Monday, 24 November 2025 14:04
Hell in a Handbag Productions Hosts 2025 Benefit THE HANDBAG FOLLIES Sunday, December 7, 2025 at Ebenezer Lutheran Church
Written by Buzz Center Stage
Join Hell in Handbag Productions for its 2025 benefit, The Handbag Follies, featuring dinner, drinks, entertainment, a raffle, silent auction and more on Sunday, December 7, 2025 from 5:30 – 9 pm at Ebenezer Lutheran Church, 1650 W. Foster Ave. in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood. Tickets ($104 general admission, $129.75*) are available here. *Prices include processing fees. Handbag celebrates…
Published in
Theatre Buzz
Sunday, 23 November 2025 13:52
Review: It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play at Oil Lamp Theatre
Written by John Accrocco
Next to death and taxes, Chicagoans can count on their favorite theater companies doing holiday shows in the last few weeks of the year. For their part, Glenview’s Oil Lamp Theater presents Joe Landry’s radio play adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life. With their charming downtown Glenview location, Oil Lamp’s…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Sunday, 23 November 2025 13:29
Court Theatre’s Erotic Taming of the Shrew brings the simmer to a boil
Written by Wesley David
We often forget that The Taming of the Shrew is, at its core, a play within a play - a bit of theatrical mischief in which characters watch other characters pretend. Marti Lyons’s ambitious new adaptation for Court Theatre not only remembers this but revels in it. She reframes Shakespeare’s…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Safe to say Steppenwolf’s revival of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus is “fetes and fireworks”. Robert Falls makes his directorial debut at Steppenwolf after recently retiring from his role as Goodman Theatre artistic director. To say his new production of Amadeus makes a splash would be an understatement. Falls brings his signature…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Saturday, 15 November 2025 22:51
Experimental Theater Grottesco and Fay|Glassman Duo Bring New Approach to Stage Narrative in 'Action at a Distance'
Written by Bill Esler
Santa Fe-based Theater Grottesco's new show, produced with Fay|Glassman Duo of Urbana, IL, is having its Chicago premiere at the Facility Theater on California near Division, brings a new approach to the performance and script design. The one-hour “Action at a Distance. . .in 2025” consists of six different plays, all performed simultaneously…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Thursday, 13 November 2025 14:50
Rock Royalty Rings in the Season: A Quartet Christmas Revival at Marriott Theatre
Written by Kimberly Katz
Million Dollar Quartet Christmas brings the legends back together - Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins - for a high-energy holiday jam at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. Packed with rock 'n' roll hits and festive favorites, this jukebox musical delivers a nostalgic blast of seasonal…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Thursday, 13 November 2025 13:45
Hell’s Kitchen Brings Alicia Keys’ Fire to Chicago
Written by Wesley David
New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen has birthed countless New Yorkers, none more recognized than 15-time Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys. Her life and artistry is now on display in Hell’s Kitchen, the 2024 Tony award winning musical that arrived at Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre with a pulse as electric as the…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Monday, 10 November 2025 15:10
BLACK ARTS & CULTURE ALLIANCE OF CHICAGO (BACA) ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF THE 2025 BLACK EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Written by Buzz Center Stage
Chicago, IL — The Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago (BACA) has announced the winners of the 2025 Black Excellence Awards, honoring and celebrating Chicago theatre, dance, music, film, literary, and visual artists. The 24th annual event was held on Monday, November 3, 2025, at Black Ensemble Theater, 4450 N. Clark St. in Chicago. Throughout the…
Published in
Theatre Buzz
Friday, 07 November 2025 19:50
Spectacular and Mesmerizing, Trap Door’s ‘A Devil Comes To Town’ Is Must-See Theater
Written by Bill Esler
With the mesmerizing hold of a Moth Hour radio story and the visual creativity of the (late, lamented) Redmoon Theatre show, Trap Door Theatre’s production of “A Devil Comes To Town,” is so incredibly good that I urge you to stop reading this review and just get a ticket. Here’s…
Published in
Theatre in Review
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Friday, 07 November 2025 13:03
Review: Superior Donuts at The Artistic Home at The Den Theatre
Written by John Accrocco
“You can’t raise kids without hope.” says terminally pessimistic Arthur Pryszbyszewski in Tracy Letts’ 2008 play “Superior Donuts” now running at The Artistic Home at The Den Theatre. Directed by Artistic Home ensemble member John Mossman, “Superior Donuts” tells an authentic Chicago story in the cozy kind of theater our…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Wednesday, 05 November 2025 13:02
Haunting Beauty and Harsh Truths in The House That Will Not Stand
Written by Wesley David
America’s greatest sin is its obsession with race and skin color. From the first toll of the Liberty Bell, the nation has measured who is free and who is owned by the color of their skin. In Marcus Gardley’s The House That Will Not Stand, now given a rich and…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Wednesday, 05 November 2025 21:45
Nikki Puts James Baldwin on a Pedestal in 'Giovanni | Baldwin Experience'
Written by Bill Esler
In 1971, Nicki Giovanni was a young Black poet already risen to prominence when she and the celebrated Black author James Baldwin met for a two hour conversation broadcast from London on PBS. Baldwin, 47, an éminence grise, answered the poet’s questions at length and Giovanni, 28, offered her own…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Sunday, 02 November 2025 11:36
Un Colpo fa Miracoli: Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci offers easy entree into the operatic world
Written by Kendall Royzen
In a world where our attention span seems to be shrinking, it’s comforting to know there are still one-shots available for our entertainment like a limited mini-series, a short story, a collection of poetry, or in the case of operatic masterpieces, double-feature shows. One of the drawbacks to newcomers with…
Published in
Theatre in Review
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