Here’s the press release from the Jeff Awards:

The Jeff Awards
Announces 2009 Non-Equity Nominations

Lifeline (14) and Theo Ubique (13) Are Top-Nominated Companies;
“Evita,” “Mariette in Ecstasy,” and “Rose and the Rime”
Garner 7 Nominations Each

Chicago, IL.  The Jeff Awards today announced 114 nominations in 24 categories for Non-Equity Jeff Awards, which honor excellence in Chicago theatres not under a union contract, for productions that opened between April 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009.  The Jeff Awards judged the opening nights of 130 productions offered by 57 non-Equity producing organizations and recommended 54 of them for further judging, making those 54 eligible for Non-Equity Jeff Award nominations in all categories. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

Walking down into the basement of the church where TimeLine Theatre holds court, there has always been the sense of heading into a school of sorts, but having to literally pass by the cluttered bedrooms of the “The History Boys” to find your seat—with the boys there engaged in various leisure activities as you do—it is amazing how instantaneously you are transported back to school.  As you find a seat, you notice that four across each section have upright armrests and there is a natural instinct not to take these desks, in the same way that most of us were unlikely to sit in the front of a classroom on the first day.   As the bell rings and the boys whoosh by you to take their seats, class is in session.  Any worries that you might have had about how ready TimeLine—or any smaller theater company, for that matter—might be to take on the area premiere of such a celebrated play with so many potential pratfalls from casting credible kids put in delicate situations to perfecting working-class British accents quickly fade away as you find yourself totally immersed in their world.  I don’t know what kind of techniques director Nick Bowling might have employed to have the eight-ensemble cast seem as if they know each other as well as a group of students who have been together in class together for what always seems like an eternity while it is happening, but the way these young men interact is extraordinary.  No less an accomplishment is that the teachers and the headmaster who are preparing these students for their Oxford and Cambridge entrance exams also interact with the students and each other with the needed familiarity necessary for Alan Bennett’s witty and thought-provoking play to work its special charms.   Read the rest of this entry »

Paul D’Addario and Keith Kupferer/Photo: Peter Coombs

RECOMMENDED

When you perform John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” at Steppenwolf, there is considerable baggage, given that the 1980 production with Gary Sinise and John Malkovich helped define the excellence so taken for granted at the company, and that the two went on to reprise their roles in a much-celebrated 1992 film version directed by Sinise.  Happily, however, this Steppenwolf for Young Adults version stands up memorably to these incarnations.  Cleverly making use of the existing set for “The Tempest,” director Michael Patrick Thornton has turned Prospero’s viewing stations into pockets of isolation for the loneliest characters in the play, Curley’s wife (Steinbeck never named her), who is the object of constant scrutiny by a jealous, insecure and overprotective husband, and the crippled Crooks (Emanueal Buckley) who is segregated from the rest of the ranchers because he is black.  What makes any production of “Of Mice and Men” work is, of course, the chemistry between George and Lennie, and Paul D’Addario and Keith Kupferer are able to make us believe that they are close friends looking out for each other.  Read the rest of this entry »

Megan Keach and Tony Fiorentino/Photo: Michael Brosilow

A fresh and piercing look at the fallout after the idealization of love meets the reality of human pettiness and insecurity. Unfortunately, the deft story, which insightfully weaves together the sexual and romantic exploits of a truly damaged family (its overt concern with polyamory thankfully relates and extends to the ins and outs of everyday romance), gets pulled irrevocably into the world of soap opera after almost two and a half hours of dramatic scenes that sometimes seem farcical; and in the final scenes, when the show suddenly crosses the Rubicon into melodrama, it’s hard to feel any emotional investment. Simultaneously, a palpable anxiety that the play be “smart” results in far too many intellectual and literary references, betraying a lack of confidence that the story itself provides enough interest to carry the production. The playwright, Tony Fiorentino, is both talented and quite young, and it’s easy to imagine his work developing the tightness and understatement that would have made “All My Love” an exemplary family drama—keep your eye on his work. Technically slick and visually satisfying, it’s finally the gusto and command of the acting that saves this show from much of its pretension and tedium. (Monica Westin)

At the Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont, (773)327-5252, or  ticketmaster.com, through May 10.   $18-$25.

Photo: Chris Ocken

RECOMMENDED

The Black Plague of the fourteenth century decimated one-third of Western Europe. Kinda puts all that recessionary gloom and doom in perspective, doesn’t it? In Peter Barnes’ “Red Noses,” Strawdog Theatre Company looks at order, chaos, sacrifice, community and how people cope when it all collapses.

Father Flote (John Ferrick as a clerical Everyman) searches for a way to serve his plague-ridden community. He finds it in laughter and entertainment; with Pope Clement VI’s (a delightfully amoral Stephen Taylor) backing, he travels the French countryside bringing mirth and merriment to those about to buy the farm.

Director Matt Hawkins’ staging keeps the show clipping along, peppering the tough text with eye-catching visual metaphor and anachronistic yet apropos 1980s pop tunes. The multi-talented ensemble has the singing and comedy chops the show requires; standouts include Shannon Hoag who sings, plays the cello and makes her character’s loneliness and fear palpable. (Lisa Buscani)

At the Strawdog Theatre Company, 3829 N. Broadway, (773)528-9889. Through May 21.

RECOMMENDED

A car salesman has a concussion that releases his inner muse, who turns out to be more hideous monster than Greek goddess. The muse, demanding and repugnant, manipulates and blackmails her salesman using her power over his career; eventually she forces him to make choices that ruin the rest of his life at the cost of their relationship. The story, half Faustian and half “frog prince,” transcends its clichés about the demands of a vocation through powerful images and strong acting, especially Ariel M. Trocino’s muse, that displays deft control in somewhat hyperactive scenes that could otherwise devolve into chaos. “Musing” is finally very funny, if inconsistently so, mixed with effective creepiness that gets more chilling over time, and if the writing itself is uneven, with some occasional forays into tired themes and predictable jokes, it’s easy to overlook and move on thanks to the real food for thought and satisfying stride the production provides. (Monica Westin)

At The Side Studio, 1520 W. Jarvis, (888)296-5553, or tympanictheatre.org, through May 23.

Victoria Jaiani and Fabrice Calmels/Photo: Cheryl Mann

RECOMMENDED

As the winds grow warmer and trees burst into flower, the Joffrey season closes on an appropriately romantic note; the Spring Program is comprised of four works about love—a theme broad enough to leave room for a diverse program and one I hope will exploit the versatility of the Joffrey dancers as successfully as their previous performance (in which the company seamlessly shifted between a minimalist acrobatic pas de trois based on Calder mobiles, the reconstruction of Nijinsky’s riot-inducing “Le Sacre du Printemps” and a blithe, lighthearted number by Gerald Arpino, former artistic director of the Joffrey). The tribute to Arpino—who passed away last year—continues with an uncharacteristically somber piece: “Ronde d’Anges,” about the parting of lovers at death. The celebration of the Ballet Russe centennial concludes with “Les Noces,” an ensemble piece choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska, Vaslav Nijinsky’s sister. Also on the program is “Valses Poeticos,” a tender duet originally choreographed by Helgi Tomasson (AD of the phenomenal San Francisco Ballet) for Ashley Wheater, Arpino’s capable successor. The headlining piece is the Joffrey premiere of Christopher Wheeldon’s work set to the score of the musical “Carousel.” (Sharon Hoyer)

At the Auditorium Theater, 50 E. Congress Pkwy, (312)902-1500. May 1-3 and 8-10. $25-$145.

RECOMMENDED
Actress, comedienne, activist, radio host, and bane of freedom-lovin’ conservatives, former stand-up mainstay Janeane Garofalo returns to her roots, sure to piss off Bill O’ Reilly or Glenn Beck or whomever from the stage rather than from the radio booth. Personally, I preferred Garofalo before she flung herself into the middle of the political arena, back in the early nineties when her self-deprecation knew no boundaries and she’d toss around sayings like, “I have no self-esteem left, and I hate to be the type of girl comedian to talk about those things, and I never thought I would be, but I’m a beaten man.” Her Air America incarnation of the last five years, playing a sort of left-wing answer to Dennis Miller, has been mildly amusing, but I still say she peaked during her iconic performance as The Bowler in the 1999 cult classic “Mystery Men.” Garofalo will be appearing with comedic vet (and her former Air America partner) Marc Maron. (Andy Seifert)

May 1 at Lakeshore Theater, 3175 N. Broadway, (773)472-3492, 7:30pm and 10pm. $29.50.

Renae Stone and Eric S Prahl and Neal Tucker

One of Stoppard’s most difficult plays to stage, “The Real Thing” requires a great deal in the way of timing; the dialogue has got to be rapid-fire and the pace impeccable to sustain momentum. Not only are there a great number of very short scenes, but the strength of the piece also comes from its quick turns of action and speech and smart play-within-a-play frame, exploring with humor and insight the ever-changing relations between a frustrated playwright, the two actresses he loves, more actors, and a Scottish prisoner one of the actresses has adopted as an activism project.  The Saint Sebastian Players’ great initiative only partially satisfies the show’s demands, with consistently impressive acting undermined by laborious set changes (sometimes as long as the scenes themselves). Combined with a narrative clip that doesn’t quite turn on a dime, the timing drags the performance down from its heady story. The show’s visuals and technical theater are fairly under-baked, with a bland but unnecessarily complicated set, and costumes that lack style and coherence, so there’s not much to look at while waiting for the next line of witty banter. (Monica Westin)

At Saint Bonaventure, 1641 W. Diversey, tickets at saintsebastianplayers.org. Though May 17.

Christoph Horton Abiel, Tamberla Perry, Lily Mojekwu/Photo: Michael Brosilow

This week it was announced that African-American playwright Lynn Nottage had received the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Drama for “Ruined,” her harrowing play set amidst the atrocities of an African civil war.  I wish “Ruined” was still playing in Chicago (the show premiered last year at the Goodman).  I could then offer you  an alternative to J.T. Rogers’ “The Overwhelming,” his well-meaning but entirely forgettable political drama set on the cusp of an African civil war, specifically the Rwandan genocide that claimed the lives of nearly one million people in 1994.

In this underwhelming Chicago-area premiere by Next Theatre in Evanston, an American political scientist and professor of international studies (Jack) moves his new wife Linda and 17-year-old son Geoffrey to Rwanda in early 1994, and then is shocked (shocked!!) to discover that the country is on the verge of violent civil strife.  Read the rest of this entry »