Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-02-22
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Notable theater news for 2013
by Scott C. Morgan, Windy City Times
2014-01-01

This article shared 4944 times since Wed Jan 1, 2014
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


The New Year is here for the Chicago theater scene and there are lots of things to look forward to in 2014, ranging from the pre-Broadway world-premiere musical The Last Ship by British rock star Sting to the world premiere play The Qualms at Steppenwolf Theatre by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Bruce Norris.

But now is also a good time to reflect on the past year. Since there were a lot of productions I couldn't catch before they closed, I'm offering up a 2013 theater news highlights column rather than a "Best-of" list—it's only fair. Several news items are already firmly in the rear-view mirror, while others are still developing as you read this.

Changes in comedy

The Second City gave a major show of confidence in GayCo by offering up Chicago's oldest LGBT sketch comedy troupe the chance to officially open its newly renovated Donny's Skybox Theater with a brand-new revue called #GodHatesHashtags. So what if the show wasn't up to GayCo's past glories, it was certainly a fine occasion to show off the space which is largely used by students in The Second City's classes and training programs. Now that Donny's Skybox has been reconfigured and elongated to resemble The Second City's classic Mainstage, perhaps it will help The Second City's students work their way up the company ladder.

Another major change was the Annoyance Theatre exiting from Uptown with plans on reopening sometime this year in Boystown at 851 W. Belmont Ave. The move will allow the Annoyance to house its classes and theater in the same building for the first time. The Annoyance will also help make Boystown a true center for Chicago comedy since it will be just down the street from ComedySportz and a couple of blocks away from the Playground Theater.

Worrying trends

Our country may officially be out of the recession, but that doesn't mean that arts organizations are free of struggles. For instance, Chicago Dramatists this season isn't producing its own shows, rather just using its venue near the intersection of Chicago and Milwaukee avenues as a rental house.

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble in Glen Ellyn has also cancelled the rest of its season. Apparently, the Equity theater ensemble will need to renegotiate its connection and mission with the College of DuPage and its McAninch Arts Center ( which has been closed this year for major renovations ).

Rising controversy

Silk Road Rising, a company dedicated to producing works focusing on Asian and Middle Eastern culture, generated a lot of controversy in 2013 as its artistic founders called out a couple of influential Chicago theatrical heavyweights.

Silk Road Rising artistic director Jamil Khoury posted a blistering blog post about Tony Award-winning director Mary Zimmerman due to some dismissive comments she made regarding Rudyard Kipling's colonial views in a Chicago Magazine article ( which appeared as an advance piece to her highly anticipated Goodman Theatre stage adaptation of Disney's The Jungle Book ). Khoury accused Zimmerman of building her career on cultural appropriation and "Orientalism," which in turn prompted Zimmerman to have a face-to-face meeting to iron out their differing opinions of her work. ( Either way, the dustup seemed to generate lots of extra interest for both Silk Road Rising and The Jungle Book. )

Silk Road Rising also took on Chicago Sun-Time theater critic Hedy Weiss in another blog post. Weiss' review of Silk Road Rising's production of Invasion! could have been interpreted as an endorsement of racial profiling in the fight against global terrorism.

Addressing Chicago violence

Steppenwolf Theatre and Collaboraction both produced works as a way to address and comment on a growing tide of violence in Chicago neighborhoods. Collaboraction produced a very interactive production of Crime Scene: A Chicago Anthology conceived by Anthony Moseley that seems to beg for expansion, while one wishes that Steppenwolf Theatre's production of Miles Harvey's How Long Will I Cry? Voices of Youth Violence will have a future life in high schools beyond its original production and subsequent tour of Chicago Public Library branches.

On the LGBT theater front

Bonnie Metzgar said goodbye as About Face Theatre's artistic director with a marvelous Chicago premiere production of Alexi Kaye Campbell's The Pride, which showed how far gay men have come in British society in just 50 years time. The esteemed Chicago company dedicated to LGBT theater also welcomed Andrew Volkoff to lead About Face Theatre as its new artistic director. One of Volkoff's first decisions was to bring back We Three Lizas in a heavily revamped version for 2013 ( it continues through Jan. 5 ).

Pride Films and Plays is also going from strength to strength with its program of developing new works through playwriting contests and then subsequently producing many of the winners. The original musical Under a Rainbow Flag proved to be a big winner at the non-Equity Jeff Awards, while Pride Films and Plays continued to show its dedication to new works by producing the world premiere of Martin Casella's Directions for Restoring the Apparently Dead.

Pride Films and Plays is also producing significant revivals, like Jonathan Harvey's Beautiful Thing in 2013 and its upcoming production of Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour. But also very encouraging was the fact that Batavia-based Albright Theatre in Kane County also staged Beautiful Thing in 2013, while Glen Ellyn-based Village Theatre Guild in DuPage County produced Geoffrey Naufft's Next Fall ( following AstonRep's Chicago premiere ) this past year as well. Seeing LGBT theater in Chicago is old hat, but in the conservative suburbs it can still generate a certain amount of controversy and hopefully change a few minds.

Another major item of LGBT theater news in 2013 was out playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney being awarded a MacArthur Fellowship "Genius Grant." The jet-setting McCraney is a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble, which presented the world premiere of his play Head of Passes in 2013. But I hope that two other works by McCraney will also have Chicago premieres soon. The Windy City still has yet to see his drag drama Wig Out!, while his 2013 work Choir Boy deserves to be seen in Chicago following its acclaimed runs in New York and Atlanta.


This article shared 4944 times since Wed Jan 1, 2014
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

SHOWBIZ 'Joy Ride,' Cynthia Erivo, David Bowie, March Madness, Kevin Bacon 2023-03-25
Video below - The first trailer for the upcoming comedy Joy Ride has been released, Out noted. The movie stars Ashley Park, queer Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once), bisexual comedian Sherry Cola (Good Trouble) and ...


Gay News

Kokandy Productions announces 2023 Season 2023-03-22
--From a press release - CHICAGO (March 22, 2023) — Kokandy Productions is thrilled to announce its 2023 season, including two fully produced musicals, plus plans for the return of the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival. This summer, Kokandy will dive into ...


Gay News

Opera Preview: Life of gay World War II hero Alan Turing transformed into a world-premiere opera 2023-03-17
- It has taken a decade for The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing to grow from an idea into a full- fledged opera. Chicago Opera Theater stages the world premiere of composer Justine F. Chen and ...


Gay News

Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project to present dance concert 'Sans Pareil' 2023-03-14
--From a press release - Deeply Rooted Dance Theater joins the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project again to take the stage in a dance concert entitled Sans Pareil—French for "unparalleled," a nod to the Haitian lineage of Chicago's founder, Jean-Baptiste Pointe ...


Gay News

House Musical, Coming of Age in the Age of House, coming to Hoover-Leppen Theatre 2023-03-14
--From a press release - Campsongs Productions presents the world premiere of House Musical - Coming of Age in the Age of House, with book by Marcus Waller, music by Scott Free (with Michael Foley) and lyrics by Scott Free and ...


Gay News

RuPaul's Drag Race WERQ THE WORLD in Chicago Aug. 4 2023-03-12
--From a press release - RuPaul's Drag Race WERQ THE WORLD, the largest drag show on earth, returns in 2023 with a show in Chicago Aug. 4 and in 100+ cities across the United States, Canada, Australia, Asia, Europe and Mexico! ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Little Richard, Indigo Girls, Rodriguez's honor, dance film, Pedro Pascal 2023-03-10
Video below - Produced by Bungalow Media + Entertainment for CNN Films and HBO Max, in association with Rolling Stone Films, director Lisa Cortes' Sundance opening-night documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything will debut in theaters and on VOD ...


Gay News

Steppenwolf Theatre Company's 2023 Gala May 13 at The Old Post Office 2023-03-06
--From a press release - CHICAGO (March 6, 2023) — The Steppenwolf Ensemble and Board of Trustees are pleased to host Steppenwolf 2023 Gala—an unforgettable evening celebrating 47 years of powerful and thought-provoking storytelling. Emceed ...


Gay News

Center on Halsted presents annual Intergenerational Talent Show 2023-03-06
- On March 2, Center on Halsted hosted its Fifth Annual Intergenerational Talent Show, featuring performances from participants from the Youth and Family Services and the Senior Services programs. Participants in the free event presented a program ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Wanda Sykes, Jonas Brothers, 'Queen of Versailles,' 'Bloodshed' 2023-03-04
Adam Lambert video below - Award-winning comedian Wanda Sykes' new comedy special, I'm An Entertainer, will premiere globally on Netflix on May 23, a press release announced. The special, directed by Linda Mendoza, was filmed in early February 2023 at Philadelphia's ...


Gay News

Theater Review: one in two 2023-03-01
- Playwright: Donja R. Love. At: PrideArts at Pride Arts Center, 4139 N. Broadway Tickets: 773-857-0222; $35. Runs through March 19 Playwright Donja R. Love stresses that lower case letters should be used for the title of ...


Gay News

The Jeff Awards to honor Myrna Salazar with special non-Equity honor 2023-03-01
--From a Jeff Awards press release - (March 1, 2023 - Chicago) — Recognizing a lifetime of theater excellence, the Joseph Jefferson Awards will honor the late arts activist Myrna Salazar at the organization's 49th Anniversary Non-Equity Awards celebration on Monday, March 2 ...


Gay News

PrideArts presents 'one in two' 2023-02-22
--From a press release - Title: one in two. By Donja R. Love/ Directed by Jordan Ratlliff Monday, Feb. 20 - 7:30 p.m. Pride Arts Center, 4139 N. Broadway, Chicago One in two Black men in America who have sex with other men will be diagnosed ...


Gay News

Christine Heesun Hwang personifies Eponine in Les Miserables 2023-02-19
- Out performer Christine Heesun Hwang "dreamed a dream" of joining the cast one of Les Miserables—now showing at the Cadillac Palace Theater—and now she's made that dream into a reality. Set in 19th-century France, Les Miserables ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Black queer films, Janet Jackson, Paramore, WNBA, GALECA contest 2023-02-19
- Queerty ran a piece on 10 films that celebrate Black queer love. Some of them include The Skinny (with Jussie Smollett), Dee Rees' movie Pariah, the Oscar-winning Moonlight, the Marlon Riggs classic Tongues Untied, Brother to ...


 




Copyright © 2023 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives. Single copies of back issues in print form are
available for $4 per issue, older than one month for $6 if available,
by check to the mailing address listed below.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.
All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transegender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.