Theater – Page 126 –

Highland Park native Marina Franklin, who has TV and film credits, including HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” is one of the headliners at the Funny is Female Comedy Festival, Oct. 22-25, at Comedy Plex in Oak Park. (Marina Franklin)

‘Now there’s a girls’ club’: Funny is Female fest draws 50 comedians to Oak Park

By Myrna Petlicki

October 15, 2026 at 5:04 a.m.

More than 50 comics from around the country will be performing at the Funny is...

Ferdinand (Lawrence Grimm) and Will (Lenin Izquierdo) in "Any Rebellion of Will" at Trap Door Theatre. (George Hudson)

Review: ‘Any Rebellion of Will’ is an absurdist breath of fresh air at Trap Door Theatre

By Chris Jones

October 14, 2026 at 1:24 p.m.

This world premiere, penned by S.L. Daniels and accurately billed as a dark, absurdist comedy...

Director Stuart Gordon, co-founder of the Organic Theater Company, on May 12, 1981. (Anne Cusack/baiduhai)

Column: The legendary Organic Theater is gone, ‘Scream! Bleed!’ brings memories roaring back

By Rick Kogan

October 14, 2026 at 10:25 a.m.

New book remembers the formative Chicago theater company that gave us Joe Mantegna, Dennis Franz,...

Montego Glover in the Broadway tour of "Into the Woods" in Chicago at the Nederlander Theatre.

Review: In the lovely ‘Into The Woods’ now in Chicago, Sondheim’s fairytale forest is deep indeed

By Chris Jones

April 30, 2023 at 12:44 p.m.

Different people snag different stuff from Stephen Sondheim, and I'd argue that whoever you are...

Veronica Garza (center) as Horace Green Prep principal Rosalie Mullins, and cast, in "School of Rock" at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora.

Review: With ‘School of Rock,’ the Paramount Theatre hits all the power chords, yet again

By Chris Jones

April 27, 2023 at 4:10 p.m.

The terrific family musical "School of Rock" and the Paramount Theatre in Aurora are a...

Chicago’s Windy City Playhouse goes up for sale

By Chris Jones

April 27, 2023 at 5:15 a.m.

The Windy City Playhouse, a once-lively performing arts venue located at 3014 W. Irving Park...

Richard Gatta, Ben Davis, Anna Uzele, Wendi Bergamini, Giovanni Bonaventura, Kristine Covillo in "New York, New York" at the St. James Theatre in New York.

Review: Broadway’s ‘New York, New York’ has hot jazz but a disjointed story

By Chris Jones

April 26, 2023 at 9:00 p.m.

At the heart of "New York, New York," the supersized new musical directed and choreographed...

Katie McCormick, 18, a senior at Lake Zurich High School, center, plays Elsa in the school's staging of Disney's "Frozen, The Broadway Musical." McCormick is pictured during dress rehearsal April 24, 2023 at the school in Lake Zurich.

Lake Zurich High School theater wins rights to stage ‘Frozen’ musical, only school in Illinois

By Karie Angell Luc

April 26, 2023 at 4:03 p.m.

Lake Zurich High School won a nationwide contest sponsored by Disney, with the school getting...

Nadia Pillay, Kaleb Jackson, Eric K. Roberts and Terreon Collins in Theatre Y's production of "We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Südwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915."

Review: ‘We Are Proud to Present’ is a brave beginning for Theatre Y in North Lawndale

By Emily McClanathan

April 26, 2023 at 2:30 p.m.

After several years of working to relocate from Lincoln Square to North Lawndale, Theatre Y...

Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht in "Summer, 1976" at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in New York.

Review: Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht heat up Broadway’s ‘Summer, 1976’

By Chris Jones

April 25, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.

Patti LuPone recently complained that today's Broadway is too much like a theme park. I'm...

Jake DiMaggio-Lopez and Emily Schultheis in the musical "Grease" at Drury Lane Theatre.

Review: ‘Grease’ at Drury Lane Theatre: Rizzo and the rest arrive just before summer

By Chris Jones

April 25, 2023 at 1:34 p.m.

With the Pink Ladies making a TV renaissance and all the sorrow surrounding the death...

Northlight Theatre leader BJ Jones in 2016.

Northlight Theatre’s 2023-24 season includes BJ Jones directing a new John Patrick Shanley play

By Doug George

April 25, 2023 at 1:00 p.m.

Northlight Theatre in Skokie has announced its 2023-24 season. The current upcoming slate of four...

Ben Rappaport (as Jack Paar) and Sean Hayes (Oscar Levant) in "Good Night, Oscar" at the Belasco Theatre in New York.

Review: Sean Hayes is stunning as ‘Good Night, Oscar’ opens on Broadway

By Chris Jones

April 24, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.

In November 1958, the brilliant composer, concert pianist and outré humorist Oscar Levant, then under...