Author: Robert Loerzel

Play review: ‘Venus in Fur’

Make It Better magazine, March 1, 2014 — If “Venus in Fur” sounds familiar, you’re probably thinking of “Venus in Furs,” the song that plays as the lights come up at Goodman Theatre… Read my review in Make It Better. Photo by Liz Lauren

A fresh look at Freedom Wall

WBEZ’s Curious City, February 25, 2014 — Artist Adam Brooks explains why his outdoor list of names includes the likes of Harriet Tubman, Rush Limbaugh, Frank Zappa and an empty line. Read — and hear — my story for WBEZ’s Curious City.

11 Questions for Harold Ramis

Chicago magazine, February 24, 2014 — In 2008, before the release of Year One, Ramis talked about working with Bill Murray, filming in Chicago, and how religion shaped his “Buddish” philosophy. Read my interview in Chicago magazine. Photo: Second City

Native numbers: How many Chicagoans were born in the city?

WBEZ’s Curious City, February 10, 2014 — Tracy Miller noticed something about Chicago when she moved here nine years ago. “I meet many people who say they are native Chicagoans,” she says. “It seems like there are more natives still residing here than in other cities I have lived in.” … Read — and hear… Continue reading Native numbers: How many Chicagoans were born in the city?

Play review: ‘Buzzer’

Make It Better magazine, February 1, 2014 — A predominantly black neighborhood is gentrifying. Once known as a place to score drugs, it’s now welcoming more and more middle-class residents. However, young African-American men are still loitering on the streets, harassing the newcomers as they walk past. That’s the potentially fraught setting… Read my review… Continue reading Play review: ‘Buzzer’

Play review: ‘Russian Transport’

Make It Better magazine, February 1, 2014 — The characters in “Russian Transport” sprinkle their conversations with Russian phrases. Sometimes, they switch over to the language of their motherland for a whole sentence or two. But you don’t need to be fluent in Russian to understand what they’re talking about… Read my review in Make… Continue reading Play review: ‘Russian Transport’

Impoverished in Illinois

Illinois Issues, January 2014 — In some pockets of Illinois, where one in every three people live in poverty or close to it, the need is visible in the landscape: empty lots where buildings once stood in Cairo; abandoned houses marked with X’s in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood; families living in ramshackle trailers in Kankakee County’s Pembroke… Continue reading Impoverished in Illinois

Play review: ‘Luna Gale’

Make It Better magazine, January 1, 2014 — The title character of “Luna Gale” is never visible. In the few moments when she is onstage during thisGoodman Theatre production, Luna is quietly hidden away inside a baby carriage. And yet, as invisible as she may seem… Read my review in Make It Better.