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The Chicago Reader

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Arts & Culture, Ghost Light Feb 12, 2021
ComedySportz moves out of its Belmont Avenue venue

But the comedy games continue online; plus Raven announces a new-play development commission.
- By Kerry Reid
- Tags: Ghost Light, Ghost Light, ComedySportz, Jason Geis, Renee Ross, iO, Second City, Raven Theatre, Tyla Abercrumbie, Stephen Johnson

Arts & Culture, Ghost Light Jul 3, 2020
Ghost Light: a roundup of offstage performing arts news and notes

Victory Gardens and Raven name new leadership; J. Nicole Brooks wins a prestigious playwriting grant.
- By Kerry Reid
- Tags: Ghost Light, Victory Gardens Theater, Erica Daniels, Chay Yew, Roxanna Conner, E. Patrick Johnson, Sidney Lee, Raven Theatre, Markie Gray, Cody Estle, First Floor Theater, J. Nicole Brooks, Lookinggglass Theatre, Andrew Mellon Foundation

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Feb 11, 2020
Recommended
A new adaptation brings contemporary verve to A Doll's House

Two standout performances anchor Raven's production of the Ibsen classic.
- By Marissa Oberlander
- Tags: Theater Review, A Doll's House, Raven Theatre, Lauren Shouse, Anne-Charlotte Hanes Harvey, Kirsten Brandt, Amira Danan, Gage Wallace, Recommended

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Dec 10, 2019
Cold Town/Hotline can't overcome its preposterous premise

Eli Newell's self-directed holiday play at Raven asks us to suspend too much disbelief.
- By Catey Sullivan
- Tags: Theater Review, Cold Town/Hotline, Raven Theatre, Eli Newell

Columns & Opinion, On Culture Dec 10, 2019
In search of a happier ending

The founders and longtime heart of Raven Theatre have been wiped from its history.
- By Deanna Isaacs
- Tags: On Culture, Raven Theatre, Michael Menendian, JoAnn Montemurro, Stephen Johnson, Cold Town/Hotline, Eli Newell, Jonah Kaufman

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Nov 6, 2019
Recommended
Magic and music combine in the Memphis-set Hoodoo Love

Katori Hall's play takes its time but weaves a spell.
- By Kerry Reid
- Tags: Theater Review, Hoodoo Love, Raven Theatre, Katori Hall, Wardell Julius Clark, Martasia Jones, Shariba Rivers, Matthew James Elam, Christopher Wayland Jones, Recommended

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Oct 9, 2019
Sundown, Yellow Moon does best in quiet shadows

Raven's production has heart, but doesn't fully connect the pieces.
- By Kerry Reid
- Tags: Theater Review, Sundown Yellow Moon, Raven Theatre, Rachel Bonds, Cody Estle, The Bengsons, Liz Chidester, Diana Coates, Will Casey, Josh Odor, Jordan Dell Harris

Columns & Opinion, On Culture Oct 2, 2019
Roosevelt’s revolving door

In: a new Auditorium Theatre CEO; out: 16 board members, an associate dean, and the Joffrey Ballet
- By Deanna Isaacs
- Tags: On Culture, Roosevelt University, Auditorium Theatre, Rich Regan, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Joffrey Ballet, the Nutcracker, Netta Walker, Chicago College of Performing Arts, Jeff Awards, Yen, Raven Theatre, Sean Kelley, Tania Castroverde Moskalenko, Ali Malekzadeh, John Svoboda

Arts & Culture, Theater Review May 16, 2019
The Undeniable Sound of Right Now enables an aging rockist with dying dreams

The nostalgic tones don't resonate quite as fully with the modern music scene as they could.
- By Kerry Reid
- Tags: Theater Review, The Undeniable Sound of Right Now, Raven Theatre, Laura Eason, Jeff Mills, Henry Greenberg, Lindsay Stock, Casey Morris, BJ Jones, Christopher Acevedo, Frankie Knuckles, Jeffrey D. Kmiec, Lindsay Jones

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Apr 4, 2019
Recommended
Yen shows two neglected teenagers struggling to grow up

It starts as grotesque comedy but ends in tragedy.
- By Dmitry Samarov
- Tags: Theater Review, Yen, Raven Theatre, Anna Jordan, Joe Schermoly, Claire Chrzan, Elly Green, Recommended

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Feb 21, 2019
Raven’s How I Learned to Drive lacks horsepower

Paula Vogel's play is a stunner, but this production hits a few wrong notes.
- By Irene Hsiao
- Tags: Theater Review, How I Learned to Drive, Raven Theatre, Paula Vogel, Cody Estle, Eliza Stoughton, Mark Ulrich, sexual abuse

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Dec 19, 2018
The holiday miracle that gave Agency Theater Collective its Hellcab cab

The onstage taxi has a dramatic backstory.
- By Catey Sullivan
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, Agency Theater Collective, Hellcab, Chicago Cab, taxi, Will Kern, Tim Touhy, Sommer Austin, Michael Shannon, John C. Reilly, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Carol Himmel, Erich’s Lehigh Auto Body, Den Theatre, Raven Theatre

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Nov 8, 2018
Málaga, a play about a satanic babysitter, is an absolutely serious melodrama

Theatre Y's adaptation gets distracted by lots of clunky video-projection gimmickry.
- By Max Maller
- Tags: Theater Review, Málaga, Theatre Y, Raven Theatre, Lukas Bärfuss, Neil Blackadder, Katie Simpson, Eric K. Roberts, drama

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Oct 17, 2018
Crumbs From the Table of Joy and Flyin’ West resonate together in separate productions

And together they provide two perspectives on black women’s lives, written by black women.
- By Tony Adler
- Tags: Theater Review, Crumbs From the Table of Joy, Raven Theatre, Flyin’ West, American Blues Theater, Lynn Nottage, Tyrone Phillips, Chanell Bell, Father Divine, Brandi Jiminez Lee, Emily Tate, Brianna Buckley, Harlem, Pearl Cleage, Chuck Smith, Homestead Act, Reconstruction, Tiffany Oglesb

Arts & Culture, Theater Review May 16, 2018
Raven Theatre can’t deliver on Suddenly Last Summer’s mythic, monstrous potential

Its production of Tennessee Williams’s great lurid story falls flat.
- By Tony Adler
- Tags: Theater Review, Suddenly Last Summer, Raven Theatre, Tennessee Williams, Jason Gerace, White Goddess, Robert Graves, Mary K. Nigohosian, Wardell Julius Clark, Grayson Heyl

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Apr 12, 2018
The Gentleman Caller imagines an early romance between Tennessee Williams and William Inge

Two young playwrights teeter on the precipice of success.
- By Dan Jakes
- Tags: Theater Review, the gentlemen caller, tennessee williams, william inge, philips dawkins, lgbtqa, the glass menagerie, cody estle, raven theatre, rudy galvan, curtis edward jackson

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Dec 13, 2017
Red Velvet is a singular anti-achievement

Lolita Chakrabarti’s biodrama about the first black actor to play Othello on the London stage gets the story wrong for all the wrong reasons.
- By Justin Hayford
- Tags: Theater Review, Red Velvet, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Shakespeare, Othello, biodrama, Covent Garden Theatre, Ira Aldridge, Edmund Kean, Figaro in London, Gary Griffin, The Padlock, abolitionism, Surrey Theatre, Dion Johnstone, Raven Theatre, West End, race, racial discrimination, the African Roscius

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Oct 12, 2017
Choir Boy, Foxfinder, and 12 more stage shows to see now

A play by Moonlight author Tarell Alvin McCraney and a paranoiac drama by British playwright Dawn Hall are among this week's best bets.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, Blue/Orange, Runcible Theatre Company, Joe Penhall, National Theatre of Great Britian, Owen Hickle Edwards, Stephen Fedo, Nathaniel Andrew, Idi Amin Dada, Uganda, National Health Service, Andrew Root, Royal George Theatre Center, Raven Theatre, Tarell Alvin McCraney, the Brother/Sister Plays, Moonlight, Choir Boy, Michael Menendian, Christopher W. Jones, Breon Arzell, Frederick Harris, The Crucible, Steppenwolf for Young Adults, Arthur Miller, Arnel Sancianco, Jonathan Berry, Wallace Shawn, Evening at the Talk House, A Red Orchid Theatre, HB Ward, Shade Murray, Foxfinder, Dawn King, Interrobang Theatre, Alexandra Fisher, David Anthony Marshall, Jack Olin, Margaret Knapp, The Invisible Hand, Ayad Akhtar, Steep Theatre, Joel Reitsma, Audrey Francis, Lady Faust, Sharai Bohannon, Sophie Duntley, Christopher Marlowe, Faust, Torey Byrne, The Making of an American Folk Hero, Martin Zimmerman, Kelly Howe, The Other Theatre Company, The Man-Beast, First Folio Theatre, Joseph Zettelmaier, Hayley Rice, Elizabeth Laidlaw, Aaron Christensen, Lyric Opera, Rigoletto, Verdi, Victor Hugo, Ryan Opera Center, Quinn Kelsey, Mathew Polenzani, Michael Yeargen, Marco Armiliato, Saint Joan, George Bernard Shaw, Marylynne Anderson-Cooper, Poetic Forum Collective, Christabel Donkor, de Chirico, UniverSoul Circus, Cedric Walker, Bone Breakers, Reutan Collective, Wasteland Hero, Kyle Encinas, Nicky Jasper, Kate Lass, Bobby Hoffman, Kim Fukawa, Witi, an Interactive Show, Matthew Hoelter, iO

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature May 3, 2017
Chicago, Lady X: The Musical, and seven more new theater reviews

The hometown return of an iconic show and the tuneful reboot of a camp classic are among this week's best bets.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, Cabaret, Kander and Ebb, No Stakes Theater Project, Erin Shea Brady, Mollyanne Nunn, Emilie Modaff, Erick Rivera, Joe Masteroff, Cory Hardin, Chicago musical, Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace, William Osetek, Kelly Felthous, Aléna Watters, Rivendell Theatre, The Firebirds Take the Field, Lynn Rosen, Jessica Fisch, Forty-Two Stories, Douglas Post, City Lit Theatre, Scott Westerman, Gloria, Hell in a Handbag Productions, David Cerda, Scott Lamberty, Lady X: The Musical, Chazie Bly, Promethean Theatre Ensemble, The Liar, Pierre Corneille, Josh Hambrock, David Ives, Ed Rutherford, Underscore Theatre, My Name Is Annie King, Krista Pioppi, Alex Higgin-Houser, Aaron Albert, Katy Rea, Raven Theatre, Not About Nightingales, Tennessee Williams, Michael Menendian, Breon Arzell, Chuck Spencer, Brandon Greenhouse, Sophia Menendian, Curious Theatre Branch, Tattered and Wincing, Beau O'Reilly, Ryan Wright, Kelly Anchors

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Mar 22, 2017
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Falling, and eight more stage shows to see now

Bertolt Brecht's satire set in 1930s gangland Chicago and the local premiere of an off-Broadway hit are among this week's best bets.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, Electra Garrigó, Virgilio Piñera, Sophocles, Electra, Cuban modernism, Fidel Castro, Right Brain Project, Kathi Kaity, Falling, Deanna Jent, Amy Johnson, Justin Tsatsa, Nick Freed, Tristin Hall, James Yost, Heidi Katz, Interrobang Theatre Project, The Kid Thing, Sarah Gubbins, Nothing Without a Company, Jake Fruend, Taylor R. Craft, Shalyn Welch, The Most Happy Fella, Frank Loesser, Broadway musicals, Brooks Atkinson, Sidney Howard, They Knew What They Wanted, Theo Ubique, Fred Anzevino, Molly Hernandez, William Roberts, Phantom Pain, Barbara Lhota, Detroit riots, Organic Theater, Laura Sturm, A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Otherworld Theatre, Elliott Sowards, The Resistible Rise of Alberto Ui, Trap Door Theatre, Bertolt Brecht, rise of Hitler, gangland Chicago, 1930s Chicago, Victor Quezada-Perez, The Scullery Maid, Idle Muse Theatre, Joseph Zettelmaier, historical drama, Edward III, Dave Skvarla, Lydia Hiller, Sycamore, Raven Theatre, Sarah Sander, Devon de Mayo, Robyn Coffin, Tom Hickey, Truth & Reconciliation, Sideshow Theatre Company, Debbie Tucker Green, Jonathan L. Green, genocide, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Feb 8, 2017
The Nether, The Book of Joseph, and seven more plays to see now

Thought-provoking productions at A Red Orchid and Chicago Shakespeare Theater are among this week's best bets.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, The Assembled Parties, Richard Greenberg, Raven Theatre, Cody Estle, Loretta Rezos, JoAnn Montemurro, Niko Kourtis, The Book of Joseph, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Joseph Hollander, Every Day Lasts a Year: A Jewish Family's Correspondence From Poland, Barbara Gaines, Sean Fortunato, Francis Guinan, the Holocaust, Bootycandy, Windy City Playhouse, Robert O'Hara, Travis Turner, Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller, Redtwist Theatre, Steve Scott, Brian Parry, Jan Ellen Graves, Matt Edmonds, Faceless, Selina Fillinger, Northlight Theatre, BJ Jones, Ross Lehman, Susaan Jamshidi, Timothy Edward Kane, Joe Dempsey, Hobo King, Congo Square Theatre, Kyle Smith, Lionel Gentle, Velma Austin, Lyle Miller, Javon Johnson, Manual Cinema, The Magic City, Chicago Children's Theatre, the Station, The Nether, A Red Orchid Theatre, Jennifer Haley, Karen Kessler, Guy Van Swearingen, pedophilia, Starrs Is Getting Up There, John Starrs, Rhinofest, Doug Chamberlin

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Nov 10, 2016
Fun Home, Betrayal, Graeme of Thrones, and 12 more new theater reviews

The Broadway musical based on Alison Bechdel's graphic novel and a Pinter classic are among this week's best bets.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, Another Snowy Day With Beatrix Potter and Friends, Chicago Children's Theatre, Will Bishop, Grace Needlman, Betrayal, Raven Theatre, Harold Pinter, Abigail Boucher, Sam Guinan-Nyhart, Keith Neagle, Cosmic Events Are Upon Us, Waltzing Mechanics, the Romanovs, Keely Leonard, Anastasia, Tsar Nicholas II, Chicago Opera Theater, The Fairy Queen, Henry Purcell, Baroque opera, semi-opera, Andreas Mitisek, Haymarket Opera Orchestra, Marc Molomot, Kimberly E. Jones, First Lady Suite, Michael John LaChiusa, Jackie Kennedy, Mamie Eisenhower, Eleanor Roosevelt, Nick Graffagna, Nicholas Reinhart, Circle Theatre, Fun Home, Alison Bechdel, Lisa Kron, Jeanine Tesori, David Zinn, Sam Gold, Robert Petkoff, Abby Corrigan, Graeme of Thrones, Ali Brice, Libby Northedge, Michael Condron, Krampus!, Ghostlight Ensemble, Underground Wonder Bar, Jaclyn Jensen, Mike Wozniak, The Little Flower of East Orange, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Eclipse Theatre Company, Steve Scott, John Henry Roberts, Moon Shot, Theater Unspeakable, Neil Armstrong, Yuri Gargarin, Mark Frost, John F. Kennedy, Apollo 11, Wernher von Braun, NASA, Murder on Mount Olympus, Plautus, Public House Theatre, Byron Hatfield, Bye Bye Liver, Xolotl, Out of This World, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Cirque de Soleil, Rutherford's Travels, Charles Johnson, Middle Passage, Ilesa Duncan, David Barr II, Breon Arzell, Pegasus Theatre, Shrewish, The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare, Artemisia Theatre, Singin' in the Rain, Tammy Mader, Michael Scott, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Oct 12, 2016
Baudelaire in a Box: Unquenched, The Burials, and nine more new theater reviews

Theater Oobleck's stage translation of Les Fleurs du Mal continues.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, Baudelaire in a Box Episode 9: Unquenched, Theater Oobleck, Le Fleurs du Mal, Apartment 3A, Jeff Daniels, Ron OJ Parson, Eleni Pappageorge, Bare: A Pop Opera, Refuge Theatre Project, Jon Hartmere Jr., Damon Intrabartolo, Matt Dominguez, Dave Buchen, Chris Schoen, Mickle Maher, Charles Baudelaire, The Burials, Steppenwolf for Young Adults, Antigone, Erica Weiss, The Burials, Steppenwolf for Young Adults, Caitlin Parrish, Erica Weiss, The Comrades, Dying City, Mickey O'Sullivan, Laura Matthews, Elizabeth Lovelady, The Epic of Gilgamesh as Told by Mr. George Smith, Associate Curator of the British Museum (Deceased), George Smith, The Plagiarists, Raef Carter, Bryan Breau, Chicago Slam Works, Just Numbers, The Gift Theatre, A Life Extra Ordinary, Melissa Ross, John Gawlik, Cyd Blakewell, Raven Theatre, Red Velvet, Lolita Chakrabarti, Michael Menendian, Ira Aldridge, While Our Blood Is Still Young, Amanda Dunne Acevedo, Lindsey Barlag Thornton, Chicago Theatre Workshop, Wicked City, Lauren Roesner, Javier Ferreira, Rashada Dawan, Chad Beguelin, Matthew Sklar, Christopher Shinn

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature Jul 28, 2016
Ad Hoc [Home], As You Like It, and nine more new stage shows and revivals

About Face Theatre Youth Ensemble and Arc Theatre make more with less.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, About Face Youth Theatre Ensemble, Ad Hoc [Home], Da Shona Johnson, Arc Theatre, As You Like It, Mark Boergers, The Awake, Ken Urban, First Floor Theater, Theater on the Lake, C.S. Lewis, C.S. Lewis Onstage: A Most Reluctant Convert, Max McLean, The Dead Boy Scout Musical, Philmont Scout Ranch, Eagle Scouts, Bruce Phillips, The Annoyance Theatre & Bar, Desert Cool, Mark Denny, Caleb Fullen, John O'Toole, Raven Theatre, Direct From Death Row: The Scottsboro Boys, Mark Stein, Now. Here. This., Rivendell Theatre, Jeff Bowen, Brown Paper Box Co., The Portrait, Gustav Klimt, Cameron Pfiffner, Show & Tell, the Harold, long-form improvisation, iO Theater, Thom Pain (Based on Nothing), Will Eno, Jake Baker, Dear Stone Theater Company, Susan Padveen

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Feature May 4, 2016
Mike Mother, Best of Enemies, The 180 Degree Rule, and eight more stage shows to see now

A Neo-Futurist performance piece, a drama about an almost unimaginable alliance, and a satire of Hollywood's golden age are among the hits this week.
- Tags: Performing Arts Feature, iO, Vienna Juvenile, Matt Besser, Layne Dixon, Provision Theater, Best of Enemies, Osha Gray Davidson, Mark St. Germain, C.P. Ellis, Ann Atwater, Rod Armentrout, Felicia Fields, Collaboraction, Anthony Moseley, Rivendell Theatre, Dry Land, Ruby Rae Spiegel, Hallie Gordon, Bryce Gangel, Jessica Ervin, Curious Theatre Branch, The Eviller Twin, Sue Cargill, Stefan Brün, Raven Theatre, House of Blue Leaves, John Guare, JoAnn Montemurro, Kelli Strickland, Sarah Hayes, Lyric Opera, The King and I, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Paolo Montalban, Kate Baldwin, Ali Ewoldt, Rona Figueroa, Matthew Uzarraga, Théâtre du Châtelet, Mike Mother, Neo-Futurarium, Jessica Anne, Mike Hamilton, Marsha Norman, 'Night, Mother, Babes With Blades, The 180 Degree Rule, M.E.H. Lewis, Barbara Lhota, Rachel Edwards Harvith, Lisa Herceg, Stage 773, Skin in the Game, one-act festival, The Living Canvas, Cathedral, Right Brain Project, the Ruckus, Hobo Junction Productions, Organic Theater Company, pH Comedy, Thanks for the Tip, Kayce Alltop, Dan Wright, Jared Miller, Theatre Y, 3 Sisters, Andrej Visky, Melissa Lorraine, Katie Stimpson, Kevlyn Hayes, Anton Chekhov, Earl H.E. Hill, Dan Christmann

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