1,111 stories by "Kerry Reid"
Right after the curtain call at First Floor Theater's world premiere of Pro-Am, a colleague sitting behind me leaned over and asked, "Have you ever seen Stage Door?" Despite the fact that Br…
Joshua Allen's third installment in his Chicago-set "Grand Boulevard Trilogy" (after The Last Pair of Earlies, which alternated between 1921 and 1938, and October Storm, set in 1960) takes p…
Everything about Jay Stull's The Singularity Play, now in a world premiere at Jackalope Theatre (directed by Georgette Verdin) should feel timely and tense. It's about the effects of AI on a…
Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Visit has found many reimaginings since it was first produced in 1956. The story of a wealthy woman returning to the town that once scorned her a…
First coproduced in 2014 by Court Theatre and American Blues Theater, Nambi E. Kelley's adaptation of Richard Wright's 1940 novel Native Son is now in a stirring revival at Lifeline under IL…
With stories of migrants and climate change in the news every day, Chicago playwright Dolores DÃaz's Black Sunday couldn't be more timely"even if it is set in 1935. TimeLine Theatre's wor…
What was in the water in Hollywood in the late 80s and early 90s to instigate so many films (Fatal Attraction, She-Devil, Soapdish) about obsessed and vengeful women? Was it just part of the…
If you've been looking for the 21st century's answer to Samuel Beckett's Endgame, your wait is over. Levi Holloway's Turret, now in a world premiere (also directed by the playwright) with A …
My only memory of a Thanksgiving play from my school days stretches back to first grade, when I was asked to play a young Pilgrim boy instead of a girl"because there were more girls than boy…
Editor's Note: Since all the plays presented in Hamburgers & Disappointment are for two people, we thought it made some sense to have two critics writing about the festival. Capacity and…
"Jerry, just remember, it's not a lie, if you believe it." Jason Alexander doesn't repeat this famous George Costanza line from Seinfeld in Rob Ulin's morality comedy, Judgment Day, now in a…
There have been several intriguing plays about siblings dealing with loss onstage this year, including Leah Nanako Winkler's The Brightest Thing in the World at About Face Theatre and the cu…
A one-person take on Hamlet starring a famous comedian sounds like a recipe for self-indulgence. (Or the opening premise for a deliberately off-kilter affair, as in the ridiculous and sublim…
It's tempting to say that Neil Simon's 1963 romantic comedy Barefoot in the Park hasn't aged well. But even when it premiered on Broadway with Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley as newlywed…
Chicago Children's Theatre's (CCT) first production, back in 2006, was the Tony Award-nominated A Year With Frog and Toad, created by brothers Robert (music) and Willie Reale (book and lyric…
Hershey Felder first played Frédéric Chopin at the now-closed Royal George Theatre in 2005"one of several solo shows about great composers that Felder has created over the years (he's also…
British playwright Simon Stephens has been produced here so often, he's practically an honorary Chicagoan. So it's perhaps puzzling that his adaptation of Mark Haddon's 2003 novel, The Curio…
All the ingredients for a whimsical look at unlikely love are in place in Nick Robideau's Inanimate, now in its local premiere at Theater Wit under Jeremy Wechsler's direction. But like a Da…
The early moments of Leah Nanako Winkler's The Brightest Thing in the World, now in a heartfelt midwest premiere with About Face Theatre under Keira Fromm's direction, reminded me a bit of G…
As her name suggests, Cloudia has been obsessed with clouds her entire life. In particular, she's always wanted to see a legendary Cloud Man for herself. So she moves into a cabin on Cloud M…
The same day I saw Aurora Real de Asua's Wipeout at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, I read an essay by onetime Reader staffer Heather Kenny about women finding midlife empowerment in outdoor spo…
Ronnie Marmo has been extremely candid about his struggles with addiction, especially in the context of playing Lenny Bruce, as he has for several years in his show I'm Not a Comedian . . . …
Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble's Meditations on Being is a sampler platter of eight pieces that in some way "reflects on what one remembers." Not all the work on display here necessarily mirro…
Deborah Zoe Laufer's 2007 dramedy, End Days, has intermittent moments of charm woven into a premise that is trying way too hard for profundity and whimsy. (When a show begins with someone dr…
Charles Smith writes historical plays with lively consciences that provide ample opportunities for his characters to debate. But first and foremost, he writes plays about people who are nego…
