RECOMMENDED

I must admit, I went into About Face’s production of  “Stupid Kids” with very high expectations and knowing it would be hard to meet my standards.  I read John C. Russell’s play in high school and it stuck to me.  As a young gay kid from Alabama coming to terms with my sexuality, the show’s stylized pining and frenzy of bad poetry was the answer to my classmates’ “90210” and “Dawson’s Creek.” What co-directors Bonnie Metzgar and Megan Carney gave me was a multimedia, teen angsty, dancing ball of kinetic energy that churns up those gloriously provocative and vomit-inducing memories of high school.  I loved it. The story is of a gay kid that goes by the name Neechee, played balls to the wall by Patrick Andrews.  Neechee has a hard on for Jim (Tony Clarno), the new guy in town with a major attitude and a motorcycle.  Neechee’s best friend is Erin Neal’s Kim, a Patti Smith-obsessed revolutionary with a crush on Judy (Whitney White), an A-lister with a totally rad wardrobe.  Jim and Judy are going out and Neechee and Kim are determined to break them up through a 1980s rollercoaster of self-discovery, first kisses and killer bongs.  It’s way complicated, way hilarious and way too close to home.  And taking a big risk, Metzgar and Carney have added a contemporary cast of high schoolers using text messages and video diaries to offer a counterpoint to the insane proceedings.  Though it took me a bit to buy into this shadow cast, I came out feeling like its use made the show relevant to an entirely new generation.  For that I’m grateful. I hope this show hangs around. (William Scott)

At the Hoover-Leppen Theatre at Center on Halsted,  3656 N Halsted ,773.784.8565, through March 8. aboutfacetheatre.com

RECOMMENDED

Outrage, atheism, and liberalism—the tenets of a scathing Jamie Kilstein stand-up routine. No conservative foibles nor any religious absurdities will be spared, as the young up-and-comer pokes fun and/or derisively berates homophobes, gun owners and Sarah Palin, while hypothesizing that John McCain keeps Vietcong prisoners in his basement and that Texas had to reject even more threatening state mottoes before settling on the already very-threatening “Don’t Mess With Texas.” Of course, it’s not all anger and politics; within his routine, Kilstein sprinkles much more playful nuggets, most of which suggest his love of drugs. Kilstein on choosing between marijuana and alcohol: “The last time I smoked pot, I sat in my apartment by myself and watched “The Big Lebowski” seven times in a row. But the last time I drank, I called every one of my ex-girlfriends at three in the morning while sobbing.” (Andy Seifert)

February 19-21 at Lakeshore Theater, 3175 N. Broadway, (773)472-3492, 7:30pm and 10:30pm. $15-$20.

RECOMMENDED

Of exaggerated and theatrical political satirists, few are as lovable and relevant as Will Durst, the fast-talking, quick-witted stand-up/writer, who’s stated he’s “too old for comedy clubs” (pshaw!). Like any bipartisan political humorist, Durst spreads the love, deprecating Republicans and Democrats alike (well, possibly a little more for the Republicans) and conveying his general dumbfounded incredulity at American social absurdities. At 56 years old, Durst may be the wise man of political humor, but he’s just as prolific as ever, contributing numerous columns to political blogs, magazines, putting up “Burst of Durst” YouTube clips, and spearheading a one-man off-Broadway show, “The All-American Sport of BiPartisan bashing,” featuring an exhausting, two-minute sentence expressing his parting thoughts on the George W. Bush administration (and, evidently, his love for compound modifiers). Here’s a taste of that sentence: “constitution-shredding, Halliburtoning, bicycle-falling, brush-clearing, monkey-faced, hunchbacked, pretzel-choking, draft-dodging, Hurricane-disregarding, oil-company-fellating…” And that’s before the first breath. (Andy Seifert)

February 24-March 1, at Zanies, 1548 N. Wells, (312)337-4027.

“Theater has such an opportunity to challenge audiences and give them a very unique experience,” says Shawn Reddy, of Curious Theatre Branch and The MAGPIES. “The Art of Unbearable Sensations,” Reddy’s own MAGPIES side-project and Rhinoceros Theatre Festival installment currently running at the Viaduct, is a case in point. The piece, which consists of a series of “monologues/lectures that delve into what might have been the private lives of P.T. Barnum’s Circus freaks,” confronts audiences in a way much different than other theater. “There is a lot of audience participation,” says Reddy. “We get the audience to perform self-examinations of their own heads and to close their eyes and envision scenarios with the medium. We get the audience to play a more active role.” Reddy, inspired by his sympathy for Circus freaks—”people would just pay twenty-five cents to see them and then walk away”—and his concern over shock art—”what purpose does shock art serve when nothing is shocking, everything is possible?”—has created a piece that should not be absentmindedly observed. “If the audience goes away from the theater and holds on to what we did a couple hours longer and thinks about it—that’s all we can ask,” Reddy says. (Meaghan Strickland) 

Kimberly Logan, Suzan Faycurry

RECOMMENDED

Raven Theatre’s “Misamerica,” explores American business’ efforts to exploit the chaos in the Middle East. Even in hell, there’s a buck to be made.

Gina (Kimberly Logan) lands a sandal manufacturer’s (Steve Ratcliffe) Middle Eastern product launch. Culturally inappropriate decisions and poor judgment mount, as a “market research” tour dissolves into a riot and Gina’s concern for the welfare of the local liaison grows.

The occasionally simplistic script (stupid, venal people trying to exploit overly naïve people) can grow tiresome, but the cast’s screwball energy saves the day: Greg Hardin scores as a smarmy boss and Lindley Wisnewski brings the funny as a wacky relief supervisor.

Toward the end, Gina and a government representative assess the complexities of the conflict. More of that tone would have provided a great counterpoint. Instead, the audience is left with the madness of our actions, which are funny and not funny at all. (Lisa Buscani)

At The Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark, 773 338-2177. Through March 28.

The Artistic Home’s “Modigliani” delves into the life of one of the art world’s most uninhibited bohemians. Unfortunately, the piece details all of the artist’s bloated excess and none of his storied charm and intelligence.

The show’s opening is “smashing”: Amadeo “Modi” Modigliani (John Mossman) is shown literally and figuratively breaking through barriers. But from there, the story devolves into parody rather than portrait. Modi’s relationships with painters Chaim Soutine (Matt Welton) and Maurice Utrillo (Luis Crespo) are more Keystone Kops comedy than a meeting of minds, and his love affair with poet Beatrice Hastings (Maria Stephens) is reduced to a series of brawls. The cast attempts to inject some humanity and balance in the characters; Zbo (Eustace Allen) provides a welcome oasis of calm. But the script gradually whips them into a frenzy of self-destruction. Ultimately, Hastings retreats from their hardscrabble existence. Who could blame her? (Lisa Buscani)

At The Artistic Home, 3914 N. Clark Street, 866 811-4111. Through March 22.

By Dennis Polkow

Relaxing backstage on a break between rehearsals, you barely have a chance to ask if the Lookingglass production of “Our Town” coming on the heels of the much-acclaimed David Cromer production that began at the Hypocrites last year and is opening next week in New York is a coincidence before co-directors Anna D. Shapiro, 2008 Tony Award winner for “August: Osage County,” and Jessica Thebus, both nod their heads in unison.

Shapiro offers that two productions so close together may only seem odd to “those of us who live and breathe theater rather than for ordinary people with a life who may like theater, but who probably have one theater that they principally go to.” Did either of them see the Hypocrites’ production? “Oh, sure,” says Thebus, “we went together. It was a beautiful production and very inspiring.” Did it confirm anything that the pair might—or might not—do in their own production? Long pause, broken by Shapiro: “Yes, and yes, though we would never tell you what those might be.” “Ditto,” shoots back Thebus. “Keep in mind,” says Shapiro, “we are all good friends. David and I went to school together back to high school and we cheer one another on. This is not competitive like sports: David texted the day we began rehearsals and wished us well, and I said, ‘Gee, it’s going so well, is it really this easy?’ and he’s like, ‘That’s the secret, it’s like singing “Danny Boy,” you really can’t screw it up.’”

Contrary to the notion that the pair are bringing “new life to an old chestnut,” Shapiro and Thebus say they have always been fascinated with “Our Town,” ever since they first read it back in high school. “I never thought this was anything less than a great play,” says Shapiro. “Even seeing a high-school production reduces me to crippled weeping. I have been trying to get my students to direct it forever, but they didn’t know how great it is. Now, they are all going to want to do it.” “It is iconic,” agrees Thebus, “like the Bible or Shakespeare.”

So why do “Our Town” at Lookingglass and not Steppenwolf, where Shapiro is ensemble member and where Thebus is artistic associate? “It’s not what people might think, namely that no one at Steppenwolf wanted to do it,” offers Shapiro. “The fact is, everyone wanted to do it, and there were three people with their hands up ahead of me who haven’t gotten it together yet, so it would be a long, long wait there. I’m not big enough.” Even with a shiny new Tony Award? “I’m not big enough physically,” Shapiro jokes.

And why do it together? “We are both huge devotees of the play,” says Shapiro, and both teach it at Northwestern and have always loved it. “We have a common vision,” says Thebus, Shapiro cutting in, “and mutual respect and friendship. Together, there is more dynamism and because there are two of us, everything is an external conversation, which is great. Usually, directing a show is a very solitary and lonely experience, but the chance to do this together makes this very special. We will probably write a book on the process of putting this together,  it has been that fascinating.”

“You read it one way when you’re very young,” muses Thebus, “but as you’re older, another layer of meaning emerges and you think, ‘Ah, that’s what that line means.’” “There is a power there, in coming back to something familiar from when we are young and revisiting it in a whole new way,” says Shapiro. “And here is this company [Lookingglass] that is now 20 years old and the folks all went to college together so are already a close community and all of us, including David [Cromer], are exactly the same age now and at the same point in the arc of our lives where life and death are on our minds and we are seeing that from the prism of this play.”

Does casting David Schwimmer of “Friends” fame as George Gibbs, though, carry a risk of pop-culture recognition, something akin to Daniel Radcliffe of “Harry Potter” fame doing “Equus”? “Let me tell you,” scolds Shapiro, “that kid [Radcliffe] was amazing. This is Chicago, and I think most people know, or should know, that David was a theater actor here long before television found him. We should all be so multi-talented.”

Shapiro’s own success with “August: Osage County,” which won her the 2008 Tony Award for Best Director and which is still running on Broadway and in London, and will begin a national tour in July, is no less impressive, but she feels that it is time to move on to other things. “The rhythm of the life of a theater director is such that you start a project and you end a project, but this keeps sprouting elsewhere,” Shapiro says. “Don’t get me wrong: I am enormously grateful for this association and for what this show has achieved and really do think that every actor involved with it should get a house and a car. But it is tough to keep coming back again and again to the rehearsal room and refresh the show and I’ve had my say with it.  If I wanted a Starbucks franchise, I’d have bought a Starbucks franchise.”

“Our Town” previews through February 20 and runs February 21-April 5 at Lookingglass Theatre, 821 N. Michigan, $30-$60; (312)337-0665.

Anthony Moseley

By William Scott

“With this new reality we thought it would be important to make sure arts organizations weren’t becoming isolated, burrowing in, attempting to go it alone in meeting their financial and operational challenges,” shares Peter Kuntz, executive director of the Arts & Business Council of Chicago. Last month his organization, along with the Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Alliance, hosted a forum titled “Break on Through: The Creative Response to Tough Times.”  The objective was to get the arts community to jumpstart a dialogue that might lead to innovation in product and infrastructure.  Though Chicago has not escaped the quake of the economic landscape, the creative vitality that has distinguished the city’s art makers for so long may lead the way out of the financial muck.

“We are a receptor,” says Kuntz, “a community of common experiences, a collective resource if and when we want to be that.”  His sentiments echo the larger conversations currently facing our nation. Our new administration’s mission to restore transparency and encourage bold action may create trickle-down inspiration that gives some Chicago groups the optimism to make it out alive.

“I firmly believe that Barack Obama plus the economic crisis does equal a revolution and it is one we needed badly,” says Anthony Moseley, executive artistic director of Collaboraction, a multidisciplinary performing arts organization that is best known for the Sketchbook Festival of short performances. Moseley’s unusual title positions him in charge of the creative and administrative strata of the company.  A concept he believes to be integral to weathering financially turbulent times ahead.

“I think it is finally time to dissolve the imaginary line between the business and art sides of our company.  It does not exist so stop pretending it does,” asserts Moseley.  “We need more creative thinking in the business meetings and more savvy business smarts in our creative meetings. Ideas are our currency.”

Collaboraction has seen creativity turn directly into dollars by developing a profit center based on existing assets.  The company calls it Experience Design.  Event conceptualization, design, casting and management form the bones of this project that has already proven to be a profitable venture.  The program follows a similar path to Redmoon Theater’s event work, work that is transitioning to a primary focus for the company. This year will see an annual calendar of public events for Redmoon.  Less emphasis on producing shows in their space. Both Collaboration and Redmoon see public engagement as critical steps to ensuring long-term viability and maintaining importance within the community.

In addition to strategic creative moves, companies are also faced with establishing infrastructure that can withstand the turbulence.  As belts tighten, individual giving will decrease and the hunt for foundation, corporate and government money will become increasingly competitive. For the past eleven years, Timeline Theatre has operated with a cash surplus, a record the Timeline staff intends to carry on despite these difficult conditions.  The staff believes transparency is vital to establishing resiliency.

“You can’t avoid it.  It wouldn’t be prudent to not talk about it,” tells Timeline director of marketing Lara Goetsch.  “We created ‘Inside Story’ for people we consider to be investors.  This document gives the supporters an honest assessment of what is going on.”

“Inside Story” is a brief newsletter, financial report and call to arms.  The document will be published quarterly throughout 2009 as a way to keep the general perception of this smaller mid-sized company accurate.  With Timeline’s fortunate economic situation and consistently high quality of production, it would be easy for patrons to turn their attentions elsewhere when making contributions.  Timeline wishes to make it abundantly clear that sustained growth is only possible with the continued support of such individuals.  This and other strategies recently garnered the company the Richard Goodman Strategic Planning Award in the nonprofit category by the Association for Strategic Planning.

“Timeline has always been a calculated risk taker,” says Goetsch. “We don’t want to pare down. We want to be smart and do things we hope stand out. At the end of the day we aren’t being safe, we are being realistic and planning carefully so that we are in good shape.”

In the coming weeks, months and perhaps years, stories of arts organizations scaling back, merging or shutting down will be told. However, stories of nimble, creative problem solving, like the ones above, will also surface.  It is this creativity that will prove Chicago organizations are properly suited up with realistic optimism that will define the city’s cultural DNA into the future.  (William Scott)

In Victory Gardens’ “Living Green,” the African-American Freemans have made all the right decisions at all the right times in their careers and in their choice of real estate. Now they are faced with a financial and ethical dilemma: do they sell their beloved family home and return to their old neighborhood and invest in its future?

The politics and economics of this Gloria Bond Clunie play are simplistic; the piece ignores the venality fueling the Freemans’ move. What’s the difference between “rising up” and reclaiming an old neighborhood (where better housing deals can be found) and causing the painful displacement of gentrification? The competent ensemble tries valiantly to bring sincerity to the often clever but sometimes tinny patter; Corey Marshaun Cantrell stands out as the gang-banger who puts the Freemans’ good will to the test. But good intentions alone can’t overcome the predictable plot and telegraphed twists. (Lisa Buscani)

At Victory Gardens Theatre, 2433 N. Lincoln, 773 871-3000, through March 1.

Photo by Cheryl Mann

Take your date, be it blind or a spouse, to see River North Chicago Dance Company’s annual Valentine’s Engagement this weekend.  River North is one of the organizations that makes Chicago an exciting place to see contemporary dance, with work both accessible and intelligent. This year the program features five works, three of them world premieres.  Most notably, River North company member Monique Haley will bring her “Uhuru,” set to the music of Akoya Afrobeat Ensemble. “It’s the kind of music that inspires joy, freedom and celebration in that warm place inside your soul,” says Haley. Rounding out the evening will be the return of Robert Battle’s “Train” and a piece called “Underground Movements,” featuring choreography by artistic director Frank Chaves, an original score by Philadelphia-based composer Evan Solot, and live vocals by members of the Chicago Children’s Choir.  River North invites you to get in the act too.  Visit rivernorthchicago.com to participate in a contest they call “Show Us Your Moves.”  Download the music, record your own dance, and upload.  One winner will have their video featured in a special place during the show.  (William Scott)

At the Harris Theater for Music & Dance, 205 East Randolph, (312)334-7777. February 13 & 14.