Theater & Performance Search
What's the T?
Through 6/2: Fri-Sat 7 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Sat 6/1 3 PMTheater & Performance
Inspired by the recent uptick in racial and class tensions in Boystown's LGBT community, this About Face Youth Theatre show, written by Sara Kerastas and the ensemble, chronicles a day in the gayborhood from the perspective of the disadvantaged. We meet a homeless trans teen, a dweeby lesbian just starting to figure things out, a street poet, several voguers, and a den-mother glamazon named Ms. Ma, who's dedicated to "realness, revolution, and Rihanna." All are young and poor—and not exactly welcomed with open arms by the area's affluent residents. Director Eric Hoff and his feisty cast put it over with energy, humor, and righteous outrage. Though the script occasionally lapses into sermonizing, it pays stirring tribute to the virtues of resilience and tolerance. —Zac Thompson
$15
773-871-3000By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Through 6/2: Wed-Thu 7:30 PM, Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 2 and 7:30 PMTheater & Performance
For certain kinds of people, achieving the American dream has always been a stealth operation. Coming up during the Depression, for instance, my dad obscured his Ashkenazic roots by Latinizing his first name (Maurice, from Moishe), classicizing his middle name (Alexander, after Alexander the Great) and Teutonizing his surname (Adler, from, well, something that wasn't Adler). Others have had to resort to more extreme methods. Obviously, a name change alone wasn't going to give a Negro access to the good life in pre-Civil Rights Act America, though a high-yellow complexion and careful locution might. Too dark to pass? Then it was a good idea to be phenomenally talented and resourceful. Josephine Baker found stardom by flirting with scandal en Francais. Musicians like Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, by inventing jazz. Actors like Hattie McDaniel, Butterfly McQueen, and Stepin Fetchit, by simultaneously playing to and humanizing ("subverting" is too strong a word) white society's standard catalog of black caricatures. Continue reading >> $25-$81
If You Split a Second
Through 6/2: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Tue 5/7, 7 PM, and Sat 5/18, 3 PMTheater & Performance
Premiering at Pegasus Players, Dana Lynn Formby's play contains plenty of interesting elements: six characters played by two actors, an intriguing premise (one character alters everyone's destiny when, in a fit of anger, he kills his brother-in-law). There's even an intellectually challenging underlying question: How much control do we have over our lives when a split-second decision can change everything? What a shame Formby is never able to pull all this together into a moving, coherent story with relatable characters who grow over the play's two hours. This despite Ilesa Duncan's strong direction, and, in Stephanie Chavara and Dylan McGorty, a cast adept at quickly and gracefully transforming from one character to another. —Jack Helbig $25
Obscura
Through 6/02: Thu-Sun 8 PMTheater & Performance
Magician Christian Cagigal performs his slightly dark themed magic tricks projected onto a large screen. Reservations recommended.
Oliver
Through 6/2: Wed 1:30 PM, Thu 1:30 and 8 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 5 and 8:30 PM, Sun 2 and 6 PMTheater & Performance
Lionel Bart's musical version of the Dickens novel opened on Broadway 50 years ago, but it feels even older. That's not the fault of Rachel Rockwell, who directed this spirited revival for Drury Lane Oakbrook, nor of her energetic cast, led by John Reeger as the lovable rogue Fagin and Heidi Kettenring as Nancy, the golden-hearted whore. It's just that Bart's show is so conservative and unadventurous—a melodrama packed with tunes written in the style of an earlier generation—that the whole thing smells of mothballs. Still, it's entertaining, and just try to get Bart's earworm-filled score out of your head. —Jack Helbig $35-$49
A Part of the Game
Through 6/2: Sat and Sun 7 PMTheater & Performance
Beau O'Reilly knows how to sell it. In the heart of this dramatic calamity, he sails onstage like a virtuoso giving a master class. Other times he stays offstage, reading a Sports Illustrated and dropping bons mots: "My uncle invented Pop Rocks." "Fuck the Yankees." They don't save any scenes, but they help; in the dramatic wasteland of Matt Rieger's script, anything helps. Performed by a cast of six for Curious Theatre Branch, Rieger's five monologues scrape up a handful of hollow cliches connected to childhood sports. Their request for our sustained attention feels vulgar. O'Reilly, handed some drivel about the big game, electrifies for a few minutes at a time through sheer force of will. The rest is baffling and tired. –Keith Griffith $12-$15
What a Glorious Feeling
Through 6/2: Wed-Thu 2 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 2:30 and 8 PM, Sun 2:30 PMTheater & Performance
Follows the true love triangle that went on during the filming of Singin' in the Rain. $38-$42
Collaboraction's Sketchbook 13
Through 6/30Theater & Performance
If you've got an itch to see some live theater—the kind willing to blend music, visual art, and the Internet into one bizarre collaboration—look no further than Collaboraction's Sketchbook 13, a showcase of 14 world-premiere plays ranging from seven to 50 minutes in length, divided into four programs. With all these choices—especially the "Brown Line" program, which features nine seven-minute plays—you should be able to find something that satisfies.
$15-$40
TvRL
Through 6/5: Wed 7:30 PMTheater & Performance
Episodes of popular television shows—including Happy Days and Big Bang Theory—are parodied in this stage show. $10
So I Killed a Few People
Through 6/6: Thu 8 PMTheater & Performance
"Go for the heart, just don't eat it," says Archie Nunn, recalling a friend's counsel—pretty sage advice for someone with nothing in the world but an orange jumpsuit, a tape recorder, a date with the electric chair, and a solo show on death row. A legendary killer, Nunn has one last wish: to heap abuse on the Disney corporation, which he blames for his problems, and tell of his twin obsessions with serial television and serial murder. Annoyance vet Mark Sutton plays Nunn with southern charm and a working knowledge of Facebook and Twitter—the script, by David Summers and Gary Rudoren, has been updated since the play's 1997 premiere. Nunn's hatred of the media, coupled with his insistence on being seen and heard, gives the audience plenty to chew on in its dual roles of voyeur and priest. —Hannah Gold $8-$12
Stories in Community
Through 6/7: Fri 6-8 PMTheater & Performance
Workshop participants will present their stories about community and why storytelling is important for Chicago's West side.
Lascivious Something
Through 6/8: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Mon 5/20, 7:30 PM, no show Sun 5/5Theater & Performance
Sheila Callaghan's intricately woven drama doesn't waste any time. The first act—set in 1980, when an American woman arrives at the Aegean villa of a former lover and his current wife—unleashes so many startling revelations that a theatergoer might spend intermission wondering if there are any surprises left. There are. Callaghan's conceit is to race ahead through a scene's possible outcomes, and then reset the action without comment. At times this annoys, telling us things that ought to be implied. But mostly it works, lifting the veil on a cruel, beautiful set of relationships that could come straight out of Aeschylus. Ronan Marra directs a powerful four-person cast for Signal Ensemble Theatre. —Keith Griffith $15-$20
Dance Improvisation Festival
Through 6/8: various times, see websiteTheater & Performance
Workshops, performances, and discussions will take place for this years festival held in the Dance Center of Columbia College and a kickoff performance at the Links Hall at Constellation. prices vary
The Princess Show
Through 6/8: Sat 3 PMTheater & Performance
Sing, dance, and enjoy the scenery with Cinderella and Snow White in this family-friendly interactive show. $30
Seek and Ye Shall Find
Through 6/8: Sat 3 PM, Sun 7 PM, Mon 7:30 PM, Wed 7:30 PM; no show Sun-Mon 5/26-5/27, additional show Tue 5/28, 7:30 PMTheater & Performance
Sentell Harper's one-man show, presented by Mortar Theatre Company, takes on too much in an effort to deconstruct the black gay community. The show follows its protagonist, also called Sentell, on an unexpected el ride that lands him in black gay alternate universe, where he's confronted head-on by the community he feels alienated from. Numerous characters pass through, telling stories of coming out, reconciling church and sexuality, secret relationships, and HIV scares. Harper is a charismatic performer, bringing humor and humanity (and some song and dance) to sympathetic characters, but each man's story felt garbled when mixed with so many others'. The message that we are all "worth keeping" is admirable, but might've been better presented through a single man's journey toward self-acceptance. —Marissa Oberlander $10-$15
