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Arts & Culture, Theater Review Feb 14, 2019
The Golden Girls: The Lost Episodes presents a special Valentine Edition

Sophia, Rose, Blanche, and Dorothy find love.
- By Albert Williams
- Tags: Theater Review, Golden Girls: The Lost Episodes—Valentine Edition, Hell in a Handbag Productions, David Cerda, Michael Rashid, Adrian Hadlock, Grant Drager, Ed Jones, Danne W. Taylor, Jon Martinez, The Golden Girls

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Dec 20, 2018
The ten shows from 2018 our critics won’t soon forget

Witches, monsters, selkies, cosmic musings and family dramas, and, of course, the Golden Girls
- By Catey Sullivan, Dmitry Samarov, Max Maller, Justin Hayford, and Jack Helbig
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, Theater 2018, year in review, Caroline, or Change, Firebrand Theatre, Frankenstein, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, The Golden Girls: The Lost Episodes, Volume 2, Hell in a Handbag Productions, HeLa, Sideshow Theatre Company, Kingdom, Broken Nose Theatre, Phoebe in Winter, Facility Theatre, Red Bowl at the Jeffs, The Sound, The Safe House, City Lit Theatre, Second Skin, WildClaw Theatre, Witch, Writers Theatre

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Jun 26, 2018
Picture it: Miami, 1987, and The Golden Girls in drag

Our favorite raunchy senior citizens return for three more loony adventures.
- By Max Maller
- Tags: Theater Review, Golden Girls Lost Episodes Volume 2, Hell in a Handbag Productions, drag, David Cerda, Grant Drager, Ed Jones, Adrian Hadlock, Rue McClanahan, Maude, Golden Girls, Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rose Nyland

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Apr 11, 2018
L'Imitation of Life gives an old-fashioned 'women’s picture' an old-fashioned drag treatment

The caricatures and cock jokes are familiar, but the gowns are fabulous.
- By Tony Adler
- Tags: Theater Review, L'Imitation of Life, Hell in a Handbag Productions, Imitation of Life, Douglas Sirk, melodrama, drag show, Ed Jones, Stevie Love, Ricky Graham, Running With Scissors, Katherine Bellantone, Robert Williams, Ashley J. Hicks

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Dec 21, 2017
Thirteen holiday shows that will delight (or disgust or bore or just entertain) you

Hell in a Handbag's 20th annual production of Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer is among the yuletide highlights.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, Barney the Elf, the Other Theatre Company, Dixie Lynn Cartwright, Roy Samra, Christmas Bingo: It's a Ho-Ho-Holy Night, Late Nite Catechism, Vicki Quade, Nuns 4 Fun Entertainment, Royal George Theatre, A Christmas Carol, Goodman Theatre, Henry Wishcamper, Tom Creamer, Larry Yando, Charles Dickens, The Christmas Schooner, Mercury Theatre, John Reeger, Julie Shannon, L. Walter Stearns, Hellcab, the Agency Theater Collective, Will Kern, Rusty Schwimmer, Profiles Theatre, American Blues Theater, It's a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago!, It's a Wonderful Life, Frank Capra, Bedford Falls, Gwendolyn Whiteside, Camille Robinson, John Mohrlein, Michael Mahler, The Nutcracker, E.T.A. Hoffmann, the House Theatre of Chicago, Haley Seda, Chris Matthews, Q Brothers Christmas Carol, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Hell in a Handbag Productions, David Cerda, Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer, Michael Jack Hampton, Terry McCarthy, Graham Thomas Heacock, Kristoffer Bottrall, Black Ensemble Theatre, Sammy: A Tribute to Sammy Davis Jr., Daryl D. Brooks, Kenny Davis, This Way Outta Santaland (and Other Xmas Miracles), Theater Wit, Mitchell Fain, The Santaland Diaries, David Sedaris, Meghan Murphy, Yippe Ki-Yay Merry Christmas: A Die Hard Christmas Musical, MCL, Die Hard, Alan Metoskie, Michael Shepherd Jordan, Gary Fields, The Customer Is Always Right? Holiday Edition, the Annoyance, improv

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Dec 13, 2017
Beautiful, Bad Hombres, and nine more holiday stage shows to see

An Equity touring production of the Carole King musical and an evening of Latinx sketch comedy are among this week's best bets.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, Altar Boyz, Sawyer Smith, Courtney Crouse, Gary Adler, Michael Patrick Walker, KevinDel Aquila, Marc J. Kessler, Ken Davenport, Theo Ubique, musical theater, Bad Hombres, Rich Alfonso, Miguel Lepe, sketch comedy, Latino comics, Mario, Damian Anaya, Cesar Jaime, Jose Molina, Spic & Tan, Chris Farley Cabaret, iO Theater, Beautiful, Carole King, Broadway musical, bio-musical, the Shirelles, Bobby Vee, Gerry Goffin, Brill Building, Sarah Bockel, Marc Bruni, The Character Assassination of Donald Trump, Eric Coleman, Jamie Quinones, Dave Kwitkowski, Jenny Miller, Meir Steinberg, Mercury Theater, The Christmas Schooner, holiday musical, Julie Shannon, John Reeger, L. Walter Stearns, Gingerbread Grindhouse, Ghostlight Ensemble, Maria Burnham, The Nutcracker, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Tatum Hunter, Sean Harklerode, Chad Wise, Red Theater, Little Red Cyrano, Cyrano de Bergerac, Aaron Sawyer, Hell in a Handbag Productions, David Cerda, Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer, Michael Jack Hampton, Terry McCarthy, Graham Thomas Heacock, Kristogger Bottrall, E.D.G.E. Theatre, Steampunk Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Industrial Revolution, Jared McDaris, Trap Door Theatre, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, They, Polish avant-garde, Beata Pilch, Mary-Kate Arnold, Carl Wisniewski, ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, ’Twas the Fight Before Christmas, Public House Theatre, Robert Frosty

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Oct 4, 2017
Becky Shaw, Fun Home, and nine more notable new stage shows

A black comedy at Windy City Playhouse and a black musical at Victory Gardens are among this week's best bets.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, Gina Gionfriddo, Becky Shaw, Windy City Playhouse, Scott Weinstein, Rock of Ages, Hell in a Handbag Productions, Bewitched, Bewildered, Ron Weaver, Aaron Benham, Brigitte Ditmars, Fun Home, Victory Gardens Theater, Alison Bechdel, Gary Griffin, Lisa Kron, Jeanine Tesori, Danni Smith and Sage Elliott Harper, Stella Rose Hoyt, Hannah Starr, Sage Elliott Harper, Rob Lindley, McKinley Carter, Akvavit Theatre, Henrik Ibsen, Ghosts & Zombies, Ibsen's Ghosts, Gustav Tegby, Breahan Pautsch, Eclectic Full Contact Theatre, Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Amber Sallis, Michael Woods, David Belew, Monster Club, Annoyance Theatre, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Dutch East Indies, Mary Wollstonecraft, The Rocky Balboa Picture Show, Cornservatory, Corn Productions, Rocky IV, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Allison Reinke, Tony n' Tina's Wedding, Paul Stroili, The Trojan Women, Euripides, Three Crows Theatre, Troy, Hector, Battle of Troy, Cassandra, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ronald Duncan, Judith Laughlin, Selena Lopez, Andromache, Worst of All/Peor de Todas, Water People Theater, National Museum of Mexican Art, Juan Jose Martín, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Iraida Tapia, Raquel Rios, Rebeca Alemán, Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, You're a Good Man, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, The Vampyre, John William Polidori, Maureen Monahan, Mark Walsh

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature May 3, 2017
Chicago, Lady X: The Musical, and seven more new theater reviews

The hometown return of an iconic show and the tuneful reboot of a camp classic are among this week's best bets.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, Cabaret, Kander and Ebb, No Stakes Theater Project, Erin Shea Brady, Mollyanne Nunn, Emilie Modaff, Erick Rivera, Joe Masteroff, Cory Hardin, Chicago musical, Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace, William Osetek, Kelly Felthous, Aléna Watters, Rivendell Theatre, The Firebirds Take the Field, Lynn Rosen, Jessica Fisch, Forty-Two Stories, Douglas Post, City Lit Theatre, Scott Westerman, Gloria, Hell in a Handbag Productions, David Cerda, Scott Lamberty, Lady X: The Musical, Chazie Bly, Promethean Theatre Ensemble, The Liar, Pierre Corneille, Josh Hambrock, David Ives, Ed Rutherford, Underscore Theatre, My Name Is Annie King, Krista Pioppi, Alex Higgin-Houser, Aaron Albert, Katy Rea, Raven Theatre, Not About Nightingales, Tennessee Williams, Michael Menendian, Breon Arzell, Chuck Spencer, Brandon Greenhouse, Sophia Menendian, Curious Theatre Branch, Tattered and Wincing, Beau O'Reilly, Ryan Wright, Kelly Anchors

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Dec 1, 2016
From Scrooge to the Snow Queen: eight stage shows for the holidays

The Goodman's A Christmas Carol leads the seasonal onslaught.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, Eric Schaeffer, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Charlie Brown, Peanuts, Emerald City Theatre, children's theater, holiday shows, Ann Filmer, Goodman Theatre, A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, Larry Yando, Scrooge, Henry Wishcamper, Annoyance Theatre, It's Christmas, Goddamnit!, American Blues Theater, It's a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago, Gwendolyn Whiteside, Frank Capra, Jimmy Stewart, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Northlight Theatre, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet, Mary Bennet, Emily Berman, Erik Hellman, Arthur de Bourgh, The Rip Nelson Holiday Spectacular, David Cerda, Hell in a Handbag Productions, Steve Love, David Lipschutz, Ed Jones, Bruce Jenner, Doug Henning, Piccolo Theatre, The Snow Queen, Hans Christian Andersen, Jessica Puller, Arne Parrott, Under the Gun Theater, holiday improv, Hanukkah, dreidels

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Oct 7, 2016
The Bardy Bunch, The Last Wife, A Walk in the Woods, and ten more new stage shows

A mashup of Shakespeare with The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch is one of this week's high- (or maybe lowlights).
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, The Bardy Bunch, The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, The Bard, Stephen Garvey, Logan Medland, Jay Stern, Mercury Theater, Steep Theatre, Bobbie Clearly, Alex Lubische, Robert Askins, Joel Sobel, Hand to God, Victory Gardens, Fantasy Island for Dummies, Trap Door Theatre, Ruth Margraff, Fantasy Island, Annette Funicello, Party Perfect, Dandelion Theatre, Fish Eye, Lucas Hardin, Katherine Lamb, Morgan Crouch, Stephen Rowland, the Frontier, Theo Ubique, Fly by Night, No Exit Cafe, Jeremy Ramey, Fred Anzevino, Meredith Kochan, Kyrie Anderson, Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick, Kim Rosenstock, Hillary: The Musical!, KellyAnn Corcoran, Greg Allen, Jenny Magnus, Mark Chrisler, How We Got On, Idris Goodwin, hip-hop, Grandmaster Flash, Den Theatre, Black Ensemble Theater, I Am Who I Am: The Teddy Pendergrass Story, Rashawn Thompson, Deverin Deonte, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Jessica Seals, Rueben Echoles, Kyle Smith, TimeLine Theatre, The Last Wife, Kate Hennig, Catherine Parr, Henry VII, Elizabeth I, AnJi White, Steve Pickering, Quest Theatre Ensemble, The People's History of the United States, Andrew Park, City Lit Theater Company, Psmith, Journalist, P.G. Wodehouse, Terry McCabe, Skooby Don't, Hell in a Handbag Productions, Interrobang Theatre Project, Still, Jen Silverman, Yale Drama Series Award, Georgette Verdin, miscarriage, Matthew Nerber, A Walk in the Woods, Spartan Theatre Company, Lee Blessing, Patrick Belics, Sara Pavlak McGuire, Vincent P. Mahler

Arts & Culture, Fall Preview Sep 4, 2016
Ten best bets for fall theater

A satanic hand puppet, a live version of Cheers, and a Twelfth Night in Hindi are among this season’s highlights.
- Tags: Fall Preview, Mary Zimmerman, Doug Peck, Goodman Theatre, Candide, Leonard Bernstein, Wonderful Town, My Sister Eileen, Bri Sudia, Lauren Molina, Sophocles, Electra, the House of Atreus, Agamemnon, Iphigenia in Aulis, Nicholas Rudall, Court Theatre, Sandra Marquez, Michael Pogue, Kate Fry, Amiri Baraka, LeRoi Jones, Dutchman, American Blues Theater, Darren Canady, TRANSit, Shattered Globe Theatre, True West, Sam Shepard, Black Button Eyes Productions, Amour, Michel Legrand, Shakespeare 400 Chicago, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Shanghai Jingju Theatre, Peking opera, The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan, Hamlet, Company Theatre Mumbai, Piya Behrupiya, Twelfth Night, Eduardo Pavez Goye, Foro Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, The Complete Deaths, Spymonkey, The Happiest Place on Earth, Sideshow Theatre Company, Philip Dawkins, Scooby Don't, Hell in a Handbag Productions, David Cerda, Andrew Hinderaker, The Magic Play, Calamity West, Give It All Back, Idris Goodwin, How We Got On, Haven Theatre Company, Kristiana Rae Colón, Octagon, Jackalope Theatre, I Am My Own Wife, Doug Wright, About Face Theatre, Delia Kropp, Nothing Without a Company, [Trans]formation, the Living Canvas, Cheers Live on Stage, Amy Poehler, Broadway in Chicago, Mat Smart, Naperville, The Royal Society of Antarctica, the Gift Theatre, Jeff Award, Aguijón Theater, Romeo y Julieta, Sándor Menéndez, Gerardo Cárdenas, Hand to God, Robert Askin, Victory Gardens Theater, Alex Weisman, Gary Griffin, Seret Scott

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Aug 18, 2016
The Wizengamot, Three Hotels, and seven more new theater reviews

A Harry Potter debate and a hard-hitting drama are among this week's best bets.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beeholder, The Annoyance Theatre & Bar, Kristen Tallon, Nate Dicken, Bette, Live at the Continental Baths, Bette Midler, Caitlyn Jackson, Hell in a Handbag Productions, David Cerda, Barry Manilow, The Divine Miss M, Crushed, Public House Theatre, A Hero's Journey, Forks & Hope Ensemble, Joseph Campbell, Austin D. Oie, John Szymanski, Collaboraction, Peacebook, Ray of Light, Relatively Meaningless, Gina DeLuca, Strike 3*, Benjamin Vigeant, Stephen Winchell, Zack Mast, Three Hotels, Jon Robin Baitz, Stonewall, Bluebird Arts, Luda Lopatina Solomon, Dave Belden, Jaimelyn Gray, The Wizengamot: A Harry Potter Debate!, Under the Gun Theater, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Jun 15, 2016
Congo Square’s A Small Oak Tree Runs Red, Black Ensemble’s The Marvin Gaye Story, and ten more new theater reviews

Two African-American companies present revelatory dramas.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, Bars and Measures, Idris Goodwin, Osiris Khepera, Anthony Conway, Tara Branham, John Keats, The Dark Ages: Otho the Great, The Divine Sister, Hell in a Handbag Productions, Charles Busch, David Cerda, Shade Murray, Charlotte Mae Ellison, Chad, Hauptmann, John Logan, Denis O'Hare, Terry McCabe, Bruno Hauptmann, Lindberg kidnapping, George Seegebrecht, Brian Pastor, The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling, Tracey Power, Theatre-Hikes, Eldridge Shannon III, William Goff, Felix Mayes, Timothy Sullivan, The Marvin Gaye Story: Don't Talk About My Father Because God Is My Friend, Jackie Taylor, Black Ensemble Theater, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gay Sr., Rashawn Thompson, Henri Watkins, Lake Forest Theatre, The Secret Garden, Steve Malone, Edward Fraim, A Small Oak Tree Runs Red, Congo Square Theater, Lekethia Dalcoe, Harry Lennix, Mary Turner, lynchings, The Sound of Music, Kerstin Anderson, Ben Davis, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Jack O'Brien, A Storm of Limbs, Piebenga Plumbing, Tapped: A Treasonous Musical Comedy, Jed Levine and Brad Kemp, Holly Gombita, Molly Todd Madison, Laureen Siciliano, The Untold, Untrue Love Story of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Grace Perry, Lyndsay Rush, Sarah Ashley, iO Theater

Blogs, Bleader Sep 15, 2013
Reader's Agenda Sun 9/15: Open Streets, Edgewater Home Tour, and a send-up of The Birds

What's on the Reader's Agenda for Sunday, September 15
- By Jillian Sandler
- Tags: Do This, Open Streets, Milwaukee Avenue, Bucktown, Logan Square, Wicker Park, Edgewater Historical Society, Edgewater Glen, The Birds, Hell in a Handbag Productions

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Sidebar Jun 13, 2013
Nearly 60 plays in 3,600 seconds (give or take)

Victory Gardens Biograph Theater hosts the third annual One Minute Play Festival.
- By Chelsea Hohn
- Tags: Performing Arts Sidebar, One-Minute Play Festival, Dominic D'Andrea, Neo-Futurists, Bilal Dardai, Laura Jacqmin, Dental Society Midwestern Meeting, New Dramatists, Carlos Murillo, Hell in a Handbag Productions, David Cerda, Scott Barsotti, Usman Ally, Mary Zimmerman, The Jungle Book, Philip Dawkins, Seth Bockley, the Homosexuals, Failure: A Love Story, Tanya Saracho, El Nogalar, Our Lady of the Underpass

Blogs, Bleader Jun 9, 2013
David C. Hayes will gross you out with American Guignol

The writer-performer's new story collection is "gleefully repulsive."
- By Jerome Ludwig
- Tags: Books, Gross, Arts, David Hayes, American Guignol, Blood Bound Books, Hell in a Handbag Productions, 'Gator Bait, Scarrie! The Musical, Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer, Joan Crawford Goes to Hell, Back Woods, A Man Called Nereus, Jerome Indie Film and Music Festival, Swamp Ho

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Dec 19, 2012
People Issue 2012:
Dave Cerda, the performer

"I loved camp before I knew it was camp."
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, People Issue, People Issue 2012, Dave Cerda, The Performer, Hell In a Handbag Productions, Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer, Poseidon!, Scarrie, Hammond, IN, John Waters, Female Trouble, Pink Flamingos, Parkway Theatre, Kelly Anchors, Sweetback Productions, The Birds, Tippi Hendren, Alfred Hitchcock

Blogs, Bleader Jul 13, 2012
The Reader's Agenda: Fri 7/13

What's on the Agenda for Friday, July 13, 2012
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Do This, The Cobra Lounge, Cobrafest, Pitchfork Festival, Human Eye, Psychic Paramount, Far-Out Fangtooth, Hannibal Buress, Kyle Kinane, Rockie Fresh, Jel, Serengeti, DJ Tony Trimm, Mary's Attic Theatre, Hell in a Handbag Productions, Sexy Baby Zac Thompson

Blogs, Bleader Oct 6, 2011
Fresh Reader performing arts reviews

Shows reviewed this week in the Reader.
- By Tony Adler
- Tags: Onstage, Performing Arts, Dance, Arts, The Great Fire, Lookingglass Theatre, The Amish Project, American Theater Company, Mourning Becomes Electra, Remy Bumppo, Becky Shaw, A Red Orchid Theatre, Burying Miss America, New Leaf Theatre, Low, Slingshot Productions, Pussy on the House, Hell in a Handbag Productions, Scott Janus: Monster Hunter, Millennium Theatre, Splatter Theater, Annoyance Theatre, A Touch of the Poet, The Artistic Home, Natya Dance Theatre, The Flowering Tree

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Features

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Sophia, Rose, Blanche, and Dorothy find love.

Witches, monsters, selkies, cosmic musings and family dramas, and, of course, the Golden Girls

Our favorite raunchy senior citizens return for three more loony adventures.

The caricatures and cock jokes are familiar, but the gowns are fabulous.

Hell in a Handbag's 20th annual production of Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer is among the yuletide highlights.

An Equity touring production of the Carole King musical and an evening of Latinx sketch comedy are among this week's best bets.

A black comedy at Windy City Playhouse and a black musical at Victory Gardens are among this week's best bets.

The hometown return of an iconic show and the tuneful reboot of a camp classic are among this week's best bets.

The Goodman's A Christmas Carol leads the seasonal onslaught.

A mashup of Shakespeare with The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch is one of this week's high- (or maybe lowlights).

A satanic hand puppet, a live version of Cheers, and a Twelfth Night in Hindi are among this season’s highlights.

A Harry Potter debate and a hard-hitting drama are among this week's best bets.

Two African-American companies present revelatory dramas.

What's on the Reader's Agenda for Sunday, September 15

Victory Gardens Biograph Theater hosts the third annual One Minute Play Festival.

The writer-performer's new story collection is "gleefully repulsive."

"I loved camp before I knew it was camp."

What's on the Agenda for Friday, July 13, 2012

Shows reviewed this week in the Reader.

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