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773-561-9500 or 866-448-7849Young Playwrights Festival
Through 1/27: Fri-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PMTheater & Performance
Pegasus Players's 26th annual showcase for local teenage playwrights comprises four one-acts selected from hundreds of submissions. The Queen and Her Cliquedom by Stephanie Chavez is a charming comedy about two teens defying their school's rigid social hierarchy. In Willa Sachs's Pinwheels, a soldier struggles to readjust to civilian life after returning from Iraq. The employees of a grocery store are stranded on a roof in Liza Farler's surreal The Flood. And a surly convenience store clerk falls for one of the oldest con games in the book in Daniel Swanson-Nystrom's Quick and Go. In video segments that introduce each piece, the authors say they'd never thought of writing a play until this opportunity came along. Here's hoping they keep at it. —Zac Thompson $15-$25
Ellie Goulding
Tue., Jan. 29, 7 p.m.Rock, Pop, Etc
British singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding first released the song “Lights” near the end of 2009, but it wasn’t till last year that it found its proper audience—and in the process exploded unexpectedly into a global hit that reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100. “Lights” is a big, generous anthem with a tasteful but ecstatic techno bump and a massively epic chorus that almost demands to be screamed along to on a dance floor by drunk girls. But Goulding isn’t afraid to challenge her listeners. Last year’s Halcyon—which she released while its predecessor, Lights, was still charting—has some genuinely aggressive sounds and a nice spooky vibe that recalls Kate Bush and Tori Amos in equal measure, but it doesn’t sacrifice the mega hooks that rope in casual fans. She’s toured with Katy Perry and with Grimes, proving that she works just as well with a pop idol as she does with a more experimental musician. And the way her own musical ambition has paid off has probably helped close the gap between the two. —Miles Raymer St. Lucia opens.
Soundgarden
Jan. 29-30, 8 p.m.Rock, Pop, Etc
Very few reuniting bands get the kind of high-profile opportunity to show off what they can still do that Seattle grunge legends Soundgarden did—their first new single in 16 years, “Live to Rise,” played during the end credits of The Avengers. Their first new album in just as long, King Animal (Loma Vista), makes the most of that exposure: though there’s no way it could sound as fresh and wild as the band did in 1989, it’s a great gift to their fans, as well as to anyone who needs a little schooling in just how incredibly influential they were in their prime. It’s 52 minutes that never let up, with a refreshing variety in theme and tempo, and Chris Cornell’s snarly rock-god pipes are as strong as ever; founding guitarist Kim Thayil is here too, as are drummer Matt Cameron (who joined in 1986) and bassist Ben Shepherd (aboard in 1990). The band’s songwriting star might never have burned as bright as Nirvana’s did, but there’s something to be said for a band that’s built to last—and Soundgarden sounds surprisingly indestructible. —Monica Kendrick
Stitched & Seriously Unprepared Prepares
Through 2/8: Sun 8 PMTheater & Performance
Two sketch comedy teams overlap in this performance at Annoyance Theatre. $10
Scary Tales
Through 2/9: Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PMTheater & Performance
A series of one act plays that depict mythological horror stories from around the world. Presented by Clock Productions. $15
Claymore and Wisesnatch
Through 2/14: Thu 8 PMImprov/Sketch
Described as an "improv seminar," this competition between two gender-specific troupes—all-male Claymore and all-female Wisesnatch—is a foul-mouthed affair filled with strong but scattershot physical comedy. On the night I saw the show, Wisesnatch began their set by asking for a suggestion of something you can say to "fuck up" a job interview, and an audience member naturally responded with "fuck." The bits that followed alternately flamed and fizzled, offering characters like a perverted babysitter and parents using their child as a practice dummy for medical procedures. Spinning off from the suggestion "horse," Claymore displayed an interesting, free-form style that involved using abstract movement and a kind of scat singing to transition between scenes. Though some of their bits felt gratuitously sexual and violent, the members of Claymore were impressively fearless in invading one another's personal space. —Marissa Oberlander $10
The Final Balloon
Through 2/23: Sat 10 PMTheater & Performance
Seventeen years before the goofy/terrifying "balloon boy" hoax of 2009—in which a Colorado mom and dad claimed their six-year-old had been borne aloft by a big helium balloon—the Annoyance Theatre folks brought a different Balloon Boy to the stage. This musical comedy, which premiered in 1992 as Your Butt, concerns a crew of lowlife tavern regulars who react with terror when a mysterious stranger they call the Balloon Boy (the chilling Connor Tillman) shows up and silently distributes balloons. Until a weak explanation dribbles out at the end, that's as far as the plot goes—which leaves director Charley Carroll and his cast treading water, with only unlikable characters and tolerable singing to pass the time. It's a dark and obnoxious piece of work, but also effective in its way, since dark and obnoxious is clearly the intended effect. —Keith Griffith $20
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