Displaying items by tag: Steppenwolf Theatre

Having been close with many people with disabilities over the course of my life, I’m often hesitant when it comes to media about such individuals. Too often, books or films or plays dealing with disabilities end up being either demeaning to the folks who have them or cloying and saccharine to the audience. Earlier in this young millennium, I was thrilled to find and read Mark Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a rare tale that falls into neither of these traps. Haddon’s novel became a favorite of mine, its important-sounding title (taken from a line in a Sherlock Holmes story) hinting at the very big steps taken by its protagonist and narrator, a British teen afflicted with autism. And now I can say that the Steppenwolf Theatre’s current stage production based on the novel has become one of the best shows I’ve seen — this year or any other, in Chicago or elsewhere.

In the role of Christopher, said protagonist, is Terry Bell in his first Steppenwolf production. The key to Bell inhabiting the role of Christopher isn’t that he makes the boy’s Britishness real any more than that he realistically portrays autism. No, Bell’s performance is stunning in that he makes Christopher human. While tics and traits are given to the lad, it’s the vulnerability, intellect, and emotion that Bell gives Christopher that made him so real, so human. This was an actual person I saw up there, not a type or a trope or a character. Whether Christopher is doing math, navigating London, fighting with his father, or reading long-lost letters, he is a real boy, not just someone up on a stage.

The rest of the Steppenwolf cast take their duty of realism just as seriously. Cedric Mays plays Christopher’s father as a loving but over-extended parent doing his best to raise his boy. Rebecca Spence, as Christopher’s mother, is heartbreaking as the broken woman who finally felt she couldn’t.

One of my biggest concerns coming into the play was how the first-person narration of the novel would translate to the stage. Would the audience be submitted to one character’s constant exposition? How would Christopher’s story work? Well, thanks to the shining performance of Caroline Neff as Siobhan, Christopher’s schoolteacher, I needn’t have worried. Neff acts as narrator for much of the play, while also acting the part of a nurturing and knowledgeable caregiver for Christopher. If only all children, regardless of their disabilities or lack thereof, could have as loving and caring a teacher as the one Neff has created.

And, as the production has been tailored not just to standard audiences, but to those who share Christopher’s disabilities (and abilities!), with information on the novel and play’s background provided, with discussions led by the cast, and even with accommodating and accessible performances for anyone to enjoy, I can tell you that not only is this a caring play onstage, but beyond the stage, as well.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is being performed at Steppenwolf Theatre through October 27th. For more information, please visit www.steppenwolf.org.

Call your mother seems like the resounding theme of Jen Silverman’s new play ‘The Roommate ‘now running at Steppenwolf. Directed by famed television and stage actress Phylicia Rashad, this new play explores the often overlooked lives of women over a certain age.

Sharon (Sandra Marquez) is a middle-aged woman living alone in a big house in Iowa. Her simple life is turned upside down when a mysterious new roommate, Robyn (Ora Jones), from the Bronx moves in. Though Robyn is careful not to answer all of Sharon’s questions, she helps get Sharon out of her shell. While the play is mostly a sit-com style comedy, it goes deep on how women in their 50s can sometimes become invisible to even their own children.

The play is well written and very funny, but it’s the two actresses that really make this. Marquez and Ora Jones are both ensemble at Steppenwolf and it’s a rare treat to see two such accomplished actresses show their comedic skills in this light-hearted comedy. Marquez’s performance is transformative from start to finish. Her delivery and timing is pure midwestern homemaker, reminding us all of our own mothers just a little bit. Her character’s naivety about the world at large is endearing. Ora Jones plays the cool talking roommate Robyn. Jones has a lot of stage presence. There’s something both intimidating and soothing about her performance. The play’s revelations should make her character seem untrustworthy but the chemistry between her and Marquez makes you questions whether someone’s past is who they are today.

Phylicia Rashad is best known for her role as Claire Huxtable on the Cosby Show. She’s wise to distance herself from that now. Since then she’s appeared on Broadway and has moved on to directing. Rashad knows sit-com. She also seems to have a real understanding of these two characters. This show could have easily played for the “shock the old lady” trope, but instead there’s a real heart at the core of this new play. It may not change the world, but it’s a play that makes an observation about what happens to our moms when we grow up and fly the nest.

Through August 5 at Steppenwolf Theatre. 1650 N Halsted. 312-335-1650

Guards at the Taj, now playing at Steppenwolf Theatre, is certainly among the best shows ever to play in Chicago.

Set in 1648, Guards at the Taj recounts a gruesome legend that surrounds the construction of the renowned masterpiece, the Taj Majal in Agra, India. That apocryphal story holds that Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who commissioned the Taj, decreed that the architect and 20,000 artisans involved in its construction should be behanded – lest anyone ever again equal its magnificent design.

Playwright Rajiv Joseph works with this fable as fact and explores the behanding from the point of view of the two Hindustan Army Guards who will carry it out. We first see them stationed at a wall that we learn is shielding the construction site from view. As the play opens, we meet the dutiful and rational Humayan (Omar Metwally), at his post since dawn, eyes forward, posture erect. A few moments later, in scurries Babur (Arian Moayed), a dreamer whose uniform is askew and who is late for his post and struggles to stay focused and hold his sword properly.

The two, who have known each other since childhood, are closely bonded – but with the tensions and friction that inhabit any long-term relationship. Humayan aspires to a rise in rank, and wants to bring Babur along with him, even though he knows Babur's quirky personality could present risks.

Joseph, who won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for his play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, gives us a sophisticated work, with banter by Humayan and Babur adeptly foreshadowing what is to transpire. 

From the historical record, we know that the Taj Mahal was surrounded by a brick scaffold during construction, which was demolished to reveal the architectural wonder when it was completed. This moment in time becomes a turning point in the play, as Babur turns away from his position to be among the first in history to gaze upon the magnificent Taj Mahal. He soon convinces Humayan to do likewise. And through their expressions, we see the Taj Mahal as if for the first time as well.

From that moment at the wall, we soon shift scenes to find the two in the aftermath of carrying out the behanding, which is not at all as off-putting as it sounds. Director Amy Morton has carefully metered the presentation of horror so we recognize it without experiencing it too directly.

Joseph also faces us with a perennial question asked by civilized society – when should our personal moral compass override external authority? And subtly, perhaps, Joseph may be asking how such a heinous event could so readily be accepted as likely to be true - is it because it happened in the Far East?

The dialog in Guards at the Taj is enthrallingly naturalistic and contemporary, giving it an immediacy that penetrates any distance from the characters on stage. It is no wonder the script won a 2016 Obie Award for Best New Play.

The production of this work is nothing short of perfect, and the play itself is extraordinarily good. Written by Joseph expressly for its co-stars, Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed, this production feels more like a slightly delayed move from Broadway, where it received a highly regarded run in 2015. Amy Morton, a Steppenwolf ensemble member, directed both shows.

Likewise, the set, designed by Tim Mackabee for the original show and this one, ingeniously transforms from a blank stone wall outside the Taj Mahal, into a subterranean cell. Costumes by Bobby Frederick Tilley are outstanding, as the guards move through various degrees of formal military attire, to layered garb for their nefarious job.

The show runs through July 22 at Steppenwolf Theatre, and is very highly recommended.

Steppenwolf Theatre’s latest production is going to generate much buzz – quickly - and with good reason. In fact, it’s already been extended through June 2nd. Playwright Matthew-Lee Erlbach’s The Doppelganger (an international farce) is a riotous comedy that doesn’t skip a beat, boasting a cast that is as good as it gets in a script that barely allows the audience to breathe between laughter. Reminiscent of the absurdity Hollywood so often would place the likes of Mel Brooks, Peter Sellers or the Marx Brothers smack-dab in the middle, The Doppelganger successfully takes farce to the stage where an uncontained series of events that are highly exaggerated, excessive, and consequently implausible are successfully translated. Erlbach’s vision is effectively met thanks to Tina Landau’s finely-tuned direction through the use of deliberate ludicrousness and gobbledygook, broadly stylized presentations along with a whole lot of physical humor.

Rainn Wilson, who is best known for his role as “Dwight Shrute”, the competitive, over-the-top, social-skill-lacking paper salesman on NBC’s award-winning The Office, takes charge of the leading roles as the wealthy British businessman Thomas Irdley and his doppelganger Jimmy Peterson, an American seemingly fascinated with everything in life and someone you wouldn’t be surprised to find at a Phish concert. One would be hard-pressed to find a more ideal actor for the dual roles. Wilson’s transition from TV/film back to live stage is flawless.

In a whirlwind of mishaps that take place throughout mistaken identity, misunderstandings, partial eavesdropping and, “Whoops! Wrong door!”, we get an engaging story of international politics. Taking place in Bangui, the Francophone capital of the Central African Republic, the fun begins when Irdley is to host a weekend-long meeting to discuss a copper deal, inviting the likes of an American General (Michael Accardo), a Saudi Arabian prince (Andy Nagraj), and a handful of other players, including former African leader, Michel Masaragba (James Vincent Meredith) and his wife Lolade Masaragba (Ora Jones). But prior to the mini-summit, Irdley and his housekeeper Rosie Guerokoyame (Celeste M. Cooper) are preparing for another guest, Irdey’s doppelganger Jimmy Peterson, a kindergarten teacher from Quincy, Illinois. When Irdley mistakenly takes an elephant tranquilizer instead of his blood pressure medication, he is rendered unconscious, unable to participate in the weekend talks that will undoubtedly have an international effect. It is then that his housekeeper Rosie presses Peterson into action to take the place of Irdley in order to push her own agenda – that being the fair treatment of African workers. From there Rosie and Peterson become unlikely co-conspirators, the two hysterically finding themselves deeper and deeper into what can only be described as a hot mess of bargaining and back channel politics, every partaker conniving for their own selfish needs.

The humor is rapid fire and the play’s running time of nearly two hours and thirty minutes flies by. It is a quick-moving theatrical experience that is well-acted, offers one hilarious exchange after another while sprinkling in a seamless amount of intrigue to keep its audience guessing. The Doppelganger is a perfect tribute to the great farce comedies yet comes with its own unique flavor. Steppenwolf smartly provides Wilson with an airtight supporting cast of premium talent so that each character gets a serious amount of appreciation. Audrey Francis as the IBS-stricken Beatrix Geddes-Renwick is a comedic playwright’s godsend while Whit K. Lee as businessman Wen Xiaoping and Karen Rodriguez as the prince’s girlfriend, Marina, can do no wrong, also piercingly funny in several scenes.

                                                (left to right) Rainn Wilson and Karen Rodriguez in The Doppelganger (an international farce) - Photo by Michael Brosilow

If it takes the creation of a war to make everyone benefit from a copper deal, then so be it. While a comedy that supplies a laugh per minute, Erlbach also gives his audience a behind the scenes look at the perils of choreographed war not only showing the greed by its benefactors and lack of care for humanity but, in doing so, strengthens the premise that the rich will always become richer while the people who want to make a difference to better the world are often stifled and so easily dismissed. With plans to create self-induced atrocities in Africa knowing that certain countries will intervene, and certain products will increase in manufacturing (i.e. weapons), the elite group plans to meet their own agenda with the use of fake news to generate an international outpouring of sympathy and support. Though guised in an outrageous comedy, the point is made clear - political corruption exists and, unfortunately, often triumphs over good.

Brilliantly hilarious and vastly entertaining, Rainn Wilson’s superb performance certainly highlight’s The Doppelganger, though this play has so much more to offer from its sensational script to its commanding supporting cast - and a set that is a whole lot of fun in itself. But the play is also a breath of fresh air in an age where no one wants to offend or be offended. Says Chicago playwright Matthew-Lee Erlbach in an interview found in Steppenwolf’s playbill on the challenges of writing a traditional farce in today's climate, “We are provoked by reality, offended by the radical truths that shape our world. I am taking that farce and putting it on stage. I am writing the world as it has been recycled back to me, igniting those inherited devices, throwing them back at those oppressive power structures, and blowing them up on stage. Unchecked power is exploiting the human species, other species and the planet as a whole. I will use all rhetorical devices available to me to expose and disable those who are dangerous to society.”

“Also,” Erlbrach continues, “we have to be able to laugh at ourselves. If we lose the ability to find ourselves ridiculous and see the humor in those things that are painful, sensitive, nuanced, dear, we will become constipated, humorless and depleted of objectivity.”

The Doppelganger is not only a fitting homage to farce comedy, it is an eye-opening satire of today’s world-wide political happenings. This nearly immaculate, exceedingly humorous international adventure certainly falls in the “must see” category of Chicago stage works.

The Doppelganger (an international farce) is being performed at Steppenwolf Theatre through June 2nd. For tickets and/or more show information visit www.steppenwolf.org.

The immensely talented Hershey Felder’s new solo act, Our Great Tchaikovsky, is the latest in a series of plays about world’s greatest composers and musicians, including Gershwin, Chopin, Beethoven, Bernstein, et al. that span nearly two decades. Directed by Trevor Hay and written by Hershey Felder, the play is being performed at the Steppenwolf’s upstairs theatre.

The play-with-music is a study of Russia’s greatest composer, his secret life and mysterious death. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s music is masterfully woven into the story, as Felder, a classically trained pianist [and impressive singer] plays excerpts of Tchaikovsky’s compositions on stage, from “The Seasons” to “The Nutcracker”, which was conceived while on tour in America, as we learn from the play. Having spent 18 months researching his subject and making the most use of Tchaikovsky’s personal diary and correspondence, Felder paints an intensely intimate image of the composer; his struggles to impress his critics with his compositions while fiercely concealing “who he really was”. Tsarist’s Russia was a notoriously closed-minded and oppressive country, and sexual deviations from “the norm” were not tolerated. And thus, Tchaikovsky spent most of his life feeling deeply ashamed of his homosexuality and fearful that, if found out, he would be sent to Siberia. Composing music was his only outlet for the soul... that and a steady stream of lovers, sometimes dangerously young ones.

Thus, an image of a true artist emerges: hugely talented, largely misunderstood and constantly depressed; a tortured soul. Nevertheless, he “loved everyone and was loved by everyone”, except, perhaps, his critics, who even declared the ballet “The Nutcracker” to be “void of any creativity” when it first came out. Right.

Felder gives Tchaikovsky an upbeat attitude, though the diary entries tell a different story. Having suffered from melancholy his entire life, the composer’s cause of death remains a mystery, despite the fact that Russian authorities insist that he died suddenly at the age of 53 from contracting cholera. Alternative theories include suicide, murder on the orders of the Tsar, and order to commit suicide. Interestingly, Russian authorities also declared that there’s absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Tchaikovsky was homosexual. Some things never change in Russia.

Our Great Tchaikovsky is being performed at Steppenwolf Theatre through May 13^th. For more information, visit www.steppenwolf.org.

The Burn, a lively tale of a high school drama class putting on Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, is spectacularly good. The script by Philip Dawkins was commissioned for the Steppenwolf’s Theatre’s Young Adult Theater Program. But this in no way diminishes it as a creative work – it is far, far more than an educational theater program.

Dawkins brings us four students and a teacher, introducing at first just the social surface, gradually individualizing them, and masterfully drilling down into the characters to reveal what makes each of them tick.

The Burn operates on several levels at once. It provides a portrait of the battleground educators face in classes of students with limited attention spans – a contemporary Blackboard Jungle. These young people display the confidence spawned by that thin yet wide breadth of knowledge so readily garnered online.

The Burn also addresses the perpetual condition of student social strata, amped up these days through social media platforms that can at times feed an unfortunate frenzy of bullying.

And finally, its story parallels the drama of the Miller’s masterwork, The Crucible, a dissection of the violence unleashed when a 17^th Century Puritanical community’s dark forces are unconstrained. Miller’s dramatization of  the actual 1692 Salem witch trials in the Massachusetts Bay Colony is now an essential per of our cultural literacy. (Steppenwolf produced The Crucible earlier this season - read our review by John Accrocco.) But the play can be impenetrable. This new take by Dawkins illuminates Miller’s story, and will undoubtedly be produced widely at schools.

In The Burn, Tara, the social standard setter and bully (Birgundi Baker) hangs out with a dumbed-down girls’ basketball team member Andi (Nina Ganet) and with Shauna (Dyllan Rodrigues-Miller), who straddles the respectable world of accomplished student, while also following Tara as a member of her “mean girls” clique. Transfer student Mercedes (Phoebe González) is never admitted to the group, and in fact is harassed in person and on line. Mercedes carries a lot of baggage from a violent event that caused her to change schools, finding comfort by becoming a born-again Christian in the process.

We first meet the students as their good-natured teacher, Erik (Erik Hellman, who also starred in The Crucible) struggles to engage the class in diagramming a sentence. He finally gets their attention by using a more personal sentence about Tara, and thereby hints at the increasingly personal encounters that are to follow. 

A high school, or any theater production, for that matter, is also an intensely powerful emotional experience for the players involved. As The Burn progresses, the students rehearse and play their roles, and must learn to perform as a unit. This shifts the emotional dynamics, and the dynamic of the group begins to shift. Tension mounts as Tara’s hold on the group is threatened, and Erik confronts her bullying behavior.

Dawkins is an accomplished playwright, as well as teaching the art at Northwestern, Loyola and Victory Gardens – and demonstrates the high level of craft he has attained from that background. Like Snap Chat, Messenger and Twitter, the play’s delivery runs at an almost breakneck pace – and in that sense is very fitting for its target audience. But the older crowd should not miss it. I laughed and cried and wanted to stand up and cheer when it was done. So yes, it’s highly recommended! Catch it at Steppenwolf Theatre through March 10.

Millennial angst is in the air, and never better captured than in Clare Barron’s autobiographical “You Got Older.” You will laugh at its depictions of a young woman less-than-dexterously navigating her way through the trials of reaching a grown-up state in this first-rate production at Steppenwolf Theatre.

Mae, a 27-year-old unemployed lawyer (dumped, then fired, by her boyfriend and boss) is played by Caroline Neff. Back home in Seattle to nurse her dad through an episode of throat cancer, Mae carries most of the load for the play, a self-portrait of Barron that the author put together a few years ago to clear her writer’s block. Such works risk veering toward a self-indulgent exercise, but You Got Older largely avoids this.

It is true that in “You Got Older” we get more of a slice-of-life than a play with a plot. But most of the scenes - some real, others imagined - are hilariously funny or touchingly insightful (with maybe a couple clunkers). Awesomely fun is a recurring erotic fantasy, which arrives in the form of intermittent scenes with the hyper-masculine, bearded Cowboy in leather vest and chaps, lasso at the ready, who plays out Mae’s deep-seated desires. Gabriel Ruiz is over the top good as Cowboy.

The manly Cowboy contrasts with scenes with a real-life bar pick-up, the inept Mac, whose fetishes dovetail perfectly with Mae’s insecurities. Glenn Davis is comically nerdy, climbing clumsily into her bedroom window, then falling asleep before the tryst even gets started.

In the background, serious life issues play out. Mae’s Dad (Francis Guinan) has throat cancer, and its uncertain what outcome he will have. In Dad’s hospital room we meet Mae’s family following the surgery – two sisters and a brother – with an extended exposure to family culture. This perhaps overly long scene includes a humorous “picnic” (avocados and grapefruit), a peculiar “sniff-out” as the siblings try to determine “the family smell,” and the revelation that the family likes to dance together.

Another scene plays out somewhat gratuitously, as Mae and Dad listen to a four-minute recording of Regina Spekter's Firewood, played on an unamplified iPhone at a level where lyrics are barely audible. Dad has declared it the "theme song" of his illness. The sentimental concept of sharing a meaningful song is conveyed; but the dramatic impact is questionable. A closing dance scene with the four siblings is likewise more important to the author than the audience.  

In one scene of serious emotion, Mae argues with her father over how to approach a job interview. Mae plans to Skype it in; Dad advises going in person. When Mae out-argues him on which approach is better, Dad declares, “This conversation is over,” and withdraws, closing the door in her face.  Mae shouts at the door to no avail, “Admit it, Dad. You’re wrong!”

Neff’s performance is a standout, lacing with dry ironic tone the world weariness that captures the essence of the “generation next’s” view of its forbears, and her own struggles as life turns out to be far less than originally advertised.

Barron won a 2015 Obie Award for the play, and it is easy to see why. Jonathan Berry has pulled a well-crafted ensemble performance by  Audrey Francis and Emjoy Gavino (Mae’s sisters Hannah and Jenny), and David Lind (brother Matthew). The production runs through March 11 at www.steppenwolf.org.

You Got Older’s production team has perhaps even exceeded the script in excellence: Meghan Raham (scenic design), Alison Siple (costume design), Marcus Doshi (lighting design), Matt Chapman (sound design & original music), Rasean Davonte Johnson (projection design), Gigi Buffington (company vocal coach) and Sasha Smith (intimacy choreography). Casting director JC Clementz deserves special acknowledgement for the great chemistry on stage.  

BLKS, a new comedy premiering at Steppenwolf Theater, tracks three young black women sharing an apartment in New York City, through 24 hours laced with sex and romance. 

Packed with high drama and high jinx, this first play by Aziza Barnes makes for an entertaining show. It may sound like a black version of Sex in the City or Friends, and like them it is a comedy of errors. But it also operates on an altogether more serious plain, taking on issues of violence, and with a look at “gender fluid” and “queer” orientation in next generation black community. It is also a window into a world most white people like me can never see.

“This is a play by blk people and for blk people,” the playwright says a note to the audience, tucked into the program. ”I am inviting blk people to live fully here. Those on stage and off.”

Enjoining the audience – and specifically black people -  to her mission, Barnes also has a longer goal. “What's important to me is trying to understand humanity and doing something of consequence that doesn't hurt people—that liberates people,” as she said in a Vice interview this summer.

The play also comes with a very explicit audience advisory for coarse language, sexualized violence, nudity, and frank depictions of consensual sex – and, notably, for documentary footage of police brutality – the liberal use of the N- and F- words, which punctuate the dialog is not so different from the role that “Frickin” plays in contemporary Irish dramatic dialog.     

Barnes also says she wants the play to be funny, and in large measure it is. In this “day in the life” Barnes depicts herself and two friends, with Barnes presumably represented by the protagonist and "everyman" figure, Octavia (Nora Carroll ably carries off a demanding role) who is dithering over her romantic commitment to Ry (Danielle Davis), a self-assured lesbian with a stable job. When the play opens, Ry and Octavia are snuggling, and we are introduced to the two other roommates Imani (Celeste Cooper) and June (Leea Ayers), as they enter with a flourish.

You feel you know these characters and their lives, but what you won’t know until you see BLKS is how it feels to be them. Barnes says this is a play for black people, and that is true. Comments from predominantly black audience members in an after-show discussion generally expressed surprise at how “black” the play was, and a certain amount of discomfort at the use of the word “nigger” in front of non-black audience members. Those assessments also suggest the realism Barnes has going in BLKS.

BLKS also shows us how #BlackLivesMatter, male abuse and #MeToo play out in the lives of these young women – a dark and undeniable backdrop to their efforts to just live a life.   

I found the character of June the most delightful – a straight black professional woman constantly seeking romance, fending off abuse, and taking a position as a highly paid consultant at Deloitte. Leea Ayers's performance was terrific. Kudos to the supporting cast. Namir Smallwood is excellent as he plays three characters (Dominican Dude, Justin, Sosa) in different scenes, and is thoroughly convincing in each, particularly the nerdy Sosa. (I didn’t realize he was all three guys!) And Kelly O’Sullivan plays somewhat thankless roles as That Bitch on the Couch, and Drunk  White Woman – foils to the action, but still, we like her.

Barnes is a rising voice in the poetry world with a popular podcast and award winning poems that explore black, queer, and feminine worlds. BLKS, her first theatrical effort, features fully fleshed out characters, real people that you will enjoy seeing, and will care about.

Artistic Director Anna Shapiro says with BLKS, she was “handed a script that feels both audaciously new and yet, strangely familiar.” It truly does explores the joy and anguish of growing up, and without question Barnes's playwriting marks the arrival of an original voice on stage. 

A stellar cast has, under the direction of Nataki Garett, brought this play to life, in part through workshopping at Steppenwolf. Barnes's poetic voice adapts very well to the stage, and the characters' language is both natural, yet musical and thoughtfully cadenced.

Producing BLKS is part of Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s mission to be “where great acting meets big ideas” and “to engage audiences in an exchange of ideas that makes us think harder, laugh longer, feel more” and “develop new plays, new audiences and new artists for the future of American theater.”

With all that back story and context, the question remains, “Is the play any good? Should I see it?” Yes it is good. And you may want to consider this in deciding whether to go: Steppenwolf has become a reliable curator of theater for us, and you are well advised not to miss out on something carrying its endorsement. So BLKS comes recommended. 

This is also a perfect antidote to the Christmas Carols dominating Chicago stages right now, and a good destination for a New Years Eve date. Steppenwolf Theatre Company

It’s the season of Arthur Miller in Chicago. It appears Miller is enjoying a renaissance right now with three of our major companies reviving his work this season. The Steppenwolf takes on "The Crucible" as their Young Adult show. Calling upon Jonathan Berry (one of the city's foremost storefront theatre directors), Steppenwolf bids for a younger audience's attention.

Berry doesn't disappoint. His vision for this show is more like MTV than stuffier productions of yore. The first act begins with hip-hop flavored choreography combined with Izumi Inaba's stylish costumes that create a sort of "sexy Halloween costume" version of "The Crucible". The alternative staging helps guide a younger, perhaps less engaged audience through the multi-cast roles and quick on-stage character changes. Berry also makes a distinct stylistic choice to gender and colorblind cast all of the roles. Performances are convincing enough that it never feels like a gimmick. Instead, it underscores Miller's theme that these characters are all of us.

The only misstep is Naimi Hebrail Kidjo's tepid Abigail. Arthur Miller's scenes between Proctor and Abigail are some of the most electrifying in modern American drama, but somehow, they rarely reach a boil here. Perhaps an underplayed Abigail helps bring the relationship between Proctor and his wife Elizabeth into sharper focus. The scenes between John (Travis A. Knight) and Elizabeth Proctor (Kirstina Valada-Viars) are gripping. Valada-Viars gives a feisty performance, making Elizabeth a stronger heroine than typically played. Knight's John Proctor is youthful and naive, but not without a quick temper and imposing figure.

The ensemble wears many hats, quite literally in some cases. Stephanie Shum swiftly moves through characters without faltering. It's hard to figure why some actors played more roles than others, but the moral backbone of the play is sufficiently taken up by Taylor Blim's Mary Warren.

For many of us, "The Crucible" occupies a greyish area of high school that we'd like to forget. The old timey language and belabored scenes are hard to get into. Even still, this is a show the Steppenwolf is aiming at school groups. Berry's version is cool. It may take some effort to get generation Snapchat into it, but for those who invest, this is a worthwhile production. "The Crucible" and "Death of a Salesman" are essential theater experiences. So much more is defined in a live performance versus a moldy permabound high school book.

Miller is hot right now because his themes are forever relevant. "The Crucible" tells us not to be sheep, but to look around and develop our own code of ethics. Jonathan Berry's modernish version of this classic work is sure to attract audiences without much theater-going experience, and what a cool introduction this would be. The key to instilling the values of Arthur Miller onto another generation is make it seem new, and this production feels fresh.

Through October 21 at Steppenwolf Theatre. 1650 N Halsted St. 312-335-1650

Put acting greats Francis Guinan and John Mahoney on stage together and you undoubtedly get a performance that will certainly mesmerize. Add Jessica Dickey’s poignant script that delves into history and what we can take away from it, keen direction by Hallie Gordon and fine supporting performances from Ty Olwin, Karen Rodriguez and Gabriel Ruiz and you have a power-packed production that truly resonates with its audience. Steppenwolf’s latest, The Rembrant, is just that.

Guinan stars as longtime art museum guard Henry. A lot is going on this particular day. Henry’s boss Jonny (Ruiz) has just hired a new guard named Dodger (Olwin) and Henry needs to show him the ropes. The young, mohawk-wearing Dodger clearly isn’t in the same mold as his new mentor Henry and when art student Madeline admire a Rembrant before sketching it, the new guard encourages her to “touch the painting”. “Touch it”, he says, “feel the history.” Upon Henry’s return, he gazes at the same painting, one he has admired for years, Dodger urges him to do the same. Of course, this is absurd, thinks Henry. But Henry is troubled, his husband slowly dying from cancer. He has been a loyal guard for years. He wants so badly to touch the Rembrant – to feel the brush strokes. So, he does.

Once Henry feels the canvas, we are taken back in time to the life of Rembrant (also played by Guinan). We see the strong bond he has with his son Titus (Olwin), a son who wants nothing more to be by the side of his father. Dickey makes a valiant effort in encompassing the thought process behind Rembrant’s paintings. In one painting a man has a large hand and a small hand. This we learn is to keep father and son together forever, one hand belonging to Titus, the other to Rembrandt. The period is well-played and Guinan at the top of his craft.

Then emerges Homer, played wholeheartedly by Mahoney. Homer reminds us death is imminent for all of us. Though the time and the how unknown, the certainty for sure. It is a riveting dialogue that profoundly makes its way throughout the theatre prompting us to think about enjoying the gift of life while we can. We are also reminded of Mahoney’s powerful stage presence.

The play goes full circle, Henry by the side of his husband Simon (Mahoney) as they reminisce about the past, cherishing fond memories and exchanging their feelings for one another in a sad, but moving scene that adds an exclamation point to a very engaging story.

Guinan is sensational. However, he will take leave of the role after the October 22nd performance. Talented Chicago actor Joe Dempsey will reprieve Guinan and take over the role of Henry and Rembrandt as of October 24th. Inventive set design, wonderful acting performances and an engaging story, The Rembrandt is a warm production that connects the present to the past in a very creative way.

Recommended.

The Rembrandt is being performed at Steppenwolf Theatre through November 5th. For tickets and/or more show information visit www.steppenwolf.org.

*Extended through November 11th