Here’s the press release from Corn Productions:

Corn Productions has made it to 20! Founded in 1992, Corn has continued to bring original comedy to Chicago through three new Presidents, two Iraq wars, and one heck of a lot of laughs. Corn is celebrating twenty long years with a spectacular season that honors our mission to produce new works and celebrates our history with some slammin’ Corn classics. So, be prepared for a 20th season that will prove, once and for all, that Corn Productions is the best thing to ever come out of the early nineties.  Read the rest of this entry »

Terry Hamilton gets Fatt

By Brian Hieggelke

When the American Blues Theater ensemble was gathered in the spring of 2010 to vote on the next season, the idea to produce Clifford Odets’ “Waiting for Lefty” spawned a spirited debate over the relevance of its subject. “We were like, ‘Does anyone even care about unions?’” says producing artistic director Gwendolyn Whiteside.

“And then after we selected ‘Waiting for Lefty,’ all hell started to break loose in Wisconsin,” Whiteside says. “I was fascinated and I couldn’t believe what was going on. And then Indiana erupted, and Ohio, and everything that was going on in world politics. I probably learned more about union politics because of these events in the past year than I had in school.”

School starts early, in mid-August, for the cast of “Lefty.” It’s the opening night of rehearsals and about three dozen or so folks are gathered in a large room that is the Remy Bumppo Rehearsal Space in Lakeview.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the press release from Drury Lane:

DRURY LANE ANNOUNCES ITS EXCITING 2012-2013 SEASON
Featuring HAIRSPRAY, THE 39 STEPS, PROMISES, PROMISES, SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN AND SUNSET BOULEVARD

Oak Brook, Ill.—Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, known for producing acclaimed, innovative and classic musicals and comedies, announces its 2012-2013 season featuring five glorious films brought to new life on stage. The Tony Award-winning phenomenon HAIRSPRAYpreviews April 12, opens April 19 and runs through June 17; the riveting thriller THE 39 STEPS previews July 5, opens July 12 and runs through August 26; the effervescent Broadway classic PROMISES, PROMISES previews September 6, opens September 13 and runs through October 28; the beloved masterpiece SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN previews November 8, opens November 15 and runs through January 13; and SUNSET BOULEVARD, the triumphant Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, previews January 24, opens January 31 and runs through April 7. Read the rest of this entry »

I come from cheap theater; I don’t look down my nose at young companies on a budget. But I hate it when ensembles ignore their limitations or fall back on implausibility to end a story.  Such is the case with Brikenbrak’s latest.

Jacob (Paul Cosca) is an unsatisfied teacher with an unhappy home life who’s drafted to helm a poetry club. He meets Sarah (Kacy Smith), a poetry maven who is too old for her age and too vulnerable for the world. Their relationship deepens, no surprise there. But when Sarah is murdered, we are left with questions that the piece strains to answer. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the press release from SiNNERMAN:

SiNNERMAN ENSEMBLE ANNOUNCES FIFTH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
SinFest party, Sept. 4, kicks the celebration off with just a bit of “SiN”

CHICAGO — After five years of creating award-winning, attention-grabbing, provocative theatre, SiNNERMAN Ensemble is pleased to announce the arrival of their latest season, which they will kick off with a new take on their hit show, Sweet Confinement, opening Thursday, Nov. 17 at the Viaduct Theatre. Read the rest of this entry »

NSP founders Brian Rohde, Nick Cardiff, and Mikey Laird

By Erin Kelsey

If there’s one thing Nothing Special Productions’ Executive Director Nick Cardiff and Artistic Director Mikey Laird are uncomfortable about, it’s the name of their company. Over the course of an hour, they offer me numerous explanations of how the name—borrowed from a “joke rock band” they played in during high school, and one they are obviously fond of—is appropriate to what they do, and not just a quick-fix title that stuck. It was, from what I understand, but since their first performance the name has come more and more to be representative of the company. Read the rest of this entry »

By Erin Kelsey

Few production managers work harder than the one in charge of the Chicago Fringe Festival. The festival is nothing if not ambitious—with 200 shows to schedule in five venues over two weekends, Executive Director Sarah Mikayla Brown and the staff face an incredible challenge. They are better prepared to face the challenge this year, though, as they embark on their second annual festival. “Last year was all about getting off the ground,” says Tim Mullaney, Director of Development, “and this year is maintaining it and starting to put the pieces together.”

The major difference the second-time attendee will notice this year is the fact that the festival has extended to two weekends. Last year, it was difficult to bring audiences in for the weekday afternoon shows, but expanding to a two-week run allows shows to only perform in the evenings on workdays. “This year we had the luxury of spreading it out and leaving a little more room,” Brown says. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Carol Rosegg

RECOMMENDED

Colin Quinn (best known for “SNL” and “Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn”) has a knack for making cynicism sound almost playful. His latest one-man show finds him systematically traversing the globe in (mostly) chronological order examining the successes and ultimate failures of various cultures and societies, constantly reminding us that despite what we think of the global situation today, things have always been screwed up and will always be screwed up simply because we humans are screwed up. Quinn’s thesis is that even the best societies are undone by continuously “doing the same thing that works, even after it stops working” and like a lawyer employing anecdotal evidence he systematically builds his case, giving humankind a gentle ribbing in the process. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the press release from State Theatre:

“CHI-SPY!” STATE THEATRE THROWS A MULTI-MEDIA SCAVENGER HUNT FUNDRAISER ON SATURDAY, AUG. 27
Company Announces 2011-2012 Season

CHICAGO – The State Theatre of Chicago is turning boring fundraisers on its head with “Chi-Spy” a city-wide, multi-media scavenger hunt on Saturday, Aug. 27 starting at 4 p.m. Advanced tickets are on sale for $20 at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/193075 or can be purchased day of at the event for $25. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Matthew Gregory Hollis

Lizzie Leopold begins our interview by saying, “part of the project was to demystify modern dance.” A moment later, she talked about the challenge of not only presenting, but watching process-based performance—the kind of repetition-based, non-narrative exploration that serves as the foundation of her new piece “une elephante”—and the trust required on the part of the choreographer to pull it off. The two statements might seem in opposition; isn’t slow-paced, story-less dancing the kind that scares away audiences out of fear either of being bored or of having to talk about it afterward? Read the rest of this entry »