05/09/08

To Infinity and Beyond

Pet Project

Like many people in September 2005, with Hurricane Katrina looming off the Gulf Coast, Tim Maddock packed up his car for a long drive—but unlike most, Maddock headed toward the disaster rather than away. The former Chicagoan’s experiences with the post-hurricane animal-rescue effort directly informed his new play, Because They Have No Words, which tackles the chaos, grief, and bureaucratic nightmare at the heart of...

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05/02/08

Midnight’s Children

Do we know how to pick them or what? In our May issue, on stands now, senior editor Cassie Walker tipped readers off to a trio of young, ambitious playwrights, including Laura Jacqmin. Since then, the 25-year-old wunderkind has received the coveted Wasserstein Prize, which recognizes under-the-radar up-and-coming playwrights. See what all the fuss is about when...

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04/25/08

24-Hour Party People

High Wattage

Hip Hop Live + Reel rolls into the Museum of Contemporary Art (220 E. Chicago Ave.; 312-397-4010) Friday the 25th with a full weekend lineup of performance and films. Friday highlights include Reggie Watts, whose show-stopping mash-up of political satire, improv, dance, and beatboxing has earned him comedy's Andy Kaufman Award. Also on the bill: Local theatre company Teatro Luna reprises Machos, featuring an all-female cast in drag; plus, local beatboxer Yuri Lane and screenings including Dave Chappelle's Block Party...

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04/18/08

Sex, Lies, and Videotape

Bar-Hopping Mad

Bartenders: Turn off the lights and hide the alcohol. Schadenfreude is on the loose. The outlandish (and hilarious) local comedy troupe launches its Rent Party, a six-week tour of neighborhood watering holes, 9 p.m. Saturday the 19th at Gallery Cabaret (2020 N. Oakley Ave.; 773-576-6070). Guests include the musical duo Mike and Duane, and local improv vet/Chicago Public Radio host Jimmy Carrane. Tour dates run through...

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04/11/08

Kill Your Television

Who’s Piloting These Airwaves Anyway?
New TV episodes finally returned this week—and yet we’re still hankering for so much as an ounce of creativity on camera. The Neo-Futurists to the rescue; the performance troupe puts its own spin on TV pilots with the debut of its six-week Picked Up series, 8 p.m. Friday the 11th and Saturday the 12th. Each week the troupe will tackle a different pilot idea; we’re looking forward to “Office Prison Break,” April 24th through 26th, a mash-up inspired by...

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04/04/08

Down and Dirty

Talking Trash

April is Earth month, which means the onslaught of green talk has just begun. But don’t turn a deaf ear yet; amid the lip service and Al Gore sightings comes a truly inventive show examining society’s wastefulness. Dance troupe The Seldoms performs Monument, inspired by Staten Island’s Fresh Kills landfill—a site taller than the Statue of Liberty and visible from space. This inauspicious human “monument” served as...

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03/28/08

Goats, Syrup, and Other Natural Wonders

The Late Show

A few months back, we shared a tip on a staged reading of Better Late, starring Frasier’s John Mahoney and Mamet regular Mike Nussbaum. For folks who missed that gem, we’ve got another heads-up, now that the play—a December-December-December love triangle, by the May-December writing team of Larry Gelbart (M*A*S*H), 80, and Craig Wright (Six Feet Under), 42—is in production. Gelbart, whose credits also include Tootsie, takes the stage to talk about his career following the...

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03/21/08

Romancing the Stony

Fresh Eyre
How is it that the spinster Brontë sisters managed to write such passionate bodice rippers—for Victorian England, at least—despite a life of domestic doldrums on the Yorkshire moors? That’s the fundamental question British playwright Polly Teale aims to answer in Brontë, her imaginative blend of biography and fiction, presented by Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. The show previews 7:30 p.m. Friday the 21st and Saturday the 22nd, 2:30 p.m. Sunday the 23rd, and opens 7 p.m. Monday the 24th at Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater (2257 N. Lincoln Ave.; 773-871-3000). Previews are $24 to $30; regular run is $35 to $40.
Best Bets for Things to Do This Week...

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03/14/08

The Green Machine

Easy Being Green

The South Side Irish Parade took place on the 9th, and the weekend ahead is riddled with green beer drink-offs. Isn’t there anything authentic left to celebrate on St. Patrick’s Day? It’s FitzGerald’s (6615 Roosevelt Rd., Berwyn; 708-788-2118) to the rescue when the nightclub hosts its annual féile (that’s Gaelic for “festival”) on Monday the 17th. The merriment includes ten hours of music and dancing, 2 p.m. to midnight, with headliners the Dooley Brothers back for the band’s 26th year of playing its signature Irish-folk-meets-rock-n-roll. Other performers include the multitasking dancing/fiddler April Verch, and Kevin Flynn and the Avondale Ramblers, whose rock repertoire is...

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03/07/08

The Union versus The Onion

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