Playground Will Host 30th Anniversary Gala
by Stephi Wild - Sep 26, 2024
One of the nation’s oldest, most respected, and largest developer of new works for the theatre, PlayGround marked its third decade of incubating new plays by hosting simultaneous parties in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco on Monday, September 16, 2024.
56th Jeff Awards Nominations Revealed
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Aug 6, 2024
The Jeff Awards revealed nominations for their 56th anniversary, celebrating excellence in Chicago's Equity theaters. Learn more!
Review: NOTES FROM THE FIELD At TimeLine Theatre Company
by Rachel Weinberg - Feb 10, 2024
With NOTES FROM THE FIELD, playwright Anna Deavere Smith once again proves she’s a master of her genre of theatrical storytelling. Known for her documentary (or verbatim) plays, Smith presents monologues from 19 different interviews in this exploration of the school-to-prison pipeline in America. By allowing her interview subjects to literally speak for themselves, Smith has mastered the art of showing and not telling. NOTES FROM THE FIELD has a clear agenda; it’s a searing condemnation of the systemic failings of the American judicial, police, educational, and penitentiary institutions — and most notably a condemnation of the ways in which those systems have failed Black and Brown Americans. But Smith conveys her points with a blistering humanity (even if, at two hours and 40 minutes, I think she could have arrived at those points with a shorter run-time).
Review: THE NACIREMA SOCIETY at Goodman Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - Sep 27, 2023
It seems fitting that Goodman Theatre opens new Artistic Director Susan V. Booth’s inaugural season with THE NACIREMA SOCIETY, a play that’s about coming out to society. This Chicago premiere marks a continuation of Booth’s long-standing relationship with celebrated Black playwright Pearl Cleage. THE NACIREMA SOCIETY takes the form of an extended farce, following the incredibly wealthy Dunbar family in 1964 Montgomery, Alabama. In this light-hearted (if not always legitimately laugh-out-loud) comedic play, Cleage draws heavily from classic farce conventions. As the centennial event of matriarch Grace Dubose Dunbar’s beloved Nacirema Society, Montgomery’s organization for Black young women, dawns — and she awaits her own granddaughter Grace’s coming out — the antics become more and more heightened as family secrets come to light.
Cast Set For THE NACIREMA SOCIETY at the Goodman Theatre
by Stephi Wild - Aug 16, 2023
Goodman Theatre’s 2023/2024 Season—Susan V. Booth’s first to curate as new Artistic Director—begins with works by Pearl Cleage, Atlanta’s first Poet Laureate and Booth’s longtime creative collaborator and friend. Learn more about the cast here!
TimeLine Theatre Adds Performances of TROUBLE IN MIND
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Nov 30, 2022
TimeLine Theatre Company has announced he addition of two matinees to the current run of the company’s critically acclaimed revival of Trouble in Mind on Thursday, December 8, and Thursday, December 15, at 2 p.m.