Nancy S. Bishop is publisher and Stages editor of Third Coast Review. She’s a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and a 2014 Fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. You can read her personal writing on pop culture at nancybishopsjournal.com, and follow her on Bluesky at @nancyb.bsky.social. She also writes about film, books, art, architecture and design.
The setting is a church summer camp, now the site of the First Annual Solidarity and Truth Conference. Before the play begins, voices and visual projections describe the lives of T.I.s […]
Not a word is spoken. The 90-minute performance by Trap Door Theatre is staged with music, recorded song and occasional dialog, but the seven actors say nothing. The production is […]
Opening night for the first play in Timeline Theatre’s new building was a sparkly affair. The audience was full of theater people and the level of drama was amped up […]
Shedd Aquarium has opened a fully reimagined theater for 4Dexperiences, enabling guests to step into the world of penguins, sharks and octopuses. During these multi-sensory adventures in the aquarium’s Phelps Auditorium, guests watch a short film showcasing the lives and […]
Circles have been universal throughout history, Evanston playwright Gloria Bond Clunie tells us. Hoops have delighted cultures all around the world, from ancient Egypt to the Parthenon. Native American nations […]
Does money buy justice for Black lives lost? In Windfall, his world premiere play commissioned by Steppenwolf Theatre, Tarell Alvin McCraney asks us to consider this question. Director Awoye Timpo […]
I Hate Hamlet, the new production by Saint Sebastian Players, is a play for lovers of Shakespeare…and others. Playwright Paul Rudnick says, in his introduction to the script, that he […]
moonwatchers, now being staged by Lazy Susan Theatre, might be just what you need if you are feeling depressed and angry about the state of the nation and the world. […]
The Dover Road is a vintage play, a comedy of manners with a twist. Ghostlight Ensemble is staging the 1921 A.A. Milne script, directed by Holly Robison, in an interesting […]
You know how kids try to avoid going to bed at night? If you’re a parent or grandparent or sitter, you know the drill. Mama, I’m not sleepy. Will you […]
If you have ever walked down Astor Street on the near north side (the Gold Coast), you may have noticed a large house with a private courtyard in the 1300 […]
The Trojan Women is a play about yesterday that speaks to today. It’s a powerful story about how women suffer in wartime, a commentary on the costs of war and […]