arts announced its touring production and new musical, "American Girl Live," which will run December 21-30. The all-new musical is s…