Review: House Theatre’s Verböten Adds a Lot of Heart to “Three Chords and the Truth”
The old rock trope says that punk music is “three chords and the truth.” That holds true for the fact-based story about a kid punk band from Evanston in the […]
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.
Review: Shattered Globe’s Sheepdog Tells an All-Too-Familiar Story About Police Shootings
Alton Sterling. Laquan McDonald. Walter Scott. Michael Brown. Greg Gunn. Philando Castile. Some of those names might come to mind as you watch the tense, even-handed police thriller, Sheepdog, by […]
Review: The Gulf by About Face Theatre—Two Women Stuck in a Relationship—and a Fishing Boat
Two women on a fishing boat in the Alabama Delta. One casts and sometimes reels in…nothing. The other alternately suns, dozes and reads. It’s late afternoon on a hot, humid […]
Review: Sunday Evening Is an Entertaining Debut for Rose Valley Theatre Group
Rose Valley Theatre Group, Chicago’s newest theater company, makes its debut with the first English language production of Sunday Evening, a play by Zachary Karabashliev, a Bulgarian playwright. You might […]
Playtime Radio: On the Air With Food and Jazz, a Perfect Combo
Here’s this week’s podcast for Playtime with Bill Turck and Kerri Kendall, our radio arts partner. Third Coast Review news and reviews are highlighted and our writers sometimes appear on the […]
Preview/Review: Gift Theatre Celebrates Its Birthday With Ten 10-Minute Theater Pieces
Winter seems to be the season for stage fests in Chicago (Rhinofest, Musical Theater Festival, Pegasus’ Young Playwrights Festival, Fillet of Solo) and Gift Theatre, one of our fine storefront […]
Preview: Fillet of Solo Festival Celebrates Live Lit With Storytelling Collectives and Solo Performers
The 23rd Annual Fillet of Solo Festival, running January 10–26, celebrates Chicago’s storytelling and live lit scene at Lifeline Theatre and the Teal Room in Rogers Park. The festival, organized by […]
Review: The Raw World of 13-Year-Olds Comes Alive in Steppenwolf’s Dance Nation
There is dancing in Dance Nation, now at Steppenwolf Theatre. It’s sometimes clumsy, sometimes graceful, and generally amateurish. Clare Barron’s play is about a crew of 13-year-old girls (and a […]
Review: Theo Ubique’s Working Is a Musical Homage to the “Extraordinary Dreams of Ordinary People”
Working transforms Studs Terkel’s iconic 1974 book of interviews with American workers of all stripes into a musical revue that pays homage to the value of work and the pride […]
Playtime Radio: Talking With Artist Leo Segedin, Photographer David Yarrow
Here’s this week’s podcast for Playtime with Bill Turck and Kerri Kendall, our radio arts partner. Third Coast Review news and reviews are highlighted and our writers sometimes appear on the […]
Review: Should We Fear Disease or Demagogues in Trap Door’s The White Plague?
The White Plague or a new form of leprosy is what everyone fears in the new play at Trap Door Theatre. However, the disease described in Czech playwright Karel Čapek’s […]
Playtime Radio: Frida Kahlo 2020 Exhibit in Glen Ellyn
Playtime with Bill Turck and Kerri Kendall is our radio arts partner. Third Coast Review news and reviews are highlighted and our writers sometimes appear on the Sunday afternoon arts radio […]