Review: Lookingglass Theatre’s Untitled Vampire Play Amuses and Charms
We all know that classic moment in a romantic comedy when a partner meets the parents for the first time. There are often nerves all around. What if the parents […]
Review: Circus Quixote at Lookingglass Theatre Retells the Classic Knight’s Tale With Heart and Magic
After much too long a pause, Lookingglass is back. And with style. Circus Quixote, Lookingglass Theatre’s adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes’ classic novel, Don Quijote of La Mancha, is a […]
Review: Villette at Lookingglass Theatre Tells a Young Woman’s 19th Century Story With 21st Century Flair
Villette is an 19th century tale played on an strikingly modern stage set. The playing area is bounded by two walls of sliding screens and a few pieces of period furniture […]
Review: Lookingglass Theatre Returns with The Steadfast Tin Soldier, a Weighty Holiday Fable Filled with Wonder
For all the theater I’ve attended in Chicago—since childhood, really—I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that this weekend marked my first visit to Michigan Avenue’s Lookingglass Theatre, the 35-year-old ensemble company […]
Review: Unapologetic and in Your Face, Congo Square Theatre’s What to Send Up When It Goes Down Starts the Healing
I wish that I could say that What to Send Up When It Goes Down was a flashback to earlier days of Black theater companies like eta Creative Arts Foundation […]
Review: At Lookingglass Theatre, Her Honor Jane Byrne Tells the Story of Chicago Public Housing and Its People
Jane Byrne, whose name is enshrined in an expressway interchange, was Chicago’s first female mayor. She probably deserves a better memorial and J. Nicole Brooks’ play, Her Honor Jane Byrne, […]
Her Honor, Jane Byrne and Two Other Chicago Plays Win 2021 Steinberg-ATCA Awards
Chicago playwright J. Nicole Brooks has won the 2021 Harold and Mimi Steinberg / American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award for the play Her Honor, Jane Byrne. The Steinberg/ATCA Award, which carries […]
Review: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein at Lookingglass Tells a Dazzling Creature Origin Story
Last year was the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s landmark horror novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, which explains why we have been able to see four different […]
2018 in Review: What We Liked on Stage
This isn’t a “best theater of 2018” list. We didn’t see everything. Most of our writers are freelancers, all with other gigs, and it’s hard for us to cover the […]
Review: The Steadfast Tin Soldier Is Surefooted Holiday Escapism for These Unsteady Times
Mary Zimmerman’s The Steadfast Tin Soldier is the theatrical equivalent of a gift under the tree on Christmas morning; it’s warm, heartfelt, and wrapped nicely in a bright holiday bow. The […]
20,000 Leagues Under the Seas Adapts the Classic Tale for the Lookingglass Stage
Professor Arronax (Kasey Foster), expert of all things oceanic, has been brought aboard a US Naval Vessel to aide in the search for an elusive killer of ships– is it […]
Lookingglass Theatre’s Plantation! Views Reparations Through Farcical Lens
Plantation!, now receiving its world premiere in a production at Lookingglass Theatre directed by David Schwimmer, is a comedic take on race and reparations in the 21st century. Written by […]