2021 Preview: A Wish List for Theater, Virtual and Live
There’s no need to say how devastating 2020 has been for live theater and all forms of live entertainment. Millions of careers, lives and families have been turned upside down […]
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 Twitter @nsbishop. She also writes about film, books, art, architecture and design.
Essay: Revisiting Stoppard’s Magnificent The Coast of Utopia on Its 14th Anniversary
This week I had a chance to revisit the most spectacular theater experience I’ve ever had. It took place on a weekend in February 2007. Over the course of two […]
Holiday Season Shows, Streaming to Your Living Room
Hit ‘em on the Blackside Congo Square Theatre Company’s new sketch comedy show Free on demand December 19 through March 2021 No subject is off-limits in Congo Square Theatre Company’s […]
Review: Robert O’Hara’s Barbecue, Newly Cooked Up for Our Virtual World
Robert O’Hara’s funny, snarky familyish drama Barbecue was staged by Strawdog Theatre in 2017 in Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theatre. It’s set in a public park where four siblings, led by one […]
Report: How Virtual Theater Can Expand the Influence of Local Theaters Post-Pandemic
Virtual theater has come in many forms during the last eight pandemic months. Our most recent theater review was actor/clown Bill Irwin’s new version of his bravura performance of On […]
Report: The Work of Chicago Artist Theaster Gates on Exhibit in New York Gallery
Chicago artist and urbanist Theaster Gates has a new solo exhibit at Gagosian Gallery in New York. The show titled Black Vessel uses materials such as metals, clay and tar […]
Theater, Virtually: Actor/Clown Bill Irwin Re-creates Samuel Beckett’s Irish Voice in On Beckett / In Screen
The other night I watched Bill Irwin repeat his bravura performance of On Beckett in a new version adapted for livestreaming. I saw the original in October 2018 at Irish […]
Dialogs: Margaret Atwood Talks About Writing, Reading, Werewolves and Truth
What year were you born:? If you are lucky enough to meet Margaret Atwood, she might ask you that. Knowing when someone was born tells her what happened to them, […]
Review: Stage Left’s The Project(s) Documents a Story of Community Found and Community Lost
The Project(s), a documentary-style theater piece that tells the story of Chicago public housing, past and present, had its world premiere in May 2015 at American Theater Company (shut down […]
Theater, Virtually: See What the Constitution Means to Me on Prime Video
On March 8, just a week before theater and most other live events shut down, I began a theater review this way: “What the Constitution Means to Me is partly […]
Dialogs: Nick Hornby Talks About His Latest Novel, the Writer’s Viewpoint and Writing for Film and TV
Chicagoans may think of Nick Hornby as one of our own because of the 2000 film, High Fidelity. It’s set in a grungy record shop in Wicker Park and features […]
Review: Invictus Theatre Offers Emotional Mother-Daughter Story in ‘night, Mother
It’s far more than a beautifully written mother-daughter conversation. Over the course of an evening at home, a young woman explains to her mother the list of things she will […]