Tag: make it better

Play reviews: Steppenwolf’s Garage Rep

“Heat Wave” features, from left to right: Carmen Molina, Claudia DiBiccari, Mykele Callicut, Paula Ramirez, Preston Tate Jr., Deanna Reed-Foster and James McGuire. The show is part of Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Garage Rep 2015. Photo by Anna Sodziak.

Make It Better magazine, March 9, 2015 — Steppenwolf, one of Chicago’s most famous and venerated theaters, brings attention to lesser-known theatrical companies once a year with a festival called Garage Rep… Read my review for Make It Better. Photo by Anna Sodziak

March-April 2015 theater preview

Make It Better magazine, February 25, 2015 — PA celebration of the late, lamented August Wilson dominates Chicago’s theater scene in March and April, while at Victory Gardens, another African-American scribe tells a story inspired by today’s headlines. … Read my story for Make It Better.

Play review: ‘White Guy on the Bus’

Make It Better magazine, February 2, 2015 — It’s no surprise that a play called “White Guy on the Bus” is about racism. The white guy in the title—a rich suburban financial wheeler-dealer named Ray—is the only white person on that bus… Read my review in Make It Better. Photo by Michael Brosilow

Play review: ‘The Night Alive’

Make It Better magazine, October 1, 2014 — Ghosts and devils often mingle with living human beings in Irish playwright Conor McPherson’s dramas. If there are any supernatural elements in his latest play—which is debatable—they aren’t quite so obvious… Read my review in Make It Better. Photo by Michael Brosilow

Play review: ‘Isaac’s Eye’

Make It Better magazine, September 1, 2014 — Just about every work of historical fiction takes liberties with the facts, but some take more liberties than others. “Isaac’s Eye,” Lucas Hnath’s play about 17th-century scientist Isaac Newton, takes a lot. It’s more fable than documentary. But this play, now at Writers Theatre, is completely upfront about that… Read… Continue reading Play review: ‘Isaac’s Eye’

Play review: ‘Brigadoon’

Make It Better magazine, July 1, 2014 — The mythical village Brigadoon appears in Scotland’s Highlands once every hundred years. After a day, it vanishes back into the mists, its people frozen in time for another century. “Brigadoon,” the 1947 Broadway musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, isn’t quite as difficult to see… Continue reading Play review: ‘Brigadoon’

Play review: ‘Henry V’

Make It Better magazine, May 1, 2014 — Shakespeare had a keen eye for spotting the foolishness of humanity, including the frequently bad behavior of Europe’s kings and noblemen. But “Henry V,” the drama now at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, is a different sort of royal history… Read my review in Make It Better. Photo by… Continue reading Play review: ‘Henry V’

Play review: ‘The White Snake’

Make It Better magazine, May 1,  2014 — From the very first moment of “The White Snake,” it’s clear that we’re in Mary Zimmerman Land—a magical and beguiling world that’s familiar from previous plays by this renowned Evanston director. “The White Snake” at Goodman Theatre is classic Zimmerman… Read my review at Make It Better.… Continue reading Play review: ‘The White Snake’

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