Performing Arts Search
Michael Kearns
Sun 11/22, 7:30 PM,
773-871-3000Theater & Performance
Long before folks like Ellen DeGeneres and Ian McKellen showed it's possible to be openly gay and still have a career in showbiz, actor-writer Michael Kearns was paving the way. Kearns was Hollywood's first out actor in the early 1980s, and the first to announce he was HIV-positive. After a brief career guesting on TV series (The Waltons, Murder, She Wrote) he turned to solo performance with The Truth Is Bad Enough (1983), in which he detailed his bizarre experience posing as the author and subject of The Happy Hustler. The 1975 book was the alleged autobiography of a male prostitute, whom Kearns played in promotional appearances--and in a nude foldout included in the paperback. Nowadays he tours with a repertoire of one-man shows, including Intimacies, a collection of character studies about people living with AIDS. The monologues address numerous issues--homelessness, substance abuse, sexual politics, and relationship dynamics--as Kearns depicts individuals of different races, genders, and classes: a hypocritical gay yuppie, a streetwalker, a strung-out teenage hustler. "All are embarrassments not only to society but to humanity," wrote Reader critic Diana Spinrad, reviewing Intimacies in its 1989 Chicago premiere. "Yet Kearns portrays them so lovingly, and with such technical proficiency, that their humanity shines through." Marking the show's 20th anniversary and World AIDS Day on December 1, Kearns is now offering an updated version, appearing as part of Victory Gardens' Fresh Squeezed performance series.
$25-$30
He Who Gets Slapped
Sun., Nov. 22, 2 p.m. 312-663-1124Theater & Performance
Columbia College production of the Leonid Andreyev play about "a clown who can endure 100 slaps in the face." $10-$14
The Life of Galileo
Sun., Nov. 22, 2:30 p.m. 815-836-5500Theater & Performance
Lewis University production of the Bertolt Brecht play. $9-$10
Oremus Fine Arts Center, Lewis University, 1 University Pkwy.
Suburbs Southwest
Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak
Sun., Nov. 22, 7 p.m. 773-281-0824Dance
"Curiosity Blackbird and Beyond" features a solo performance by Shanahan and an excert from Stamina of Curiosity: Our Strange Elevations. Ticket price includes a DVD copy of Nadia Oussenko's dance film My Name Is a Blackbird. $20-$30
Mrs. Coney: A Tale at Christmas
Sun., Nov. 22, 7 p.m. 708-445-8955Theater & Performance
Concert reading of Belinda Bremner's play to benefit Oak Park-River Forest Walk in Ministry and Oak Park Festival Theater. $10-$15
The Music Man
Sun., Nov. 22, 2 p.m. 773-286-8470Theater & Performance
The Rising Stars Theatre Company proudly presents its production of Meredith Willson's classic "The Music Man" directed by Dan Rocha. Bring the whole family and join the citizens of River City, IA. Enjoy favorite American standards "Seventy-Six Trombones," "Till There Was You," "Trouble in River City," and "Gary, Indiana." Tickets: $15/Adults; $13/Children and Seniors Download ticket order form from website or purchase in person at box office (up to one hour prior to showtime) Phone Inquiries: (773) 736-2490 Free parking. Handicapped accessible.
New Blood III
Sun., Nov. 22, 7 p.m. 312-742-8497Theater & Performance
Festival of performances by SAIC students "that blur the boundaries between theater, movement, and the visual arts."
Opera in Focus Puppets perform "Hansel and Gretel"
Sun., Nov. 22, 1:30 p.m.Theater & Performance
Enjoy some gingerbread cookies and watch 16" rod puppets perform Engelbert Humperdick's "Hansel and Gretel" in its near-entirety! *** Performances through December 6. Sun, Wed, Sat @ 4p; Sat & Sun @ 1:30p *** Adults: $12 Seniors (over 60): $11 Children (under 12): $7 *** Lower level of Rolling Meadows Park District Building: 3000 Central Rd, Rolling Meadows. Reservations are required: 847-818-3220 x186
Sensational, Psychic, 3-D Spectacular
Sun., Nov. 22, 3 p.m. 630-896-6666Theater & Performance
Juggler/comedian Mark Nizer, ventriloquist Lynn Trefzger, and mentalist Joshua Kane join forces. $25-$35
Ambrose Bierce: Tales & Times
Through 11/22: Fri 8 PM, Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 6 PM, no 3 PM show 11/21, 773-275-9735Theater & Performance
Rather than adapt one of Ambrose Bierce's wry tales for the stage, this Lincoln Square Theatre production disgorges nine and fails to do any of them justice. Bierce's plot twists come across as paltry gimmicks without the rich swaddling of his writing, which director Kristina Schramm unravels. Jae Renfrow comes closest to preserving the cornpone imperiousness of Bierce's pen in his powerfully delivered monologues, but distractions abound. The stage bustles with cartoon cutouts, tree characters, and other grade-school favorites, dealing the stories a violent blow. Possibly suitable for children of a morbid upbringing. --Keith Griffith $5-$15
The House of Bernard Alba
Fridays, Sundays, 7:30 p.m. and Sun., Nov. 22, 2:30 p.m. Continues through Nov. 22 312-255-1133Theater & Performance
Staged reading of the Federico Garcia Lorca play. $15
The Hundred Dresses
Through 11/22: Tue, Thu, and Fri 10:30 AM, Sat-Sun noon and 3 PM, 312-988-9000Theater & Performance
The poet Philip Larkin once said he was relieved to discover, upon growing up, that it was children he'd despised all his life, not humanity in general. The young heroine of this new children's musical, based on a novel by Eleanor Estes, might very well agree. Wanda Petronski (Lauren Patten) is the new girl at a school where the other kids laugh at her Polish accent, unfamiliar last name, and, most of all, the fact that she wears the same drab dress day in and day out. Sean Graney's colorful, relentlessly lively production for Chicago Children's Theatre doesn't entirely avoid the shrill cutesy-wootsyism that infects much of kids' entertainment these days, but G. Riley Mills's book admirably avoids easy answers while Ralph Covert's score is lovely and challenging. --Zac Thompson $23-$38
Mike Lukas
11/17-11/22: Tue-Thu 8:30 PM, Fri 8:30 and 10:30 PM, Sat 7, 9, and 11:15 PM, Sun 8:30 PM 312-337-4027Stand-Up
$23 + 2-item min.
Man of La Mancha
Through 11/22: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 7 PM, 800-595-4849Theater & Performance
Director David Heimann has made a number of daring choices in staging Dale Wasserman, Mitch Leigh, and Joe Darion's 1965 Tony Award-winning musical based on Don Quixote--not the least of which is his seemingly quixotic decision to cram it into Theo Ubique's cabaret-style theater. But the result is a show at once more powerful and intimate than any Broadway-style production could be. Heimann has also broken with convention by casting a woman, Danielle Brothers, as Quixote. Though Brothers doesn't have the pipes of a Broadway actor, she's got considerable range and depth and is quite moving as the charming madman at the center of the tale. She isn't alone, either. Heimann has wisely chosen acting chops over strong singing overall, so that the production soars even when the songs don't. --Jack Helbig $15-$35
Midwest Ballet Theatre
Fri-Sat 11/14-11/15 and 11/21-11/22 630-534-4528Dance
Performing The Nutcracker. $11-$15
