Piven Theatre plans a year of women-centered projects
With the year-long Women's Voices Project, Evanston's Piven Theatre is embarking on a celebration of ladies who aren't afraid to be loud, creative and in charge of their own narrative....
All Stories
First Folio’s ‘Captain Blood’ swashbuckler with a message
Yes, there are shiploads of swashbuckling and epic adventures in exotic locales, but sometimes, says First Folio Executive Director David Rice, there's more to a pirate story than, well, pirates....
‘Faceless’ explores world of teenage American terrorists
When an affluent teenager from a Denver suburb fled her home to join ISIS in 2014, her arrest at the Denver airport made national news. Today, Shannon Conley is serving...
Drury Lane brings revamped ‘Saturday Night Fever’ to stage
Packed with iconic dancing and the Bee Gees' unstoppable score, "Saturday Night Fever" seems like a musical that should be able to basically print money. So why didn't the stage...
Chicago’s biggest blizzard premise for 16th Street show
Before it was over, more than two dozen people were dead. Fifty thousand cars were abandoned. The L had shut down. Both airports closed. Thousands of people people were stranded,...
Melissa Etheridge wants concert to lift people’s spirits
For more than 25 years, rocker Melissa Etheridge has been cranking out hits defined by her pile-driving, whiskey-over-gravel vocals. She does heartbreak ("No Souvenirs"), yearning ("Come to My Window") and...
Oak Park Festival celebrates the season with story, songs
Talk about your literary horn o' plenty: The roster of Oak Park Festival Theatre's upcoming holiday shows are a feast of words and music. Works by Helen Keller, Anne Lamott,...
Remembering First Folio Theatre founder Alison Vesely
In the spring of 2013, acclaimed playwright and actor Kristine Thatcher was hoping to get fired. She was working for Alison Vesely, founding artistic director of Oak Brook's First Folio...
Family friendly ‘Christmas Carol’ a tradition for Drury Lane
For Evanston's Brad Armacost, the world is sharply divided between good and evil, Santa and Satan. He's probably the only person in town whose career has him contending demonic possession...
‘Nickel and Dimed’ looks at life on minimum wage
For Elmhurst actor Kate Troc, performing in Greenman Theatre's "Nickel and Dimed" — a harrowing docudrama about surviving on minum wage — isn't really about pretend. As a seventh grader,...