Displaying items by tag: Pride Arts Center

I think I’d better begin by answering some questions, starting with ‘WTF is the title of this show?’ to which I respond, the title actually is "[title of show]."

The play was conceived by a pair of artists in NYC, Jeff Bowen (Jonah Cochin) and Hunter Bell (Casey Coppess). Upon learning of the upcoming New York Musical Theatre Festival, they decide to write and submit a musical. There’s just a few problems with doing that: (1) the Festival is only three weeks away, and (2) they’re determined to write an original rather than an adaptation, but (3) they have no idea what to write about, or even (4) what to name their musical. Coming right down to the wire without a name, they end up using the space on the application form asking for [Title of Show] and name their musical [title of show].

Early attempts clearly illustrate that Hunter and Jeff truly do not have any idea what their musical should be about … not until they realize that their conversations about what to write are more interesting than what they’re actually writing! And thus it happens that these Two Nobodies from New York write a musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical.

Shannon McEldowney (left), Jonah Cochin, Robert Ollis (at keyboard), Lexi Alioto, and Casey Coppess .

Jeff and Hunter ask their friends Susan (Lexi Alioto) and Heidi (Shannon McEldowney) to help, as well as Larry (Robert Ollis) to man the keyboard. The four converse and natter and brainstorm, kibitz, palaver and schmooze via a slew of hysterically funny songs, discussing the complexities of receiving money for art (is it success or selling out?) and the problems of loyalties vs. practicalities, learning unexpected lessons about themselves along the way.

I think you could call this a QueerMoot. Actually I don’t know if you could or not but I just did, so it’s done.

If you have any friends of the theatrical persuasion, you will find them depicted in [title of show] by Jeff, Hunter, Susan and/or Heidi; not surprising, as all four characters are (were?) (have been?) real people. I don’t know about Larry … we don’t get to learn much about Larry, who the Union prohibits from speaking any lines. But he sure knows his way around the eighty-eights!

The choreography by Britta Lynn Schlicht was lively and fresh, and wonderfully executed by the cast. It did, however, occasionally hinder hearing. I was ready to blame that on my rock-concert-impaired old ears, until my younger companion admitted having the same problem, from Casey Coppess in particular. I couldn’t tell if this was a problem with miking or with blocking, but I suggest both Director Jay Espano and Sound Designer Valerio Torretta Gardner take a look at this issue.

Props Designer Izadorius Tortuga and Scenic Designer Anshika Pathak wisely used restraint, keeping the set minimalist and letting the play tell the story. I have to give a shoutout for Aidan Lynn Smith, whose Lighting Design skillfully delimited separate scenes; and even louder shout to Projections Designer Joel Zishuk. His projections created an informative background for many scenes, but the piece de resistance was a kaleidoscopic panorama of the Playbill covers from a bazillion musicals!

The entire production crew was ably supported by Michael Lasswell (Technical Director / Scenic Design Consultant / My Favorite Bio Writer), Assistant Music Director Annie Liu, and Assistant Director Taylor Pasche. I once asked a theatrical friend ‘just what does a Stage Manager do, anyway?’, to which they responded ‘Everything.’ Kate Schnetzer assisted Julia Witty in doing Everything, and well.

[title of show] is running at PrideArts Theater at 4139 N Broadway, Chicago, through September 22 and comes recommended.

Shakespeare’s R & J is another demonstration of just how brilliant William Shakespeare truly was, is, and ever will be. Romeo & Juliet has captivated audiences since the 16^th century. The story of the star-crossed lovers is universal, appealing to audiences from all walks of life, and stanzas from the work (e.g. ‘star-crossed lovers’) have become recognizable as allegories. Chicago’s abundant theatrical venues have given us myriad reworkings of Romeo & Juliet, proving over and over that the Bard’s works are endlessly adaptable.

But you’re not here to be sold on Shakespeare as a playwright, right? You already had that. What I’m here to say is that, though we’ve all seen many variations of Romeo & Juliet, Joe Calarco’s Shakespeare’s R & J presented the old chestnut with a twist I personally hadn’t seen before; a twist that director Amber Mandley further bent into a singular new production.

All Shakespeare’s work was, of course, originally played by all-male casts: male actors playing both male and female roles. Adaptations of his works have been stage with extensive diversity of gender-bending (it’s a wonder MAGA’s not yet banned his work!); I’ve seen many variations that were truly brilliant. Romeo & Juliet provides abundant material for presentation as an exegesis of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, politics … a wealth of lenses through which to view this enduring, universal and endlessly adaptable story.

Calarco’s Shakespeare’s R & J was originally envisioned with an all-male cast, set in an exclusive boys’ prep school, and PrideArts’ Artistic Director Jay Españo initially planned to produce it thus. However, various adjustments and scheduling conflicts resulted in PrideArts’ Managing Director Amber Mandley taking the director’s chair, and she was eager to bring more female roles to PrideArts’ stage, and she situated Shakespeare’s R & J in a Catholic girls’ school, with adolescent girl characters. Co-Assistant Directors Elissa Wolf and Magdiel Carmona brought further depths of cultural diversity and familiarity into the directorial discernment.

The four girls are designated only as Student 1 (Madelyn Strasma), Student 2 (Luz Espinoza), Student 3 (Hannah Eisendrath) and Student 4 (Isabel Lee Roden).  Their individuality was further obscured by Costume Designer Shawn Quinlan dressing them in matching school uniforms: skimpy pink pleated skirts, spit-shined black patent oxfords, pink vests and jumpers under pink cardigans and blazers, though each differentiated herself (as they do) with a slightly different vest etc. It wasn’t necessary though – the 4 actresses each created their own unique and indelible impression!

Nga Sze Chan had a helluva lot of props to keep track of, all of them oft-used: a blanket is transformed from a bed to a bridal veil; a length of red silk represents a honeymoon suite or an exsanguination, and a cane is deployed to run Mercutio through – said skewering nicely choreographed by James Napoleon Stone. Shakespeare’s R & J relied heavily on Lighting Designer August Tiemeyer to set the mood and spotlight particular events; both he and Sound Designer Valerio Torretta Gardner were well-supported by Lead Electrician Aidan Lynn Smith. And Stage Manager Elijah McTiernan managed to keep everyone and everything coherent and harmonious.

Luz Espinoza was a cuddlesome, ardent little Juliet – maybe a bit of a slapper, but delightfully so. Romeo as played by Madelyn Strasma was far less convincing a lover – or maybe there simply wasn’t sufficiently torrid chemistry between them. It didn’t seem to be an actual shortcoming for either the actors or Intimacy Director Grace Goodyear, they simply didn’t ignite one another. All the actors had to be agile and sprightly as they cavorted and wrestled, gamboled and dueled, but Isabel Lee Roden’s vivacity and marvelous comedic bearing were exceptional – this was their debut with PrideArts and they’re definitely a keeper! Hannah Eisendrath came across as a ringleader, the mastermind and instigator of the group’s revelry, and she carried this sense of dominance across all the roles she played, from Lady Capulet to Mercutio.

Shakespeare’s R & J is about breaking rules – after all, that’s what teenagers do, right? Forbidding anything at all – a book; a curfew; a lover – guarantees that adolescents will flock to it. In Shakespeare’s R & J we watch these four girls become caught up in the Montague – Capulet antipathy to enact their rebellion against the austerity of a convent school.

I do wish that theme had been fleshed out more. Romeo & Juliet was presented beautifully, the acting by all four of the cast excellent. It ain’t easy to deliver iambic pentameter fluently, and Madelyn Strasma, Luz Espinoza, Hannah Eisendrath and Isabel Lee Roden all performed superbly.  I just wish Mandley, Carmona and Wolf had contrived to show us a deeper look at Students 1, 2, 3, and 4:  four girls navigating the perils of adolescence within the suffocating strictures of a private Catholic girls’ school; four Students with enough acumen and moxie to defy the rules through the medium of a fifteenth-century Harlequin romance. Four girls who, through embodying people dead for four millennia, begin to perceive and explore their own developing bodies and greedy, voracious little minds; four girls becoming women vicariously through women who never lived, yet who live within every woman and man … such a rich vein to mine there!

Yet I walked out without a full understanding of why these four Students chose to flout the rules by reading a banned book, or why they chose Romeo & Juliet, of all the banned books (un)available. I’m not clear on just why Students 1, 2, 3, and 4 decided to enact the play rather than simply read it, and what impact this reenactment had on their developing minds, emotions, and sexuality … though certainly none of them appeared to be squicked by kissing their classmate(s)!

So, though PrideArts’ production of Shakespeare’s R&J was excellent, it was also basically unsatisfying. But I’m an optimist … I look forward to seeing what Jay Españo and Amber Mandley will bring to PrideArts’ next season!

Shakespeare’s R&J plays at PrideArts’ Theatre through March 24

Coming-of-age is a subject with universal appeal across the arts.  Playwright Jonathan Keebler makes it fun by putting it to music composed by Ryan Korell in GAY CARD, playing at Pride Arts Center through September 24.

Logan (Ben Ballmer) is saying goodbye to the horrors of high school and is totally stoked to celebrate his college enrollment by coming out in a big way. To this end, he chooses the dorm called ‘Diversity House’. His best friend Melanie (Sophie Murk) does the same, as they’ve always been ‘there for each other’.

Logan quickly learns that it’s not that simple; there are many prerequisites to being issued a GAY CARD. In her role as Logan’s adjuvant braniac, Melanie steers him towards GayCardBlog-dot-com, where Logan is told he must decide what kind of gay boy he’ll be. His outrageous ventures into what he considers ‘Twink’ and ‘Artsy Gay’ (among others) are celebrated in song and dance.

At Diversity House Logan and Melanie find the voraciously heterosexual house mother Danielle (Rachel Carreras) and recovering jock Justin (Nathaniel Thomas). Corey (Joey Alvey) and July (Maya Radjenovich) present themselves as blissfully bi, while Graham (Freddy Mauricio) is somewhat mysterious – which naturally makes him alluring.

The GayCardBlog is brought to dramatic life by the Blog Trio – Michael Idalski, Adelina Marinello, and Elijah Warfield – who personate Logan’s pilgrimage with lascivious lyrics and appalling apparel – well done, Costume Designer Shawn Quinlan!  Ensemble numbers are completed by Kyle Johnson and Dance Captain Haven Sydney Denson.

Did someone say dance? Choreographer Britta Schlict gives us one spectacle after another, assisted by Jordan Ratliff, who is also Assistant Director under Pride Arts’ Artistic Director Jay Espaῆo. Espaῆo, Sound Designer Valerio Torretta Gardner and Music Director Robert Ollis navigate every number to near-balletic synchrony, even the full-ensemble extravaganzas. Sound Engineer Kat Tilt and Lighting Designer Kyle Anderson weave the story across the stage, with illustrative assistance from Projections Designer Eme Ospina-López. The few props are well-managed by Props Designer Hannah Dains. A large cast and near-continuous action present a challenge deftly met by Stage Manager Dakota Allen, assisted by Reagan Stevenson.  No nudity (rats!) but Intimacy Director Garrett McCann has some kissing to choreograph. And I loved the brilliant set created by Scenic Designer Brett Baleski, with its multiple levels painted in Miro-esque asymmetrical blocks.

Performances overall were outstanding. Ben Ballmer as Logan was in perpetual motion – supple, vivacious, and indefatigable – I’ve no idea how he kept that going! I’d swear his jumps soared a full yard off the floor – Air Ballmer! But, though his dancing was spectacular, it’s his sensational voice that really blew me away. Singing solo, duet, or choral; accompanied or a capella, his voice carried the show, strong and clear and true.

Actually, every voice in the cast was excellent. Sophie Murk’s [Melanie] superb soprano was exceeded only by her fortitude: during her most crucial solo her microphone repeatedly broke off, cut back in for a couple of measures, then failed again – a performer’s nightmare! Losing your mike is dreadful, but having it randomly cut in and out is calamitous! I’m sure Ms Murk had plenty to say about it backstage, but in front of the audience she was totally unflappable. The ovation she received was only partially (though deservedly!) for her singing; a significant portion was an accolade to her sang-froid.

Freddy Mauricio [Graham] also had a splendid voice, but it was eclipsed by Ballmer’s far stronger one, which also sometimes shrouded Murk’s performances.  It can be a real dilemma, from casting through rehearsal and into performances: how to manage the disparities in the cast’s endowments. It is, of course, the sort of predicament directors long for, but that doesn’t necessarily make disentangling it easier.

Live theatre, even in the biggest houses, was decimated by covid, and there’s much speculation about how to revive it. Theatre, particularly my beloved tiny storefront houses packed with sensational talent, is a Chicago hallmark. A couple of seasons at Second City is virtually a prerequisite to joining the cast of Saturday Night Live!  Everybody knows about Gary Sinise, but dozens more actors have been launched to fame from the Chicago stages. It’s imperative we maintain that heritage.

Trivia break: many think Chicago’s nickname of Second City is because its live theatre is second [only!] to NYC. Actually, the name is a legacy of the great Chicago Fire – we now live in the Second City that rose like a phoenix from its own ashes. Now where was I? Ah yes – how to help a Second Stage arise from the wreckage left by covid.

Debates rage: lower ticket prices to entice audiences, or raise them to pay artists a living wage? Present thoughtful, cutting-edge plays exploring society’s most pressing issues, or fill the stages with absurdity to provide escape from said issues? The Chicago Tribune has been running a series of op-eds on the subject, speculating on how best to support theatre.  Well, I’m a simple sort o’gal, and to me the solution is simple: attend more theatre!

GAY CARD has no deep social significance; it explores no critical current issues and poses no intellectual challenges. But if you’re in the mood for a very well-performed bit of musical fluff, see GAY CARD!

GAY CARD is being performed at Pride Arts Center through September 24^th. For tickets and/or more show information click here.

Droll, knowing, and surprisingly good, Evil Dead: The Musical, transforms the campy self-aware horror-comedy movie franchise into something wickedly fun.

Even those who haven’t seen the Evil Dead movie series in awhile – or ever – will enjoy this show. It's laced with irony, just like the original, and doubling as a send-up of the scary films genre. It's producers Black Button Eyes Productions specializes in obscure works and plays with elements of fantasy, such as 2014’s Coraline and Nightmares and Nightcaps: The Stories of John Collier – a British author along the lines of Ray Bradbury or Neil Gaiman. Evil Dead has bee crisscrossing small theater groups around the country. 

Evil Dead – The Musical parodies Sam Raimi’s classic Evil Dead films – it's an amalgam of Evil Dead I & II – with a nod to Army of Darkness, third in the series. All three starred the square-jawed Bruce Campbell. It’s a prototypical story of teens who vacation at a deserted cabin the woods - only to be dismembered and possessed by evil forces that lie in wait.

In the films and this staged musical, one by one the teens succumb to Kanderean Demons, called from the cellar due to an inadvertent recitation of passages from ancient books written in blood and bound in human flesh, of course. Resisting these forces of evil as the story progresses is Ash (Jordan Dell Harris perfectly captures the swaggering heartthrob played in the films by Bruce Campbell.)

And like the films, Ash transforms into that iconic character we know and love, along the way replacing his left hand with a prosthetic chainsaw, wielding a double-barreled shotgun in his other, battling those Kandereans who inhabit the trees in the woods, the cellar, and even the bodies of his former friends.

All that, and singing and dancing, too – with some infectious tunes by a quartet of writers (Christopher Bond, Frank Cipolla, Melissa Morris and George Reinblatt are credited – and Oliver Townsend gets the credit as musical director.) The book by Reinblatt is funny – he is clearly an Evil Dead Head - though lyrics falter at times. Among the bigger standouts are the opening number as the group of five teens take off on their weekend getaway – and a number with some dancing trees. (Choreography is by Derek Van Barham.) Also charming is a duet by Ash and his girlfriend Linda (Kirby Gibson) about falling in love at S-Mart. 

The cabin itself also becomes possessed before the end, and an animatronic moosehead, squirrel and other figures, join the fun. Set, props and puppetry are by Jeremiah Barr.

Aficionados will recall that the original films Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 didn’t have much in the way of continuity. Evil Dead 2 was a reboot, the first half retelling and modifying the story of the original and the second half breaking new ground. But the movies were grounded in a sense of horror/humor that has not been lost in translation, and distilled into this amalgam the musical version gives us the true heart of the films. (My resident Evil Dead expert Kyran Esler provided exegisis on the show's film origins.)

Along with Jordan Dell Harris as Ash, the cast is strikingly good: Josh Kemper as the ever randy Scott; Kirby Gibson as Ash’s girlfriend Linda (eventually beheaded), Stevie Love in dual roles as Shelly and Annie. For an over-the-top performance Caitlin Jackson gets a shout-out – she is wonderful and it is a performance not to be missed. Recommended. Evil Dead: The Musical runs through February 16 at Pride Arts Center.

“Late Company” is the fairly literal title of a new play by Canadian playwright Jordan Tannahill. Presented by COR Theatre, Jessica Fisch directs the regional premiere at Pride Arts Center. The 80-minute play is a response to the uptick in teen suicides triggered by cyberbullying.

“Late Company” takes on the weighty issue of LGBT teen suicide. The play begins with political couple Michael (Paul Fagen) and Debora (Tosha Fowler) setting up for some dinner guests. Over the course of their cryptic conversation, we glean that their son has killed himself and the dinner guests are the parents of the bully they blame for their son’s suicide.

The implausibility of the situation is troubling. It’s hard to imagine that a grieving family would cordially invite over the parents of the bully they blame for the loss of their son. It’s even harder to imagine anyone taking that invitation. What transpires over the course of 80 minutes is a structurally unsound one-liner competition. Some highlights include “you were always more interested in the spin, than the spin cycle.”

This is not a play without heart. This is a play without a clear message. While most of us can generally agree that suicide is a heartbreaking thing to happen to any loved one, this play treats it as nearly incidental. The playwright struggles to flesh out a clear central argument. These characters are rarely having conversations, sometimes they’re just reading letters to each other. Great plays are exchanges of revelatory dialogue in which bigger issues are addressed. “Late Company” stays so specific to its own characters that it rarely acknowledges the outside world.

Tannahill’s play is ambitious and maybe more remarkable in other productions. The storyline is very relevant and has the opportunity to say much more than it does in its current form. There’s a lot to discuss on this topic and plenty of work still to do to prevent teen suicide. The playwright would be wise to dig a little deeper than anger in order to express that moral.

At COR Theatre through July 16th at Pride Arts Center. 4147 N Broadway St

Wow! Get ready to be entertained and blown away by two men, with eighteen, yes eighteen, costume changes in a 105-minute play with lead mother figure Bertha Bumiller played by Anthony Whitaker in drag and Grant Drager playing most of the younger male and female characters (Arles, Didi, Stanley, Charlene, Jodi, Petey, Vera and Dixie). These two talents make for one hilarious and yet, at times, disturbing piece of theater now that Trump is President and the animal and human cruelty is perpetrated against each person who loves in the “the third smallest town in Texas”, a dump “where the Lion’s Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never died.”

As announced on the local radio show the winning school essays include “Human Rights—Why Bother?” and “The Other Side of Bigotry”. And so begins Deep in the Heart of Tuna, the latest in the “Tuna” series, currently running at Pride Arts Center in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.

I was unaware that adapter Ed Howard and original author-performers Joe Sears and Jaston Williams (Greater Tuna, A Tuna Christmas, and Red, White, and Tuna) had revived this new play from pieces of the trilogy above though it didn't affect my understanding of the hard lives these people live while having little money to keep up with their neighbors. People wearing third generation hand me downs and living on a farm-like house where the youngest and most sensitive son has ten dogs and a few kitty cats literally following him to school and back until he can find them adoption homes.  

I found the staging and lighting brilliant with audience members on both sides of the intimate theater performing space, putting us right in Bertha’s kitchen. Adding the finishing touch, are the costumes and wigs which are truly amazing and used to their ultimate. When I found that neither actor had a dresser to help them make these quick changes, I was even more impressed. Still knowing there were only two cast members, they played the men and women so touchingly and realistically funny, I could have sworn there was a cast of five people or more hidden in the wings. 

The town of Tuna can sometimes be a scary place where the "smut snatchers" a local anti-porn group try to expose the dirty words in Dickens Christmas Carol, including "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman", because you know, "Merry Gentlemen" is a little too close to gay gentleman in Tuna, Texas. 

The smut snatchers are busy cutting apart the children’s' Christmas pageant, which they have worked on for months. It is eventually canceled by the local school official and local government because the school does not have the funds to pay its electric bill, despite pleas to let the children perform, in part because one child needs this performance to complete his reform school probation and leave town without a criminal record (for painting over street signs). The lights are shut off and the show does not go on. At the same time a Christmas Phantom is on the loose in the neighborhood destroying outdoor holiday displays. There’s a lot going on in this small town. 

Anthony Whitaker's multilayered characterization of the mother figure as she struggles to make ends meet in this piece reminds me so much of my dear friend Louie Anderson's spectacular mother characterization in his new hit show "Baskets". 

Grant Drager, a newcomer to the New American Folk Theatre ensemble, plays the rest of the male and female characters with mind blowing accuracy and such poignancy. For his outstanding work in this two-man show, Drager really is deserving of a Jeff Award, as well as Whitaker.

Though many of the characters are run-of-the-mill, low-income Southern folks with seemingly good hearts, at times, the extreme stereotype Texas hard core right wingers are also demonstrated in the play. It's mind boggling that the small-mindedness of the latter mentioned characters of this tiny town exist in real life, boasting about and bringing forth soul crushing ideas along with anti-gay sentiments and anti-animal rights, i.e. and "Tuna" takes a few good shots. A great line that represents that type of mentality in this play is when Didi, who runs the local gun shop for her mother, says, "If we don't have a gun (or poison) to kill what you want, that thing is supernatural!" This show can make great but serious fun of that particular group on a few occasions though it mainly celebrates small town warmth, kindness and simplicity. Though "Tuna" often pokes fun of small town life in the South, it is done with affection, actually endearing us to several of the characters even more so.  

This satire of rural life is highly recommended for two of the most versatile and thought provoking performances in this play about a dysfunctional family and the small town problems that arise. Directed by Derek Van Barham, New American Folk Theatre's Deep in the Heart of Tuna is being performed at Pride Arts Center through March 5th. For show information or tickets, click here. Y'all hurry now!