Stage Top 5: December 2020
December theater seeks to comfort, celebrate and connect in a difficult holiday season.
Good Grief: How a Play Based on the Comic Strip Peanuts Led to Controversy at a Small Iowa College
Theater educator Alyssa Oltmanns believes her student production of a play including LGBTQ issues was cancelled for censorship reasons.
The Stories That Need to Be Told: A Review of “the project(s)” at Stage Left Theatre
The stories of Chicago’s famous Robert Taylor Homes residents come alive in the new documentary-style play by the late PJ Paparelli and Joshua Jaeger.
Ritual and Legacy: Burlesque Artist Jenn Freeman|Po’Chop Explores Black Femininity and Spirituality in Dance Film “LITANY”
Freeman’s creative obsessions—brown paper, burlap and Audre Lorde—feature in her new collaboration with Jordan Phelps and VAM Studio.
Twenty-Four Hour Spin Cycle: A Review of “The Spin” at Interrobang Theatre Project
Spenser Davis’ play, written for Zoom, takes advantage of where we are to tell a compelling story about what we’re up against.
Stage Top 5: November 2020
Election month performances live stream commentary on our current world, and imagine a better one.
Our One Impossible Thing: A Review of Collaboraction’s “We Still Dream: The 5th Annual Peacebook Festival”
Ten storytellers, dancers and filmmakers premiere short works in the live-streamed version of Collaboraction’s annual festival that is relevant and encapsulating.
Haunt, Memory: Irene Hsiao’s Dance Films Respond to The Allure of Matter at the Smart Museum
The dancer/writer’s short films respond to art about a rapidly changing Beijing with echoes of nostalgia for performances that never were.
An Impossible Expectation: A Review of “45 Plays for America’s First Ladies” at The Neo-Futurists
The Neo-Futurists deftly handle the complicated and nebulous role of First Lady in a new political anthology that makes us miss their live MainStage shows all the more.
National Political Crisis: Radio Play “It Can’t Happen Here” Is a National Theatrical Response
Nearly one hundred theater companies from around the country join forces to present a free radio play rendition of Sinclair Lewis’ frighteningly prescient novel.
