Will Cooper, who only started writing plays in 2004 after “accidentally” taking a playwriting class his wife couldn’t, has his first full-scale professional production, “Jade Heart,” at Chicago Dramatists after his first play “Book of Leaves” debuted at Village Players in 2006. We spoke to Cooper the week before the show opened about identity, race and coming of age.

So just a little about the play. Would “family drama” be an accurate description?
Definitely a good place to start. Here’s the slug paragraph: “Jade Heart” tells the story of Jade, a woman abandoned as an infant in China and adopted in America by a single mother. It follows their lives from Jade’s childhood until her early twenties. It’s a fictional account of transnational, transracial adoption… It touches on the social and political issue of overpopulation in China and the one-child rule of 1979, but it’s not a piece of propaganda… I’d hope it’s a human story primarily about the relationship between a mother and her daughter, and the daughter’s struggle to answer questions about origin and identity. Read the rest of this entry »

Franco Fagioli and Sasha Cooke/Photo: Liz Lauren

RECOMMENDED

The celebrated music director of a major opera company once admitted to me that he thought that Mozart “invented” opera as we know it. “Never mind all of that Monteverdi nonsense,” he pontificated, the works of whom he admitted he had never seen performed, and as if that was all there was before Mozart. As it turns out, we all have a lot to learn.

How soon we forget: although Francesco Cavalli’s “Jason” was the most performed opera of the seventeenth century, it is only now being given its first professional performance in Chicago courtesy of Chicago Opera Theater more than three-and-a-half centuries after its 1649 Venetian premiere.

No, “Jason” is not quite the lost gem on the level of “Moses in Egypt,” the rare Rossini work that COT also recently resurrected. But for those who have the slightest interest in the history of musical theater and in the transition from the Renaissance to the early Baroque period—to say nothing of really great singing—“Jason” is a must-see.

When Rene Jacobs made the first full recording of the piece more than two decades ago, it tested then state-of-the-art length limits of three overstuffed compact discs, and even that was with a number of cuts. The COT performance has whittled the score down to the manageable point where “Jason” can be experienced within three hours, including a single intermission. Read the rest of this entry »

"Casanova Takes a Bath"

By Monica Westin

It’s a notable month for Theater Oobleck. With the remount of the company’s recent Rhino Fest contribution, “Casanova Takes a Bath,” at Prop Thtr in late May, and their current ambitious cantastoria project in conjunction with Links Hall (along with recent performances at the Hideout and the Packer Schopf Gallery), the company’s various members are performing and collaborating all over town. We spoke with two Oobleck members: David Isaacson, Oobleck founding member and the writer and performer of “Casanova,” and David Buchen, part of the brains and much of the work behind the cantastoria projects at Links and elsewhere, about the ancient forms and influences in contrast with the contemporary concerns of Oobleck’s various performances around town.

I have to admit that I missed “Casanova” at Rhino Fest. Can you talk a little about the play and how it will be different in this production?
David Isaacson: You’re not the only one! It was easy to miss. I did it along with Beau [O’Reilly of Curious Theatre Branch] and it was a weekend matinee, very easy to miss. For the handful of people who made it to the show at Rhino, this one won’t be very different, but for the rest of us… It’s a show that combines the fun of Casanova’s memoirs with commentary on our current economy. It sounds like a strange connection, but the way it works is to use episodes from the life of Casanova as mini-allegories for aspects of our current financial crisis, where the little vignettes hopefully add a layer of understanding to how we got here. Read the rest of this entry »

"Crossed" rehearsal/Photo: Herbert Migdoll

Choreographer Jessica Lang may be young, but she has created works for the most prominent ballet companies across the U.S., including American Ballet Theatre. This weekend, her new work “Crossed” opens alongside a world premiere by James Kudelka, former artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada, and a revival of Gerald Arpino’s “Reflections” as part of the Joffrey’s spring program. This is her first commission from the Joffrey Ballet.

Can you tell me about your inspiration for “Crossed”?
Inspiration came from an idea for the set. I was drawing, thinking about what you could do in the theater space. I drew a vertical panel and a horizontal panel, forming the shape of a cross. It’s a very simple pattern; physically I can make that shape over and over again and be inventive with that idea of crossing. For music, I went with music that was written for the church: portions of Mozart’s Mass in C and some of des Prez and Handel’s music. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

The story of Hephaestus’ rejection from Mount Olympus and subsequent drama with the gods is underdeveloped at best in this production,  and sometimes incoherent—there’s often little connection between the narrated story (so simplistic it mostly feels like children’s theater) and often bizarre physical theater that less illustrates the story than interrupts it with some spectacle. However (and it’s a big however), this is easily some of the best physical theater and circus performance you’ll see in an intimate stage in Chicago. Lookingglass has enlisted a ridiculously impressive lineup who give virtuoso, seemingly impossible performances—culminating in a seven-person pyramid on the high wire that’s both terrifying and dazzling. (Monica Westin)

At The Goodman, 170 North Dearborn, (312)337-0665. Through June 20.

RECOMMENDED

The multi-generational Perceptual Motion presents its annual concert this weekend at the Hamlin Park Studio—a fittingly intimate, spare space for a company that focuses on emotionally charged, deeply personal choreography. The program includes a world premiere by Perceptual Motion’s artistic director Lin Shook entitled “Dance of the Seven Chakras,” a commentary on the unifying and alienating effects of cell phones entitled “Are You Connected,” and “Oh, Michael” a tribute to late Mr. Jackson. (Sharon Hoyer)

At the Hamlin Park Studio Theatre, 3035 N. Hoyne, 2nd floor, (773)549-3958. April 29 and 30, 7:30pm. $15, $12 students and seniors.

Lia Mortensen, Cynthia Judge, Franette Liebow/Photo: John Gedeon, Jr.

It does Provision Theater no disservice, I think, to state that any judgement of “The Hiding Place,” the original adaptation of Corrie ten Boom’s autobiography that closes the company’s current season, will largely depend on one’s own identification with spirituality and religion. Though for too much of the play’s almost three hours I felt like I was at church, I still found myself sympathizing with the plight and struggles of the ten Boom family as they tirelessly fought the forces of Nazi oppression, and worked to do right by man and God. A Christian family in Holland, the ten Booms nevertheless find themselves an integral part of the underground during WWII, turning their home into a hiding place for Jews on the run. Adaptor/director Tim Gregory has cast a talented group of actors, led by Lia Mortensen as Corrie ten Boom, who find nuance and levity in their roles. And the production design, particularly the set by Inseung Park and the lighting by Josh Wessecker, is crafted so well as to bear some strikingly resonant symbolisms. Yet Gregory’s adaptation fails to make you forget you’re watching a history play. Read the rest of this entry »

In one century, the heartbroken Tyler (Emily Harpe) sulks in her apartment with her supportive coworkers Beth (Ashley Thornton) and Randy (Ross Compton), while in another, the poet Carvier (Kirk Mason) sulks in a jail cell, awaiting execution by the evil—and gleefully effeminate—Prince Felipe (Mat Labotka). A magical ring (and some tongue-in-cheek blocking) brings the two together, where they must work to stop the ruthless Felipe from taking over Magical France. Billed as a “time travelling romantic comedy,” “Ring Around the Guillotine” is a slapdash mix of sensibilities from popular eighties comedies like “Weird Science” and “Back to the Future” combined with Monty Pythonesque characters and sketch-comedy one-liners. Though the show starts out slow and remains a bit uneven throughout, the script by Chris Tawfik and Anthony Ellison provides enough fun moments (occasionally pushed to laugh-out-loud funny by the comedically adept cast) to propel it through its full ninety minutes. As a tip to finding a deeper appreciation for the show’s sillier side, it doesn’t hurt that Chemically Imbalanced Comedy is BYOB. (Zach Freeman)

“Ring Around the Guillotine” plays at Chemically Imbalanced Comedy, 1420 W. Irving Park, (800)838-3006, through May 23. Fri-Sat/8pm, Sun/5pm. $15.

Christina Nieves and Edgar Miguel Sanchez/Photo: Chris Plevin

RECOMMENDED

A geeky brilliance and an unexpected wave of rousing feminism lives at the heart of “Welcome to Arroyo’s”, Kristoffer Diaz’s new play at American Theater Company directed by Jaime Castañeda. It’s a world premiere, but the play’s been knocking about at readings and festivals since 2003. Diaz, of course, is the exciting Latino playwright whose first commercially produced play, last season’s “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” Diaz’s love letter to professional wrestling, just nabbed a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize in drama. With “Arroyo’s”, Diaz once again taps his inner pop-cultural geek—this time for hip-hop—as well as his inner feminist, to produce an urban comedy that dares to place women at the birth of modern-day hip-hop.

Read the rest of this entry »

David Zak, executive director of the newly formed Pride Films and Plays, is hopeful about the progress that’s been made toward the public’s perception about the gay community. He is, however, also fully aware that more work needs to be done. “There seem to be so many things that are still issues,” says Zak who, until last year, served as artistic director of the financially beleagured Bailiwick Repertory Theatre for more than two decades. “Despite the fact that there’s more entertainment things that are gay friendly when you deal with, say, the political world and the sports world, the country still needs to take time to discuss these issues.” Pride Films and Plays, in an effort to educate and inspire the theater community and general public, is kicking off its inaugural event, “Five Decades of Great Gay Theater,” on May 9. For five straight weeks, the group will pull together local talent for staged readings of some of the better-known gay plays. The series begins with 1968’s “The Boys in the Band,” and will be directed by Michael Lasswell and hosted by Dean Richards of WGN TV & Radio. Each week moves up a decade until the final reading of 2003’s “Take Me Out,” which will be directed by Zak himself. “The works we tried to pick are things that audiences can still relate to,” says Zak. In conjunction with the reading series, the group will curate the “Great Gay Screenplay Contest.” Entries will be accepted from May 1-August 1, and five finalists will have their scripts performed as staged readings during Reeling 2010. “We want to get rid of all those little asterisks in our head,” says Zak about the idea of gay theater versus theater. “I hope the label becomes unnecessary.” (Peter Cavanaugh)