Should a tiger take up residence in your bathroom, Trap Door Theater’s new production presents an entertaining selection of likely scenarios to follow. In a fresh translation of an absurdist play by Polish playwright Sɫawomir Mrożek—Poland’s Ionesco—director Nicole Wiesner turns 'The Martyrdom of Peter Ohey' into a highly entertaining, high energy production that feels as though PT Barnum had decided to produce ‘Cabaret.’

This obscure farce by Mrożek was intended to poke fun at contemporary mores and life in the 20th century in communist-dominated Poland. Mrożek probably penned it as a critique of an overweening government seeking too much control over the individual, constraining freedom. Delivering it straight up as Mrożek would have intended it would risk giving us an artifact of historical interest, but not much fun to watch.

Instead, Wiesner has boiled the message down to its essence, and the forces of conformity seem to be not the government, but social expectations. We see the thoughtful, individualistic Peter Ohey (Dennis Bisto) driven to accept a ridiculous proposition—that his bathroom has a tiger hiding in it—and he is forced into a submission of belief by outside forces.

His son is bribed by self interest into asserting the tiger’s existence by an Official (Carl Wisniewski), and his daughter and wife (Venice Averyheart) accept the story in a rapid group think. Ohey is suddenly alone in rational view, and vulnerable, as the Official, then a Tax Collector (Natara Easter) declare the tiger's presence to be incontrovertible fact.

But it is when the Scientist appears (Keith Surney is magnificent) Peter Ohey has met his match. He soon capitulaes, and is transformed into the tiger, under the Scientist’s lashing whip, in a scintillating leather and fishnet encounter with distinct BDSM overtones. All hope is lost for Ohey. Soon another ominous force appears, The Old Hunter (Bob Wilson) who seems hauntingly reactionary and powerful.

After this the show descends into a circus act under The Circus Manager; Matty Robinson gives an exceptional performance in this role. 

Whatever serious themes this work addresses are unimportant, really. Trap Door has produced a remarkable show, and it is very highly entertaining. It runs through March 3, at Trap Door Theater on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and comes highly recommended.

‘Christmas Dearest’ is wicked good fun, a hilarious if unholy marriage between Charles Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’ and Mommie Dearest, the scathing tell-all book by moviestar Joan Crawford’s abused daughter, Christina. 

The show's creator, Hell in a Handbag Productions, is sui generis, a company whose staged shows tap the rarified sanctums of performance art, driven by our local treasure in drag, David Cerda, who penned book and lyrics and shares music credits with Scott Lamberty for 'Christmas Dearest.' This also marks the troupe's return to live shows, with a remount of a deliciously popular show. (Proof of vaccination is required to attend.)

The premise—a tyrannical Joan Crawford (David Cerda) turns Scrooge as she struggles to reignite her career with a big, splashy 1953 musical about the life of the Blessed Virgin—’Oh Mary!’ —casts Crawford in the lead role, natch. She takes liberties with the script, editing to make sure this Mother of God is not outshown by her miraculous offspring. And of course, she makes sure her millon dollar legs get plenty of exposure, even if that lout Joseph keeps tripping on them in the dance scenes.

There are morals here (it’s Christmas after all) though largely loose ones as practiced by Joan Crawford and her friends over the years. And we do get the requisite conversion to goodness after a series of Dickensian ghosts advises Crawford during a dream triggered by Chinese takeout with Johnny Walker pn the rocks. The sweep of Joan's life includes key players along the way—including a child Crawford (Maiko Terazawa) and 1920s show girl Crawford (Marissa Williams). Mark Barty ably carries the role of her daughter Christina from youngster to embittered adult.  

It's hard to say exactly what separates drag performances, parody, and gender-blind casting. But it is certain that in this show the best scenes involve women characters: Olive LaLake (Tyler Anthony Smith) who plays an actress friend from Crawford's early days; and Bette Davis (Caitlin Jackson) who delivers a pancake make-up, platinum blonde-curled version, vintage “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane,' that is a tour de force in rendering Davis's drawling mid-Atlantic stutter, complete with eyerolls and waving cigarette. The scene with the two movie star rivals includes a duet, “Two Old Broads," both catchy and engaging. Davis tells Crawford that while she is a movie star, "I am an actress." We also get this priceless interlude in which Joan appeals to Davis's better nature on the set of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane:"

Crawford: We should work together, Betty; not tear each other apart.”

Davis: Who says we can’t work together and tear each other apart. 

Kudo’s to Smith, cast in several roles, all of them over-the-top, but not too far over  He is a formidable actor and singer. As to David Cerda, the progenitor and driving force of Hell in a Handbag Productions, he gamely navigates amongst the powerhouse cast members. While they occasionally out-sing and out-act him, they never upstage him. Highly recommended for those who prefer their Dickens loaded with glamour and divas, 'Christmas Dearest' runs through December 31 on the Ebenezer Lutheran Auditorium Stage at 1650 W. Foster in Chicago. 

‘Cinderella’ is a sumptuous visual feast, and a musical delight. Running through January 9, 2022 at Aurora’s beautifully restored Paramount theater, this timeless classic tale has been given a Broadway caliber treatment under the direction of Brenda Didier.

With gorgeous costumes (Theresa Ham) and wonderful original choreography (Tiffany Krause), the show is accompanied by the finely-tuned 14-piece live Paramount Orchestra, delivering magnificent sound under the baton of Kory Danielson.

Most striking is the performance by Mikayla Renfro as Cinderella. Renfro is a truly outstanding vocalist whose opening duet with Prince Christopher (Markcus Blair), “The Sweetest Sounds,” begins unassumingly, then clobbers you with its powerful harmony and inventive counterpoint tempo. No wonder: it was crafted by the masters of American musical theater, Rodgers & Hammerstein, who created the original musical in 1957 for CBS television.

Renfro has star power, with beautiful, expressive delivery across her whole vocal range. I could listen to her forever. Blair is a great tenor, though he didn’t seem to have the volume at the higher ends. In the second act, though, Blair comes on stronger, demonstrating vocal strength across his range.

Rodgers & Hammerstein's version of the tale of the downtrodden orphan—dressed by her fairy godmother, she came late to the ball, enthralled a prince, and left a glass slipper as her calling card—was derived from Cendrillon by French author Charles Perrault. It was the first time a musical was written expressly for relevision, and featured a young new star, Julie Andrews.

While timeless, that 1957 ‘Cinderella’ would look stale today, so this Paramount production follows a hipper, updated movie script produced in 1997 (with Brandy as Cinderella and Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother). It's fesher and funnier. 

Standout performances include the statuesque Jerica Exum as the Fairy Godmother, who exudes powerful magnetism whenever on stage; Sarah Bockel as the cruel Stepmother, bringing a Bette Midler-esque flair; and Lorenzo Rush, Jr. is excellent as the world-weary royal adjutant, Lionel, who manages the slipper fitting tests on all the women in the village.

You might ask how the magical transformation of a pumpkin into a coach and mice into horses is handled. In this production of ‘Cinderella’ a mix of puppetry and stagecraft does the trick. Puppets play the roles of mice, cat and birds who comfort Cinderella in her misery, and provide entertaining accents at the Paramount production. When at the critical moment Cinderlella gets her gown, and an elegant coach and liverymen appear, you will be delighted. It earned well deserved applause the night I saw the show. 

The Paramount Theater is a beautifully updated entertainment palace from the 1920s, with new seating and state-of-the-art sound system and electronics. Music from the orchestra, sequestered under the stage, is captured, mixed and balanced, then delivered by a finely tuned amplifcation system giving a sound that is superior than a purely acoustical orchestra could offer in this setting. The 'Cinderella' sound and music team includes Sound Designer-Adam Rosenthal, Orchestral Reductions-Macy Schmidt, Audio, Lighting, Media Supervisor-Alex Buholzer, and Electronic Music Designer-Ethan Deppe.

We hope to return to the Paramount for its upcoming big production shows, 'Groundhog Day' and 'Rock of Ages,' as well as the smaller production series that opens in Mach 2022 with four productions, including 'Hand to God' and 'Fun Home' at the Copley Theater across the street. Both theaters are part of a revitalized riverfront entertainment and dining district in Aurora, the second largest city in Illinois. Learn more at https://www.ParamountAurora.com, or call  (630) 896-6666. 

Tracy Letts’ “Bug” beckons audiences back to Steppenwolf live and in-person. This gripping psychological drama tells the story of Agnes (Carry Coon), a drug-addicted, alcoholic waitress marooned in an Oklahoma motel room, consoling herself by staying high, and hanging out with her best friend, R.C. (Jennifer Engstrom), a hard-boiled woman and fellow parrtier.

While COVID-19 forced “Bug” to close mid-way in March 2020, director David Cromer regrouped the original, stellar cast to resume the run, and you will not want to miss this opportunity to see it.

Agnes’s troubles include an abusive ex-husband, Jerry (Steve Key) who soon pays an unwanted visit after being released from prison, looking to pick up where he left off. But Jerry finds someone new in his place: Peter (Namir Smallwood), a drifter who trailed into the room with R.C., and just stayed. Jerry begrudgingly takes off.

Here the story turns. Peter and Agnes rapidly descend into a toxic, co-dependent relationship, spiraling relentlessly downward as Peter shares Agnes's partiality to smoking crack, which they do continuously to an end that will leave you stunned.

The performances by Namir Smallwood as Peter and Carrie Coon as Agnes are breathtakingly good. Smallwood in particular rises to the challenge of convincing us that while he is tethered to reality, it is really somewhat loosely. Coon gives us an Agnes who wavers like a compass needle, pulled to the shifting polarities of the varied players in her life before locking decisevely to Peter.

“Bug” embodies what I consider a signature of Steppenwolf style, if there can be such a thing—allowing for scenes dominated by silent performances, the action on stage amplified by the absence of lines. Such scenes, and the powerful scenic design (Takeshi Kata), builds tension steadily, “keeping us in the dark just enough to continually thirst for its next moment,” as my colleague, Ken Payne noted of the 2020 staging. 

As a post-pandemic show, “Bug” is especially relevant, with drug addiction rising to epidemic levels during these trying times. Letts offers a searingly realistic window into their impact on individuals and relationships. “Bug” captures the paranoia visited upon abusers of stimulants like crack and meth. We even experience the miasma that causes struggling addicts to vehemently resist intervention by their family and friends.aBug runs through December 12, 2021.

Single tickets for Bug ($20 – $110) at steppenwolf.org or 312-335-1650. Discounts include new Artists & Essential Workers discount, expanded 20-for-$20 program, Pay-Your-Age performances, $5 teen tickets through the Teen Arts Pass, and more. Steppenwolf is part of the coalition of over 70 Chicagoland performing arts venues and producers that have agreed upon COVID-19 vaccination and mask requirements for all audiences, artists and staff through the end of 2021. Steppenwolf is offering four reduced capacity performances for “Bug,” seating every other row and one seat on either side of each party: Sunday evening November 21, Wednesday evening November 24 and Wednesday matinees December 1 and 8. www.Steppenwolf.org

It’s hard to cheer and yell with a mask on. But that I did right along with the entire crowd at “Paradise Square,” as Joaquina Kalukango delivered a shatteringly powerful show-stopper, “Let It Burn,” holding the audience in her thrall for every second.

This was the best but not the only great moment in “Paradise Square,” which opened its five-week, pre-Broadway run November 2 at the Nederlander Theater and officially opens November 17. It’s the relatively unknown tale of the Five Points District in New York City, the tough section that is portrayed circa 1846 in “Gangs of New York.”

Set during the Civil War in 1863, “Paradise Square” tells of the Black community of free-born men and women who lived in harmony with Irish immigrants, intermarrying, and singing and dancing together. The score draws on the music of Stephen Foster, who had lived and worked in the Five Points. 

But as the Civil War rages on, the Union declares an unprecedented military draft, affecting only white working men. Blacks were exempted from the draft because they were not  considered citizens. Wealthy people could hire substitutes. The immigrants resisted, and eventually turned on their Black neighbors to vent their rage, leading to the infamous New York Draft Riots of July 1863. This is not glossed over in "Paradise Square" but is the main plot point. 

Kalukango plays the central role of Nelly O’Brien, proprietor of the saloon in which the action takes place. Her Irish immigrant husband is Willy O'Brien (Matt Bogart); her sister-in-law Annie O’Brien (Chilina Kennedy) also works in the saloon, though her husband is a preacher, Reverend Samuel Jacob Lewis (Nathaniel Stampley).

Kalukango is the dramatic anchor throughout the show, but it is her transcendant performance of "Let It Burn" that also serves as the climax of the plot, and its denoument. We’re talking Jennifer-Hudson-in-Dream-Girls calber, perhaps even better. Really!

Other spectacular moments include the performance of A.J. Shively as newly arrived Irish immigrant Owen Duigan. Shively is a sensational singer and dancer. Each time his lilting, filigreed tenor launched into “Why Should I Die in Springtime,” tears welled in my eyes. 

Chilina Kennedy gives us an Annie that is a firebrand and a spark plug. The beauty of her soprano is a perfect complement to Kalukango’s powerful mezzo-soprano. When the two sing a duet, it is sublime.

But this is even more a show about dance. Featuring choreography by Bill T. Jones, it shows off many dance styles, emphasizing Irish step-dancing and Black American Juba, as well as tap dancing, believed to have originated in Five Points. Jones’s choreography greets us as soon as the curtain rises in an opening scene in which the preacher blesses departing soldiers, two wraiths do what might be described as a liturgical dance.

Jones also crafts the visual representations of the Underground Railroad, which in this show is given parity with Ellis Island as a point of entry for Black immigrants from the South. "Paradise Square" breaks new ground in its full embrace of the Black journey as a part of all of our stories in the formation of America.

Produced by Garth Drabinsky, “Paradise Square” is directed by Tony Award nominee Moisés Kaufman and a book by Christina Anderson Marcus Gardley, Craig Lucas and Larry Kirwan. The production features the “re-imagined” songs of Stephen Foster and original compositions, with a score by Jason Howland, Nathan Tyson, Masi Asare, and Kirwan.

There are some weaknesses in "Paradise Square." As might be expected with four hands scripting and five composers involved, we have a story that is everything and the kitchen sink, plus music and dance. The music is continuous and at times, soaring. But much of it is undistinguished. The second half is refreshingly direct, and regardless of its shortcomings, "Paradise Square" is not to be missed. 

TICKET INFORMATION:
Tickets are available for groups of 10 or more by calling Broadway In Chicago Group Sales at (312) 977-1710 or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  
Paradise Square is part of theBroadway in Chicago subscription which launched in August. Individual tickets for Paradise Square are at www.BroadwayInChicago.com. 
 
All Broadway In Chicago schedules and productions will continue to be reviewed as further guidance and recommendations are provided by the CDC, State of Illinois, and Chicago Departments of Health. Currently that means proof of vaccination must be provided to gain entry, and a mask must be worn throughout. For the latest health and safety procedures and guidelines visit BroadwayInChicago.com/COVID19.

The Artistic Home chose a sure-fire winner for its return to in-person productions, with a creative staging and knock-out cast in Eurydice by celebrated playwright Sarah Ruhl. The "press night" show October 28 at the Den Theatre found a well-oiled machine delivering flawless performances. The joy of sitting in a sold-out room was soon surpassed by the show itself.

Distilled from a range of Greek and Roman myths, Eurydice recounts the story of Orpheus, the renowned demigod musician—his playing could draw tears from the stones—who descends into hell to lead his young bride Eurydice back to life. She was killed prematurely, and so the lord of hell permits her to leave—but Orpheus must not look back before they reach the surface, or she will be lost to him. When he reaches the surface, Orpheus does look back, losing Eurydice, who hasn't fully emerged. Most retellings focus on his tragic loss.

Ruhl’s 2003 play resets the story, taking the perspective of Eurydice. Played by Karla Corona, this Eurydice is a captivating character, a reader and thinker, a modern young woman immersed in self-discovery. Corona gives us an endearing innocent but strong Eurydice, magnetic. She has fallen in love with Orpheus, but he is even more in love with her. Bored at her own wedding reception, Eurydice strays and meets her early end, triggering Orpheus quest to bring her back. 

But in the underworld, Eurydice has an enveloping experience vastly more intriguing than Orpheus efforts, and she eventually meets her father (Javier Carmona). The play centers largely on the immense and unshakable love between Eurydice's father and his daughter. (Ruhl dedicated the play to her own father.)

Carmona gives us a surpassingly good performance. Before his daugher arrives, he is following her wedding from below, and by a simple shift in his expression goes from joy to sorrow, and back again, as he suffers the lost opportunity to give the bride away. When they are later brought together, he nurtures Eurydice and comforts her in his new home.

"Rock-star" performances are given by the incredibly entertaining and mean-spirited Chorus of Stones: Will Casey as Big Stone, Alexander McRae as Loud Stone, and Ariana Lopez as Little Stone. And as real standout is Todd Wojcik (above), arguably the best performance of the night, as “Nasty Interesting Man.” Wojicik gives us an almost indescribable package of self-infatuation, malice and brattiness, that alone is worth the price of admission. 

The production team includes Kevin Hagan (Scenic and Lighting Design), Zachery Wagner (Costume Design), Petter Wahlback (Sound Design), Randy Rozler (Properties Design), Julian Hester (Assistant Director), and Jac Pytlik (Stage Manager).

Eurydice had its world premiere at Madison Repertory Theatre, Madison, WI in 2003, and following high profile productions at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Yale Repertory Theatre, it opened off Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre in 2007 and at the Young Vic in London in 2010. Artistic Home's production will be performed at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago, Thursdays through Sundays, November 4 through November 21, 2021. 

Theater Wit has mounted an unexpectedly spellbinding show for its return to live productions: Anne Washburn’s “Mr. Burns, a post-electric play.”

What an amazing fever-dream has flowed from Washburn’s imaginative pen, brought to life at Theater Wit. Originally mounted in 2015, it is clear why this was one of the troupe’s most popular productions. It is a joy-filled moment to be back in the audience before a live show. 

Ostensibly, it is a portrait of a post-apocalyptic society in which people huddle around campfires on a darkened landscape, recalling favorite lines from television shows. Act 1 focuses on this means of diversion. Quickly the fragility of cultural memory becomes apparent, when there are no Google or YouTube to reference.

Seven years later, Act 2 opens with rehearsal for a semi-professional performance company, many of which have arisen, working against scripts gathered from memory (some recalled lines and scenes are even purchased from freelance contributors). Sets and costumes are cobbled together from the detritus of the decaying society.

Here “Mr. Burns” is revealed to be a true backstage play, with the players jousting over who will be featured and which bits shall be included in the show. There are humor and charm in these scenes, which feature live performances of clips of the Simpsons and other popular shows, as well as contemporary ads and music videos.

It is in Act 3 that the show reaches its apotheosis, we are transported to Elysium, and the performance becomes the food of the gods. Set 70 years later, the collective memory of the Simpsons has certainly faded, and those who saw the show on television are very few in number.

Washburn now gives us a heavenly reverie on how theater might be recreated from the dust of the cataclysm. As with cultures of old, an oral tradition was handed down before writing took hold. “Mr. Burns” seems to posit just such a scenario, with a beatifically staged battle between the forces of good - the Simpsons - and evil: Mr. Burns and his henchmen, Itchy and Scratchy. Fans of The Simpsons, who are legion, will recall that Mr. Burns owned the nuclear power plant at which Homer Simpson was employed, until sometime befoe this story picks up.  

A mashup of Greek drama, kabuki, and 18th century operetta, this final act defies description, except to say it is transportative. Aside from its intimate scale, “Mr. Burns - A post-electric play” is fully Broadway caliber, and the performances by every cast member are superlative. Daniel Desmarais, Andrew Jessop, and Leslie Ann Sheppard return from the 2015 production, with Eileen Doan, Tina Muñoz Pandya, Ana Silva, Jonah D. Winston and Will Wilhelm are making their Theater Wit debut. 

Everyone (including audience members) at Theater Wit is required to be vaccinated to enter the building. (Negative results from a PCR test for COVID-19 administered in the last 48 hours is an alternative.) All patrons must remain masked for the duration of their visit. Find more details and ticket information at www.TheaterWit.org.

Live, in-person theater performances have returned! And on Saturday, July 17, the Oak Park Festival Theater players took to the stage at their Austin Gardens home, mounting an inventive and engaging production of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest - the Equity company’s first post-pandemic production, and among the first live professional stage performances in Chicagoland.

The Oak Park Festival Theater company has a great reputation and this production of The Tempest tells why. Director Barbara Zahora brings something exceedingly fresh to perhaps Shakespeare’s final work: incorporating the affects of supernatural heroes from what is arguably our dominant creative vernacular: the worlds of Star Wars, Marvel and DC Comics.

The trappings of magical realism drawn from those fantasy worlds, with force fields, mind control, telekinetic powers and the like, fit perfectly in The Tempest. It is fundamentally a fantasy play, in which Alonsa (Noelle Klyce), the Queen of Naples, and Antonia (Jeannie Affelder), the usurping Duchess of Milan, are shipwrecked along with their royal entourage on an island inhabited by (a bit of Shakespearean coincidence here) Antonia’s brother Prospero, and Prospero’s daughter Miranda. Antonia had deposed Prospero 12 years before, and set him adrift.

During this time, Prospero apparently honed his skills as a sorcerer, and formed an alliance with two indigenous supernatural forces on the island - the demigod Ariel (Bernell Lassai is captivating) and the monstrous Caliban (you will be spellbound by Matt Gall’s changes in stature). The action of the play revolves around Prospero’s machinations to reclaim his throne, and dispel the internecine squabble that had two brothers at odds over the crown. Noteworthy in their Shakespearean delivery are Austyn Williamson as Ferdinand and Kevin Theis as Prospero.

The Tempest had always seemed to me to be trapped in amber with its 16th century magical conventions reliant on the thin broth of a distant memory of ancient gods and goddesses. This transfer using the tropes of contemporary culture has reset audience members’ expectations. So when the gold-caped Ariel stands on the platform above the stage to suspend the actions of characters, or move them like puppets, accompanied by synthetic sounds familiar from movies and miniseries, it all makes perfect sense.

“Even though we chose this play long before coronavirus and the murder of George Floyd changed our world so significantly, its themes of exile, injustice, the struggle for power, self-discovery and healing are all particularly resonant after the last year,” says Zahora, who is also Artistic Director for the group. “As people start to come out of their homes and find a new normal post-pandemic, we hope this will be particularly meaningful for those seeing it for the first time.”

The Tempest is also laced with lyrics and even dance, for which added music rarely works - but they really do work here. Credits to George Zahora for original music and sound design; original vocal music and musical direction is by Jennifer Harlee Mitchell; movement and dance choreography is by Erica Bittner; and movement, combat and intimacy direction is by Mark Lancaster.

The stage is set under a centuries old live oak tree, and the opening half hour is accompanied by the cacophony of thousands of locusts who eventually fall silent. Actors are miked and the sound is pretty good overall. But it almost doesn’t matter what you hear or understand; it’s what you see that counts in The Tempest.

Performances of The Tempest run through Aug. 21. Show times on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays begin at 8 p.m.; Sunday performances start at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale at oakparkfestival.com.

How is it possible that a 19th Century play by George Bernard Shaw could be so on trend for today? Promethean Theatre Ensemble’s production of Mrs. Warren’s Profession is just that, examining the limitations women faced in careers - steeply limited in those days - and hurdles they faced in establishing an independent life, outside of marriage or household servant.

But just as importantly, Mrs. Warren’s Profession brings us a breakthrough performance by Elaine Carlson in the role of Mrs. Kitty Warren, the wealthy proprietress of a collection of boutique brothel hotels in England and abroad. Carlson brings us a fully developed character, and has plumbed every nook and cranny of Kitty Warren’s emotional make-up. The result is a powerful performance, one that knocked me off my feet. Carlson so fully inhabits the role that we no longer see the actress, we see Kitty Warren.

Shaw can be challenging - his plays are talky, and serious, full of big thoughts and intellectual jousting. In this production, the script has been adapted by Melanie Spewock, who “streamlines Shaw’s text and makes it more woman-centric.” Directed by Michael D. Graham, Shaw is given an effective expression here. Purists may not like it, but I did. 

The story revolves around a visit by Mrs. Warren’s daughter, Vivie Warren (Corrie Riedl) to see her mother while on break from school. But the two don’t really know each other - Vivie was raised at boarding schools - and Kitty, in late middle age, is hoping to build a relationship with her daughter. Vivie takes umbrage once she discovers the nature of her mother’s enterprise, and is shamed by the fact it has funded her upbringing and schooling.

But then Shaw, through Kitty, makes a passionate defense of her position as a madame, describing her poverty, limited options to make a living, and providing Vivie for the first time a window into her mother’s back story. “It can’t be right that there is no other opportunity for a girl,” Kitty Warren says. 

Written so well by Shaw in Spewock’s version, and delivered so forcefully by Elaine Carlson as Kitty Warren, Vivie embraces her mother’s choices - and so does the audience. Kitty Warren notes that young women are encouraged to work in dangerous factories or in shops for starvation wages by clergymen, who condemn prostitution. But the economics argue in favor of it. 

“Where would we be if we minded the clergyman’s foolishness,” Kitty says. An appreciation guide for this production, which estimates there were 8,000 to 80,000 English sex workers, provides a backgrounder on the censorship of the play by English authorities. Written in 1893, Mrs. Warren's Profession wasn't fully produced in England until 1925.

There is much more to this story - suitors for Vivie, lots of dirty laundry aired, including uncertainty about who Vivie’s father is. You must watch the rest of the story unfold on stage. As always Promethean delivers the goods. And it is all about the performances. Mrs. Warren's Profession runs through March 29 at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark St. in Chicago.

Set in 1830, Lifeline Theatre’s Middle Passage, beautifully directed by Ilesa Duncan, is an exciting show: absolutely entertaining, well-produced and well-acted.

And yet, entertaining as it is, Middle Passage also recounts the horrific enslavement and transport of Africa’s Allmuseri people, their inhumane treatment by a cruel ship’s captain, and the desecration of their sacred possessions. How do these opposites co-exist in one play? Look to the source.

Based on the bestseller by Charles Johnson (adapted by David Barr III and the director), Middle Passage the book is a fictional first-person narrative by a 20-year-old freed slave, Rutherford Calhoun (Michael Morrow), who makes his way from Southern Illinois to New Orleans to sow his wild oats.

“She’s a town with almost religious pursuit of sin,” Calhoun says of New Orleans, in an aside to the audience.

Johnson gives us a picaresque novel, with a wandering young man, like other 19th century literary characters (think Thackeray’s Barry Lyndon). Both the book and the play recount from the first-person point of view, Calhoun’s experiences – good and bad passing before his eyes - during his adventures. So, as in life, the good and the bad, the lighthearted moments and the tragic, co-exist.

Like Barry Lyndon, Rutherford Calhoun is on the make in New Orleans, and without means – courting young ladies, but also running up debts. This comes to the notice of Papa Zeringue (Bryan Carter), a Creole mob boss holding all Calhoun’s promissory notes. Papa Zeringue tells Calhoun he must pay, or he will be thrown into the deeps of the Mississippi.

Thankfully for Calhoun, he has flirted (chastely) with Isadora (Shelby Lynn Bias), a young black schoolteacher from Boston, whose family has been free for generations. Isadora has some savings, and unbeknownst to Calhoun, negotiates to pay his debts to Papa Zeringue, on one condition – Calhoun will be forced to marry her.

When he learns of the plan, Calhoun stows aboard the ship Republic. When it puts out to sea, he discovers it is a slaver, on its way to Africa to pick up human cargo.
And with that, the story opens to an exciting, rollicking seafaring tale with all the trappings- storms, cannon fire, mutiny, betrayals, slave rebellions. Calhoun is there for selfish reasons - “Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I've come to learn, is women” – as one character puts it.

As an “everyman” character, we watch Calhoun avoid dirtying his hands in the fray, but eventually, he moves from aloof observer to responsible man, developing his moral compass through the trials.

The cast is uniformly good - really good - and most play multiple ensemble roles, as well as their principle character. Particularly notable performances were delivered by Patrick Blashill as Captain Falcon and Andres Enriquez as navigator Peter Cringle. Shelby Lynn Bias’s Isadora is both nicely written, and very well delivered – she is very 1830s Bostonian. Hunter Bryant (Calhoun’s brother Jackson), also, notably plays the role of a young slave learning English who bonds with Calhoun. Bryant launches convincingly into a somewhat lengthy delivery in an Allmuseri language.

Michael Morrow as Rutherford Calhoun carries the weight of the play on his shoulders, also making asides to the audience about the action or his feelings. Opening night, Morrow seemed a little uncertain in the beginning moments – but eventually warmed and really did command the role.

The set (Alan Donohue) is a lovingly crafted sailing vessel with multiple decks, stowage, working winche, mast and beam – all integrated to the projection design (Paul Deziel and Alex J. Gendal) and sound design (Barry Bennett). With this we feel for all the world we are at sea, particularly during storms and battles. A puppet parrot was less compelling.

The play originated at Pegasus Players in 2016 under the title, Rutherford’s Travels. But this version seems very strongly rooted in African storytelling culture, which taps a type of magical realism, to my mind (like Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad). Its title is far more resonant today: Middle Passage, the slave shipping route that represents the crucible of emotional and spiritual transformation from free, cultured Africans to impoverished American slaves.

Lifeline Theatre is also making Middle Passage very accessible: Tickets are $20 for military, veterans, and students, and for rush tickets sold 30 minutes before curtain. Middle Passage runs through April 5 at Lifeline Theatre,6912 N Glenwood, Chicago 60626. www.lifelinetheatre.com