The Sparrow. Photo by Michael Brosilow__________
The Sept. 19 issue of Windy City Times will feature our Fall Theater Preview, full of information, artist profiles and Critics' Picks for the first three months of Chicago's 2007-2008 theater season. But there's some hot theater news that just can't wait until then.
First off, The Sparrow is going to fly again. This was the huge winter hit for the House Theatre of Chicago that sold out the Viaduct and then the Steppenwolf Garage Theatre for 13 weeks. The heart-warming and imaginative sci-fi show—kind of a Carrie with a heart and a happy ending—will be remounted beginning Sept. 26 at the Apollo Theater, 2540 N. Lincoln. More surprising yet, The Sparrow is being presented by Broadway In Chicago, the big presenter of major attractions at Downtown theaters. This is a history-making collaboration between Loop and Off-Loop. Since Broadway In Chicago is owned by major New York producers, this remount could be the harbinger of Big Apple things-to-come for The House. The Sparrow will run through Dec. 31, at least. Of the original show, WCT critic Mary Shen Barnidge said, 'The House built its reputation on adrenaline-fueled spectacle, but this mythic fable of a teenage outsider with extraordinary talents exercises our brains, too, offering compassion and redemption.'
Next, Steppenwolf Theatre Company will take its most recent world premiere, August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, to Broadway with a late November opening at the Imperial Theatre. The Steppenwolf production, superbly directed by Anna D. Shapiro and vibrantly acted by a cast of 11, will move to New York intact. It will be the Broadway debut for Letts as a playwright, best known for his pulp-like plays Killer Joe and Bug. But August: Osage County is a different breed entirely, a family saga influenced by Eugene O'Neill and Chekhov with a deep, dark comic vein running through its dramatic core.
Next, Bailiwick Repertory has announced a brief return engagement of Confessions of a Mormon Boy, written and performed by Steven Fales. This show premiered at Bailiwick in January 2005 and since has successfully toured the country, with a four-month off-Broadway run along the way. Confessions of a Mormon Boy—about being a Latter-Day Saint and a gay hustler and coming out with sex and drugs—will play five performances only, Oct. 17-21.
There will be a whole lot o' LGBT theater in the 2007-2008 season, and we'll have details in the Sept. 19 issue. But even before that issue goes to press, a couple gay shows are raising the curtain. As part of the annual Rhinoceros Theatre Festival, the People's Theatre of Chicago is offering a Robert Patrick play not previously seen in Chicago, Hollywood at Sunset, which will be performed Monday nights only through Oct. 1 at the Prop Thtr ( sic ) 3502 N. Elston. The prolific and aggressively gay Patrick once wrote, 'A gay play? Is that a play that sleeps with another play of the same sex?' In this case, he's written about an up-and-coming TV actor and his lover and how success and the public eye affect their relationship. Also coming up: Our very own sketch comedy troupe, GayCo, will open a new revue, iHole, at the Hoover-Leppen Theatre at the Center on Halsted. Play dates for ihole are Sept. 13-Oct. 20.