RECOMMENDED

Athol Fugard’s most personal play, “Master Harold” examines the crippling effect of South African apartheid through a boy’s relationship with workers at his family’s tea room.

On a rainy day in Port Elizabeth, Willie (Daniel Bryant) and Sam (Alfred H. Wilson) prepare the tea room and regale young Hally (Nate Burger) with stories of  local ballroom-dancing championships, a graceful world without ugliness or awkward collision. They attempt to guide Hally through his inability to face his father’s disabilities and alcoholism, to no avail.

Wilson brings a zen calm and dignity to Sam, Hally’s substitute father figure. Bryant captures Willie’s sly, soothing comedy as the tea room’s peacemaker. Newcomer Burger’s energy is refreshing, but his performative style prevents him from bringing subtle nuances to the role. Timothy Mann’s set is a wedding cake of 1950s pastels; Jonathan Wilson’s direction drives the pacing to its unfortunate climax and inevitable confrontation. (Lisa Buscani)

At Timeline Theatre, 615 W. Wellington, (773)281-8463. Through March 21.

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 »

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 »

As part of our decade retrospective, we surveyed more than forty theater companies for their observations to a couple of questions. What follows are their formatted but unedited responses.

Deb Clapp
Executive Director, League of Chicago Theatres (founded 1979)

Any observations or thoughts about Chicago theater in the last decade?
Over the last decade, Chicago has seen the downtown theater district grow and thrive, Goodman moved downtown and several theaters were re-furbished. Lookingglass moved into their new digs on Michigan Avenue and theater has flourished. Several exciting new companies have been established including The House Theatre of Chicago, Silk Road Theatre Project, New Leaf Theatre and Rasaka, among many others.

Is there a “Chicago style” anymore (if there ever was) and has it changed? What, today, distinguishes Chicago theater from anywhere else?
A number of unique characteristics distinguish Chicago theater. We have a unique ecology encompassing a wide range of theater artistry, from spectacle to culturally specific, horror to improv, houses with thousands of seats to houses with 18 seats. Our community is very collegial and collaborative, sharing ideas and resources. When one theater has a hit show, its not just a hit for that show, it’s a hit for Chicago. Our directors, authors, actors, stagehands, producers, all are Chicagoans and all create for a Chicago audience.

Outside of your own company, who or what excites you most about local theater right now?
Chicago is the best place to see and to make theater in the world. A lot of attention from other parts of the country and the world is being paid to Chicago theater right now and while that is wonderful and will inevitably lead us to greater things, what continues to happen every night in Chicago theater brings me joy. Telling our stories and the stories of others, bringing the world on stage every night, that’s what excites me most. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

A substantial, convincing production of a timely Arthur Miller play about wartime profiteering, denial and, of course, the Lost American Dream. “I just want something I can give myself to,” the play’s naif tells his father, in a line that encapsulates the play’s  tense web of desire, thwarted with bleak modernism that’s peppered with real insights into human psychology. Director Kimberly Senior pulls out remarkably strong performances, with Janet Ulrich Brooks in a standout role as a grieving mother. The show hits all the right notes, from banter to melodrama, effectively teasing out the play’s subtle and off-kilter comedy, through creative use of mumblings and echoings, that could have been lost in a more constrained production. Visually, it’s at times surrealistically television-like, with a fairly corny, astroturfed set straight out of a sitcom backyard, and the acting often feels very TV-influenced. Yet this element adds to the production, embedding its “sins of the fathers” heaviness and explorations of the limitations of knowledge into a claustrophobically mediated way of being in the world. (Monica Westin)

TimeLine Theatre at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln, (773)404-7336. Through October 4.

Here’s the press release announcing the Jeff noms for Equity:

Chicago Theatres Shine in Outstanding Jeff Nominated Productions of 2008-2009 Season

Goodman Theatre and Drury Lane Oakbrook
Top List of Award Nominees

50 Years of The Second City to be Spotlighted
at The Jeff Awards

Thursday, August 27, 2009 – Chicago, IL.   The Jeff Awards today announced 179 nominations in 35 categories for Chicago Equity theatrical productions which opened between August 1, 2008, and July 31, 2009. The Jeff Awards sent judges to the opening nights of 141 productions offered by 57 producing organizations. From these openings, 98 Equity productions were “Jeff Recommended,” which made them eligible for award nominations.

The 41st Annual Jeff Awards ceremony, honoring excellence in professional theatre produced within the immediate Chicago area, will be held on Monday, October 19, at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Boulevard. A pre-show Appetizer Buffet will run from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and the Awards Ceremony, directed by Michael Weber, will begin at 7:30 p.m. The Second City, celebrating 50 years as a producer, will play a featured role at the Jeff Awards ceremony. Advance purchase tickets, which include the ceremony and the pre-show buffet, are $75 ($55 for members of Actors’ Equity Association, United Scenic Artists, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and The Dramatists Guild of America). The evening is black tie optional and the public is cordially invited to attend. To purchase tickets, visit the Jeff Awards website at www.jeffawards.org. For more information, contact Equity Chair Diane Hires at equitywing@jeffawards.org. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the press release from Eclipse:

Eclipse Theatre Company Leads Year-Long Exploration of Arthur Miller
in 2009 / 2010 Chicago Theatre Season

(CHICAGO, August 5, 2009) – Classic American theatre fans are in for a treat this upcoming season with several new productions exploring the works one of the 20th century’s greatest American playwrights – some might argue the greatest – Arthur Miller.

Currently, there are four local theatre companies with Arthur Miller productions slated, including Chicago’s Eclipse Theatre Company, which is unique in the Midwest in its mission to focus on a single playwright each season. After a critically acclaimed and commercially successful two-year Celebration Series, in which Eclipse featured the work of the first 10 playwrights produced since the company adopted its mission of “one season, one playwright,” the 2010 Arthur Miller Season is a welcome return to the company’s seasonal format. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the press release from Strawdog: (Updated August 4, 2009)

STRAWDOG THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES
22ND ANNIVERSARY SEASON THEMED “Why We Fight”

Strawdog Theatre Company of Chicago announces their 22nd anniversary season of presenting “the whole wide world in a little black box,” with the three mainstage plays focusing on the theme of “why we fight”:  the Midwest premiere of Matt Pepper’s St. Crispin’s Day, Curt Columbus’ translation of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and David Harrower’s translation of Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Soul of Szechuan. The productions run Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 4 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 7 p.m.

These productions, plus ongoing late night offerings, are presented at Strawdog’s space in the heart of Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood at 3829 N. Broadway Street. Adult single ticket prices are $20 (single gala night tickets are $40 each, closing night tickets are $30 each); preview tickets are $10, student and senior tickets are $15 (with ID); and $15 tickets are available for groups of ten or more.  Season flex-passes are $50 for three admissions and $100 for six admissions, benefit performances count as two admissions. (All benefit performances include post-show reception with refreshments). Admission for Strawdog Late Night programming starts at $5 and varies for visiting artists. Tickets are available at 773.528.9696 and www.strawdog.org Read the rest of this entry »