Author: Colin Douglas
Part Scripted Drama, Part Improvisation
Mrs. Krishnan’s Party
Leave your troubles at the door as you enter the intimate Upstairs venue on the sixth floor of Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Set in the storeroom of a small grocery store a surprise party is in the works. And guess what? The good news is that we’re all invited to participate and enjoy the festivities! The shop is owned by a very original personage, in every sense of the word. Mrs. Krishnan is the charming, gregarious Indian woman who owns and runs the store. She’s a widow, with a son named Abu, who’s at university in another city. Mrs. Krishnan is a little kooky and an extraordinary cook. Today is the colorful celebration of the feast of Onam, and the entire audience has been invited to the festivities!
Read More
A One, A Two…You Know What to Do
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
In a Chicago recording studio, impatient record producer Sturdyvant and the star’s patient, put upon manager Irvin, prepare for their diva Blues singer. Ma Rainey is over an hour late for her recording session of a new album. But time is money. Her talented band members have all arrived early and are downstairs rehearsing, while teasing each other and sharing stories from the road. These likable musicians are virtuoso veterans trombonist Cutler, bass player Slow Drag, talented pianist Toledo, and young trumpeter and loose cannon, Levee. After Ma Rainey finally—finally—makes her long awaited entrance, her entourage in tow (with her stuttering nephew Sylvester and sexy gal pal Dussie Mae), the recording session begins, with “A one, a two…you know what to do.”
Read More
Opposites Attract
The Official Biography
Two people could hardly be more different. The pair of characters in this play come from different races, generations, cultural backgrounds and schools of thought. Henry Percival is a highly successful author of popular novels and is approaching his eightieth birthday. Xan Smith is an up-and-coming twenty-something, a dedicated writer of critical essays. Henry is a grumpy recluse, content to live out his years alone in a rural, woodland setting. Xan lives in an apartment in the bustling, metropolitan jungle of the city, a three-hour drive from Henry’s country cottage. Mr. Percival is an elderly caucasian author who has enjoyed a life writing creative fiction. Xan is a young African-American woman who strongly feels that truthful, exploitative nonfiction is far more relevant today than phony, fabricated stories that are a waste of time in our troubled world. But when Xan pushes her presence into Henry’s home, eventually opposites attract.
Read More
Listening to Other’s Voices
The Alley
Itamar Moses is the 2017 Tony Award-winning playwright of the libretto for the Broadway musical, THE BAND’S VISIT. He also wrote the book for the more recent musical, DEAD OUTLAW. His more recent play, THE ALLY, which premiered at New York’s Public Theater in 2024, is a very different animal. This drama is much more a collection of ideas and the arguments in support or against them, rather than a play in the traditional sense. Filled with passionate political pleas to convince and advocate for change and choosing sides, THE ALLY is theatrically impressive, especially in Jeremy Wechsler’s incredibly fervid, almost frenzied production.
Read More
All For One and One For All
The Three Musketeers
Transporting both the audience and the artists from the real world to another time and place has always been the intent of the Idle Muse Theatre Company. The theatre is known for interpreting the classics, both novels and theatrical dramas, and presenting them from a new, unique point of view. Over their twenty year history, the company has offered their own unique perspective of well-known theatrical works, such as “Macbeth,” retold as WHAT THE WEIRD SISTERS SAW; “L’Morte D’Arthur,” reinterpreted from the villain’s perspective as THE LAST QUEEN OF CAMELOT; and called THE BLOOD COUNTESS, an historically-based play that may have inspired the Grimm Brothers’ creation of the evil queen, in “Snow White.”
Read More
A Saucy Trans Rom Com
Modern Gentleman
Lily, Adam’s attractive and strong-willed fiancee, has just broken off their engagement of five years. Adam’s heartbroken and kind of lost and emotionally shattered. Lily says she still loves Adam and the feeling is mutual. But the problem stems from the fact that Lily, a sharp-as-tacks schoolteacher, is a proud lesbian. When she first met Adam, he was still physically a woman, just beginning his transition to becoming a man. But over the years, as their ardent love for each other flourished, Adam no longer enjoyed the physical expression. Since he was just beginning his transition, Adam always enjoyed giving pleasure to Lily, but he wasn’t comfortable yet with being on the receiving end. And thus begins the conflict in this saucy trans rom com.
Read More
Back On Stage Again
The Jackie Wilson Story
Just as she did in 2000, Jackie Taylor, the gifted Founder and Executive Director of Black Ensemble Theater, has brought back her production of THE JACKIE WILSON STORY. Twenty-six years ago Ms. Taylor wrote this show, and is once again directing her loving loving tribute to the talented international singer/songwriter. Today, the critically acclaimed, mega-popular biographic musical is kicking off the theater’s exciting 50th Anniversary Season. Appropriately, back in 2012, Ms. Taylor’s engaging and fact-filled musical began a popular and critically acclaimed National Tour that culminated in a record-breaking run at New York’s famous Apollo Theater. And now Jackie Wilson, one of the world’s greatest entertainers, is back on stage once again in Chicago.
Read More
Chasing Away the Blues
The Drowsy Chaperone
Renowned for its loving and affectionate satire of the theatre, fast-paced comedy, screwball characters, rousing musical numbers and exciting and original choreography, THE DROWSY CHAPERONE is the quintessential show for a delightful evening in the theatre. Now, this musical may not be familiar to every theatergoer. But for those of us who are musical theatre fanatics, or aficionados of full-tilt comedies, this clever show-within-a-show is a not-to-be-missed hit for the Spring season!
Read More
The Strange Things We Inherit
White Rooster
Drawing from a Chinese legend told by family during the early 1900’s, multitalented Lookingglass Ensemble member, Matthew Yee, has written, composed the music and directed this strange and fascinating tale. It’s a story filled with fantasy and folklore. Mr. Yee’s play is an original, incredibly inventive saga that weaves together ghosts, puppets, movement and music. And at its core, Mathew Yee’s two-act drama, liberally laced with plenty of dark humor, is a tale of love, loss and the strange things we inherit.
Read More
Hungry For More
Two Sisters and a Piano
The year is 1991. The setting is Havana, Cuba under strict Communist rule. Maria Celia, a famous revolutionary writer and outspoken author, along with her younger pianist sister, Sofia, are currently living under house arrest. The stifling situation is almost a welcome respite for the two sisters, after having shared a tiny prison cell for the past two years. Both Maria Celia and Sofia were arrested and imprisoned for their shared political views, but now they’re confined to the family home. The women aren’t allowed outside their house, except by a circular staircase that leads to the roof. The heat is omnipresent, as is their loneliness and boredom. The only pleasure for these two artistic young women comes from the battered, out-of-tune piano that still remains. And the only other human contact for the two women is a visit each day by a charismatic Cuban military officer, charged with monitoring the sisters. Lieutenant Portuondo is ordered to check in on the women and interrogate them. But eventually the Lieutenant’s visitations become more social and something much more.
Read MoreRECOMMENDED SITES
