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Memphis Soul: The Story of Stax Records at Black Ensemble Theater

March 30, 2007

Annoyance Theatre
Best known for its cult hits Coed Prison Sluts and The Real Live Brady Bunch, the Annoyance was founded in 1987 as a gritty alternative to slicker, more commercial improv and sketch troupes. It moved into this new space, which houses a 100-seat theater behind a storefront bar, in the summer of 2006, after a peripatetic stretch of years. The current ten-show roster includes the musical Arm Soup (a spoof of the Donner Party story), the late-night variety show Grabass, and Messing With a Friend, in which improv hotshot Susan Messing collaborates with guest artists for an evening of unscripted mayhem. | 4840 N. Broadway | 773-561-4665 | annoyanceproductions.com

Artistic Home
This tiny Equity theater and training center, operated by husband and wife actor-directors Kathy Scambiatterra and John Mossman, specializes in classic and contemporary drama by playwrights from Ibsen to Odets, with an emphasis on underproduced works. The current show, Mossman’s well-received, pressure-cooker production of John Guare’s murder mystery/black comedy Landscape of the Body, has been extended through April 15. | 1420
W. Irving Park | 866-811-4111 | theartistichome.org

Black Ensemble Theater
Founded in 1976, the Black Ensemble aims to entertain while educating audiences about African-American cultural history. Led by veteran stage and screen actor Jackie Taylor, the troupe is well known for its popular musical biographies of such stars as Muddy Waters, Etta James, Billie Holiday, and Jackie Wilson. The 150-seat Leo A. Lerner Theater, which it’s occupied since 1987, is the former home of the fabled Hull House and Organic theater companies. David Barr’s Memphis Soul: The Story of Stax Records, running through May 13, celebrates the pioneering record label whose roster included Sam & Dave, Rufus and Carla Thomas, and Isaac Hayes (see Critic’s Choice in Section 2). | Uptown Center Hull House | 4520 N. Beacon | 773-769-4451 |
blackensembletheater.org

Chase Park Theater
“Classic theater, diverse community”—that’s how director Karen Fort describes this Chicago Park District theater, where professionals and amateurs pool their talents to present Shakespearean drama. Fort’s staging of Richard III opens March 30 and runs through May 5. | 4701 N. Ashland | 312-742-4701 | chaseparktheater.org

National Pastime Theater
Located in an old speakeasy, this company produces its own work and also rents its space to itinerant troupes. The current show, Striding Lion InterArts Workshop’s political satire Gerrymander: The Good, the Bad, and Tom DeLay, closes April 1. | 4139 N. Broadway | 773-327-7077 | npt2.com

Neo-Futurarium
The program changes weekly in the Neo-Futurists’ late-night cult hit Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. This hip, interactive entertainment—currently the longest-running production in Chicago—features an ensemble of actor-writers performing a dozen or so short original plays selected at random. No reservations are taken and the price of admission is determined by the roll of a die; audiences hang out in line and socialize until the doors open a half-hour before showtime (Fri-Sat 11:30 PM, Sun 7 PM). On Monday nights the 149-seat theater (located above a funeral parlor on the edge of Andersonville) hosts Barrel of Monkeys in That’s Weird, Grandma, in which adult actors perform whimsical, often bizarre stories written by Chicago Public Schools students. | 5153 N. Ashland | 773-275-5255 | neofuturists.org

Pegasus Players
One of Chicago’s most honored theaters, this non-Equity company is housed in a 250-seat auditorium at Truman College. Now in its 28th season, it’s well known for its productions of Stephen Sondheim musicals and August Wilson dramas as well as premieres by local writers; the annual Young Playwrights Festival presents scripts written by teenagers under the guidance of professional mentors. Running through April 1 is Black Caesar, David Barr’s African-American reworking of Citizen Kane, staged by artistic director Alex Levy. Opening April 27 is The Frogs, Sondheim’s musical adaptation of the Aristophanes comedy, performed in the Truman College swimming pool. | O’Rourke Performing Arts Center, Truman College | 1145 W. Wilson | 773-878-9761 | pegasusplayers.org

Profiles Theatre
This ensemble, ensconced in its 70-seat venue since 1990, looks “for works that showcase the resiliency of the human spirit,” says artistic director Joe Jahraus. That often means gritty scripts by writers like Adam Rapp, Rebecca Gilman, and Neil LaBute, whose drama Fat Pig, running through April 1, sensitively analyzes social intolerance of an affair between a thin man and an overweight woman. Next up is Apple, a portrait of a troubled marriage by Canadian writer Vern Thiessen, opening April 20. | 4147 N. Broadway | 773-549-1815 | profilestheatre.org

Rogue Theater
“We produce affordable, gender-balanced plays about rogues, rebels, misfits, and outcasts,” says director Nate White of the company he founded in 2002. Past productions have included Rogue 8, a late-night spoof of urban superheroes by company member Dan Telfer, as well as prime-time stagings of classics by Wilde and Shaw, whose Major Barbara opens May 14. Currently Rogue hosts Theatre Seven’s Is Chicago, a double bill of David Mamet’s Sexual Perversity in Chicago and Diversey Harbor by local writer Marisa Wegrzyn, running through April 14. Saturday afternoons often feature shows by Rogue’s kid-oriented offshoot, the Rascal Children’s Theater. | 5123 N. Clark | 773-561-5893 | roguetheater.com

The Spot
This venue comprises a street-level eatery (supervised by executive chef and improv veteran Frank Janisch); the Second Story Basement Bar, featuring comedy and music; and a top-floor loft lounge, the Green Room. Among the current attractions are the competitive improv show Battle-Prov and the Flaming Dames’ popular burlesque revue, Talk Dirty to Me, performed to an 80s hair-metal soundtrack. | 4437 N. Broadway | 773-728-8934 | spotchicago.com

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