Todd Rosenthal News

Court Theatre announces the remount of audience favorite An Iliad as the sixth production in its 2019/20 season. Taking place throughout the Oriental Institute Museum (OI) on the University of Chicago campus, this groundbreaking, site-specific performance not to be missed. Combining promenade-style elements throughout the Oriental Institute Museum, as well as a seated portion performed in the OI's Robert and Deborah Aliber Persian Gallery, this explosive combination of theatre and history brings the epic poem to life in a thrilling new way. As the Center for Classic Theatre, Court will partner with the OI to add exciting environmental and thematic context to Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare's one-man adaptation of Homer's Iliad. Tickets go on sale to the public on Monday, September 16 at noon.

Lookingglass Theatre Company announces Family Days for The Steadfast Tin Soldier, from the story by Hans Christian Andersen, written and directed by Ensemble Member Mary Zimmerman. Family Days will be held on Saturday, November 16, 2019, Thursday, December 5, 2019, Thursday, December 12, 2019, and Saturday, January 18, 2020 at 2 p.m. with a pre-show activity at 1:15 p.m. and meet and greet with the cast following the show at 3:10 p.m. 

Lookingglass Theatre Company presents the return of Ensemble Member Mary Zimmerman's instant holiday classic The Steadfast Tin Soldier, from the story by Hans Christian Andersen. This holiday show, perfect for the whole family, runs November 1, 2019a?"January 26, 2020 at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson. Press Performances will be held November 6a?"8, 2019.

Eleven world premiere plays and musicals seen first by Chicago audiences were among those receiving nominations by the Jeff Awards, announced today. A total of 192 nominations were made in 34 categories that honor Chicago Equity theatrical productions that opened between August 1, 2018 and July 31, 2019. During the 2018-19 season, Jeff Awards judges attended opening nights of 132 Equity productions offered by 43 producing organizations and from these openings, 112 productions were a?oeJeff Recommendeda?? and eligible for award nominations.

Victory Gardens Theater kicks-off its 45th Anniversary season with the Chicago Premiere of Tiny Beautiful Things, based on the book by Cheryl Strayed, adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos and co-conceived by Marshall Heyman, Thomas Kail and Nia Vardalos and directed by Vanessa Stalling. Tiny Beautiful Things runs September 6 a?" October 13, 2019, with press performance on Friday, September 13, 2019 at 7:30pm at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

The newly opened production of TRUE WEST is a quintessentially Steppenwolf show in the best way possible: it's a fresh staging of a gritty American drama with a first-rate cast and production values.

Lookingglass Theatre Company presents the return of Ensemble Member Mary Zimmerman's instant holiday classic The Steadfast Tin Soldier, from the story by Hans Christian Andersen.

Second Stage Theater has announced complete casting for the Broadway production of Tracy Letts's Linda Vista. Directed by Dexter Bullard, the production will feature Ian Barford (Wheeler), Sally Murphy (Margaret), Caroline Neff (Anita), Chantal Thuy (Minnie), Jim True-frost (Paul), Cora Vander Broek (Jules) and Troy West (Michael).

YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA (James Bundy, Dean; Victoria Nolan, Deputy Dean) has announced the inaugural Yale Design Showcase, May 13-15 at 149 York Street, New Haven, Connecticut: an opportunity for theater professionals to visit the campus and meet the 2019 Class of scenic, costume, lighting, sound, and projection designers, and to see their work up close.

In a co-production with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Pulitzer Prize-winning ensemble member Bruce Norris' fiery, provocative new play Downstate, comes to the NT direct from its debut at Steppenwolf, Chicago. Let's see what the critics had to say.

Pulitzer-winner Bruce Norris once again challenges audiences with a play built around a difficult topic – in this case, asking whether paedophiles are irredeemable, how they should be punished, the distinction between justice and vengeance, and whether an empathetic response betrays our support of their victims.

In a co-production with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Pulitzer Prize-winning ensemble member Bruce Norris' fiery, provocative new play Downstate, comes to the NT direct from its debut at Steppenwolf, Chicago. 

Mary Kathryn Nagle's world premiere play Crossing Mnisose weaves together Sacajawea's story with that of the contemporary fight to protect the Mnisose (what Europeans named the Missouri River) from the Dakota Access Pipeline. As in her celebrated playsManahatta and Sovereignty, Nagle draws a clear, urgent line between the past and the present. Nagle's frequent collaborator Molly Smith (Sovereignty at Arena Stage) will direct.

On this day in 2015, Fish In the Dark, a new comedy by Seinfeld creator Larry David, celebrated its opening night on Broadway. 

This visceral American classic serves as the 1920s chapter of August Wilson's epic American Century Cycle. What begins as a routine recording session becomes more strained as tensions rise between the members of a blues band and the owners of the recording studio. The white producers mean to exploit the talents of the band especially the gifted and impulsive Levee but when Ma insists on having things her way, tensions are enflamed and the play builds to an unexpected and searing climax.

In HOW TO CATCH CREATION, a world premiere at Goodman Theatre, playwright Christina Anderson tackles universal themes: the desire for human connection, the pursuit of creative and intellectual passions, and the longing to leave a meaningful legacy. Niegel Smith directs this intricately crafted tale, which spans five decades and follows six Black American artists whose paths intersect in surprising ways.

I'm preparing. I'm expecting. I haven't figured out the path to creation yet. Christina Anderson's bold, imaginative portrait of three artist/intellectual couples exploring personal and professional legacy, How to Catch Creation makes its world premiere at Goodman Theatre. A playwright of note for more than a decade, with previous works at The Public Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre and Playwrights Horizons, Anderson makes her Goodman debut. Niegel Smith, who most recently directed the smash sensation Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) last season at the Goodman, directs Anderson's play, which appeared as a reading in the Goodman's 2017 New Stages Festival.

"I'm preparing. I'm expecting. I haven't figured out the path to creation yet."

Following a smash-hit international tour, the new, interactive theatrical event, DJEMBE! The Show, makes its U.S. debut at the Apollo Theater (2540 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago), for a strictly limited engagement starting performances on March 19, 2019 (with an official premiere on Thursday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m.). DJEMBE! (JEM-bay) will engage audiences in a high-energy program of powerful storytelling and inspiring music, including iconic pop hits. Leading this lively musical journey will be the trio of Broadway talent Ben Hope (Once) as Emcee; critically-acclaimed Chicago musical theater artist Rashada Dawan (Caroline, or Change) on lead vocals; and Guinean master drummer and folklorist Fode Lavia Camara, backed by an ensemble of world-class musicians.

Now being presented by Center Theatre Group at the Mark Taper Forum, directed by Dexter Bullard who also helmed the Steppenwolf production, LINDA VISTA features actor Ian Barford who has originated four roles in Letts' canon of plays, and has remained friends with the playwright for 30 years. But no doubt Letts' very contemporary and biting social commentary on the immaturity of men when it comes to dealing with women and adult life will no doubt upset many in the audience when it becomes apparent Wheeler will never be ready to grow up. After all, it seems the older he gets, the younger he wants to become even when his body won't go along with the idea. It's comically unsettling and all too real when it comes to the contemporary dating scene.