Anne Marie Lewis

PrideArts today announced a reading of Shakespeare's comedy A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, to be performed Tuesday, June 22nd at 7:00 pm. Peter Vamvakas, who directed the company's readings of Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT and Joe Calarco's SHAKESPEARE'S R&J, will direct the classic as a gender bending romp through ancient Greece.

Pride Arts’ live virtual reading of an adaptation of Shakespeare’s gender-bending comedy TWELFTH NIGHT, directed by Peter Vamvakas and originally performed on January 12, will give a second live performance on February 2 at 7 pm. A cast of seven will play all roles, providing the opportunity for intriguing double casting.

Porchlight Music Theatre begins its sixth season of Chicago's "lost" musicals in staged concert series with Porchlight Revisits 1776, music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and book by Peter Stone with direction by Artistic Director Michael Weber, musical direction by Jeremy Ramey and musical staging by Michelle Lauto. Porchlight Revisits 1776 is presented for only three performances Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, Nov. 15 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. Tickets for 1776 are available now for $37, subscriptions to the three performance series including 1776, Can-Can, March 6 and 7, 2019 and Minnie's Boys, May 22 and 23, 2019 are $90/per person and available at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by calling the Porchlight Music Theatre box office at 773.777.9884.

Porchlight Music Theatre begins its sixth season of Chicago's "lost" musicals in staged concert series with Porchlight Revisits 1776, music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and book by Peter Stone with direction by Artistic Director Michael Weber, musical direction by Jeremy Ramey and musical staging by Michelle Lauto.

Idle Muse Theatre Company announces design team for the Chicago premiere of The Scullery Maid written by playwright Joseph Zettelmaier. 'The Scullery Maid is a story about servants as much as kings. I wrote this play during what I thought was a contentious election cycle here in America (I had no idea what was yet to come).

Idle Muse Theatre Company announces design team for the Chicago premiere of The Scullery Maid written by playwright Joseph Zettelmaier.

Idle Muse Theatre Company announces casting the Chicago premiere of The Scullery Maid written by playwright Joseph Zettelmaier.

Idle Muse Theatre Company announces casting the Chicago premiere of The Scullery Maid written by playwright Joseph Zettelmaier. The cast features Lydia Hiller as MIriam, Dave Skvarla as King Edward III, Anne Marie Lewis as Bess, Leslie Hull as Dulcie, and George Ellison as Pascal. Idle Muse Artistic Director, Evan Jackson directs.

Refuge Theatre Project will again perform in a non-traditional space for their production of bare: a pop opera, which will complete the company's second season with a five-week run from October 7 through November 6, 2016. The sanctuary of Epworth United Methodist Church at 5253 N. Kenmore will be the stage for this sung-through musical, set in a private co-educational Roman Catholic boarding school. bare, which premiered in Los Angeles in 2000 and was mounted off-Broadway in New York in 2004, follows gay and straight teenage characters who are dealing with their emerging sexuality. The pastoral guidance they receive from their teachers is not always affirming.

Lerner and Loewe's Broadway classic MY FAIR LADY, with 28-piece orchestra, will be staged by Light Opera Works at Cahn Auditorium in Evanston, June 4 through 12.

Lifeline Theatre presents a world premiere adaptation of James Leo Herlihy's 1965 novel, Midnight Cowboy, adapted by Lifeline Theatre ensemble member Chris Hainsworth (2015 Non-Equity Jeff nomination: New Adaptation - Monstrous Regiment), and directed by Lifeline ensemble member Christopher M. Walsh. Joe Buck escapes his dead-end life in Texas and heads to New York City with dreams of making his fortune as a hustler for wealthy socialites. But his rugged cowboy persona masks the gullibility of a child, and Joe falls victim to all manner of con artists and predators. At the end of his rope, he partners with street-savvy Rico "Ratso" Rizzo in an alliance that could either save or destroy them both. A meditation on loneliness and the need to form real connections amidst the crushing isolation of 20th-century life. The production runs approximately two hours with one intermission. The book will be on sale in the lobby.

Spartan Theatre Company presents Neil Simon's Jake's Women. A struggling novelist handles the world in his much imagination much better than that pesky real one just outside his study, where the shadow of a failing marriage looms large.