Theater Spotlight
Plays written and directed by women are the focus of Idle Muse Theatre Company's annual Athena Festival. Company member Sara Robinson curates the festival which features plays from Chicago, New York and California. Idle Muse Theatre Company's Athena Festival plays at Jackalope Theatre's The Frontier, 1106 W. Thorndale Ave., Chicago. Performances on Saturday, Nov. 19, feature Tiffany Oglesby's Where Have They Gone? at 2 p.m. and Rae Binstock's Watch Me Burn at 6 p.m. Performances on Sunday, Nov. 20, feature Shualee Cook's Tempest in a Teapot at 2 p.m. and Jenny Seidelman's Reckoning at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10 to $30. For more information, call 773-340-9438 or visit IdleMuse.org .
Playwright Tiffany Oglesby's Where Have They Gone? is part of the Athena Festival. Photo courtesy of Idle Muse Theatre Company.
Critics' Picks
Hamilton, The PrivateBank Theatre, in an open run. The hype and ticket demand may be overwhelming, but Lin-Manuel Miranda's masterful melding of U.S. history and current pop and hip-hop music is truly inspirational and a work of great genius. SCM
The Last Wife, TimeLine Theatre, through Dec. 18. Big, meaty-but-intelligent performances drive playwright Kate Henning's tale of a woman's survival and power in a man's world, ostensibly about King Henry VIII and Catherine Parr, the only one of Henry's wives to survive him, but very much a modern work. JA
The Magic Play, Goodman Theatre, through Nov. 20. Prestidigitator Brett Schneider is the hero in Andrew Hinderaker's superbly-crafted tale of an unlucky-in-love magician who learns to, well, let the cards fall where they may. MSB
Red Velvet, Raven Theatre, through Nov. 27. Making history was never easy, as the real-life story of Ira Aldridge ( vividly portrayed by Brandon Greenhouse ) and England's first recorded attempt at racial-accurate casting in 1833 illustrates. MSB
By Abarbanel, Barnidge and Morgan