Martel Manning News

The Gift Theatre is pleased to present TEN 2018, the company's annual season kick-off festival of ten world premiere ten-minute pieces by The Gift and guest artists, curated by Artistic Director Michael Patrick Thornton and Associate Artistic Director Paul D'Addario, playing January 5 14, 2018 at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Jefferson Park neighborhood. Tickets for TEN are free for Gift subscribers and $10 for the general public. Tickets are currently available by calling the Gift's box office at 773-283-7071 or visiting thegifttheatre.org.

The Gift Theatre is pleased to present TEN 2018, the company's annual season kick-off festival of ten world premiere ten-minute pieces by The Gift and guest artists, curated by Artistic Director Michael Patrick Thornton and Associate Artistic Director Paul D'Addario. Tickets for TEN are free for Gift subscribers and $10 for the general public. Tickets are currently available by calling the Gift's box office at 773-283-7071 or visiting thegifttheatre.org.

Lifeline Theatre is proud to announce six new members of its artistic ensemble: Bilal Dardai, Andr s Enriquez, Diane D. Fairchild, Anthony Kayer, Martel Manning, and Michael McKeogh. Lifeline's ensemble determines the company's artistic programming and provides leadership, support, and counsel in the play development process.

New Light Theater Project and Chicago Dramatists present the World Premiere of Still Dance the Stars, a highly theatrical story based on the struggles of love in the face of unthinkable loss.

New Light Theater Project and Chicago Dramatists present the World Premiere of Still Dance the Stars, a highly theatrical story based on the struggles of love in the face of unthinkable loss.

During last night's Season Release Bash at Old Irving Brewery Co., artistic director and co-founder Michael Patrick Thornton proudly announced The Gift Theatre's 2018 season will include: Stacy Amma Osei-Kuffour's world premiere of Hang Man, directed by ensemble member Erica Weiss (February 9-April 8); Shakespeare's Hamlet, directed by Monty Cole (June 1-July 29); and the Midwest premiere of Tony Award-winning playwright and ensemble member David Rabe's Cosmologies, directed by Thornton (October 12-December 9).

Lifeline Theatre presents the world premiere of Her Majesty's Will, adapted by Lifeline Theatre ensemble member Robert Kauzlaric (Non-Equity Jeff Awards: New Adaptation, The Island of Dr. Moreau and Neverwhere), and directed by Lifeline Theatre ensemble member Chris Hainsworth, based on the 2013 novel by Chicago-based author/actor/fight choreographer (and Rogers Park resident) David Blixt, who will design the violence for the production. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast in character below!

Lifeline Theatre presents the world premiere of Her Majesty's Will, adapted by Lifeline Theatre ensemble member Robert Kauzlaric (Non-Equity Jeff Awards: New Adaptation, The Island of Dr. Moreau and Neverwhere), and directed by Lifeline Theatre ensemble member Chris Hainsworth, based on the 2013 novel by Chicago-based author/actor/fight choreographer (and Rogers Park resident) David Blixt, who will design the violence for the production.

The Second City Training Center's Blackout Cabaret (230 W. North Ave.) presents YOU & ME a two-person, entirely improvised, no suggestion set with Michael Patrick Thornton (Artistic Director of The Gift Theatre) and a special guest artist for every performance.

Strawdog Theatre Company is proud to announce the second production in its 2016 - 2017 season, William Shakespeare's CymbelIne, January 13 - February 25, directed by Robert Kauzlaric and performed at The Factory Theater, 1623 W. Howard St. The performance schedule is Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. Opening Night is Monday, January 23 at 8 p.m. 

Midsommer Flight continues its fifth season of free Shakespeare programming, presenting a remount of last year's hit, a free indoor production of the comedy Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare, directed by Midsommer Flight's Producing Artistic Director Beth Wolf and music directed by Midsommer Flight's Resident Music Director Elizabeth Rentfro in partnership with the Lincoln Park Conservatory. This early winter production of Twelfth Night is presented in the Show House room at the Lincoln Park Conservatory, 2391 N. Stockton Dr., now through December 18. Press opening is tonight, December 2, at 7:30 p.m., and BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Midsommer Flight continues its fifth season of free Shakespeare programming, presenting a remount of last year's hit, a free indoor production of the comedy Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare, directed by Midsommer Flight's Producing Artistic Director Beth Wolf and music directed by Midsommer Flight's Resident Music Director Elizabeth Rentfro in partnership with the Lincoln Park Conservatory. Dedicated to presenting high quality, accessible productions of Shakespeare's plays, Midsommer Flight is a proud arts partner with the Chicago Park District.

Midsommer Flight continues its fifth season of free Shakespeare programming, presenting a remount of last year's hit, a free indoor production of the comedy Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare, directed by Midsommer Flight's Producing Artistic Director Beth Wolf and music directed by Midsommer Flight's Resident Music Director Elizabeth Rentfro in partnership with the Lincoln Park Conservatory. Dedicated to presenting high quality, accessible productions of Shakespeare's plays, Midsommer Flight is a proud arts partner with the Chicago Park District.

American Blues Theater, Chicago's second oldest Equity Ensemble, under the continued leadership of Producing Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside, hosts 2016 Ripped: The Living Newspaper Festival on Tuesday, May 17, 2016.

The title character's opening soliloquy sets the tone for the despicable acts to come in William Shakespeare's 'RICHARD III,' but it is a later scene in The Gift Theatre's version that packs the biggest punch.

Lifeline Theatre presents a world premiere adaptation of D.E. Stevenson's Miss Buncle's Book, by Lifeline Theatre ensemble member Christina Calvit (four-time Jeff Award winner), and directed by Lifeline Theatre Artistic Director Dorothy Milne (Jeff Award and After Dark Award winner).

Lifeline Theatre presents a world premiere adaptation of D.E. Stevenson's MISS BUNCLE'S BOOK, by Lifeline Theatre ensemble member Christina Calvit (four-time Jeff Award winner), and directed by Lifeline Theatre Artistic Director Dorothy Milne (Jeff Award and After Dark Award winner).

Lifeline Theatre presents a world premiere adaptation of D.E. Stevenson's MISS BUNCLE'S BOOK, by Lifeline Theatre ensemble member Christina Calvit (four-time Jeff Award winner), and directed by Lifeline Theatre Artistic Director Dorothy Milne (Jeff Award and After Dark Award winner).

Following an award-winning year of free theatre, Oracle Productions eagerly opens Season 5 of Public Access Theatre with CIRCLE-MACHINE, a world premiere adaptation of FULL CIRCLE by Charles Mee, directed by Thom Pasculli. This frenzied new production is adapted by Emma Stanton, Nigel O'Hearn and Thom Pasculli, and features original music by Jeff Award-winning composer, Nicholas Tonozzi. CIRCLE-MACHINE opens January 24, 2015, and runs through March 14, 2015 at Oracle Theatre (3809 N. Broadway in Chicago). Performances are Friday, Saturday and Monday nights at 8PM; Sundays at 7PM. Press are invited to attend on January 24 - or any night during the run.

Tympanic dares you to brave The Den and explore several dystopias with us for our eighth season: TEAR IT DOWN. Hole up in a theater with seven strangers while the outside world gets ravaged. Enter a sterilized future inspired by one of the most haunting - and touching - albums ever recorded. Filled with subterranean aliens, paranoid androids, and a horrific force more terrifying than any zombie outbreak, our eighth year begins at the same place as so many other great, unsettling stories: the end of the world.