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 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

SPRING THEATER PREVIEW New shows: Be around when they happen!
by Jonathan Abarbanel, Windy City Times
2017-03-15

This article shared 984 times since Wed Mar 15, 2017
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Year after year, half of all the shows produced in Chicago theaters are world or regional premieres. In other cities—even New York—audiences often are reluctant to see plays or playwrights unknown to them, but Chicago audiences embrace discovery and are eager to be astonished by new talent onstage or behind-the-scenes. Spring will offer 50-75 unknowns to local theatergoers. Here are 12 that look good on paper—just a small fraction of the total. They are listed by production dates, beginning with the first preview performance.

Sycamore, Raven Theatre Company ( Edgewater ), now through April 13. Midwest suburban teens Celia and Henry are more-or-less normal siblings except when they fall in love with the same boy, such as John, their new neighbor and fellow high schooler. It's a love triangle with at least one side that's pink. That's the premise of this world premiere "dramedy" by Sarah Sander, directed by rising star Devon de Mayo in her Raven Theatre debut. Tickets: http://www.raventheatre.com/sycamore

Silent Sky, First Folio Theatre ( Oakbrook ), March 29-April 30. A Midwest premiere by Lauren Gunderson, recent winner of several major national writing awards. The play's focus—appropriate for Women's History Month—is Henrietta Swan Leavitt, a little-known "computer lady" at the Harvard University observatory in the 1920s. She assisted astronomers with calculations, but was not herself allowed to access the telescope. Even so, Leavitt made ground-breaking discoveries that led the way for Dr. Edwin Hubble and all later astronomers. Melanie Keller directs. Tickets: firstfolio.org

Linda Vista, Steppenwolf Theatre ( Lincoln Park/Old Town ), March 30-May 21. It's a world premiere by Tracy Letts, author of Killer Joe, August: Osage County ( Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award ) and Superior Donuts ( now a CBS sitcom ) among other vibrant and varied works. Nuff said. Linda Vista explores middle-age male angst through a divorced, washed-up 50-year-old who starts over. Tickets: Steppenwolf.org/tickets

King of the Yees, Goodman Theatre ( The Loop ), March 31-April 30. It's a Chicago double-header for playwright Lauren Yee. Her play Hookman ( a darkly-comic take on the urban legend of the hook-handed serial killer ) is slated for Steep Theatre ( see below ), but first Goodman Theatre offers this Yee world premiere, a family comedy—perhaps autobiographical—about a San Francisco Chinese-American family with a daughter named Lauren. Tickets: GoodmanTheatre.org

Scapegoat, New Colony Theater at The Den ( Bucktown ), April 5-May 7. Most of us already think Members of Congress worship Mammon, so it's an easy stretch to believe that some may be Satanists as well. Or is that Breitbart fake news? This world premiere by Conor McNamara concerns a powerful Senator, in line for the Supreme Court, who's accused of worshipping the Devil, a charge which threatens his family's political dynasty. Hey, it's just a play. We all know that our National Evil is in the White House. Tickets: TheNewColony.org

Into the Beautiful North, 16th Street Theater ( Berwyn ), April 13-May 20. Like Lauren Yee, wonderful Latina writer Karen Zacarias also has two overlapping Chicago productions. Her comedy about Spanish-language telenovelas, Destiny of Desire, is at the Goodman Theatre through April 16, just overlapping this world premiere, co-directed by Ann Filmer and Miguel Nunez. Into the Beautiful North is adapted from Luis Alberto Urrea's novel inspired by The Magnificent Seven, as women from a small Mexican village cross the border seeking seven good men to protect them from narco-traffickers. Tickets: 16thstreettheater.org

Forty-Two Stories, City Lit Theater Company ( Edgewater ), April 14-May 28. This world premiere "high-rise condo comedy" from versatile Douglas Post concerns a Lake Shore Drive condo tower where everyone has issues, tenants and staff alike. The doorman is a full-time University of Chicago student and an unknown employee steals women's underwear from apartments and ... well, you get the idea. Scott Westerman is the director. Watch out when you step into that elevator shaft. Tickets: citylit.org

Hookman, Steep Theatre ( Andersonville ), April 15-May 27. It's Lauren Yee's ( see King of the Yees, above ) lethally slashing dark comedy inspired by the urban legend. Following a terrible accident, Lexi begins to see Hookman everywhere. Tickets for Hookman: steeptheatre.com

Paradise Blue, TimeLine Theatre ( Lincoln Park ), April 26-July 23. Like August Wilson's Pittsburgh-focused Century Cycle, playwright Dominique Morisseau's plays center on Detroit as it once was. This Midwest premiere is set in 1949 and concerns a legendary jazz club and the pressures ( and promises, perhaps ) of urban renewal. Ron OJ Parson directs a play described as "jazzinfused." Tickets: TimelineTheatre.com

Relativity, Northlight Theatre ( Skokie ), May 11-June 18. Living legend Mike Nussbaum plays Albert Einstein in this world premiere by Mark St. Germain ( Freud's Last Session ). 'Nuff said. While interviewing an aged Einstein, a reporter asks about physics and mathematics and Einstein's mysterious daughter born in 1902, and never heard of again after 1903. The child's existence wasn't known until the mid-1980s. Masterful Nussbaum must play younger to pull off Einstein: Nussbaum is in his 90s and Einstein died at 76. Northlight artistic director BJ Jones will stage the play. Tickets: Northlight.org

T., American Theater Company ( North Center ), May 18-June 25. Earlier this season we had a pop-rock opera about Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan, footnotes in the history of championship figure skating. Now we have a world premiere play about the price of glory, gold medals and rivalry. Perhaps author Dan Aibel and director Margot Bordelon—who has many Chicago credits—have a new salchow on the 1994 Harding/Kerrigan kerfuffle. Tickets: ATCWeb.org

Bright Half Life, About Face Theatre at Theater Wit ( Boys Town ), May 26-July 1. Tanya Barfield won a 2016 Lambda Literary Award for this examination of a modern lesbian relationship—is it different than other contemporary relationships?—concerned with career, family, home-making and building a life. About Face artistic associate Keira Fromm directs. Ledo. Tickets: AboutFaceTheatre.com


This article shared 984 times since Wed Mar 15, 2017
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

SHOWBIZ Celine Dion, 'The People's Joker,' Billy Porter, Patti LuPone, 'Strange Way' 2024-04-19
- I Am: Celine Dion will stream on Prime Video starting June 25, according to a press release. The film is described as follows: "Directed by Academy Award nominee Irene Taylor, I Am: Celine Dion gives us ...


Gay News

Kokandy Productions now accepting submissions for Chicago Musical Theater Fest returning Aug. 8-11 2024-04-18
--From a press release - CHICAGO (April 18, 2024) — Kokandy Productions is pleased to open submissions for the 2024 Chicago Musical Theatre Festival, returning this summer following a four-year hiatus. Kokandy is thrilled to ...


Gay News

THEATER Blue in the Right Way's 'Women Beware Women' offers feminist, trans take on a troubling Jacobean tragedy 2024-04-18
- "Problematic" is a great go-to adjective to describe Women Beware Women. This 1621 Jacobean tragedy is by English playwright Thomas Middleton, who is probably best remembered as a collaborator with William Shakespeare on their pessimistic tragedy ...


Gay News

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago announces programs for May 17-19 season finale 2024-04-17
--From a press release - CHICAGO — Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC) announced program selections for Spring Series: Of Joy, the final installment of Season 46, Abundance. The engagement will include four unique works, once ...


Gay News

LGBTQ+ film fest Queer Expression to feature Alexandra Billings in 'Queen Tut' 2024-04-12
--From a press release - CHICAGO — Pride Film Fest celebrates its second decade with a new name—QUEER EXPRESSION—and has announced its slate of LGBTQ+-themed feature, mid-length and short films for in-person and virtual events in April and May. QUEER EXPRESSI ...


Gay News

Open Space Arts's COCK offers a complex but compelling take on relationships 2024-04-08
By Brian Kirst - Premiering in 2009, Mike Bartlett's COCK was a comic revelation, exploring notions about fluidity and sexual labelling long before they became commonplace discussions. Granted, conversations about these issues will always ...


Gay News

Jeff Awards launches submission period for Impact Awards 2024-04-06
- The Jeff Awards announced the opening period for applications submissions for its 2024 honors to help inspire early career artists of color in the Greater Chicagoland area. Two recipients will be selected for awards of $10,000 ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Outfest, Chita Rivera, figure skaters, letter, playwright dies 2024-04-05
- For more than four decades, Outfest has been telling LGBTQ+ stories through the thousands of films screened during its annual Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival—but that event may have a different look this year because ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Dionne Warwick, OUTshine, Ariana DeBose, 'Showgirls,' 'Harlem' 2024-03-29
Video below - Iconic singer Dionne Warwick was honored for her decades-long advocacy work for people living with HIV/AIDS at a star-studded amfAR fundraising gala in Palm Beach, per the Palm Beach Daily News. Warwick received the "Award of ...


Gay News

WORLD Israel court, conversion therapy, death sentences, Georgia bill, fashion items 2024-03-29
- Israel's Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Population Authority must register female couples as mothers on the birth certificates of their children they have together, The Washington Blade reported. The decision was made following a petition ...


Gay News

City Lit Executive Artistic Director Brian Pastor talks theater, comics, queerness 2024-03-26
- City Lit Theater has announced its programming for the 2024-25 season—which will be the company's 44th. It will also be the first season to be programmed under the leadership of Brian Pastor (they/them), who will assume ...


Gay News

The Jeff Awards announces the 50th anniversary awards for non-equity theater 2024-03-26
--From a press release - A complete list of recipients can also be found online in the Non-Equity and News and Events sections at www.jeffawards.org. (March 25, 2024 - Chicago) — Celebrating its 50th anniversary awarding recognition for Non-Equity theater, the ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21
- Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...


Gay News

THEATER Chicago's City Lit has anxiety on tap with 'Two Hours in a Bar' 2024-03-21
- Two Hours in a Bar Waiting for Tina Meyer by Kristine Thatcher with material by Larry Shue Text Me by Kingsley Day (Book, Music and Lyrics). At: City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.. Tickets: ...


Gay News

Jamie Barton brings nuances of identity to her Lyric Opera 'Aida' performance 2024-03-18
- Chicago's Lyric Opera is currently featuring a production of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida starring Michelle Bradley as Aida, Jamie Barton as Amneris and Russell Thomas as Radamès. The opera runs through April 7, 2024, with Francesca Zambello ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

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 Transgender 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
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.