Described as a play-pageant-ritual-celebration, WHAT TO SEND UP WHEN IT GOES DOWN is both scripted and improvised, participatory and performed – for the purpose of empowering Black People’s response to WHAT GOES DOWN: past, present, and future violence against Black People.

“IT? You know what IT is. IT is that terrible thing that happened, and that is going to keep happening.  IT always happened just yesterday and IT just keeps happening again tomorrow”

This review is really hard to write, mainly because I don’t feel qualified to judge the work. WHAT TO SEND UP WHEN IT GOES DOWN is a participatory event, its purpose to generate a place for catharsis, cleansing, and healing … for Black People. The audience is informed, gently but unapologetically, that WHAT TO SEND UP WHEN IT GOES DOWN is by Black People, about Black People, and for Black People – although all who approach with respect are welcome.

And amazingly that’s absolutely true!  There were lines / jokes / vignettes that I couldn’t appreciate, that I simply didn’t get, but at no point did I feel excluded. The moments of disconnection were my problem:  I, as a white person, couldn’t understand the significance of those lines / jokes / vignettes. The moments of exclusion were deficits in my comprehension; they were in no way generated by the Black People.

BTW, I capitalize Black People because those two words are spoken – shouted, proclaimed, cried, announced, groaned, exclaimed – frequently throughout, and the spoken words are always unmistakably capitalized.

WHAT TO SEND UP WHEN IT GOES DOWN is written by Aleshea Harris, produced by Congo Square Theatre in partnership with LookingGlass Theatre, and directed by Daniel Bryant (Congo Square) and Erika Ratcliff (LookingGlass).

The ensemble includes Jos N. Banks, Chanell Bell, McKenzie Chinn, Alexandria Moorman, Willie “Prince Roc” Round, Joey Stone, and Penelope Walker. Each and every one of this cast are extraordinarily talented at acting, singing, and dancing. Though many of the vignettes are scripted, every word is unmistakably authentic. I can’t begin to imagine how emotionally exhausting each performance must be. I feel honored by their willingness to share it with us.

On the Creative Team are Sarah Grace Goldman (Dramaturg), Sydney Lynne Thomas (Set & Props Designer), Alexis Chaney (Costume/Wig/Makeup Designer), Levi Wilkins (Lighting Designer), and Charlique C. Rolle (Movement Coordinator). Victor Hugo Jaimes is Stage Manager, Estrellita Beatriz Production Manager, and Alexis Carrie designed the costumes. 

Together, this team – production and cast – create an awesome and enduring experience.  Six days later, I’m still having regular moments of recollection and new insight; I predict these perceptions and inspirations will continue for some time.

WHAT TO SEND UP WHEN IT GOES DOWN is Highly Recommended for all audiences; for people who identify as BIPOC, it’s downright ESSENTIAL.

BOTTICELLI in the FIRE is a delight! I’ve got a lot to say about this production, but if you want to cut to the chase:  See BOTTICELLI in the FIRE!   

I’d little idea what to expect, except that queerness would be a major theme, and I’m afraid reading this review won’t prepare you for it either. All I can say is Prepare to be delighted! Or, as lead player Alex Benito Rodriguez (h/h) says, ‘Dripping with delight’.

Alex Benito Rodriguez is a good place to start. He’s Sandro Botticelli; Alex Benito Rodriguez really IS Sandro Botticelli, to a T. Though, oddly, our seatmate confided that they know Rodriguez personally, and offstage he’s quiet and unassuming. Just goes to show what a fine actor Rodriguez is, as those adjectives SO do not describe Sandro Botticelli! 

He opens the show by stumbling down the aisle with a bottle of chianti and assuring us that if he hears a fucking cell phone go off he will fucking kill its owner. He goes on to inform us that five centuries is far too long to be misunderstood; he therefore proposes to tell his story to us. Rodriguez / Sandro is completely delectable, and we’re eager to hear his story.

Kudos to Casting Directors Adelina Feldman-Schultz (sh/h) and Catherine Miller (th/th) – the entire cast meets the high standard set by Rodriguez. Yuchi Chiu (h/h) plays Sandro’s BFF Poggio di Chullu wonderfully as a sort of Cassandra, trying to warn Sandro of the perils outside his doors.  And then there’s young Leonardo da Vinci (John Payne th/th), with their très-70’s polyester bellbottoms, flowery blouse, and dreadlocks to the waist.

O. M. G.

Which is not to downplay the rest of the players! Jenece Upton (sh/h) as Madre Maria is as talented as she’s gorgeous. Andrew Cutler (h/h) is a perfectly smashing Lorenzo De Medici; I love seeing the tats on his knees when he dons shorts (plaid!) to play squash with Sandro. And his wife! Neala Barron (sh/h) as Clarice Orsini has such enormous stage presence she almost overshadows Rodriguez …. Almost.

The friar Giralomo Savanarola’s frenzied sermons are instigating the Venetian people to burn artwork and seditious books … and people. At the top of this category are (naturally) queers. Christopher Meister (h/h) is a strident and menacing Savanarola from the moment he appears with his portable karaoke machine (like those guys down on State Street), bawling imprecations on the sodomites.

BOTTICELLI in the FIRE is set in fifteenth-century Venice: it’s the dawn of the Renaissance, but Venezia is suffering a plague epidemic, with corpses littering the streets. The poor are way poor, and the rich are – well, Medicis – fortressed in their palaces and reveling in their extravagant pleasures. 

Lorenzo de Medici has commissioned his dear friend Sandro Botticelli to paint his wife Clarice. Sandro is happy to comply, but his muse is spurring him to create a highly unconventional portrait: a life-size full-frontal nude of Clarice as Venus, goddess of love and beauty, rising from the waves.

I’m going to throw in a non-sequitur here. In the mythical story, Venus is the daughter of the primordial deity Uranus, son of Mother Earth Gaia. Uranus marries Gaia (the Greek gods pulled stunts a mink breeder wouldn’t allow) and they had eighteen children. Uranus hated his kids and hid them from Gaia, who was so pissed off she gave her youngest son, the Titan Kronos (Father Time to you), a scythe made of indestructible adamantine (don’t ask, I don’t know). With this weapon Kronos castrated his father Uranus and tossed his junk into the sea. Uranus’ seed fertilized the ocean foam, and from that white foam rose Venus, born a fully-grown woman. For some peculiar reason this provenance made her Goddess of Love and Beauty.   

Educational exegesis over; back to Sandro Botticelli painting Clarice. He’s painting her in the nude, so Sandro (having but scant familiarity with female genitalia) needs an up-close view of her privates, and what better way to ponder her pudenda than cunnilingus? Clarice vigorously and repeatedly agrees.

In wanders young Leonardo Da Vinci, creating precisely the distraction Sandro does not need. John Payne (th/th) plays Leo with grace and elegance; one totally understands Sandro’s infatuation, despite its dangers. Poggio, who truly loves Sandro, pleads with him to sever both disastrous relationships, but Sandro is inexorably reckless. His sole objective is pleasure, particularly the sort that can be found inside a man’s pants … preferably Leonardo’s. 

Celebrated playwright Jordan Tannahill (h/h), the ‘enfant terrible of Canadian theatre’, wrote BOTTICELLI in the FIRE in 2016, but the correlations between 1480’s Venice and 2022 Chicago are even more relevant: plagues, bookburnings, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric legislation and assaults, and the renaissance of Chicago theatre after two years of dark houses.

Director Bo Frazier (th/th) describes themself as trans non-binary, queer, and neurodivergent – a theatre maker using imagination to tell traditionally excluded narratives. Frazier says:

As a queer and trans person watching more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced across the country in the last couple years, it has been both exhausting and terrifying to live in America where freedom is only meant for Christian, white, cisgender, able-bodied males.

With Assistant Director Dionne Adsdai (sh/th), Frazier directs BOTTICELLI in the FIRE from this mindset, beseeching us to battle these negative forces by doing all we can to empower queer joy. Their exceptional direction of BOTTICELLI in the FIRE is an excellent start.

The production of BOTTICELLI in the FIRE is masterful (Anastar Alvarez, th/th, Production Manager). The simplicity of the set created by Lauren Nichols (sh/h, Scenic Designer) and Theresa Lammon (Poster Designer) frees us to enjoy the play and players without being distracted by objects (Caitlin McCarthy, sh/h, Props) except, of course, the easel holding an enormous veiled canvas. Costume Designer Hilary Rubio, (sh/h) balances this simplicity by her sumptuous use of sheer, flowing and net fabrics, and anachronistic clothing.

Oi! Did someone say ‘anachronism’? I recently wrote a review where I criticized the anachronisms, but in BOTTICELLI in the FIRE the temporal bloopers are frequent, deliberate, and absolutely necessary. It’s hilarious when Sandro reads a text message from Lorenzo Medici, and music director Andres Fonseca (h/h), with Sound Designer Willow James (h/h), deliver a score that manages to blend rock, hip-hop, and Gregorian chant; I love when the ensemble chants da Vinci’s Vitruvian man’s proportions in plainsong.

And they dance, too! Singing and dancing commensurate with their phenomenal acting – this is unquestionably a multi-talented cast.

Co-Technical Directors Abbie Reed and Peter Wilde work with Stage Manager Oswald Avila (h/h) to regulate the pandemonium that regularly erupts onstage, making it both comprehensible and non-threatening – to us, any road! As for the characters, Intimacy & Violence Coordinator Micah Figuero (h/h) has his work cut out for him, and produces brutal attacks as compelling as the copulation(s!). The lighting, designed by Benjamin Carne (h/h), complemented the action splendidly; he used the spots brilliantly [sic].

What more can I say? The only negative I can dredge up is that (SPOILER ALERT!) I was disappointed there were no nude scenes. But not everyone has my taste for the salacious!

Which reminds me – like Hunter Clause’s WBEZ Rundown, I have One More Thing: I’m drawn specifically to events that feature LGBTQ+ issues; my companion is not, but she was as delighted by BOTTICELLI in the FIRE as me!

Highly Recommended!

I found DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE to be weird.

Well, it’s supposed to be weird, right? It’s a weird and spooky story about Dr. Henry Jekyll, a respectable, conventional Victorian physician, liberating his dark side: a persona named Edward Hyde, whose cruel and amoral exploits prove ruinous. Yeah. Weird. Perfect for the shuddersome All Hallows Eve season.

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE as a novella in 1886; expanded to full-novel length in 1891.  There have been hundreds of stage and film adaptations of the tale, from its first stage presentation in 1887 to films starring John Barrymore (1920), Spencer Tracy (1941), Boris Karloff (1953), and many others.

Here is a new adaptation, written by Michael Dalberg and produced by Idle Muse Theatre Company, in which the issues of class and gender, intimacy and violence that clash in the original story are amplified. Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde ran in 1971 as a B-movie; Dalberg turns this around by casting a woman, Brandi Jiminez Lee (sh/h) as Dr. Henry Jekyll. Choosing tall dark & handsome Jack Sharkey (h/h) as Mr. Edward Hyde is significant as well. Mr. Hyde is a thoroughly loathsome character, and virtually all adaptations exhibit a face and physique to match. Sharkey’s Hyde, however, is cultured and sensual, an Edward Hyde that I found by no means repugnant – at first, any road. Which is not to say he’s a good guy! just a really slick one.

Stevenson wrote JEKYLL & HYDE to explore the dichotomy between our public and private selves, even more relevant in Victorian times than today. In the play, the dyad extends beyond Jekyll vs. Hyde.  The story is told by Jekyll’s solicitor (and admirer) Gabriel John Utterson, masterfully played by Shane Richlen (h/h), and the contrast between this worthy Victorian gentleman and the unconventional Henri Jekyll is as sharp as that between Jekyll and Hyde – in fact, I found myself scratching my head about his devotion: hie thee to Al-Anon, John Gabriel! 

Other characters mirror the good/evil dichotomy as well. Dr. Hastie Lanyon, played by Joel Thompson (h/h), friend to both Utterson and Jekyll, is the first to learn that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are one and the same, a grim discovery that haunts Lanyon to his death. Richard Enfield (Ian Saderholm, h/h) is another ideal Victorian gentleman; he is the first to witness Hyde committing a violent crime, while Sir Danvers Carew, played by understudy Ross Compton (h/h), is the first person we actually see Hyde slay. The assault is also witnessed by the Maid (Hanna Beth Mitchell, sh/h), an intermittent character used for comic relief. One final character mismatches Hyde: Dr. Jekyll’s butler Poole (Ross Compton), whose devotion to his master starkly contrasts with Hyde’s treachery.

So, why am I calling this production weird? To begin with, the contradiction seems to extend into the plot. I had real trouble following all the aspects of the story: murder and virtue, rape and seduction, revenge and passion, with snippets of addiction, past sexual molestation, homosexuality, and incongruous heterosexuality tossed in haphazardly.  At the interval I confessed my confusion to my companion, an ardent fan of Stevenson’s novel, and was amazed (and relieved) to learn she was equally befuddled.

And there was a large group seated in front of us who laughed extravagantly throughout (including at things I saw no humor in) – clearly they did not share our misgivings. We concluded they were friends of the cast, devoted and true, and god love ‘em for it. But they were another weird thing.

I was dismayed by the missed opportunities. For example, why, when evil Hyde was a white man and good Jekyll a Black woman, was there absolutely no mention of race? One of the reasons I was interested in this adaptation was the casting of a Black woman in the role of Jekyll, but that didn’t seem at all relevant to the play. I notice this particularly since I’ve seen Chicago theatre come back from covid with much attention on issues of racial and gender disparity, yet this production made no use of multiple openings. And, though sexual abuse is frequently alluded to, its import as a motive is relegated to a throw-away line at the end. I’d like to have seen that issue fleshed out far more. 

The production as a whole was discombobulating, beginning with the script and continuing through its interpretation by director Morgan Manasa (sh/h), with artistic director Evan Jackson (th/th), dramaturges Elizabeth MacDougald (th/th) and Tristan Brandon (th/th) [also props designer and literary manager]. There were glaring anachronisms—the Maid smoking on the street in 1885? And while Elizabeth Blackwell obtained her MD in 1849, Elizabeth Anderson didn’t become the first British female physician until 1865, yet the issue of feminism and suffrage is decidedly underplayed. And I question several choices (rock music between scenes?) made by music & sound director L.J. Luthringer (h/h), and lighting & projection designer Laura Wiley (th/th). 

I wish Jessie Gowens’ (sh/h) costumes had done more to distinguish the various Victorian Gentlemen. Carrie Hardin (sh/h), speech and dialect coach, allowed traces of Yorkshire to slip into London. Fight choreographer Libby Beyreis (sh/h) suffered unfairly by comparison to the Babes with Blades’ production of Richard III, which I saw just a few days earlier. I found the seduction scenes unconvincing, but intimacy designers Samantha Kaufman (sh/h) and Courtney Abbott (sh/h) had quite a challenge with Hyde’s despoilment of Jekyll – though I did love Hyde’s line, “Just think of it as masturbation.” In fact, I was definitely intrigued by the casting of Jekyll and Hyde as two completely different characters.

Stage managers Becky Warner (th/th) and Beth Bruins (sh/h), with scenic designer Stina Taylor (sh/h), created a set that required frequent rearrangement of all the furniture, which I found more disruptive than expressive. The remainder of the creative team are Kati Lechner (th/th), covid compliance officer, production manager Shellie DiSalvo (th/th), treasurer Mara Kovacevic (sh/h) and Gina Marie Hoskins (sh/h) in marketing.

Please remember that my description of the play as ‘weird’ is just that: my description. The cast was superb, and did an excellent job, particularly co-stars Brandi Jiminez Lee, Jack Sharkey, and Shane Richlen. And I’m always pleased when an understudy (Ross Compton) steps forward to give a fine performance.

Oy … where to begin with Stephen Sondheim’s SWEENEY TODD?

Let’s begin with what one sees first: the venue. Chopin Theatre opened in 1918 at the Polonia Triangle in Wicker Park. Over 100 years the building has variously housed (among other things) a bank, a thrift shop, and a discotheque.  In 1990, Zygmunt and Lela Headd Dyrkacz purchased The Chopin, and restored it to accommodate two remarkable theaters, the Main and the smaller Studio in the basement. For SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET the entire theater is part of the set; as you walk down the stairs you descend into 19th century London.

The seating is a motley collection of Victorian divans and chairs, giving the sense of a less-than-opulent home parlor. The seats are placed round a circular stage with a raised octagonal platform at its centre –we later see that the platform revolves. This is one of the many contrivances that Scenic & Lighting Designer G “Max” Maxin IV (h/h) uses to showcase the masterful company. He is assisted by Andrew Lund (h/th, Asst Director), Jakob Abderhalden (h/h; Props & Scenic Décor), Scenic Painter David Geinosky (h/h), Sound Designer Mike Patrick (h/h) and Lynsy Folckomer (sh/h, Sound Engineer). 

‘Masterful company’ is a major understatement.  The casting used by Kokandy Producing Artistic Director Derek Van Barham (h/h) and Casting Associate Roman Sanchez (h/h) is diverse and inventive, and the ingenious choreography utilizes every inch of the limited space. I already mentioned the carousel stage…. I guess that makes it Theatre in the Round-and-Round, yeah?

From a purely mechanical standpoint, SWEENEY TODD is … I believe the technical term is ‘a real bitch’. Sondheim loves to challenge actors with his complex music and lyrics; the ensemble of eight roars out countless alliterative tongue-twisters – rapidly, at maximum volume, and in unison. Getting this right ain’t easy, but it’s delivered flawlessly by the ensemble: Joel Arreola, Brittney Brown, Ethan Carlson, Stephanie Chiodraws, Christopher Johnson, Nikki Krzebiot, Daniel Rausch, and understudy Nathan Kabara (stepping in for Charlie Mann).

The show begins with a welcome and a warning from Quinn Rigg who, with a swoosh of his cloak (costumer Rachel Sypniewski (s/h) uses cloaks very effectively) transforms into Adolfo Pirell, pivoting and whirling through a terrific performance. Kevin Webb and Caitlin Jackson star as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett. Both give truly outstanding performances as partners in clipping and culinary crime. Jackson has a miraculous voice, as do Isabel Cecilia Garcia (Beggar Woman) and Ryan Stajmiger (Anthony Hope). Christopher Johnson is Judge Turpin, Josiah Haugen plays Beadle Bamford, and I want to give a special shoutout to Patrick O’Keefe, who plays Tobias Ragg with frolicsome charisma [two words I don’t often use together]. His voice soars in “Not While I’m Around”.

The intensity and vitality of this production is stunning. I was exhausted at the end, and I never left my seat! while the players danced, leapt, capered and whirled continuously, belting out rapid and complex lyrics, all in perfect time with a dozen castmates. Just incredible. 

Sydney Genco (sh/h) designed splendidly macabre makeup; Keith Ryan (h/h) matched her sinister mastery with his wigs. Scot Kokandy (h/h) is Executive Producer, Assisted by Erik Strebig (th/th). Nick Sula is Music Director, with Vivica Powell (sh/h) as Assistant Choreographer; Intimacy Choreographer is Kirsten Balty (th/th) and, because it’s TODD SWEENEY, we need Jon Beal (h/h) as Violence Director. Stage Manager is Drew Donnelly (h/h), with Assistant Kendyl Meyer (th/th). 

Stephen Sondheim created SWEENEY TODD (music and lyrics; book by Hugh Wheeler) in 1976 as a musical play. But beware! this is not “My Fair Lady”! Prepare to be disturbed, as SWEENEY TODD delves the nether portions of civilization [sorry, I can’t help it – SWEENEY TODD evokes melodramatic phrases like this!].  

The character of Sweeney Todd originated in 1846 as a villain in the penny dreadful serial “The String of Pearls.” In Sondheim’s play, Todd is driven mad by venal and lascivious Judge Turpin’s sentence. His lunacy is re-channeled by Mrs. Lovett (maker of The Worst Pies in London), but she can’t alter the course of his mania. His obsession for revenge is levied on London’s greedy populace; still, Todd can’t find atonement while his foe yet lives. 

SWEENEY TODD is germane to both Yom Kippur and Halloween, but it is not a holiday celebration!  I left the theater stunned and deeply troubled, with at least Six of the Seven Deadly Sins roiling in my head.  

My turmoil is offset, however, by my appreciation of a magnificent piece of musical theater, brilliantly produced and superbly played by a cast whose acting ability is matched only by their musical genius.

OK, time to give my thesaurus a rest … go see SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET, and we’ll see how you fare with the superlatives.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

*Extended through December 18th

RICHARD III tells the story of Richard of Gloucester, Shakespeare’s cruelest yet most compelling protagonist.

Richard III was the last king of the House of York. He was the last English king to die in battle, at the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, marking the end of the Middle Ages in England.

RICHARD III depicts this last of the Plantagenets as merciless, almost demoniacal – several characters call him ‘devil’. In his mania to be King, Richard uses intelligence, deception, and serial murder; though most of the murders are actually committed by his retainers and minions.

Shakespeare delves into the historical account to find what we would now call a psychological autopsy, probing beneath the gory facts to explore Richard’s mindset and motivations. What is thus exhumed is a driven man, ravenous for total domination. 

Babes with Blades Theatre Company (BWBTC) uses stage combat to elevate the voices of underrepresented communities, allowing both participants and patrons to experience every person as exciting, vivid, dynamic people. BWBTC Shakespeare casts actors of marginalized genders, providing a new lens to perceive these classic stories. In RICHARD III, BWBTC partners with UIC’s Disability Cultural Center, Department of Theatre, and Bodies of Work in a project called “Making Inclusive Theatre: RICHARD III as Disability Art”, challenging the obstacles that actors face around accessibility. The cast of RICHARD III crosses barriers of gender and ableism to explore othering and disability culture.

Jillian Leff, Aszkara Gilchrist, Lauren Paige, Genesis Sanchez, Kristen Alesia, and Pat Roache in “Richard III” from Babes With Blades Theatre Company

Artistic Director Hayley Rice (s/h) says: “This production represents so many aspects that are priorities for BWBTC: focusing on marginalized stories, telling complicated tales of flawed humans, and our signature of stage combat as a storytelling tool. This team is ready to tell Richard III’s story in the manner it should be told, with the artists who should be telling it, but are so often left out of the conversation completely”.

Any production of RICHARD III will flourish or founder on the actor playing the title role; this production totally nails it with Aszkara Gilchrist (s/h), whose intonation and especially countenance are vivid, persuasive, and expressive, displaying the full range of Richard’s unsavory character. Her smirk and her sneer (both integral to Richard) are particularly satisfying. Her white cane becomes functional as a pikestaff, a club, a truncheon, and (occasionally) a visual aid.

Gilchrist’s Richard would fail without a surrounding cast of equal talent; happily, BWBTC has assembled a truly stellar troupe. Most actors play multiple roles, but kClare McKellaston (s/h) (Costume) and AJ Morely (h/h) (Props) use simple articles to define characters so effectively that each was clear. This is often difficult in Shakespeare’s extensive companies, but I was also assisted by the live streaming captions – just one aspect of the production’s commitment to accessibility. Various performances will include adjustments for sensory needs audiences, ASL interpreters, touch tour and audio description. See the website for dates of these special performances. This commitment to inclusion is very impressive. I attended with an autistic friend who was able to enjoy the standard performance but is definitely interested in going back to attend one of the sensory access shows.

Another standout performer was Pat Roache (th/th) as Queen Margaret; their over-the-top emoting could be called overplay, but it SO worked for me! I adored every one of Queen Margaret’s appearances, and Roache was just as fabulous (if less melodramatic) as Brackenbury. Kristen Alesia (s/th) (Lady Anne/Lord Hastings) and Lauren Paige (s/h) (Queen Elizabeth) are terrific, and the three Queens had a chemistry that catalyzed each appearance.  I also want to make a shoutout to Xela Rosas (s/th), an understudy who shone as Rivers / Bishop of Ely.

In many large casts, particularly with multiple parts, individuals may get lost in the swarm. Not so here! Kim Fukawa (s/h) (Catesby/ King Edward IV) and Genesis Sanchez (s/th) (Richmond) were outstanding; Madison Hill (th/th) great as Ratcliffe and Duke of York, as was Leah Nicole Huskey (s/h) as Grey and the Duchess of York. Kayla Marie Klammer (s/h) (Lovell/ Archbishop of Canterbury), Jillian Leff (s/h) (Duke of Buckingham), Jennifer L Mickelson (s/h) (Duke of Clarence/ Stanley / Mayor) and Symonne Still (s/h) (Dorset/ Prince Edward) complete the truly extraordinary troupe.

Loud kudos to the production team! Richard Costes (h/h), a deaf BIPOC actor, is Director, working with Margaret Fink (s/h), Director of UIC’s Disability Cultural Center and UIC Partners Bianca Frazer (s/h), Carrie Sandahl (s/h), Rachelle Palnick Tsachor (s/h), and Keyana D Robinson (s/h) (also videographer). Gabrielle Owens (s/th) is Stage Manager, assisted by Esau Andaleon (h/h). Dramaturg Claire Alston (s/h) and Carrie Hardin (s/h) as Text Coach are responsible for making Elizabethan language user-friendly. Scenic Designer Sydney Lynne (s/h) built a set whose intriguing horizontal and vertical levels were accentuated by Lighting Designer Becca Venable (s/h).

Post-2020 a COVID Compliance Officer (Tab Mocherman (th/th)) is part of the crew; this production uses Matt Lauterbach (h/h) as Accessibility Coordinator, and Line Bower (th/th) as Technical Director [thanks for the streaming captions!]. Rose Hamill (s/h) pulls it all together as Production Manager. Jesse D Irwin (h/h) (Sound Design) achieved the amazing feat of making every word from every actor audible.

These last members of the production team made very special contributions to RICHARD III. Music Director Gail Gallagher (s/h) added depth of meaning and touches of humor (“Happy Together”!?!). Kat Pleviak (s/h) did Puppet Design -- I was unsure about puppets for the Little Princes (Edward V and Richard, Duke of York), but BWBTC made it work! It required an actor, sometimes two, to animate the little figures, but they quickly disappeared, and the winsome ragdolls took on character and life. And when they were being taken to the Tower and the two tiny manikins embraced, an audible “Awww” wafted across the house.   

Last but not least – How ‘bout them Babes with Blades?! Stage fighting is, after all, the raison d'être for BWBTC, their signature for twenty years. Maureen Yasko (s/h) is Fight and Intimacy Director, with Asst Fight Director Jillian Leff (s/h) and Asst Fight Captain Madison Hill (th/th). Their choreography is a symphony, with various subthemes playing simultaneously to form a cohesive ensemble.

The fights at beginning and end could have been a mishmash of noise, and each does begin with a general melee, but then certain dyads come to the fore and the other fighters go into slowed motion, so one still sees the enormity of the entire battle but is able to concentrate on one particular duel after another. My companion commented on this being particularly helpful with their tendency to hyperfocus.

I plan to see RICHARD III again, maybe at one of the special performances – it’s two and a half hours (including intermission) very well spent!

Sweet is the best word for GIRLFRIEND for several reasons. First, it showcases the songs of Matthew Sweet, and the book is by Todd Almond, to get another flavor in the mix.

‘Sweet’ also describes the era that GIRLFRIEND is set in – 1990’s: pre-9/11; before cell phones and PDAs; the decade of HAART and hope; and drive-in movies!  This last is crucial in GIRLFRIEND, as Mike and Will spend a considerable amount of time there.

‘Sweet’ is a good descriptor for the cast of two: Joe Lewis as Will, who narrates the story between songs, and Peter Stielstra as Mike, the boy of Will’s dreams who makes those dreams come true. Both actors and characters are totally toothsome. And Matthew Sweet’s songs invoke the bittersweet stage of adolescence, with all the routine adolescent trauma magnified for queers by isolation and too-well seasoned with desolation.

Lewis as Will does a particularly good job of portraying the excruciating emotional turmoil of being eighteen years old and queer.  We all remember the awkwardness and self-consciousness of that age, and the mortification when we say or do the ‘wrong’ thing, particularly when it relates to courting and things carnal. I recall only too well just how urgent and significant everything was. It’s exhausting when every action, every word, is so meaningful! I hate when people tell teens, “These are the best years of your life”.  I tell them “This is the worst time of your life. Once you ‘re into your twenties everything gets much easier.”

Mike’s conflicts are more externalized, worrying about ‘what people think’, especially peers. When Mike spots a carload of teammates while at the drive-in with Will, his furtive response is both hilarious and heartbreaking.

And, oh yeah! GIRLFRIEND is a musical!  Both Lewis and Stielstra have excellent voices, backed by Robert Ollis and Kyra Leigh on keyboard, Berkett Shertok and Bob Potsic on Bass, Cesar Romero and David Kelley on guitar, and Anthony Scandora on drums. Robert Ollis is Music Director and Kiera Battles Sound Design/Engineer.

Jay Espano directs, assisted by Stage Manager Hannah “Blue” Morris; Megan Hoppe is Costume Designer. Isabella Noe (Scenic Design), Kael Meno (Props Design), Maggie Meyer (Lighting), and Magdiel Carmona (Projections) devise a spare set, adroitly constructed to roll out a bedroom at one end, the seat of a car at the other. This design frees most of the space for the performers’ revels, choreographed by Hannah Greenfield (Movement) and Kayla Menz (Intimacy). Production Support Staff include Taylor Pasche (Asst Director),Keira Leigh (Asst Music Director), Megs Flannery (Asst Stage Manager), Isabella Noe (Tech Director) and Emily Blanquera (Master Electrician).

I just have to interject here that when I began reviewing theatre for WBEZ in the 80’s, half of those jobs didn’t exist!

Lewis and Stielstra are both talented vocalists but it was difficult to hear them over the band at times – due to the acoustic challenges of the space, and auditory challenges in the elderly [me!]. However, I do think the sound could use a bit of fine tuning, 

“Sweet” is the word for GIRLFRIEND. It’s cotton candy, light and airy without much substance. It’s flavorsome, but not nourishing.

With MY BROTHER LANGSTON, Black Ensemble Theatre continues its 2022 Season of Excellence: The Season of Healings. This third of four world premiere musicals showcase the power of music to heal. Jackie Taylor, BET’s Founder & CEO, says: “… through these outstanding plays, the spirit of the music, the hope and faith experienced through our stories—we proclaim that Black Ensemble Theater is in the healing business!"

Playwright and director Rueben D. Echoles says of Langston Hughes: “I am honored and grateful to pay tribute to the legacy of such a brilliant and prolific writer”. In My Brother Langston Echoles tells Langston’s life story through his poetry and the evocative music of the age. “T’ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do”, “Take the A Train”, “In my Solitude” and of course “God Bless the Child” are only a few of the songs performed. Poems include Countee Cullen’s “I Have a Rendezvous with Death”, “In the Morning” by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, and “I Sing the Body Electric” by Langston’s idol Walt Whitman. All the rest are by Langston, including gems like “Dreams”, “The Negro Mother”, “Harlem”, and (my personal favorite) “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”. 

Chris Taylor plays Langston, with an ensemble of four portraying the key figures in his life and serving as a Greek chorus. Reneisha Jenkins as Lady Day singing “God Bless the Child” gave me chills, and she is equally brilliant as both Langston’s disinterested mother and devoted grandmother. Nolan Robinson plays Langston’s brother Gwyn, and Andre Teamer is Countee Cullen. De’Jah Jervai completes the quartet, and together they use dance and music to make pure magic.

Langston Hughes, born 1901, was one of the earliest innovators of jazz poetry, and a leader of the Harlem Renaissance.  His writing – prose, poetry, plays – expresses the racial pride and commitment to activism imbued in him by his grandmother. From 1942 to 1962 he wrote a weekly column for The Chicago Defender promoting the emergent civil rights movement.

The use of ‘Brother’ in the title both evokes the racially definitive use of the term, and acknowledges Langston’s close relationship with his half-brother Gwyn. The brothers initially appear quite unequal: Langston is the idolized Big Brother that Gwyn boasts of. But later, as Gwyn consoles a deeply-discouraged Langston, their connection equalizes.

Langston finds his spiritual home in Harlem. He moves to New York to attend Colombia – grudgingly financed by his father – but the bigoted campus is a non-starter against the Cotton Club. There Langston hears Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald… and meets fellow poet Countee Cullen. Biographers may waffle over Langston’s sexuality, but not Echoles! Langston’s relationship with Countee Cullen unmistakably blends Eros and Agape, and Langston is crushed when he returns from a year’s absence to find Countee married. Clearly, both his race and his queerness are intolerable to America’s white supremacy.

I have to say that the best parts were when Langston himself speaks. His poetry is magnificent, and is presented very well, particularly “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”. The music is superbly performed as well by the ensemble. 

The production depends on the musicians: Oscar Brown Jr (guitar), Myron Cherry (drums), Mark Miller (bass), and bandleader Adam Sherrod on keys. Robert Reddrick is musical director, and adroitly intertwines the Jazz Age music and jazz poetry.

Playwright Rueben D Echoles is director, choreographer, and costumes, supported by Pamela Avery as Assistant Director, Jessica Moore as Stage Manager, and Producing Managing Director/Equioty Stage Manager Daryl Brooks. My Brother Langston is a multimedia production utilizing the talents of a full team of designers: DJ Douglas (sound), Denise Karczweski (lighting), Sydney Lynne (set), and Dre Robinson (projection).

My Brother Langston is deeply satisfying on many levels. As they say, “It’s Almost Like Coming to Church”!

Recommended

Smear tactics are nothing new in politics; Octavian became Emperor of Rome by distributing coins printed with negative slogans against Mark Anthony. The printing press provided a more easily reproduceable vehicle for misinformation, with the written material later reinforced by manipulated (long before Photoshop!) photographs. And now, of course, we have social media, click bait, troll farms, and ever-darker forms of fake news.

But we can pinpoint the birth of fake news with an extraordinary upsurge in political invective at the 1934 California gubernatorial race.

Playwright Will Allen examines this race in CAMPAIGNS, INC, playing at the TimeLine Theatre through September 18. CAMPAIGNS, INC was originally slated for release in 2020, to inject some much-needed humor into that anxious year and its contentious presidential election. But the play’s impact is even weightier now, after two more years of unscrupulous politics.

CAMPAIGNS, INC is based on a true story about carnival promoter Leone Baxter (Tyler Meredith) and journalist Clem Whitaker (Yurly Sardarov).  I would love to admire Leone Baxter – 1934 didn’t have many women in the political arena until she pioneered the field of political consulting by co-founding Campaigns Inc. Her tactics, however, proved less than admirable. Campaigns Inc unquestionably spawned the phenomenon of fake news and propelled opposition research to new depths of depravity.

CAMPAIGNS, INC portrays Baxter and Whitaker’s debut campaign, representing Frank Merriam (Terry Hamilton) in his bid for Governor of California against Upton Sinclair (Anish Jethmalani). Staunch Republican Merriam and Socialist Sinclair vie for support from an array of celebrities, from Sinclair’s friend Charlie Chaplin (Dave Honigman) and Lieutenant Governor George Hatfield (Mark Ulrich), to Franklin Roosevelt (David Parkes). Parkes also joins the electioneering as Louis B. Mayer, Douglas Fairbanks, Kyle Palmer, and a photographer. As ultra-conservative Merriam buys Roosevelt’s endorsement by affirming the New Deal, Eleanor Roosevelt (Jacqueline Grandt, also as Mary Pickford, a reporter and a waitress) defies her husband by publicly approving Sinclair. The entire election becomes a comprehensive calamity of deceit, demonization, and decidedly dirty politics.

Director Nick Bowling cleverly employs a multi-media presentation for CAMPAIGNS, INC. Scenes from Shirley Temple’s “Stand Up and Cheer!” and Clark Gable in “It Happened One Night” flicker on the screen as we take our seats. The stage is positioned between two facing banks of audience seats; the sets are assembled during blackouts, wheeling in Sinclair’s office at one end or Merriam’s at the other, with FDR’s Hyde Park residence and the offices of Campaigns Inc popping up in center stage. The live acting is interspersed with 1930’s film clips projected on a mobile screen.

This hurley-burley design resonates perfectly with the play’s general atmosphere of hectic absurdity as CAMPAIGNS, INC examines the power of deceit in the U.S. electoral system via humor. In truth, comedy is probably the best way to consider these insights, lest we succumb to despair. And the show truly is hilarious!

CAMPAIGNS, INC (the play) watches Campaigns Inc (the firm) exploit the newest media techniques for their nefarious purposes. Billboards and massive direct-mail marketing present quotes from Sinclair’s novels (“One of the necessary accompaniments of capitalism in a democracy is political corruption,” from The Jungle), deliberately obscuring his true values and principles. Leone Baxter later admitted the quotes were irrelevant, but she just wanted to keep Sinclair from winning.  Note: the goal was to defeat Sinclair, not to elect Merriam. Disparaging the other guy is so much easier than trying to identify a candidate’s virtues!

Is any of this sounding familiar?

MGM’s Louis B. Mayer, threatened by increasing unionization of Hollywood, churned out scripted commentaries discrediting Sinclair.  These contrived clips were aired before feature films, so audiences naturally thought they were genuine newsreels. And the best part is that the fake news was funded by garnishing MGM employee’s paychecks.

WH Hearst’s LA Times printed daily front-page articles smearing Sinclair. As political editor Kyle Palmer told a visiting NY Times reporter, “We don’t go in for that crap you have in New York – being obliged to print both sides.”  

CAMPAIGNS, INC is brilliantly written (Will Allan), masterfully directed (Nick Bowling), and splendidly acted by the entire cast.  In such an elaborate production, I think the crew deserves special notice. Scenic, lighting, and projections designers Sydney Lynne, Jared Gooding, and Anthony Churchill skillfully weave the multimedia mélange together. Sally Dolembo, U.S.A., Katie Cordts and Megan E. Pirtle design convincing period costumes, wigs, and hair. Sound designers Forrest Gregor and Andrew Hansen, dialect director Sammi Grant and dramaturg Maren Robinson replicate the ‘30’s with crackling radio broadcasts and vintage jokes. The entire collage is brought together by stage manager Miranda Anderson, artistic director PJ Powers, and executive director Mica Cole. And I want a shoutout for properties designer Rowan Doe: I loved the period radios and typewriters … and where did you find that magnificent wheelchair for FDR?!

CAMPAIGNS, INC is perfect for 2022, letting us scrutinize our preposterous times while providing comic relief from the lunacy as well.

*Extended through September 25

Midsommer Flight is a not-for-profit company that believes ‘Shared Joy and Flights of Fancy’ are for everyone, and that ‘BIPOC, LGBTQ, disabled, gender-diverse and body-diverse people are integral to our community.’ They are therefore the perfect troupe for A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, and last night was a midsummer night to dream about.

Midsummer Flight does an amazing job with a challenging project: they must make iambic pentameter comprehensible, not to mention audible in an outdoor environment. It’s hard work to perform outdoors with no backstage and with a picnicking audience spread Ravinia-style across the wings, and filling the extensive cast of A MIDSOMMER NIGHT’S DREAM is no picnic. Amazingly, Midsummer Flight not only pulls this off, but they offers it for free, in keeping with their commitment to inclusion.  Last night’s performance was in Lincoln Park, but the troupe rotates across the city, performing all summer in Lincoln Park, Gross Park, Lake Meadows Park, Chicago Women’s Park & Gardens, and Touhy Park.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM is one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies. The play intermingles several subplots, centering on the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens to the Amazon queen Hippolyta. Three other couples are involved: Hermia, whose uncle Theseus opposes her match with Lysander; and her best friend Helena, who loves Demetrius – who fancies Hermia!  Then there’s the third pair of lovers:  Oberon, King of the Faeries and his majestic Queen, Titania.  And ass if this isn’t enough mayhem, we also have a troupe of actors: Snug, Snout, Quince, Francis Flute and Bottom, who refers to the troupe as a band of ‘rude mechanicals’.

The real trouble starts when King Oberon orders his playful minion Puck, a "shrewd and knavish sprite" to create a potion which, when applied to the eyelids of a sleeping person, will make them fall in love with the first living thing they see.  Oberon wants to make Demetrius return Helena’s love, but Puck mistakenly gives the elixir to Lysander, who obligingly falls in love with Helena, much to Hermia’s dismay. Puck then comes upon the actors rehearsing their play and assumes Bottom’s name to be synonymous with Ass, so he transforms Bottom’s head into that of a jackass. 

Meantime, Oberon is angry with his wife Titania, who won’t give him her lovely Indian changeling. Convinced by these experiments with mortals, he uses the magic potion on her.  Sure enough, Titania awakens to the countenance of Bottom. While she lavishes devotion on the donkey-headed actor, Oberon gleefully absconds with the lovely changeling boy. 

Okay, have you got all that? The play continues to embellish, elaborate, and obfuscate this tangle of subplots into a hilarious rumpus.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. It’s always delightful:  a forest full of faeries and infatuated folks; what’s not to love? But Midsommer Flight’s production of this old favorite was particularly enchanting. Their mission is evident in its delightfully diverse cast and their success eminently warranted by their talent and craft. Joshua Pennington is a regal (and gorgeous!) Oberon, a terrific foil for Meredith Ernst’s Titania. Manny Sevilla as Demetrius is a terrific comedic partner to Richard Eisloeffel’s Lysander, and Hermia (Alice Wu) and Helena (Koshie Mills) shine as alternating bosom buddies and fierce rivals.  Jack Morsovillo is engaging as Bottom, and his crew Hannah Mary Simpson (Snug), Elizabeth McAnulty Quilter (Snout), Travis Shanahan (Francis Flute), Kat Zheng (Starveling) and Barry Irving (Quince) are marvelous. In the fictional troupe’s performance of Pyramus and Thisbe, I’m not sure which of them played the part of Wall, but it was brilliant. These actors also play Titania’s faerie retinue Cobweb, Mustardseed, Moth and Peasebottom, respectively.

[BTW, it’s an extensive cast and most of the actors play multiple roles, so if I’ve gotten any names awry I deeply apologize!  You can refer to the program here.]

No, I haven’t forgotten Puck, I’m simply saving the best for last. Puck is usually a favorite character, but Ebby Offord is an exceptionally enchanting Puck and brings special charm to the character of that naughty little pixie. Her frolicsome performance is a lagniappe for a character that’s already prized.

OK, I’m wearing out the thesaurus here, and I need to save a few superlatives for production staff.  Director/Founder Beth Wolf has brought Midsommer Flight triumphantly through a decade of productions. Assistant Director Devin Christor prefers to focus on “plays that explore tests of morality in the human experience.” Stage Manager Hazel Marie Flowers-McCabe and her assistant Anna Zaczek , with Scenic/Props Designer Nina Castillo-D’Angier have their work cut out for them, working without a stage! but they pull it off brilliantly, wisely keeping sets and props to an absolute minimum. The same spare approach works perfectly for Costumer Lily Grace Walls – particularly as the actors covering multiple roles must change in the open. Production Manager Giselle Durand ‘relishes diversity and strives to be a theatrical Swiss-army knife’, which is precisely what is needed for this sort of production. Lane Anthony Flores and Amy Malcom as Text and Vocal Coaches do a great job helping the actors make sixteenth-century English accessible.  The cast shows terrific physical comedy, thanks to Fight Director Chris Smith, who has been with Midsommer Flight from its inception, and Assistant Fight & Intimacy Director Maureen Yasko, a member of Babes with Blades.

The Bottom [sic] line here:  Recommended! Bring chairs/blankets and a picnic, and don’t bother with a babysitter – the show moves fast enough that the kids won’t need to understand this play to love it.

When George W Bush won his second term in November 2004 Larry Kramer delivered the watershed speech The Tragedy of Today’s Gays, a speech that was “the most difficult I’ve ever had to give”. Director David Zak worked with Kramer adapting the speech for theatrical performance, continuing after Kramer’s death in 2020. THE KRAMER PROJECT is the result; its world premiere is the first event for Open Space Arts, a new non-profit dedicated to works of social relevance. The six performances of THE KRAMER PROJECT, July 22 through 31, benefit Center on Halsted.

Larry Kramer would be first to agree that most of his performances involve yelling at people, particularly other gays. David Zak modifies the speech for performance by having the cast – Tom Chiola, Keith Butler, Elijah Newman, Hailey Hance, Roberto del Rio, Alexandria Moorman and Ryan Quade – deliver the speech to one another, against a video background designed by Magdiel Carmona and including original music by Elijah Newman.

THE KRAMER PROJECT was a flashback for me personally.  I completed my psychiatric residency at Rush Medical Center from 1984 – 1988, as the Plague swept through Chicago. During those four years I watched helplessly as sparkling young men shriveled and died in unspeakably horrible ways. When my training was complete, my National Health Corps Scholarship required me to pay back with four years of practice. I went all the way up to the Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, begging to complete my payback service at Howard Brown Health Center. In April 1988 I received a letter from Dr. Koop stating that “AIDS is not a national health care priority”. So, yeah … THE KRAMER PROJECT was a flashback, both bitter and sweet.

By the time Kramer delivered the speech in 2004 the Highly-Active Anti-Retroviral Treatments (HAART) had been available for nearly ten years, and AIDS had morphed from an immediate death sentence (90% dead within six months of diagnosis) into a chronic, treatable disease. The Tragedy of Today’s Gays was addressed to the latest generation of young gay men, for whom AIDS is “just a bad STD””, condemning their disregard for social activism in favor of orgasms.

The Tragedy of Today’s Gays had much to say about the Bush administration’s endorsement of “moral values”. Kramer quotes extensively from Bill Moyers’ research on the alliance of conservatives that were transforming America into a “classist, racist, homophobic, imperial army of pirates”.  AIDS was a gift to this cabal: "Their wildest dreams started to come true. The faggots were disappearing, and they were doing it to themselves".  

Kramer’s confrontational style, criticizing the promiscuous gay relationships common in the 1970’s, earned him severe ostracism from the gay community. Undeterred, in The Tragedy of Today’s Gays Kramer directs his censure toward the younger generation of 2004 gays. 

Today, 20 years later, it is shocking – and deeply alarming – to see how accurate his indictments continue to be in 2022.  

Zak’s technique in THE KRAMER PROJECT, having the cast address one another, works brilliantly, transforming Kramer’s recriminations from a tirade into a discussion. The cast ranges in age from early 20’s to late 50’s, lending still greater depth to the ‘discussion’, and enhancing the validity of Kramer’s charges. 

At the post-performance discussion David Zak described his dismay as one segment after another of The Tragedy of Today’s Gays anticipated today’s anti-trans legislation, supreme court decisions, and ‘Don’t Say Gay’, adding: “…and now here comes monkeypox, right on schedule.”

Each actor spoke of their personal journeys with THE KRAMER PROJECT. A younger cast member admitted that, though they already knew much of the history, it had been difficult to ferret out the information. There are no straightforward [sic] sources for queer history, and many will abandon efforts to piece together the hodgepodge of implausible accounts with questionable provenance.

Yes, in 2022 Kramer’s words prove clairvoyant. We have just (barely) unseated a President who makes George W Bush look like James Baldwin, we have a brand-new viral onslaught on men who have sex with men, and many of today’s queers seem mired in political apathy.  Without an overwhelming upsurge in activism, Kramer’s ominous predictions will continue to foreshadow our dwindling gay rights.

I highly recommend THE KRAMER PROJECT, but expect to leave the theatre feeling deeply unsettled.