This story was first published in the Hyde Park Herald.
Chicago theater is nothing if not resilient. While local companies, both large and small, have been struggling and some have shut down, new troupes seem to be cropping up almost weekly. New concepts of what constitutes theater also are on the rise. Joining new plays and musicals are new translations and adaptations of classics designed to make them more relevant to our troubled times.
Here are some openings between now and the end of May that caught our eye, starting in Hyde Park as usual. Contact the theaters for details and changes.
Out Here
Court Theatre
April 10-May 10, courttheatre.org
Court Theatre goes further out on a limb than usual by closing the season with the premiere of a new musical, Out Here, developed in partnership with University of Chicago professors Leslie Buxbaum (concept, book and lyrics) and David J. Levin (concept and dramaturgy); musician, writer and producer Erin McKeown (music and lyrics), and the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society.
Chay Yew, formerly of Victory Gardens Theater, directs, and Becca Ayers stars as Dawn in this “fresh and intimate look at a family reconfiguring itself and rediscovering joy.” According to the website, Dawn has a husband, family and house but wants more. “She wants her ex-girlfriend, Robin. She wants nothing to change and she wants everything to change, and she wants to control all the terms. As she’s caught between what’s been and what’s next, Dawn must learn to reimagine her expectations, harmonize with loved ones and trust the process.” Good luck with that. Look for special programs in conjunction with the run.
Keerah
Definition Theatre
May 29-June 28, definitiontheatre.org
Hyde Park’s other theater, Definition, bows in with the world premiere of Netta Walker’s Keerah, which was developed as part of its annual Amplify competition. McKenzie Chinn directs the timely piece about Ciara, a Black American poet, and Cormac, an Irish writer on a J1 visa, who meet in a Chicago neighborhood on the brink of gentrification and connect over their love of language and literature—until they’re torn apart by immigration, bad decisions and hidden truths.
The Great Gatsby
Cadillac Palace Theatre
April 21-May 3, broadwayinchicago.com
Most of the musicals on Broadway in Chicago’s busy schedule are making return visits, but the Tony Award-winning The Great Gatsby based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic Jazz Age novel is a newcomer. Marc Bruni directs the extravaganza, which has a book by Kait Kerrigan and a pop-influenced score by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen. Dominique Kelley choreographs.
Theater of the Mind
Reid Murdoch Building
Through July 12, TheaterOfTheMindChicago.com
A centerpiece of Goodman Theatre’s centennial season, this immersive experience created by Academy, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning artist David Byrne with writer Mala Gaonkar, and directed by Andrew Scoville, promises a “75-minute journey of self-reflection, discovery and imagination.” One of eleven actor-guides, among them James Earl Jones II and Elizabeth Laidlaw, leads small audience groups through the rooms and interacts with them for what should be a unique show.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Goodman Albert Theatre
March 28-Apr 26, goodmantheatre.org
Almost three decades after its 1997 Chicago premiere set a box office record, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom returns to the Goodman in a centennial season revival led by director Chuck Smith and music director/associate director Harry J. Lennix, who, respectively, directed and played Levee in the original production. Al’Jaleel McGhee is the edgy Levee this time around and E. Faye Butler is “The Mother of the Blues” Ma Rainey who takes her time getting ready to record, as her musicians tell stories of racism, rage and more in this heart-rending drama set in Chicago in 1927.
Covenant
Goodman Owen Theatre
May 2-31
Speaking of the blues, York Walker’s Covenant, which is having its Chicago premiere directed by Malkia Stampley in the Goodman Owen, takes off from the legend of Robert Johnson. In this twisty Southern Gothic thriller, Johnny “Honeycomb” James (Debo Balogun) left his small Georgia town a struggling guitarist—and returned a blues star, to the surprise of sisters Violet (Felicia Oduh) and Avery (Jaeda LaVonne), their mother (Anji White) and their best friend Ruthie (Ashli Rene Funches). As rumors of a darker deal spread, it becomes clear “Honeycomb” is not the only one with a secret or seeking salvation.
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Chicago Shakespeare Courtyard Theater
April 2-May 3, chicagoshakes.com
Director Phillip Breen makes his Chicago Shakespeare debut with Shakespeare’s raucous comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor, as does Jason Simon, who plays the lewd but arguably lovable Sir John Falstaff. The large, talented ensemble also features Ora Jones and Issy van Randwyck as besties Mistress Page and Mistress Ford, who get the better of the rotund would-be seducer, and Chike Johnson and Timothy Edward Kane as their husbands. I confess Merry Wives has never been one of my favorites, but maybe this version will change my mind.
Mrs. Krishnan’s Party
Upstairs Studio
April 7-26
New Zealand’s Indian Ink Theatre Company makes its Chicago debut with Mrs. Krishnan’s Party created by Jacob and Justin Lewis. The actors juggle cooking, music and a whole lot more in this 80-minute “celebration of life” that’s different every night. Afterwards you can sample the dahl that’s made on stage and/or find the recipe on CST’s website.
Fault
The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare
April 18-May 24
Having starred in CST’s 2024 Judgment Day, Jason Alexander returns to direct the world premiere of Scooter Pietsch’s Fault showcasing Enrico Colantoni and Teri Hatcher as Jerry and Lucy Green, who go head-to-head in late-night battles after 30 years of marriage. Lies, betrayals, revelations and much dark humor ensue.
Windfall
Steppenwolf ‘s Ensemble Theater
April 9-May 31, steppenwolf.org
Steppenwolf Theatre Company continues its 50th anniversary season with the world premiere of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Windfall directed by Awoye Timpo. The stellar cast includes Alana Arenas, Glenn Davis, Jon Michael Hill, Namir Smallwood, Esco Jouley and Michael Potts in a story about the power of money. When a father loses his child in a clash with the police, three strangers advise him to take the city’s cash settlement, relocate and forget his grief—or remain haunted by memories of the world his child fought so hard to protect. What would you do?
Both
Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater
April 11-May 10
Part of a multi-year collaboration between Teatro Vista Productions and Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the world premiere of Paloma Nozicka’s Both, directed by Georgette Verdin, stars the playwright as Xochi, a young woman who is dealing with a difficult pregnancy, a new relationship, a family that can’t stand her and the loss of her twin brother Sebastian, who was declared missing a year ago. When he mysteriously reappears, her family is overjoyed, but Xochi is suspicious about where he’s been and why this version of him seems so different from the one she knew.
The Movement You Need
Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater
April 19-May 10
The Movement You Need: An Evening With Brendan Hunt (Ted Lasso’s co-creator/writer) is a new one-man show fueled by bittersweet memories of his Chicago childhood, a love for The Beatles that got him through it and the tongue-tied moment he met Paul McCartney. In other words, it’s a “love letter to the family that makes us, the music that shapes us and the crazy shit life throws our way,” or so he says.
An Enemy of the People
TimeLine Theatre Company
May 6-June 7, timelinetheatre.com
TimeLine inaugurates its Uptown theater with the Chicago premiere of Amy Herzog’s oh-so-timely new version of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, which basically asks what happens when doing the right thing means losing everything. Ron OJ Parson directs the play about a doctor who discovers contaminated water that threatens the health of his Norwegian town, but when he raises the alarm, local leaders—including his brother, the mayor—scramble to protect their own interests by discrediting him. The cast includes Will Allan as Dr. Thomas Stockmann and Behzad Dabu as his brother, Peter Stockmann.
The New York Times called the 2024 Broadway premiere “crackling and persuasive … a bitter satire of local politics that soon reveals itself as a slow-boil tragedy of human complacency.” I’m eager to see what TimeLine does with it.
The Ally
Theater Wit
Through May 2, theaterwit.org
The Midwest premiere of Itamar Moses’ The Ally, directed by Jeremy Wechsler, offers eloquent arguments on all sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and asks “Which side are you on?” At its center is teacher Asaf who is pulled into a political firestorm that tests his convictions and sense of self after a student asks him to sign a manifesto condemning police brutality that turns out to be much broader in scope than he thought. Then his ex-girlfriend takes the lead on the other side.
The Trojan Women
Eos Theatre Company at the Bramble Arts Loft
April 2-18, eostheatre.org
Led by women, the brand-new Eos Theatre Company “aims to create work where women’s perspectives are not only included but centered.” Its inaugural production is The Trojan Women by U.K. poet Caroline Bird “after Euripides.” Directed by Rachel Sledd Iannantuoni, this modern-day version of the anti-war play is set in the mother-and-baby-unit of a prison. Outside the walls, Troy and its people burn. Inside, the city’s captive women await their fate while Hecuba, the fallen Trojan queen, stalks the halls, and the pregnant Chorus is shackled to her bed. Their horror at what’s happened is nothing compared to the devastation to come.
Job
Writers Gillian Theatre
April 9-June 14, writerstheatre.orgTruth is, I’d go see Rae Gray and Christopher Donahue in any play, but the Chicago/Midwest premiere of Max Wolf Friedlich’s Job should be a stunner. David Esbjornson directs the intense psychological thriller about Jane (Gray), an employee at a big tech company, who’s placed on leave after video of her screaming breakdown at work goes viral and she’s told she must be evaluated by crisis therapist Loyd (Donahue) before she can be reinstated. Their first session quickly escalates into an epic showdown with a shocking twist, and the two-hander skewers the insidiousness of the internet, the meaning of work and the ramifications of a secret revealed.