Chicago Theatre Review

Author: Kevin Curran

What Would You Do?

October 24, 2019 Comments Off on What Would You Do?

Blonde Poison – Agency Theatre Collective

In World War II Berlin, a Jewish woman named Stella Kubler collobarated with the Nazis to help find other Jews in hiding, in exchange for her family’s safety. With blonde hair and blue eyes, she could pass for German. Stella, called ‘blonde poison’ by the Gestapo, is the focus of a new play by Cindy Henkin, presented by The Agency Theatre Collective.

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Trial by Jury

October 16, 2019 Comments Off on Trial by Jury

Bloody Bathory – The Barrens Theatre Company

In the early 1600s, in an isolated castle in the forests of Hungary, Countess Elizabeth Bathory is reputed to have murdered literally hundreds of her servant girls for the purposes of bathing in the blood of virgins to maintain her youth and beauty. It sounds like a story made up to scare children, but there was a real Countess and she was really convicted for countless murders, and bricked up in a room in her castle and left to die. Of course, the murder accusation may have been a plot cooked up by the monarchy to take her castle from her and eliminate a huge debt it owed to her family, but details, details, right?

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Another Story

October 15, 2019 Comments Off on Another Story

Comfortable Shoes – The Neo-Futurists

Most of us are probably familiar with the story of One Thousand and One Nights. The king has promised to execute his wife Scheherazade at dawn, so she tells, but does not finish a story, hoping he will spare her another night and another and another. It works, and a new show at the Neo-Futurarium, written and performed by ensemble member Ida Cuttler, uses it as a jumping off point to explore how and why women have to tell their own stories over and over again.

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Murder on the Moors

October 8, 2019 Comments Off on Murder on the Moors

The Hound of the Baskervilles – City Lit Theatre

Sir Charles Baskerville has died under seemingly mysterious, but not necessarily suspicious circumstances. Found dead on his estate in Devon, his death could be chalked up to ill health, except for a legendary curse that has haunted his family for generations about a hellhound summoned by the evil deeds of a Baskerville ancestor. The great detective Sherlock Holmes doesn’t believe in curses, but when Sir Charles’ nephew arrives from America to claim his inheritance, he receives a threatening letter, warning him to stay away from the estate. Holmes must figure out who may have killed Sir Charles and stop them before they kill again.

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Come Hear the Music Play

October 8, 2019 Comments Off on Come Hear the Music Play

Cabaret – Cowardly Scarecrow Theatre Company

Cabaret is a snapshot in time. In the early 30s in Berlin, an English girl, Sally Bowles, dreams of stardom and wealth while performing in a seedy nightclub. Cliff, an American writer, is lazily making his way through Europe, hoping it will inspire his novel. Watching over all of it is an enigmatic master of ceremonies at the club, who seems to be the only one aware of the coming storm. Willkommen.

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Yoinks

October 7, 2019 Comments Off on Yoinks

Oh Sh#t! It’s Haunted! – The Factory Theater

In The Factory Theater’s latest production, and one appropriately premiering in time for Halloween, Oh Sh#t! It’s Haunted! is the story of four Chicago friends who find themselves roped into exploring their neighborhood’s local haunted house, complete with a creepy recluse owner and someone plotting something that they’ll get away with if not for those lousy kids.

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Harsh Lessons

September 17, 2019 Comments Off on Harsh Lessons

Blue Stockings – Promethean Theatre Ensemble

It is 1896 and four students assemble for they hope will be the first class of female students to be granted degrees at Cambridge. They have to convince the school to first even hold a vote on the issue, let alone win that vote. To do so, they will have to be perfect, and not just academically, and it still may not be enough. This is the setting for Jessica Swale’s play Blue Stockings, getting its Chicago premiere with Promethean Theatre Ensemble.

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Flatfooted

September 9, 2019 Comments Off on Flatfooted

Aces and Eights – BYOT Productions

Aces and Eights, a film noir farce, started its life in 2015 as a ten minute scene for one of Bring Your Own Theater’s 24-hour theater festivals and over the years, it has been worked into a full length show. Focusing on Francine Noir, Frank to most people, she must find a missing will and a stolen painting, all while trying to stay above the corruption that pervades her city and her nascent alcoholism. It’s a fun set-up. Unfortunately, I don’t think it quite sticks the landing.

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A Midsummer Dream

September 9, 2019 Comments Off on A Midsummer Dream

Midsummer – Greenhouse Theater Center and Proxy Theatre

Helena is sitting at a bar in Edinburgh, Scotland, making her way through a bottle of wine, having just been stood up by her boyfriend. Bob is sitting in the same bar, reading Dostoevsky to cheer himself up. Both have just or are just about to celebrate their 35th birthday, and it’s left them in a foul mood. So they do what any rational pair would do when forced to contemplate difficult questions about their lives – they get very drunk and go to bed together.

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Lone(ly) Wolf

July 17, 2019 Comments Off on Lone(ly) Wolf

Wolf Play – The Gift Theatre

Wolf Play is being given its Chicago premiere this month at Gift Theater. It is the story of a young Korean boy who was adopted by American parents, but who, now that they have unexpectedly had a baby they thought they couldn’t, have ‘unadopted’ him. His new parents try build a bond with him, but it proves more complicated than they could have imagined.

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