Review: The Ally at Theater Wit Relies Too Much on Volume, Rather Than Drama
The Ally, a play now on stage at Theater Wit, is a diatribe more than a drama. The script by Itamar Moses (book for The Band’s Visit) puts a university […]
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.
Review: Radical Craft: Arts Education at Hull House 1889–1935 Describes the Role of the Arts at Chicago’s Pioneering Settlement House
Hull House and its founder Jane Addams have long been recognized as pioneers in citizenship development and education for low-income and immigrant communities. A new book expands on that history […]
Feature: Is He Guilty? Greek Hero Odysseus Is Tried for Murder in the National Hellenic Museum’s Latest Courtroom-Style Drama
The National Hellenic Museum’s annual trial of a Greek legend returned triumphantly this year with The Trial of Odysseus, the hero of Homer’s Odyssey. Since the series was founded in […]
Review: Changing Channels at City Lit Theater Reminds Us About Another Scary Time in US History
Midcentury America was a scary time. We worried about the Bomb because the Russians had one too—and it might be bigger than ours (theirs was plutonium). Today is scary too […]
Review: Goodman Theatre’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Tells a Sweet Story, But Needs a Script Doctor
Oscar Wao is a nerdy guy and a wannabe writer with a big heart. He’s open to friendship and longing for love. We even get to experience his loss of […]
Review: Red Theater Stages a New Version of Chekhov’s The Seagull and Retains Its Melancholy Mood
It’s a Chekhov play, so ….. Everyone is in love with the wrong person. Everyone is unhappy. People live in the country but yearn to live in the city. The […]
Review: Rivendell Theatre’s Pivot Tells a Tragicomic Story of Life, Love and Farming
It’s a few days before the wedding of Kara and Levi and in the small town of Milton, Nebraska, that’s a big event. As the play opens, we meet Levi […]
Dispatch: We Recap Films About Wacky Houses, Czech Design, and An Architect of Grief at the Architecture & Design Film Festival
The Architecture & Design Film Festival, opens in Chicago tomorrow, Thursday, February 19, and runs through Sunday, February 22, at the Chicago Cultural Center and the Gene Siskel Film Center. The festival […]
Review: At Young People’s Theatre, The Hobbit Entertains an Audience Both Adult and Young (But Not Too Young)
I saw the morning performance of The Hobbit by Young People’s Theatre Saturday, expecting the house to be full of squealy kids with parents. I was only slightly surprised to […]
Review: Royal Shakespeare’s Hamnet at Chicago Shakespeare Recreates the Drama With Pure Emotion
You may appreciate the play Hamnet because you loved Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel or the 2025 film directed by Chloé Zhao. In either case, your view of the Hamnet story […]
Review: In Hedda Gabler, Remy Bumppo Theatre Portrays Hedda as a Fascinating, Immoral Woman Desperate for Freedom
Hedda and Nora. A 19th century Norwegian playwright created two female protagonists that resonate with us strongly today. Nora, in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879) reminds us of the […]
Preview: Architecture & Design Film Festival to Offer 10 Feature Films on Sustainability and Design Themes
The Architecture & Design Film Festival, a touring international film festival, returns to Chicago next week. The festival runs Thursday, February 19, through Sunday, February 22, at the Chicago Cultural Center […]