RECOMMENDED

“After such a fall as this I shall think nothing of falling down stairs.” So says the precocious Alice (a captivating Lauren Hirte) after an acrobatic representation of falling down the rabbit hole. And after such an Alice as “Lookingglass Alice” I have a feeling I shall think nothing of other Lewis Carroll adaptations.

The deceptively simple opening few minutes quickly explodes into a meta-production that encompasses much of Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass”—with young Alice encountering a sort of adapted chess game in which she slowly advances towards her goal of becoming a queen. Along the way she meets a familiar cast of characters, remarkably played by only four other actors. The performers are given ample opportunity to display their well-developed acting (and movement) skills. Samuel Taylor’s manic White Knight, Molly Brennan’s psychotic Red Queen, Anthony Fleming III’s wild-eyed March Hare and Doug Hara’s contemplative Humpty Dumpty make the most lasting impression. 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.

Alison Torem, Philip R. Smith/Photo: Sean Willliams

RECOMMENDED

David Schwimmer and Andy Bellin’s piece about high-tech sexual assault isn’t anything new; we’ve already seen the internet-predator angle mined to death on “Law and Order: SVU.” But the stellar individual performances rise above the script to give us a bleak picture of technology’s abilities to unite and divide.

Annie (Allison Torem) is a well-adjusted high schooler whose long-distance friendship with a boy her age turns serious and sexual. He insists on an in-person rendezvous, and Annie discovers her adolescent boyfriend is really a 35-year-old man. The encounter results in a family’s fabric ripped apart at the seams as a young woman comes undone.

Torem is an ingenue’s ingénue; she invests her character with completely plausible vulnerability, yearning and discomfort. Philip Smith’s father is heartbreaking as he faces a daughter he doesn’t know anymore in a situation he cannot control. The material’s trite, but the performers give it new life. (Lisa Buscani)

The Lookingglass Theatre Company, 821 North Michigan, (312)337-0665. Through April 25.

Tara DeFrancisco, No. 36

In this town of performers—theater makers, dancers, comedy creators—you’d think it’d be pretty easy to assemble a list of artistic influencers and innovators. And it is. The challenge is paring that list down to a mere fifty. It’s a testament to the wonders of the performing-arts culture in Chicago that we easily came up with about 200 names when we set out to create this year’s version of The Players. Unfortunately, we’re only listing a fraction of those worthy of your attention, but that’s the problem with an abundance of riches. Hopefully you’ll see a handful of recognizable names and a whole lot more you’ll start noticing from this point on. We’ve retooled the criteria for this year, focusing on onstage artistic achievement, rather than the backstage influence of artistic directors, executive directors and the like—who will get their day again next year. Let the arguments begin. Read the rest of this entry »

Top 5 Shows
“Desire Under the Elms,” Goodman
“Blackbird,” Victory Gardens
“South Pacific,” Lincoln Center Theater
“The Tempest,” Steppenwolf
“Spring Awakening,” Broadway In Chicago 
—Brian Hieggelke

Top 5 Shows
“The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” Victory Gardens/Teatro Vista
“An Apology For the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening,” Theater Oobleck
“The Pillowman,” Redtwist
“Frat,” The New Colony
“Red Noses,” Strawdog
—Nina Metz Read the rest of this entry »

By Monica Westin

Links Hall’s new director, Roell Schmidt, is as diverse as the programming at Links; a playwright, producer and successful head of development and marketing at Lookingglass Theatre and the Chicago Chamber Musicians. We spoke with Schmidt, who started at Links in July, to get a sense of her plans.

Given your background in development, it seems that one of your focuses is going to be bringing in audiences?

That’s absolutely one of my most important missions. Performers don’t perform for themselves. I feel strongly that one of my major efforts has to be to ensure that the audience attendance is first at the scene, the way it was for Poonie’s this fall. We’ve been able to hit capacity a few times, and that’s our continued goal…. One method I found effective at other places has been the mighty power of the creative college student. There’s a great granting program that allows us to hire undergraduates to come and work on staff, and they’re tapping into all of their social-networking knowledge and creativity, thinking about who would be the right groups or individuals to know about an event, and how to get them that information. Read the rest of this entry »

The Addams Family at The Oriental/Photo: Samuel Adams

By Brian Hieggelke

As the wind blows the snow sideways this December evening, the weatherman is telling Chicagoans to stay bunkered; the deserted downtown streets reflect their obedience. All save the sidewalk near the intersection of State and Randolph, as TV crews jockey for faces on the red carpet in front of the Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre, where more than 2,000 patrons, including a who’s who of backstage Broadway, are gathering for the world premiere of a new musical featuring a AAA list of talent, onstage and off. “The Addams Family,” with multiple Tony winners Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth in its leads, a book from the librettists of “Jersey Boys” and so on, is certainly Broadway bound, but tonight—tonight—Chicago is the center of theater in the world.

That’s the story of Chicago theater in the zeroes: the decade in which it grew up and got big. Whether it’s the launch and monumental success of Broadway In Chicago, the maturation and astonishing quality of a remarkable number of small and mid-sized companies or the increasing demand for Chicago product and Chicago talent on Broadway, Chicago theater has fully come into its own. Read the rest of this entry »

Peter DeFaria and Randy Steinmeyer in "A Steady Rain" at Chicago Dramatists

Annoyance Theatre
Coed Prison Sluts: $64,000, 5,380 people

The Artistic Home
Peer Gynt: $19,044 box office, 1,200 people

Chicago Dramatists
A Steady Rain: $21,000 box office,1,500 people at CD, 10,000 at Royal George Theatre
Cadillac: $23,000 box office,1,600 people at CD, 1,500 at Theatre on the Lake

Collaboraction
The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, $150,000 box office, 6,500 people Read the rest of this entry »

The 2006/07 season brought the grand opening of the new Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, following more than $11 million in renovations

Annoyance Theatre (founded 1987)
“We don’t really have a regular operating budget—just plan as we go along.”
—Jennifer Estlin, President, Annoyance Theatre

The Artistic Home (founded 1998)
End of nineties: $62,000
End of zeroes: $164,500

Bailiwick Chicago (founded 2009)
End of nineties: N/A (Bailiwick Repertory is now defunct)
End of zeroes: $120,000 projected 2010

Chicago Dramatists (founded 1979)
End of nineties: $171,000
End of zeroes: $550,000

Collaboraction (founded 1996)
End of nineties: $50,000
End of zeroes: $500,000

Court Theatre (founded 1955)
End of nineties: $2.6 million
End of zeroes: $3.2 million Read the rest of this entry »

2000

Milestones

500 Clown, Steep Theatre, the side project and Teatro Luna are founded

Broadway In Chicago launches as a joint venture between Live Nation and the Nederlander Organization

Goodman departs its original home in the Art Institute of Chicago and moves into $51 million new digs in the North Loop

Chicago Shakespeare moves into a $24 million theater on Navy Pier

Collaboraction produces its first Sketchbook

The City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs opens The Storefront Theater

Passings

Michael Maggio, Goodman Theatre Associate Artistic Director and Dean of The Theatre School at DePaul University Read the rest of this entry »