Displaying items by tag: live theatre

Composition, tension, balance, light, and harmony come together seamlessly in Kokandy Productions’ revival of Sondheim’s opus, ‘Sunday in the Park with George’. Director Derek Van Barham transforms the basement of the Chopin Theatre into a three dimensional reproduction of Georges Seurat’s ‘A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte’ for this beloved musical’s return to Chicago.

Sondheim was never known to write ordinary musicals. His smash hit ‘Company’ is considered the first “concept” musical. Wherein, the story has no real plot, instead themes are explored through song. ‘Sunday in the Park with George’ with whom he worked with James Lapin is similar in that it’s hard to describe exactly what it’s about, per se. In succinct terms, it’s a fictionalized account of how Georges Seurat painted his pointillism masterpiece while trying to balance interpersonal relationships. Specifically, his flailing relationship with the painting’s focal point, Dot. It’s as if Sondheim was exploring his own obsessiveness and how it hindered him in many ways.

‘Sunday in the Park with George’, which won the 1985 Pulitzer for drama, has a special connection to Chicago as the famed painting hangs in the Art Institute. The last time a local storefront theatre revived it was 2010. However, longtime Chicago theatre lovers are unlikely to forget Gary Griffin’s production at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 2004, later remounted in 2012. Though it’s a favored musical by many, it’s not one often produced because you really need all the right ingredients to do this one justice.

Kokandy has gathered those ingredients for this imaginatively staged new version. Derek Van Barham, who also serves as artistic director has been noodling on this show for the near decade he’s been working with Kokandy and the result is simply gorgeous.

A large and talented ensemble is led by Kevin Webb as Georges and Missy Wise Vanderzee as Dot. The two are not only incredible vocalists but each are wonderful in bringing their characters off the canvas and into real life. Webb’s take on Georges is vulnerable, less stoic, less cold,  less fixed. Vanderzee is also much warmer and less shrill than the original cast recordings. Going from 1800s Dot to 1980s elderly Marie can prove to be tricky for some actors but Vanderzee does a great job of bridging the gap with humor and pathos.

Perhaps no other adjective is more apt to describe this production than bittersweet. Nearly devoid of melodrama and yet cuts right to the emotional bone. Under Nick Sula’s music direction Sondheim’s orchestrations are performed with such attention to detail that audiences hang around well past the curtain call. Some of the best choral arrangements ever composed for the stage finds their stride as the company and music moves fluidly through G “Max” Maxin IV’s brilliant staging.

Van Barham has made something special here. Moving the staging from the traditional proscenium to an in-the-round black box provides so much more room to play around with the spectacle of live theatre. Rather than aiming for utmost fidelity to the ‘Sundays’ that have come before it, Kokandy opts to create their own signature production that will be remembered as one of Chicago’s best.

Through November 1 at Kokandy Productions at Chopin Theatre. 1543 W Division St. 773-278-1500

*Extended through November 29th!

https://www.kokandyproductions.com/

From its beginning in 1992 on the tiny stage of a modest theater, Dance for Life (DFL) has grown and grown over the decades into something glorious.  Its purpose over the last 35 years, as conceived by DFL’s creator, Keith Elliott, then with the Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre, has never altered or faltered.  Mobilize a community devastated by a deadly scourge.  Raise money to help the stricken. Build solidarity within Chicago’s professional dance culture.  Initially and always a festival of dance chiefly focused on that second point, a few things have changed with time.  Although AIDS has virtually been vanquished, at least in the first world, health and other needs within the dance community have not diminished.  In 2025, DFL affiliated Chicago Dance Health Fund awarded $75,000 to dancers and other dance professionals facing critical need. 

The annual celebration of dance very much remains a way for dancers to help other dancers by practicing their art.  These days its being done on a much grander scale and showcasing a far wider range of what world class dance looks like and even feels like in the present day.

There were hints the 35^th annual Dance for Life performance at the Auditorium Saturday night would be particularly memorable and they all centered on dress.  Although venue is always a factor, dance audiences are not especially circumspect when it comes to presentation.  Much of the attire on display in the concert hall’s spacious lobby that evening was not only stylish, dashing and glamorous, some pieces touched on the spectacular.  Collectively, the energy they generated heightened the sense of expectation that already hung heavy in the air.  The display proved just the right harbinger to forecast a sensational night of dance.

Bulging at the seams with the exceptional, the latest iteration of DFL showcased ten dance companies along with two additional finale works - and even a third, a raffle performance. In addition to the traditional large-scale finale that always closes the show, the program would also include a sizzling bonus dance performance that was also featured in the inaugural DFL concert. 

This year’s show opened with elegance.  Danced to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater’s Beyond Mortal used sweep and grace to beautifully capture the secular spirituality of Mozart’s score.  Choreographed by the company’s Artistic Director Nicole Clarke-Springer, it reveals how one Black-led dance company lives up to its mission to “diversify the aesthetics of contemporary dance”.  Fireworks scripted in the language of the ethereal, Beyond Mortal ushered in the night with a nod to serenity and poise.

Giordano Dance Chicago. Photo by Cheryl Mann.

Giordano Dance Chicago decided to leave a different stamp on the gala by amping up a version of its signature heat.  There would be several excerpts featured throughout the evening and Giordano chose the best of its 2011 Sabroso to spellbind the thousands seated in the ornate theater.  Not only were the dancers speed and precision blinding, their joy blasted from the stage.  Triggering genuine awe and lighting up the room with cheers.

The temperature would ebb and flow throughout the night and after such a prodigious display of white-hot energy, a cool down came in the form of romantically sublime ballet.  This year a pair of fresh Joffrey faces, Hyuma Kiyosawa and Yumi Kanazawa, superlatively danced Postcards, founder Robert Joffrey’s ode to love, innocence and Paris of the 1920s.  With Jorge Ivars’ ravishing accompaniment on piano, the dance ushered in an extended moment of enchantment.

A slight pause and rocket engines soon screeched again with Loud, created by KC Bevis and performed by the Ensemble of Chicago Dance Crash.  Street dance and concert dance converged to make scorching hot magic in this mesmerizing performance. Here dance takes on a decidedly charismatic persona. One defined by strength, vigor, dexterity and boundless native imagination.   Jazzed up with the burning beats of DJ B-Gram P, the heady mix of club and dance culture lit the theater on fire.  One of many highlights that evening, Loud proved once again boundaries in dance simply don’t exist.  

Both Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater and later Trinity Irish Dance Company stole the show with drama and the ability to turn the sound of synchronized feet striking a stage floor into transfixing music.  In this case eliciting two completely different emotional responses that were both riveting.

Trinity Irish Dance Company. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Ballet 5:8 luxuriated in the freedom and unique beauty of contemporary ballet.  On their heels was another band of boundary pushers.  Chicago Dance Artists Piece performed Harrison McEldowney and Jeremy Plummer’s Red, White & Black; employing aerial concepts devised by Plummer.  Aerial acrobatics, dance and music by F.U.N. came together to blend brawn-flecked whimsy with a healthy dash of wholesome excitement.

After intermission, and dressed up in colorfully glam togs, Visceral Dance Chicago tapped into mischief. Dancing R E V E L, set to Maurice Ravel’s Bolero, they vamped, seduced and cavorted to the timeless music of an international classic. Devilishly choreographed by Nick Pupillo, it was not only brilliant and unexpected, it was massive delight to watch.

Visceral Dance Chicago. Photo by Cheryl Mann.

Two other works were even more impactful.  One was a dance featured in the very first Dance for Life performance called The Man That Got Away.  Sultry, sexy and a solid story told in dance, it featured only two dancers.  One acted simply as a prop.  The other, Johnathon Dole, was the soloist who danced the part of a shattered heart. One that begged and pleaded not to be ignored and cast aside.  Dole’s was the kind of dancing that kept rising and rising until it struck magnificent.  Buoyed by the right dancer, the right music and the power of bold expressive choreography, The Man That Got Away induced amazement and roars of approval.

The other masterwork was more restrained but no less beautiful or potent.  Robyn Mineko Williams and Artists danced a portion of Cloudline, a dream-state piece that used a 30-foot-silk cloth to help accentuate the dance’s atmosphere.  Two lovers find one another and embody the mystery and overwhelming satisfaction true love manifests through dance. As portrayed in movement by Morgan Clune and Amari Frazier, a more convincing display of that ideal is impossible to imagine.  A benchmark piece, its sudden and surprising ending provoked a collective gasp and then robust ovations.

This year’s concert honors choreographer, mentor and teacher Randy Duncan.  Mr. Duncan has created most DFL closing works since its inception, including Renewed; this year’s finale. Made up of dancers from the night’s performing companies, freelancers and students, they comprise a large contingent.  And in the muteness of Richard Dayhoff’s quiet gray costumes, there was a somber cast that shadowed their numbers. 

As the dance developed and took shape to music and lyrics by Ira Antelis, you could see the themes of resilience and positive conviction shining through.  A rejoicing in emerging from darkness to thrive once again.  The essence of Dance for Life. 

Dance for Life

August 22, 2026

The Auditorium Theatre

50 Ida B. Wells Drive

Chicago, IL  60605

For more information:  https://www.cdhf.org/danceforlife

City Lit Theatre’s world premiere of Shane, adapted for the stage and directed by Mark Pracht, brings a fresh, nostalgic perspective to Jack Schaefer’s classic novel - a story immortalized by Alan Ladd in the memorable 1953 film. Pracht, who has been developing this piece since the 2000s, crafts the adaptation as a heartfelt tribute to his own father and grandfather. The result is a sincere exploration of positive masculinity, celebrating men who stand by their virtues and protect others, even at great personal cost.

Set in the Wyoming Territory in the 1880s, the story kicks into gear when Shane, a quiet, mysterious stranger carrying the weight of a dangerous past, rides onto the homestead of Joe Starrett. Seeing something noble in the newcomer, Joe offers him a job as a farm hand, inviting him into his home and introducing him to his wife Marian and young son Bob. But the family’s peaceful routine is threatened by an escalating battle over land. Fletcher, a ruthless local cattle baron, wants to drive out the homesteaders at all costs, even hiring a killer to instigate a final conflict.

The narrative shines primarily through the eyes of young Bob, played warmly by Bruce Holtman. Spying on Shane at every opportunity, Bob serves as our window into understanding this complex, high-stakes frontier world. Narrating much of the action, Holtman skillfully transitions from an energetic, shy, and wide-eyed child into a mature observer. He injects a sense of humor into the production, as his younger self observes the adult world without always understanding the subtext. Through Bob’s perspective, the story taps into the beloved western's classic father-son overtones. He sees the mysterious stranger as the tough, capable man he wants to become, while Shane’s genuine kindness toward the boy shows that despite a dark past, he is capable of taking him under his wing.

Whitney Minarik (Marian Starrett), Josh Odor (Joe Starrett) in Shane at City Lit Theatre.

Michael B. Woods gives a strong performance as Shane, maintaining a jaded, guarded viewpoint that slowly softens. He gives the titular character a needed complexity as he wrestles with his past and rediscovers himself.  Woods also executes the stage combat with convincing physical precision.

The ensemble also gives strong performances. Josh Odor plays Joe Starrett, with a steady, kind masculinity. He is stoic, hard-working, and fiercely devoted to his family, yet far from weak; in Shane, he finds a true blood brother who is willing to stand beside him in the fight against Fletcher's greed. Whitney Minarik plays the wife, Marian, with equal skill, portraying a stern woman who may be a little bit of a fish out of water in the frontier, but who manages regardless. Minarik handles the character's complex emotional landscape well, navigating a subtle romantic pull toward Shane.

Adapting a western presents production challenges, and yet, the play manages a compelling story. In a contemporary landscape where masculine energy is often framed negatively, this tale highlights what it means to be a man of integrity: placing the needs of others first and standing up for what is right despite fear. As Shane famously notes, "A gun is a tool. No better and no worse than any other tool.” In that same spirit, Shane learns to see himself as more than the past he ran from. By choosing to protect a family and a home he cares about, his ultimate victory on stage allows us, much like Bob, to recognize our own capacity for growth and virtue. City Lit’s Shane is earnest, capable entry for anyone looking to step into the Wild West for an evening.

Through October 4^th. https://www.citylit.org/shows/46-s

The rise of artificial intelligence raises many questions about its effect on humanity. What does it mean if we become increasingly reliant on AI to think for us, create for us, and entertain us? What happens if this tool encroaches into our lives in ways it never should? Matthew Libby’s Sisters at Writers Theatre tackles the impact of AI in a fascinating way—what if it’s part of your family? Directed by Jessica Thebus, the play examines the profound, complicated implications of growing up with a synthetic sibling. Brenda Barrie plays Matilda, whose sister is an AI system named Greta, performed off-stage by Chloe Johnston. The story follows their complex relationship, which spans decades.

The weight of the production falls heavily on Barrie, who delivers a remarkable performance. She carries the hard task of playing Matilda across a ninety-year lifespan—from a six-year-old child to a woman in her nineties—without any reliance on makeup or costume changes. Instead, she portrays each stage of life through subtle shifts in posture, physicality, and the changing timbre of her voice. Because she is the only person on stage for the entire evening, the play functions virtually as a one-woman character study, compelling the audience to lean into the smallest movements of her face to track the complex emotions her character conceals. Opposite her, Chloe Johnston plays Greta, masterfully capturing the polite, Siri-esque cadences of an operating system while subtly infusing threads of humanity as the AI evolves.

At its core, the piece wrestles with a wounded family dynamic. Matilda is a deeply lonely character, bearing a chip on her shoulder after feeling neglected by her father following her mother's death. She struggles to comprehend how her father could share his deepest self with a system of circuit boards while remaining emotionally distant from his only daughter. This insecurity fuels Matilda’s initial hesitancy to accept her "sister" and drives a quiet jealousy, as through the years, others seem to value a computer over a living human. When Greta eventually asks for a physical body, Matilda must confront this jealousy directly, knowing that Greta’s lack of a physical form was the one thing that gave Matilda the upper hand.

Where Sisters stumbles slightly is in its thematic focus. The play begins to feel muddled as it attempts to juggle a wide array of high-concept questions: What rights does AI have? Is AI a friend or a foe? Is Matilda being manipulated by a machine? Is it healthy to befriend a computer?

Other works tackling the intersection of AI and humanity have succeeded by maintaining focus. Films like Spike Jonze’s Her (starring Joaquin Phoenix as a lonely man falling for an operating system) or Alex Garland’s Ex Machina maintain clarity by grounding their sci-fi premises in very specific themes that examine intimacy with AI or the ethics of creating a seemingly sentient computer. In contrast, Sisters struggles to decide whether it is a play about sisterhood, grief, memory, the inevitable intrusion of technology, or if it’s a character study using AI as a mirror for human fault. Sisters has interesting moments, but it's hard to feel their gravity when so many ideas are talking at once.

Part of the disconnect in this piece also seemed to be Matilda’s guardedness. She goes through phases of being open and closed with her “sister,” and since this is the only window into her as a character, the audience can’t get close because she’s not letting Greta get close. The hook of the play doesn't come until much later when the underlying truth of Matilda's feelings finally erupts. It’s when the sisters are finally seeing each other for who they are that the piece finds itself and provides intrigue.

Perhaps some technical difficulties also caused a disconnect. The set is simple; a living room with a single chair and a side table. But projections and sound cues build a larger world. Visual cues tell us Matilda’s age as we jump through time, and at some moments, we see videos of Matilda in her younger days through Greta’s eyes. The production also evokes Greta’s progression in a highly effective way. We experience a sort of cosmic spark of life as Greta first comes online, and later, when Greta expands into an infinite system, the stage turns into a breathtaking sky full of stars.

Unfortunately, the evening had several technical difficulties. The projectors seemed to reboot several times during the performance, and the play was halted for approximately ten minutes for a bug to be fixed. Nevertheless, Barrie handled the delay like a total professional, resuming the performance without a moment’s hesitation once the system recovered.

Ultimately, Sisters is an intriguing piece of theater. While the script could benefit from a more refined focus, it remains a thoroughly compelling watch, anchored by an extraordinary lead performance from Brenda Barrie that easily carries the evening.

Sisters plays at Writers Theatre until November 8.

Chicago-based Emmy Award-winning performance collective and film/video production company Manual Cinema premiered two new hand-animated films at the Obama Presidential Center Museum earlier this year. Now, the company is bringing two of its acclaimed live-action productions back to Chicago's historic Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building, where audiences can witness Manual Cinema's handmade magic created before their eyes with performers, musicians, and hundreds of puppets.

Timed to coincide with the Halloween and Christmas holidays, Manual Cinema and the Studebaker Theater co-present Manual Cinema's Frankenstein, an adaptation of Mary Shelley's Gothic horror novel, for four performances only October 30–November 1, 2026; and Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol, a unique take on the Charles Dickens classic, from December 18–27, 2026.

Tickets for Frankenstein and Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol at the Studebaker Theater (410 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago) go on sale Friday, August 28. Tickets are $35-$75, with student tickets available for $25 with proof of ID. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit fineartsbuilding.com/studebaker.

"Manual Cinema is a truly exceptional team of multidisciplinary artists, as demonstrated by the fact that they were tapped to create two short films for the Obama Presidential Center Museum," says Jacob Harvey, Managing Artistic Director of the Fine Arts Building and Studebaker Theater. "We're thrilled to bring their productions of Frankenstein and Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol back to the Studebaker this year, where audiences can experience the magic of their live-action, handmade filmmaking in person."

"We're so excited to be returning to the Studebaker Theater with Frankenstein and Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol!" adds Drew Dir, Co-Artistic Director of Manual Cinema. "Our adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic gothic novel has been touring the Western Hemisphere for years, and we're thrilled to bring it back home for an encore Halloween engagement. Meanwhile, Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol has become a beloved holiday tradition for our fans—we're thrilled to give Chicago audiences another chance to see it!"

SHOW DETAILS

Frankenstein

Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building

410 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago

October 30–November 1, 2026

In Manual Cinema's thrilling version of the classic Gothic tale Frankenstein, the Chicago-based performance collective imaginatively combines shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques, and live sound effects and music in a haunting show unlike any other. The production stitches together the fictional story of Frankenstein with the biography of the original novel's author, Mary Shelley, to create an unexpected tale about the beauty and horror of creation.

Frankenstein is adapted from the novel by Mary Shelley, with a concept by Drew Dir. The production is devised by Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace and Julia Miller. Original music and sound design are by Ben Kauffman and Kyle Vegter.

Performance times:

Friday, Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. (press opening)

Saturday, Oct. 31 at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 1 at 3 p.m.

Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol

Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building

410 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago

December 18–27, 2026

Featuring hundreds of handmade puppets, immersive sound design and a stunning live score, Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol is a holiday show unlike any other. Avowed holiday skeptic Aunt Trudy has been reluctantly recruited to carry on her late husband Joe's tradition of spreading Christmas cheer, and recreates his annual Christmas Carol puppet show over Zoom while the family celebrates from afar. But as Trudy dives deeper into the story, the puppets take on a life of their own and the family call transforms into a breathtaking, one-of-a-kind cinematic reimagining of Dickens's classic ghost story.

Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol is adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens and devised by Manual Cinema, with additional writing by Nate Marshall. Storyboards and puppet design are by Drew Dir, with original score and sound design by Ben Kauffman and Kyle Vegter, and lighting design by Trey Brazeal.

Performance times:

Friday, Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m. (press opening)

Saturday, Dec. 19 at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 20 at 2 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 23 at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 24 at 2 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 26 at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 27 at 2 p.m.

About the Fine Arts Building and Studebaker Theater

The Fine Arts Building, which celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2023, is a home for art in all forms: from pioneers like Poetry magazine's founding publisher Harriet Monroe, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, illustrator W. W. Denslow, sculptor Lorado Taft and the Chicago Little Theatre, to the ongoing legacies of painters, musicians, booksellers, puppeteers, dancers, photographers and craftspeople who inhabit the building today, the Fine Arts Building is buzzing with more than a century of Chicago creativity and innovation.

A Chicago Landmark since 1978, the building features original Art Nouveau murals from the late 19th century and the Studebaker Theater, one of the city's oldest and most significant live theatrical venues. Following a major multi-million-dollar renovation of the Studebaker led by Berger Realty Group and completed in 2022, the theater has been home to NPR's popular news quiz show "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" and has hosted performances from new musicals including 44: The Obama Musical, Roald Dahl's The Enormous Crocodile, and Jim Henson's Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, along with productions Ava: The Secret Conversations starring Elizabeth McGovern and Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol. For more information, visit fineartsbuilding.com.

About Manual Cinema

Manual Cinema is an Emmy Award-winning performance collective, design studio, and film/video production company founded in 2010 by Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, Ben Kauffman, Julia Miller and Kyle Vegter. Manual Cinema combines handmade shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques, and innovative sound and music to create immersive stories for stage and screen. Using vintage overhead projectors, multiple screens, puppets, actors, live feed cameras, multi-channel sound design, and live music, Manual Cinema transforms the experience of attending the cinema and imbues it with liveness, ingenuity, and theatricality.

The company was awarded an Emmy in 2017 for "The Forger," a video created for The New York Times, and named Chicago Artists of the Year in 2018 by the Chicago Tribune. Their shadow puppet animations were featured in the 2021 film remake of Candyman, directed by Nia DaCosta and produced by Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions. In collaboration with the Obama Foundation and Batwin + Robin Productions, Manual Cinema created two animated films for the Obama Presidential Center Museum in Chicago, Ten Letters a Day and Power of Place.

Recent productions include Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About A Terrible Monster, based on books by Mo Willems, an adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and a revamped production of The Magic City, based on Edith Nesbit's 1910 novel. In 2023, Manual Cinema completed production on their first self-produced short film, Future Feeling, and toured with folk rock band Iron & Wine the following year. In Summer 2025, Manual Cinema premiered their latest feature production, The 4th Witch—a bold and imaginative inversion of Macbeth that is now touring.

If you need an energy boost, skip the can of Monster and get yourself, plus loved ones of any age, to Playmakers Lab’s tasty birthday cake of a show. The very first edition of That’s Weird, Grandma, culled from Chicago elementary school students’ stories, occurred in the spring of 2001. The revue has somehow survived 9/11, Covid, funding cuts and all other slams against children’s wildest dreams and highest hopes.

No wonder director Brandon Cloyd and the cast can’t hide their excitement. Presented for the last 25 years at the Neo-Futurist Theater, That’s Weird, Grandma provides an hour of escape from adult common sense. It is rough hewn stuff, as scrappy in production and performance values as the gritty venue itself. But it’s a fine place to giggle at the audition of a giraffe who desperately wants to join the circus or a song about a burping bunny.

Cloyd’s intensity as he welcomes the audience reflects the entire project. What goes on in kids’ heads – and later on paper – matters enough to these dedicated grownups to say it out loud and in full volume. Young imaginations may lack both polish and boundaries, but the tales they generate don’t necessarily need a formal beginning, middle or end; or a neat divide between fact or fiction.

For example, “My Sister Fell” gets no farther than a little girl falling on some garbage and crying. “Rose Saves Tony” refers to Lake Michigan as an “ocean” which, given its vastness, makes perfect sense. With sheer glee, the ensemble performs the scene that gave birth to Playmaker Lab’s show title a quarter century ago – a grandma’s “weird” explanation of why her teeth are gleaming white.

Notable among the more complete sketches, “Egg Adventures” has the last remaining egg in a container urgently asking its commander via walkie-talkie to send reinforcements. Out come hens who lay more eggs, even as the commander warns, “Some of you will not be coming back.”

Ensemble members, who serve as teaching artists for the creative writing residencies, celebrate their double duty as educators and performers throughout the show. In addition to the current cast, actors from prior productions lend cameo performances – a nod to the past and a hope that Playmakers Lab can keep its weirdness going for years to come.

Runtime: 1 hour

Remaining show dates: Saturday Aug. 29, Sunday, Aug. 30, Saturday, Sept. 5 and Sunday, Sept 6; all performances at 2 pm

Playmakers Laboratory at Neo-Futurist Theater: 5153 N. Ashland Ave, Chicago

Tickets: www.playmakerslab.org.

Joining the previously announced stars of Kowalski Johnny Galecki ("The Big Bang Theory," "The Little Dog Laughed") as Tennessee Williams and Jacob Moskovitz ("Elle") as Marlon Brando are Alison Cimmet as Margo Jones, Reece Dos Santos as Pancho and Ellie Ricker as Jo. The celebrated new play by Gregg Ostrin, directed by Colin Hanlon, will come to Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Company at the historic Water Tower Water Works, 163 E Pearson St. at Michigan Ave., playing September 15–October 25, 2026. 

The creative team includes David Gallo (scenic designer), Lisa Zinni (costume designer), Jeff Croiter (lighting designer), Bill Toles (sound designer), Amanda Herrmann (props supervisor), Chels Morgan (intimacy director), Viveca Gardiner (associate scenic designer), Grace Wylie (assistant to the costume designer), Riva Fairhall (associate lighting designer), Sun Hee Kil (associate sound designer), J.P. Elins (production stage manager), and Tess Golden (assistant stage manager).

The understudies include Andrew Schoen (Tennessee Williams), Marck Kiselevach (Marlon Brando & Pancho), and Paige Cilluffo (Margo Jones & Jo).

Tickets are available at lookingglasstheatre.org and 312.337.0665. Kowalski is a part of the 26/27 Lookingglass Membership and Subscription Series. Single tickets range from $37 to $97, with a limited number of premium seats also available.

Set over one pivotal evening in 1947 Provincetown, Kowalski imagines the electrifying first meeting between Tennessee Williams and a young Marlon Brando, just as Williams searches for the actor who would forever change the destiny of A Streetcar Named Desire. Blending fact, memory, and theatrical imagination, the play offers a fascinating glimpse into the creative forces behind one of the most influential works in American theater. Kowaslki explores the intersection of ambition, artistry, desire, and the creation of theatrical history.

JOHNNY GALECKI (Tennessee Williams) is an acclaimed actor best known for his starring role as 'Leonard Hofstadeter' on the award-winning CBS comedy "The Big Bang Theory," for which he earned Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG award nominations. He first gained widespread recognition as 'David Healy' on the groundbreaking sitcom "Roseanne" and has appeared in numerous film and television projects throughout his career including Hancock, Vanilla Sky, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Suicide Kings, In Time and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. His stage credits include the Tony Award-nominated Broadway play The Little Dog Laughed for which he received a Theater World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut, The Drawer Boy, Pot Mom, The Member of the Wedding and Galileo.

JACOB MOSKOVITZ (Marlon Brando) is a rising talent delivering versatile and engaging performances across film and television. Most recently, he starred in the highly anticipated Legally Blonde prequel series ELLE from Amazon and Hello Sunshine, which has already been renewed for a second season.

Moskovitz recently completed production on the Fernando Meirelles-directed Netflix feature Here Comes the Flood, appearing alongside Robert Pattinson, Denzel Washington, and Daisy Edgar-Jones. Earlier this year, Jacob also starred in Seth Meyers' produced feature Brian, which premiered to strong reviews at SXSW. He can currently be seen in the independent feature The Floaters, which was released July 10, 2026. Additional film credits include the A24 feature Y2K, directed and written by Kyle Mooney and Evan Winter, as well as Isle Child, directed and written by Thomas Percy Kim. On television, Jacob's credits include "Chicago P.D." (NBC), "The Good Fight" (Paramount+), Magnum P.I.  (NBC), and "FBI: International" (CBS).

ALISON CIMMET (Margo Jones) has performed on Broadway in Gary, Amelie, She Loves Me, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Bonnie & Clyde, Baby, It's You!, and A Tale of Two Cities. Off-Broadway/Regional favorites: Freya in Any Minute Now (HERE Arts Center); Margo Jones in Kowalski (Duke); Nelle in Someone Spectacular (Signature); Lady Capulet in Romeo & Juliet (Westport Country Playhouse); Witch in Into the Woods (Fiasco/The Old Globe); Mrs. Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (McCarter Theatre); Madame Thenardier in Les Miserables (NCT); 3 Kinds of Exile (Atlantic Theatre); Preparedness (Bushwick Starr); My Wonderful Day (Two River Theatre). Film/TV favorites: Best Medicine, The Wrath of Becky, The Big Sick, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Ray Donovan, Blacklist, Younger, Bull, Evil, Dickinson, Law & Order: SVU. Alison is a graduate of Brown University, founder of Bonfire Theatre Group, and member of The Actors Center.

ELLIE RICKER (Jo) began her career as a professional Ballet dancer before earning her BFA in Theatre from Boston University.  TV/Film credits include "Anne of Green Gables," "Blue Bloods," 12 and More Omissions (SAIFF Best Actor Award) and A24's Y2K, directed by Kyle Mooney. She is reprising her role from the recent off-Broadway production of Kowalski.

REECE dos SANTOS (Pancho) New York City-based and making his Chicago debut—stoked to finally be here! Film: The Man I Love (dir. Ira Sachs; 2026 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or nominee), Triumph of the Will. TV: The Equalizer (CBS), New Amsterdam (NBC), American Rust (Showtime). Off-Broadway: Romeo & Juliet (The Public's Delacorte Theater), The Irrepressible Magic of the Tropics (INTAR). Regional: All My Sons (Hartford Stage), Pride & Prejudice (Cleveland Play House), Flowers of Hawaii(Chautauqua Theater Company), A Welcome Guest (CATF), Measure for Measure and Sofonisba (Theater at Monmouth). MFA: NYU Graduate Acting, Class of 2023. 

GREGG OSTRIN (Playwright) A native of Los Angeles, his most recent plays include A Very Streaming Christmas and The Spy Who Went Into Rehab (Pacific Resident Theatre, Venice, California), The Soul of Motown (Stage West Theater, Calgary), Truffles (Secret Door Theater, New York City) and Rank & File (Hudson Theater, Los Angeles). His play The Beverly Hills Hotel Peace Talks just had its premiere staged reading at The Coachella Valley Rep in Palm Springs, California for its Origins series. It will be opening there in May 2025. He dedicates this play to his former mentor, the late George Furth.

COLIN HANLON (Director) is an actor, writer, director, and producer living in New York City. He most recently directed Broken Snow (with Tony Danza, Tom Cavanagh and Michael Longfellow). He also directed I Love You Because-a queer retelling in NYC, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and co-directed It's Only a Play at George Street Playhouse. He's the co-producer & star of Submissions Only. He's also an adjunct professor at NYU New Studio, LIU, Stella Adler, and Cap 21. He teaches auditioning and self-tape technique at his private studio. Still a working actor as he's been on "Modern Family," "Difficult People," "The Sinner," "The Good Fight" and currently "Uncoupled" on Showtime. Broadway: Falsettos, Rent, Wicked (First National Tour) and In Transit. Off-Broadway: NYC premiere of Dot by Colman Domingo (Vineyard Theater, dir. Susan Stroman), A.R. Gurney's last play Final Follies dir. David Saint (Cherry Lane) and I Love You Because (original cast).

About Lookingglass Theatre Company

Founded in 1988 by graduates of Northwestern University, Lookingglass Theatre Company is a nationwide leader in the creation and presentation of new, cutting-edge theatrical works and in sharing its ensemble-based theatrical techniques with Chicago-area students and teachers through Education and Community Programs. Guided by an artistic vision centered on the core values of collaboration, transformation and invention, Lookingglass seeks to capture audiences' imaginations leaving them changed, charged and empowered. Recipient of the 2011 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, Lookingglass has built a national reputation for artistic excellence and ensemble-based theatrical innovation. Notable world premieres include Mary Zimmerman's Tony Award-winning Metamorphoses and The Odyssey, J. Nicole Brooks' Her Honor Jane Byrne, David Schwimmer's adaptation of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and Studs Terkel's Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel about the American Obsession, Matthew C. Yee's Lucy and Charlie's Honeymoon and David Catlin's circus tribute to Lewis Carroll, Lookingglass Alice, which was captured by HMS Media and reached 1.6 million PBS viewers. Looking Alice is now available to more than four million students worldwide through Digital Theatre+. Work created by Lookingglass artists has been produced in Australia, Europe and dozens of cities throughout the United States.

Babes With Blades Theatre Company’s (BWBTC), now presenting the world premiere of yo ho. through August 29 at The Edge Off-Broadway, shares the cast and creative team for the final production in its 2026 season, William Shakespeare’s King Lear, directed by Alison Dornheggen and fight choreography by Jess Pennachio, October 15 - November 21 in Theatre 3 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont. The running time, including intermission, is approximately two hours and 20 minutes. Preview performances are Thursday, Oct. 15 and Friday, Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. The open caption performances are Saturday, Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 8 at 3 p.m. and Thursday, Nov. 12 and Friday, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. The sensory friendly performance is Sunday, Oct. 25 at 3 p.m. with the fully masked audience performance, Sunday, Nov. 1 at 3 p.m. There is no performance on Saturday, Oct. 31. Streaming dates for King Lear will be announced at a future date. Tickets are $28 for students and seniors, $37 for general admission and go on sale Monday, August 31 at the Theater Wit Box Office, 773-975-8150, or at BabesWithBlades.org. 

King Lear tells the complicated story of a king who divides his kingdom into thirds for his three daughters and the unforeseen struggles from this decision’s aftermath. His unraveling is parallelled by the nefarious journey of a jealous Edmund, who seeks to overtake his nobleman father’s affairs from his half-brother. 

“I am thrilled that Babes are sinking their teeth into one of Shakespere’s most complex tragedies," said Artistic Director Hayley Rice. “A quote from King Lear is  “‘Tis the time’s plague when madmen lead the blind,” demonstrating, like so much of Shakespeare’s work, these themes are still painfully relevant today including greed, lust for power, the shortsightedness of our leaders and familial strife. We look forward to welcoming audiences to the final production in our 2026 season with this famous tragedy.”

With storefront theater veteran Lynne Baker (she/her) in the titular role of King Lear, the cast also includes Babes With Blades Theatre Company Ensemble Members Kim Fukawa (she/her, Oswald/Duke of Burgundy, Edgar U/S); Carrie Hardin (she/her, King Lear U/S); Morgan Manasa (she/her, Earl of Gloucester); Jennifer L. Mickelson (she/her, Duke of Albany/ensemble); Jennifer Mohr (she/her, Cordelia/Fool); Thomas Russell (he/they, Edmund) and Kathrynne Wolf (she/her, Earl of Kent). They are joined by, in alphabetical order, Kim Boler (she/her, Goneril); Sarah Cushman (she/her, Goneril/Duke of Albany/ensemble U/S); Dani De la Rosa (she/her; ensemble/Edmund and Duke of Cornwall U/S); Brandi Jiminez Lee (she/her, Edgar); Sophia Lanza-Weil (she/her, Earl of Gloucester/ensemble U/S); Madeline Meyer (she/her; ensemble/Oswald and Kent U/S); Rachel Sleek Bañuelos (she/her, Regan); Ahlora Victoria (she/her, Duke of Cornwall/Regan U/S) and Brittani Yawn (she/her, ensemble/Cordelia and Fool U/S).

The production team includes BWBTC ensemble members Line Bower (they/them, technical director); Alison Dornheggen (she/her, director); Hayley Rice (she/her, text coach); Payton Shearn (she/they, production assistant) and Laura J. Wiley (she/her, lighting designer) as well as Jessie Gowens (she/her, costume designer); Hannah Foerschler (she/her, sound designer); Tristan Hall (they/them, intimacy designer); Rose Hamill (she/her, production manager); Morgan Lazlo (they/them, scenic designer); Arielle Leverett (she/her, assistant director); Ryan Liddell (he/him, assistant fight choreographer); Elena Lindeman (they/she, props designer); Grace Elizabeth Mealey (she/her, stage manager) and Jess Pennachio (she/her, fight director).

ABOUT ALISON DORNHEGGEN, DIRECTOR

Alison Dornheggen has been working in the Chicagoland area as a director, actor, fight choreographer and administrator for more than 20 years. She received her degree in directing and acting from Columbia College Chicago and has been lucky to work with companies such as Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Idle Muse Theatre, Mercury Theater, A Red Orchid Theatre, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, Oak Park Festival Theatre and The Factory Theater among others. She earned her MA in arts management, serving as the Theatre Graduate Fellow at American University in Washington DC and was privileged to work with the Washington Stage Guild, Ford's Theater, the Kennedy Center and award winning composer Peter Lerman. Dornheggen is also part of the theater department faculty at the Chicago Academy for the Arts and has been a proud ensemble member of BWBTC since 2003. 

ABOUT JESS PENNACHIO, FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER

Jess Pennachio has a B.A in theatre performance from UNC Charlotte and completed the Actor’s Gymnasium Professional Circus Training Program focusing in partner acrobatics and juggling. She is a trained stunt performer and an advanced actor combatant with the SAFD. She has assisted stage combat classes throughout Chicago and across the country. She has worked with Babes With Blades, The Factory Theater, Collaboraction, Rough House, Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble and the Carolina Renaissance Festival. She is a fight choreographer for stage and screen as well as a makeup artist.

ABOUT BABES WITH BLADES THEATRE COMPANY

Babes With Blades Theatre Company, for more than 25 years and moving into the future, strives to develop and present scripts focused on complex, dynamic (often combative) characters who continue to be underrepresented on theatre stages based on gender. Babes With Blades Theatre Company uses stage combat to tell stories that elevate the voices of underrepresented communities and dismantle the patriarchy.

In each element of its programming, BWBTC embraces two key concepts:

1)     Folks of marginalized genders and underrepresented communities are central to the story, driving the action rather than responding or submitting to it and

2)     Everyone is capable of a full emotional and physical range, up to and including violence and its consequences.

The company offers participants and patrons alike an unparalleled opportunity to experience every person as heroes and villains; rescuers and rescues; right, wrong and everywhere in between: exciting, vivid, dynamic PEOPLE. It’s as simple and as subversive as that.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT STATEMENT:

Babes With Blades Theatre Company produces theatre in venues located on the traditional homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations. Many other tribes such as the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox also called this area home. This region that we now commonly refer to as “The Chicagoland Area”, has long been a center for Indigenous people to gather, trade and maintain kinship ties. Today, one of the largest urban Native American communities in the United States resides in Chicago. Members of this community continue to contribute to the life of this city and to celebrate their heritage, practice traditions and care for the land and waterways.