A Fusion of Culture, History and Athletics

The Great Leap – Steppenwolf Theatre

Saul is a San Francisco basketball coach. A divorced father of a young daughter, his “family” is his team. He loves them, protects them, nurtures them and wants only the best for them. But, more than anything else in life, Saul wants to beat the Chinese basketball team in Beijing. Back in 1971, Saul was sent to China to help polite, good-natured gentleman, Wen Chang, a Communist official, understand the finer points of basketball and assemble his own winning Chinese team. Flash ahead to 1989 and Saul is about to bring his own talented team of American players to Beijing to challenge Wen Chang’s highly competitive team.

Talking with the King

The King’s Speech – Chicago Shakespeare Theatre

The story of how Albert Frederick Arthur George, the second son of King George V, unexpectedly inherited the throne and became King George VI is common knowledge to any Brit or English history buff. But a secret has been revealed that Albert, who was nicknamed Bertie, stuttered so badly that he was constantly teased, both by his father and his older brother, Edward. Bertie was made Duke of York and, as such, didn’t have to speak very much in public, plagued by his crippling speech defect.

Finding Your Home

Peter and the Starcatcher – Citadel Theatre

Seventeen actors pour down the aisles and flood a stage filled with rough wooden scaffolding, draped by sheeting, and backed by Eric Luchen’s array of chotchke-choked shelving. Amidst the chaos and cacophony, each actor takes his or her turn narrating what will ultimately become a unique, story theatre prequel to Sir James M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy. Employing rapid-fire dialogue, an abbreviated prologue sets the tone for the next two-and-a-half hours. The actors shift between telling the tale and portraying a myriad of  characters in this creative, sometimes funny production by Rick Elice, adapted from the children’s novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. 

Teenage Dream

Mother of the Maid – Northlgiht Theatre

As with the musical “Titanic,” the audience attending Jane Anderson’s latest play knows pretty much how this story about Joan of Arc is going to end. It’s the journey to the tragic climax that makes all the difference. The author of “The Baby Dance” and “Defying Gravity”, applies a unique approach with this  mythic legend. She tells the story from the perspective of Isabelle d’Arc, Joan’s peasant mother. Isabelle pops in and out of the drama, sometimes acting as an omniscient observing narrator, but most often as a concerned mother and farmer’s wife. The dialogue is often anachronistic, sometimes employing present-day mannerisms, contemporary phrases and unexpected four-letter words. The result is the backstory of Saint Joan, told with a modern flair.   

What About Love?

The Color Purple – Drury Lane Theatre

Love’s transformative and healing power can redirect a person’s life. A feeling of positive self-worth can bring an individual full circle, from subservience and hopelessness to independence and confidence. The Color Purple, Alice Walker’s beloved, 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, follows the journey of Celie, a downtrodden young African-American girl, living in rural Georgia during the early to mid-twentieth century. Her story is incredibly inspiring because Celie rose from a depraved childhood to an abusive married life, finally becoming a strong, independent woman, able to stand on her own two feet.

Against-the-Odds Peacemaking

Oslo – Broadway in Chicago

Prior to the world witnessing Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Leader Yasser Arafat coming together in peace on one historic day in 1993, a lot of confidential meetings and secret arrangements had taken place in Oslo, Norway. In playwright J.T. Rogers’ riveting drama, the audience becomes totally immersed in this somewhat fictionalized, yet fact-based backstory, of the events that led up to the Oslo Peace Accords. The end result of this against-the-odds international peacemaking effort became the negotiation of a momentous  peace treaty between Israel and Palestine.

Murder Most Foul

Whose Body? – Lifeline Theatre

Lord Peter Wimsey, featured in eleven detective novels and two sets of short stories, made his literary debut in Dorothy L. Sayers’ best-selling mystery, Whose Body? The British author introduced her amateur sleuth to the world in 1923, shortly after the end of WWI. Lord Peter is an unmarried aristocrat who, upon returning from his military service in the Great War, decides to occupy his abundant leisure time helping to solve crimes. Peter views his new pastime as a game. He fancies himself to be a more modern version of Sherlock Holmes. Together with his friend, Inspector Charles Parker, standing in as his Dr. Watson, the two gentlemen set about to clear the name of a sweet-tempered Englishman accused of murder most foul.

“Dana H.” at The Goodman Theatre

Dana H. is a revolutionary new play directed by Les Waters and written by Lucas Hnath. It is the true story of Hnath’s mother, Dana Higginbotham, who was abducted by an ex-convict who she had met and helped counsel in a psych ward. In this one woman play, Deirdre O’Connell lip-syncs to an interview which was conducted by Steve Cosson at the urging of Lucas Hnath. Hnath then took those recordings to weave a script that tells Dana’s story as she would have told it herself, with endearing jokes and chilling recollections. O’Connell sits on stage and lip-syncs to not only the words, but also recreates movements captured by the audio recording. Those with trepidations to that premise can rest assured that this is not merely a gimmick, but an addition of ingenious artistry to repackage the original voice and source material. 

Harsh Lessons

Blue Stockings – Promethean Theatre Ensemble

It is 1896 and four students assemble for they hope will be the first class of female students to be granted degrees at Cambridge. They have to convince the school to first even hold a vote on the issue, let alone win that vote. To do so, they will have to be perfect, and not just academically, and it still may not be enough. This is the setting for Jessica Swale’s play Blue Stockings, getting its Chicago premiere with Promethean Theatre Ensemble.

The Challenges That Life Offers

Tiny Beautiful Things – Victory Gardens Theater

Cheryl Strayed is an empathetic and extremely talented writer. She’s authored such bestsellers as Wild, Torch and Brave Enough. But Ms. Strayed’s Tiny Beautiful Things, culled from a collection of letters from her readers, and her thoughtful responses to them, was compiled from two years of writing an advice column at an online literary magazine called The Rumpus. The popular book not only became a New York Times Bestseller but was the selection that launched Oprah’s Book Club 2.0. Now, actress, director and writer Nia Vardalos (who wrote and starred in the film, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) has lovingly adapted Ms. Strayed’s book into a deeply poignant, often humorous one-act, which was co-conceived by Marshall Heyman and Thomas Kail. The play auspiciously kicks off Victory Gardens Theater’s 45th season, in a moving production that begs to be seen.