Author: Colin Douglas
Monkeying Around in the Salon
Ruse of Medusa – Facility Theatre
Facility Theatre is a Chicago collective, that relishes searching for and locating rarely seen works and original plays and producing them with a fresh eye and an alternative perspective. With their current production, Dado, Facility’s resident director, has taken a forgotten short play by Erik Satie and put her own stamp on it. To say that Windy City audiences have never seen anything like this is an understatement.
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Don’t Feed the Plants!
Little Shop of Horrors – Mercury Theater
Under the guidance of the superb team of director Walter Stearns and musical director Eugene Dizon, Mercury Theater has a bonafide hit to welcome the spring season. This company has recently produced several winning productions, sellout sensations that confirm the Mercury as one of Chicago’s finest theaters. In this current campy and impressively produced presentation, Mr. Stearns mines every ounce of humor, satire and wit from this cult classic. Audiences familiar with the musical, as well as those who are new to its hilarious, satirical sci-fi love story, will be singing the praises of this show-stopping production.
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The World Inside a Frame
The Bridges of Madison County – Theo Ubqiue Cabaret Theatre
Happily, Fred Anzevino has worked his magic once again. In the earlier, much-awaited opening of Theo Ubique’s shiny, new theatre space in Evanston, there were some problems with the balance of sound between the singers and the accompaniment. But all of those kinks were eventually corrected after opening night. With “The Bridges of Madison County,” their second production, Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre is back once again as a Chicagoland treasure. This new production sparkles with talent and artistry, thanks to Mr. Anzevino’s always dazzling, distinguished, collaborative work.
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Singing God’s Music
Mahalia Jackson: Moving Thru the Light – Black Ensemble Theater
Jackie Taylor has plied her many talents by writing and directing another passionate, inspirational tribute to one of America’s greatest African American singers. In this musical revue, just in time to herald the much-welcome coming of Spring and the Easter and Passover holidays, the divine Ms. Taylor paints a stirring portrait of the Queen of Gospel, Mahalia Jackson. As with previous productions at the Black Ensemble Theatre, this show injects factual material from the singer’s life, that detail the highlights and low points of Ms. Jackson’s long career, into a concert of the singer’s greatest hits. During her six decades as an international singer renown, a successful recording artist and a civil rights activist, Harry Belafonte called her “the single most powerful black woman in the United States.” Mahalia Jackson recorded over 30 record albums and a dozen of her singles became million dollar sellers.
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Beware Hootie Pie!
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike – BrightSide Theatre
Christopher Durang, known for his hilarious absurdist comedies, such as “Beyond Therapy” and “An Actor’s Nightmare”, won both the 2013 Drama Desk and the Tony Awards for this, his most recent work. Durang’s riff on the characters and themes of Anton Chekhov sparkles with sunshine and his signature, unexpected humor, while still exploring some of the Russian playwright’s darker themes. This play is not, however, as the playwright insists, a parody of Chekhov’s comedies. Christopher Durang’s brilliant comedy is a gift to the audience on its own term.
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A Family by Choice
Southern Comfort –Pride Films & Plays
When families come together for the holidays, reunions or simply for a celebratory dinner with the parents and siblings, there’s often a fair amount of teasing, arguing and oftentimes the occasion doesn’t end on a happy note. But, within any family the love is always there, even if it’s sometimes only unspoken and implied. And when the gathering is with a family by choice, rather than by blood, there’s really very little difference, because, as someone once said, “Love is love is love.”
A Button and a Buddy
Corduroy – Emerald City Theatre
A cuddly little teddy bear, dressed in green corduroy overalls, sits on the shelf in the toy department of Freeman’s Department Store. More than anything, Corduroy wants a friend. He believes that the reason he’s been passed over by shoppers is because he looks shop-worn and his bib tops are missing a button. One afternoon, just before closing time, a sweet little girl named Lisa spies Corduroy on the shelf and falls in love with him. She tries to convince her mother that, more than anything in the world, she wants to buy him. But Mother explains that money’s tight right now; however maybe, if Lisa would take on more of the household chores, she could raise her daughter’s allowance.
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Well Worth the Climb
We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as South West Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915 – Steppenwolf Theatre
Steppenwolf’s Theatre for Young Audiences is “dedicated to creating work that is both provocative and drives us to think harder and deeper about who we are and the choices we make.” If this theater company has ever been successful at achieving this lofty, admirable goal, it’s in this current production. Jackie Sibblies Drury’s play is a look at how the creative process works in theatre. And, while the comic drama postures as a rehearsal for an upcoming, scholarly lecture about the first known genocide in the early 20th century, the play gradually evolves into an uncomfortable, shockingly realistic depiction of racism in America.
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A Whimsical Look at Anarchy
The Man Who Was Thursday – Lifeline Theatre
On a beautiful, sunny afternoon in the London suburb of Saffron Park, a poet named Lucian Gregory is discovered delivering an impassioned reading of one of his works to the gathered public. Among the crowd is Gabriel Syme, a gentleman who attempts to debate with Gregory that revolt is not the true meaning of poetry. Syme insists that, as opposed to revolution, the law is the real essence. Gabriel ends up accompanying Lucian to his underground anarchist meeting where Gregory hopes to be elected to their governing body.
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A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes
Mike Pence Sex Dream – First Floor Theatre
Following the 2016 election, two young men do their best to live their newly-wedded lives happily while coping with the frighteningly disastrous effects of the Trump presidency and administration. Ben is an excellent, compassionate elementary school teacher who cares for their students, but who also passionately wishes be a role model and make a difference. Ben, as a gay American, wants to show the school, and the world, that the Constitution has given them the unalienable right to be themselves. Thus, if Ben wants to wear a dress, there’s no reason for them to be challenged or ridiculed.
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