28 shows found.
Company: Sandra Bernhard & The Rebellious Jezebels
Venue: Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre
Performances: Monday 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m.
Tickets: $60 (7 p.m.)/$50 (9:30 p.m.)
Closes: Runs Through Oct 27
Company: Shattered Globe Theatre
Venue: Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater
Performances: Thursday 8 p.m. (preview 5/15, industry nite 5/22), Friday 8 p.m. (preview 5/16), Saturday 8 p.m. (preview 5/17), Sunday 3 p.m.
Tickets: $27–$35 ($20 previews, $15 industry)
Closes: Runs Through Jul 5
Jo, a downtrodden teenager from 1950s Manchester, is saddled with a drunken mom and an unexpected pregnancy. But she's not finished yet. "A Taste of Honey," the classic play by Shelagh Delaney, tells the story of Jo's efforts to create life on her own terms. Jeremy Wechsler directs a production that has received multiple raves from local reviewers. The biggest props go to the actors, particularly Helen Sadler as Jo, a heroine more than capable of breaking every heart in the audience. Get more details...In between serious drama for grown-ups, and high-energy wackiness for seven-year olds, there falls a shadow. And that shadow is called "High School Musical." But if you want to take your ninth-grader to a play that doesn't come from a corporate megalith, and is free of mercilessly catchy dance numbers, Griffin Theatre can be your guiding light. Its current production of "Be More Chill," adapted from Ned Vizzini's young-adult novel, has garnered solid reviews from critics across town. "Chill" focuses on Jeremy, a hopeless high-school dweeb, who, in a quest to be cool, swallows a tiny instructional supercomputer. Note: the play is pitched at high- and middle-schoolers, but does deal with teen sex and drug use. Get more details...
Company: Second City
Venue: Second City
Performances: Monday 8 p.m., Saturday 4 p.m.
Tickets: < $20 ($19)
Closes: N/A.
Company: Second City
Venue: Second City
Performances: Tuesday 8 p.m., Wednesday 8 p.m., Thursday 8 p.m., Friday 8 p.m., Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 7 p.m.
Tickets: $19–$25
Closes: N/A.
Company: N/A.
Venue: Briar Street Theatre
Performances: Tuesday 8 p.m., Wednesday 8 p.m., Thursday 8 p.m., Friday 7 & 10 p.m., Saturday 4, 7 & 10 p.m., Sunday 1, 4 & 7 p.m.
Tickets: $50+
Closes: N/A.
Company: Annoyance Theatre
Venue: Annoyance Theatre
Performances: Friday 10:01 p.m. (preview 7/4 only; opening night 7/11)
Tickets: $15 ($25 opening night)
Closes: Runs Through Aug 29
Company: Sideshow Theatre Company
Venue: Chicago Dramatists
Performances: Thursday 8 p.m., Friday 8 p.m. (no show 7/4), Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 3 p.m.
Tickets: $15 ($10 previews)
Closes: Runs Through Jul 13
Welcome to summer debutante season! It's a magical time of year, when established troupes go on vacation, and all the fresh-faced virgin theatre companies emerge, hoping to catch the eyes of bored critics and be declared the "next big thing." One of the season's first contenders, Sideshow Theatre Company, has made a striking entrance with Walt McGough's new, one-man comedy, loosely based on Dante's Inferno. Matt Fletcher plays the titular author, lost in the ugly bureaucracy of Hell, and looking for his beloved. Critics were charmed by Fletcher's many-tongued, yet sympathetic performance, and by the comic poignancy of McGough's script. It may not be the next big thing, but it's what we most want in a summer deb: something new. Get more details...
Company: BLEWT! Productions
Venue: Playground Theater
Performances: Saturday midnight (first Saturday every month)
Tickets: < $20 ($10; $5 students)
Closes: N/A.
Rap-based Shakespeare adaptations sound like a bad idea, in that "stop trying to be hip, you might dislocate something" way. But the Q Brothers, who scored big with previous beat-boxing Bard show "The Bomb-itty of Errors," know how to combine high-brow lit-nerdery with vintage hip-hop's sense of fun. Their version of "Much Ado" is a shameless, intensely enjoyable goof that zips in at just over an hour, making much hay out of the confluence of Shakespeare's insult-trading lovers and the tradition of battling MCs. The show is both fleet and funny enough for newcomers to the story, and extra-rewarding to those who know it well: the biggest pleasures lie in recognizing how adroitly the Brothers have funkified Shakespeare's classic putdowns. Get more details...
Company: Annoyance Productions
Venue: Annoyance Theatre
Performances: Friday midnight
Tickets: < $20 ($8)
Closes: N/A.
Company: N/A.
Venue: Bailiwick Repertory
Performances: Thursday 7:30 p.m. (preview 5/8 & 5/15) (no show 7/3), Friday 7:30 p.m. (preview 5/9 & 5/16) (no show 7/4), Saturday 7:30 p.m. (preview 5/10 & 5/17), Sunday 3:30 p.m.
Tickets: $25-$40
Closes: Runs Through Jul 6
A musical adaptation of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" written by Styx frontman Dennis DeYoung? No, you are not watching "Family Guy," you are experiencing live Chicago theater, and it takes itself just seriously enough. From the opening seconds (Thunder! Lightning! Synths!) this show is unabashed melodramatic fun, like Les Miz with cheesier music and even less restraint. DeYoung handled book, music and lyrics, and in nothing is he unduly guided by taste: it's all quaking emotion, key shifts and, when necessary, bad puns. Director David Zak's vast, open-throated cast, led by the pleasantly Meatloafian George Andrew Wolff as Quasimodo, blares out DeYoung's harmonies with endless vigor. Sadly, there's nothing quite as catchy as "Mr. Roboto" in the score, but there's plenty to hum, probably for days afterward. Get more details...
Company: Neo-Futurists
Venue: Neo-Futurarium
Performances: Thursday 8 p.m.
Tickets: $10 ($2 off for students with ID)
Closes: Runs Through Jul 31
It's baaack. The Neofuturists' genius melange of bad film and great theater returns for summer 2008. Every week, this well-curated festival features a different B-movie script, presented in staged-reading format by Chicago's best storefront artistes. From obscurities to flops to downright stinkers, the films will be immeasurably improved by having their stars (if they had any) and their budgets (if there were any) stripped away and replaced with local heroes and shoestring ingenuity. This week, 'fut stalwart Dina Connolly directs "Master of the Universe," starring Ryan Walters as He-Man. Oh heck yeah. Get more details...
Company: N/A.
Venue: United Center
Performances: Tuesday 8 p.m. (no show 7/22), Wednesday 8 p.m., Thursday 8 p.m. (4 p.m. on 7/24), Friday 8 p.m. (4 p.m. 7/4–8/10), Saturday 8 p.m. (4 p.m. 6/26–8/10), Sunday 1 p.m. & 5 p.m. (6/26–8/10)
Tickets: $49.50-$125 adults; $38.50-$87.50 kids
Closes: Runs Through Aug 10
Mock Cirque de Soleil's arty vagueness and pseudo-Frenchness if you must. But if watching a Cirque show doesn't reduce you to a state of child-like wonder in under five minutes, you must have your eyes closed. This venerable reinvented circus creates bizarre, immersive worlds where goony clowns gibber and gawk at the divine acrobats who float above them. "Kooza," the Cirque's latest touring show, amazes with its own brand of the basics, following a Charlie Brown type (down to the useless kite) who is spirited away to a magical land that's ruled by a clown-king and inhabited by the best circus acts in the world. Look out for the three tiny jewel-like contortionists, the comically macho rope-walkers, and the juggler, who, like something out of a Borges story, seems to be waiting for the invention of new objects to challenge his skill. Get more details...
Company: Late Nite Tit-Bits
Venue: Annoyance Theatre
Performances: Saturday 10 p.m.
Tickets: $15
Closes: N/A.
Company: Split Britches
Venue: Bailiwick Repertory
Performances: Monday 7 p.m. on 6/30 only, Wednesday 8 p.m. on 7/23 only, Thursday 8 p.m. on 7/3, 7/10, 7/17, 7/24, Friday 8 p.m., Saturday 7 p.m., Sunday 3 p.m. (6 p.m. on 6/29)
Tickets: $20-$25 (previews $15)
Closes: Runs Through Jul 27
Company: Lifeline Theatre
Venue: Lifeline Theatre
Performances: Friday 7:30 p.m., Saturday 4 p.m. & 8 p.m., Sunday 4 p.m.
Tickets: $25 (20 seniors, $15 students)
Closes: Runs Through Jul 20
When it comes to a certain type of period literary adaptation, no one buckles a swash like Lifeline Theatre. The company has an unmatched eclat for swoony, breech-clad action leads, and according to reviews, it's well displayed in the "The Mark of Zorro." This version of Johnston McCulley's pulp classic isn't above winking at the Curse of Capistrano's cult movie status, but director Dorothy Milne never lets postmodern slyness interfere with the juicy pleasures of romance and swordfights. James Elly plays your hero. Get ready to tango. Get more details...
Company: Annoyance Theatre
Venue: Annoyance Theatre
Performances: Friday 8 p.m. (preview 6/6; opening night 6/13)
Tickets: $10 ($15 opening night)
Closes: Runs Through Aug 29
Company: Strange Tree Group
Venue: Chopin Theatre
Performances: Wednesday 8 p.m., Thursday 8 p.m., Friday 8 p.m., Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 3 p.m.
Tickets: $20
Closes: Runs Through Jul 19
How many sepia-toned, twee-ly macabre plays with ludicrously extended titles can one woman crank out? If that woman is Emily Schwartz, as many as she wants. We'll keep watching 'em. The clever imps at Strange Tree theater group, who specialize in bringing Schwartz's warped wordplay to life with intricate, stylish productions, have gone back to the well for "The Mysterious Elephant..." Most critics have found the show addictively charming, so much so that the reviews partake in Schwartz's signature alliterative ticks. Special praise goes to the pitch-perfect cast, particularly Carol Enoch, whose dead and massive eyes can dominate a stage of any size. Get more details...
Company: Factory Theater
Venue: Prop Thtr
Performances: Friday 8 p.m. (preview 6/27), Saturday 8 p.m. (benefit 6/28), Sunday 7 p.m. (press opening 6/29)
Tickets: $20 ($10 preview)
Closes: Runs Through Aug 2
In the hands of anyone other than the Factory, a show about dueling themed summer fairs would be, in all likelihood, just dumb. But this is the Factory, so “Ren Faire!” is almost certain to be blissfully, hilariously, so dumb-it’s-brilliant dumb. In Matt Engle’s new script, the fake knights and ladies of a Renaissance Faire do battle with the fake cowboys and saloon girls of the Wild West show across the interstate. Expect a Factory trademark party-sized cast, and ceaseless gags. Get thee to it! Get more details...
Company: Promethean Theater Ensemble
Venue: City Lit Theatre
Performances: Friday 8 p.m., Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m.
Tickets: $20
Closes: Runs Through Jul 12
Company: Hell in a Handbag Productions
Venue: Mary's Attic
Performances: Tuesday 8 p.m., Wednesday 8 p.m., Thursday 8 p.m.
Tickets: $12
Closes: Runs Through Aug 14
Company: Steppenwolf
Venue: Steppenwolf Theatre
Performances: Tuesday 7:30 p.m. (preview 6/24), Wednesday 7:30 p.m. (2 p.m. on 7/30, 8/6 & 8/13; prev 6/25), Thursday 7:30 p.m. (previews 6/19 & 6/26), Friday 7:30 p.m. (no show 7/4, previews 6/20 & 6/27), Saturday 3 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. (previews 6/21 & 6/28), Sunday 3 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. (no perf after 7/27; prev 6/22)
Tickets: $20-$68 ($20-$45 previews)
Closes: Runs Through Aug 17
Tracy Letts follows up "August: Osage County," which portrayed family like an inescapable doom, with "Superior Donuts," a show that finds, in friendship, a glimmer of hope. It's hard to peddle the great American emotion without seeming glib, but "Donuts," while not as devastatingly successful as "August," pulls it off. Michael McKean perfectly underplays shop owner Arthur Pryzbyszewski, a graying hippie who has slipped through life while doing no harm, until Franco Wicks (Jon Michael Hill), a voluble black kid with USA-sized dreams, talks his way into a job at the shop. The show is set in Uptown, and nails the area's shabby, heterogeneous warmth: the Lawrence bus, the inevitable Starbucks and That One Bag Lady. It's a can't-miss for anyone in town, but particularly Far Northsiders. Get more details...
Company: Oracle Theatre
Venue: Oracle Theatre
Performances: Thursday 8 p.m., Friday 8 p.m., Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 8 p.m.
Tickets: $18
Closes: Runs Through Aug 3
Company: Halcyon Theatre
Venue: Peter Jones Gallery
Performances:
Tickets:
Closes: Runs Through Jul 13
Theaters, teachers and the general public might not know it, but dames have been writing plays for centuries. While more recent female playwrights are relegated to a paltry 20 percent of productions per year, the women of history, it often seems, are never produced at all. If they were ever in the books, they've been erased. Theatre Halycon fights back with its Alcyone Festival, a rotating series of works by early female playwrights designed to examine their roots, their continuing relevance and, you know, remind people that they existed. Don't miss "Callimuchus" by Hrosvitha (Hros-who? 935-1002), a passion play about a chaste nun and the obsessive rapist who tries to violate her corpse. It's that rare event that combines feminism, religion and necrophilia.
See full schedule at www.halcyontheatre.org/alcyoneschedule Get more details...
Company: Tim Miller
Venue: Links Hall
Performances: Friday 8 p.m., Saturday 8 p.m.
Tickets: $15
Closes: Runs Through Jul 26
Company: Walkabout Theatre
Venue: Various community gardens
Performances:
Tickets: $10
Closes: Runs Through Jul 27
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