Displaying items by tag: City Lit Theatre

“The House of Ideas,” directed by Terry McCabe, is an aptly named recount of the rise of Marvel Comics and its two driving forces: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The Marvel Universe has indeed become a dominating force in creative media, spawning blockbuster films, hit TV series, and a world of uniquely individual and even flawed superheroes that differ from everything that came before.

Lee’s role, which began as an office assistant at Marvel predecessor Timely Comics, evolved into that of editor, writing captions and balloon dialog for the comic book frames. Over time, he became a driving creative force, co-developing with Kirby the Incredible Hulk and the Fantastic Four, and with various artists Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Black Panther, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and Black Widow.

This is the third part of playwright Mark Pracht’s “four-color trilogy” tracing pivotal elements in the rise of the comics industry. Having had the good fortune to catch Pracht’s stunning “Innocence of Seduction” last year (number two in the series) I was on the lookout for this final installment.

Brian Plocharczyk as Jack Kirby and Carrie Hardin as Roz Kirby, in “The House of Ideas.”

Familiar to millions around the globe from his cameos in Marvel movies, Lee is played here with complete panache by Bryan Breau. The chronological structure of the play traces the frequently contentious relationship between Lee and Kirby (played convincingly by Brian Plocharczyk). Kirby perennially felt his seminal contributions through art to forming comic characters, and the creation of worlds they inhabited was underappreciated by publishers, and by Lee.

Lee comes off as an inveterate and skillful self-promoter, and he was better able to garner credit for the comic works than Kirby - the creator of Captain America years before Lee was involved.
We see Lee and Kirby during WWII, and also meet publishers and businessmen with whom Lee and Kirby tussled for intellectual property rights as the comic businesses changed hands. We also meet their wives, strong-willed women who supported their husbands through thick and thin. The British-born Joan Lee (Kate Black-Spense) is much more calculating and inventive in giving Stan Lee guidance; Roz Kirby (Carrie Hardin) merely reflects Kirby’s anger.

In Act II, we see Stan Lee in gray pompadour and big glasses - the image familiar from films, and caricatured in his comic book essays, Stan’s Soapbox. While his relationship with Kirby ebbs and flows, a constant background tension, Lee is always on the make, moving forward to advance Marvel from comics to other media. As my companion at the show noted, the true power of the play is when these two egos of differing types but similar proportions collide, building the pressure against each other, bringing the tension from background, to subtext, and inevitably to climax.
In the end, a visual moment resolves the irreconcilable differences in these men: a photographer silently frames a photo of the two, and with a flash of a camera bulb, the pent up emotional struggle dissipates, and the audience experiences an emotional resolution.

Comics, along with banjo music, jazz, musical theater and mystery stories, is a uniquely American artform, according to science fiction script writer Harlan Ellison. “House of Ideas” gives a fount of comic book genius, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, their due. Recommended, especially for lovers of the comic genre, “House of Ideas” plays through October 6, 2024 at City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Chicago

Every once in a while I think about how lucky I am to live in the Chicagoland. A short drive or train ride away from the third largest US city that boasts more theatres than New York City. On any given night, during any season, one can find multiple theatre options to explore: immersive theatre, comedy, dramas, neighborhood gems, experimental plays, Broadway testers, classics and fan favorites, and never before seen world premiere plays. There is no shortage of good theatre in Chicago. This past weekend I was fortunate enough to see a world premiere of a play that captures the intelligence, wit, humor, and heart of a famous meeting of the minds. Wells And Welles envisions a conversation between two of the most celebrated and notable men in history, Orson Welles and H.G. Wells.

In 1940, the 25-year-old Orson Welles, previously known as a stage and radio actor, had achieved widespread fame for his 1938 radio play adaptation of the novel The War of The Worlds. The show was produced without the participation or even the permission of the novel’s author H.G. Wells, a slight which much angered the novelist. When Wells and Welles happened to be staying in the same San Antonio hotel while on separate lecture tours in October 1940, Welles had an opportunity to meet with Welles and make peace with him.

The world premiere play Wells and Welles by Chicago playwright Amy Crider images what might have been said in a private meeting between the 75-year-novelist, historian, and futurist. The dialogue is sharp and witty, capturing the heart and soul of 1940s US slang and transatlantic accents and gentlemanly British mannerisms and turns-of-phrases. The minimal set offers no distraction for the audience’s eye, relying solely on the delivery and pacing of the actors. Performed by two incredible Chicago actors who look like they embody the famous authors and creators, Pete Blatchford as H.G. Wells and Gerrit Wilford as Orson Welles effortlessly assume their roles, engaging in smart, witty, and sharp theoretical and practical conversations on ownership, creation of legacies and art, science and magic, and what is truly at the heart of every man. Crider does a superb job weaving fact with fiction to envision what these two astounding figures in the humanities would have discussed on the rainy evening in San Antonio. Blatchford and Wilford are so convincing as the famous Wells and Welles that in a moment where real audio is used from the 1940 interview, it takes a moment to register that it is the real broadcast and not reenacted for the play. It's that touch of magic that raises goosebumps on your arm and truly add to the wonderment of the production. 4

It's not every play where two actors can captivate an audience for 90 minutes and make it feel like it wasn’t long enough. It’s also not every day you can see a world premiere of a play that will no doubt be picked up by theatre companies across the country. It is well worth your time to see Wells And Welles and experience this world premiere production. In a time where the real war of the worlds could be happening any day now and radio is now what we stream, don’t miss your chance to see this incredible play.

Wells And Welles runs through August 11^th at Lucid Theater Company at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue on the second floor of the historic Edgewater Presbyterian Church. Tickets are available at www.eventbrite.com.

"The Night of the Hunter" is not a feel-good play, but it is a very good one, exceedingly well performed and produced. Playing at City Lit Theatre through December 3 it was adapted for the stage by Shawna Tucker from the novel of the same name by Davis Grubb.

It is based on the true story of Harry Powers, a serial killer hanged in 1932 in Clarksburg, WV. 

John Harper (Alex Albrecht), driven to despair in the Great Depression, impulsively robs a bank, killing two people. He stumbles home and gives the $10,000 he stole (an exorbitant sum in 1932) to his nine year old son John and little Pearl, who’s not yet four. Before surrendering himself to the police he extracts from young John a pledge to always protect both his little sister and the money, cunningly hidden inside Pearl’s favorite dolly.

Harper’s cellmate in Moundsville Penitentiary is Powers (Bryan Breau), a con man who murders widows once he’s reaped their savings. Unable to winkle the secret from Harper before he’s hanged, Powers is eventually released, and promptly heads for Harper's tiny Appalachian hometown to try his luck with the widow.

Kendal Romero and Bryan Breau in "Night of the Hunter" at City Lit Theatre.

The struggling young widow Willa (Kendal Romero) is waiting tables at the cafe – the hub for town gossip – and speculation on “Where did he hide the money?” has become a town obsession. Willa swears her husband never told her, but most don’t believe her, especially Powers, and he proceeds to charm her, along with the rest of the town. Bryan Breau is indeed tantalizing as Preacher; one wonders, with café owners Icey (Sheila Willis) and Ben (Alex Albrecht) at Willa’s hesitation to accept his proposal.

Mary Margaret McCormack is full-grown and taller than Pearl’s ‘elder’ brother John (Jacqui Touchet), yet she plays the role of Pearl so credibly that one sees not the actor but the little girl. McCormack eloquently depicts the turmoil and distress of a little bitty girl burdened with far too big a secret, especially as, unlike John, Pearl is enchanted with her "new daddy." But she trusts her big brother, even when she’s sure John is wrong.

Jacqui Touchet’s John was just as persuasive: a youngster poised at the transition from childhood into manhood, forced too early into the role of "man of the house," only to be challenged by a man John neither likes nor trusts. Touchet gave an authentic picture of a boy trying to protect his mother and little sister from a man that everyone insists is a good man, a Man of God; a “Preacher.”

Sheila Willis was brilliant as Icey, a scold and a quidnunc with the classic heart of gold and generally good intuition … except about Preacher. Other townsfolk – Ruby, Miz Cunningham and Birdie – were variously played by Rich Cotovsky and Simmery Branch.

I was impressed by Kendal Romero’s interpretation of Willa as an ineffectual woman whose instinct to refuse Preacher capitulates under peer pressure, only to be verified on their wedding night, when Preacher declares their union will be platonic. Evidently he’s not quite ruthless enough to bed a woman he intends to defraud and then kill – what a guy, huh?

Willa is naturally disheartened by his rejection, but under his high-falutin’ pretexts and vindications (not neglecting to mention an Apple from a certain Tree), her disappointment and chagrin mutate into shame at her own depravity. She seeks to purge herself by active participation in the Preacher’s tent revivals where her testimonies, a savory amalgam of titillation and self-loathing, garner huge collections. But it's still not enough for Preacher; he’s haunted by the image of that $10,000.

Director Brian Pastor divided the action into multiple brief vignettes separated by commentary from the Narrator Shawna Tucker, who also wrote the stage adaptation. Set Designer Jeremiah Barr built a very simple set, ably lit by Lighting Designer Liz Cooper, whose raised platform created multiple levels and facilitated rapid transitions using only a couple of benches and a café table. The apparel chosen by Costume Designer Rachel S Parent effectively illustrated each character: ‘accidental’ glimpses of Pearl’s little-girl underpanties complemented McCormack’s portrayal of the child, and dropping Willa’s hemline below that of other townswomen clinched her irresolute persona.

I’ve seen the work of many violence choreographers and Paul Chakrin’s was top shelf, and Stage Manager Ayla Sweet choreographed the swift scene changes expertly. The Depression-era Appalachian accents were adroitly piloted by Dialects Coach Carrie Hardin.

City Lit Theater artistic director Terry McCabe brings us an inspired pairing with Two Days in Court, a double-bill of one act plays with a legal theme - and pieces not often seen.

The Devil & Daniel Webster is a 1938 play about the famed 19th century orator who reclaims the soul of a client who has ill-advisedly sold it to the devil; and Gilbert & Sullivan’s breakthrough 1875 operetta, Trial By Jury, brings us a woman who sues for breech of promise when her fiancé abandons her for another woman.

The legal themes aside, the works couldn’t be more different. Gilbert & Sullivan serve up sly wit in a marvelous parody of society, and skillful mimicry of operatic forms, in a highly polished, high caliber musical work. The Devil & Daniel Webster is interesting as a bit of Americana, a decidedly rustic and really rather primitive morality play that originated as a 1936 story in the Saturday Evening Post by Stephen Vincent Benet.

Despite being stilted and laced with phrases like “Tarnation!” The Devil & Daniel Webster is also packed with still-biting commentary on American social foibles, and a backcountry wit. (It’s set in rural New Hampshire sometime after 1830.) And it trades on the abiding respect and affection felt for Daniel Webster, whose oratorical skills were legendary – and thus the reason the character was tapped to argue the case to save a soul. The story is also a cultural meme, reappearing regularly including in a Simpson’s episode and in a video game by Cuphead.

Terry McCabe added one more insightful touch: he found a cast that could sing, dance, and mine period language for its humor. Trained voices are required for any Gilbert & Sullivan piece, and this cast has them. To bind the two works in Two Days in Court more securely, McCabe inserted two songs from a 1938 folk opera version of The Devil & Daniel Webster - a nice touch.

City Lit does a lot with limited props and sets, and successfully relies on its devoted players who turned in strong performances. The polished pro Bill Chamberlain, as Daniel Webster, displayed his notable voice in “I’ve Got a Ram,” a song from the opera version of the play. Playing the Devil – known as Scratch – with an otherworldly style, was Lee Wechman. Though at certain moments his style seemed a little bit out of synch with the rest of the players, overall it worked.

On the Gilbert & Sullivan side we had a chance to really hear some voices, with Ryan Smetana a standout as Counsel for the Plaintiff and Sarah Beth Tanner as the Plaintiff. The one-act Gilbert & Sullivan work left me wanting more – a good feeling to depart with from any production. City Lit Theatre’s Two Days in Court runs through May 26. It ‘s highly recommended for those who don’t want to miss two rarely-played works that are important cultural touchstones.

An alluring play with a less familiar name - Fuente Ovejuna – is delivering a startlingly great moment of theater. Written in 1619 by Lope de Vega – the prolific writer who is considered the foremost playwright of Spain’s golden age - it is based on a true story that had become legendary even in its own day.

Set in 1476, it tells the story of a village in Spain, Fuente Ovejuna, captured by loyalists to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in a battle for the crown of Castile. As the story unfolds, Commander Fernán Gómez returns victorious from battle and is feted by the villagers, who shower him with gifts – though not gold and luxuries, but simple fare from their farm town - food, livestock, and crockery.

But Gomez (Varris Holmes) is a tyrant, and he also claims as spoils of victory the young women of the town for himself and his solders. His henchmen Ortuno (Jimmy Mann) and Flores (Ty Carter) represent what is coming to be called toxic masculinity, though when the play was written in the 16th century (and onward if we are being honest), it was common male behavior.

Gradually intimidating the townsfolk until they are afraid to resist, Gomez finally crosses the line when he accosts Laurencia – a self-possessed and what we would call today “empowered” woman - and played with compelling vigor by Carolyn Plurad. Through the build-up to that moment, Laurencia and her companion Pasquala (Kristen Alesia), assert themselves against the increasingly forcible entreaties of Gomez and his soldiers. Thwarted, Gomez beats her fiancé and carries Laurencia away - on the very day of their wedding.

Though subjected to attempted rape (medieval Droit du seigneur allowed overlords to have their way with young women under their dominion), Laurencia makes a daring escape, then shames the leading men of Fuente Ovejuna, and in a dramatic exhortation, rallies the men and significantly, the women, to overthrow the tyrant Commander. 

We have City Lit Theatre to thank for helping familiarize us with Lope de Vega, who is revered just a notch below Cervantes in classic Spanish literature. The work is like a highly evolved morality play as it tracks the arc of the historic event, a blow by blow direct narrative. But de Vega invests what are presumably vaguely known historical characters with fully developed, colorful and likeable personalities. 

Standout performances by Rob Garbowski as Esteban, the town magistrate; Jimmy Mann as the Inquisitor and soldier Ortuno; Val Gerard Garcia, Jr. as townsman Mengo; and Dan McGeehan as jurist Manrique. But without question the most powerful performance is Carolyn Plurad as Laurencia – who brings to the role a rousing power. Her delivery will remind you of one of Shakespeare’s heroines.

Terry McCabe, who adapted and directed the work, provides an amazing evocation of the village center, with a continuous cavalcade of performers – 16 actors in 20 roles, including a musical band, with the requisite pool and working fountain in the town square. All this takes place in the tiny quarters of City Lit Theater’s space on Bryn Mawr. De Vega's play has a living heritage: In its home town, it is performed regularly as part of a theater festival, with 150 of the townsfolk in the cast.

Much more than a historic artifact or literary novelty, Fuente Ovejuna is a something quite special, like a fine art house movie – and for that reason comes recommended. See it at City Lit Theater through February 17. www.citylit.org

The parallels between "The Good Fight's” retelling of the British Suffrage Movement -  and the Women's March going on in all countries around the globe now are truly uncanny and a little bit frightening. The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).British women's suffrage movement coined the powerful phrase “Deeds, not words" in response to the 50-year-long refusal by Parliament to allow women to vote in the UK. 

Babes with Blades latest production, “The Good Fight” is a stark reminder of today’s issues at hand. History is doomed to repeat itself, and in Babes with Blades latest production, “The Good Fight” at City Lit Theatre the already revved up Chicago audience finds a thought provoking reminder of yesterday's issues which are still being fought for today. 

There are many interesting, and also tragic, scenes that are presented well in this production. WSPU members were regularly subjected to police brutality like being beaten and arrested while demonstrating peacefully or simply selling their Women's Press newspaper, "Votes for Women".  The aging leader of the WSPU, Emmeline Pankhurst (Jean Marie Koons), and other members were arrested repeatedly under an actual law with the degrading and disgusting title “The Cat and Mouse Act".

"The Cat and Mouse Act" allowed police to not only repeatedly arrest and imprison members like Pankhurst but also to brutally force feed them while in prison when they chose to go on hunger strikes. As one character in the play mentions, "You are never the same after the force feeding." 

Force feeding was done by restraining the female prisoner on a medical table by her arms and legs then applying metal clamps to her mouth and teeth to open them so that a feeding tube, which often tore open their vocal cords in the process, could be forcibly shoved down their throats in an effort to punish them. This created a hollow appeasement to the public that they were being "fed by prison guards" in order to save their lives. 

Another fascinating and little known story is told about the group of fighting Suffragette’s called "The Bodyguard", a group of specially trained women who learned the martial art of Jiu Jitsu in order to protect their leader from the police brutality and repeated arrests at each WSPU demonstration. 

The fact that these early suffragettes NEEDED to learn to fight using hand to hand combat just shows clearly how violently they were abused by the police and lawmakers at the time. It's too bad this production didn't get a mention in about the South Asian British suffragettes without whom this battle would not have been won. 

Some scenes were real reminders of how male autocrats use physical force to rule over their subjects. Playwright Anne Bertram includes scenes about Parliament arguments over whether to allow women the vote, which included arguments that the women's hats would be too large to see over if women were voted into government. Another argued the stressing of women's physical weakness as an indicator that they must be ruled over because men are born capable of physically subduing women, etc.  

Although this quote is not in the play it was one of these infuriating responses that served to agitate the movement completely when in June of 1908 the WSPU held a 300,000-strong "Women's Sunday" rally in Hyde Park. The suffragettes argued for women's suffrage with the Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. The Prime Minister agreed with their argument but "was obliged to do nothing at all about it" and so urged the women to "go on pestering" and to exercise "the virtue of patience".

Some of the women present had been virtuously patiently fighting for their rights for FIFTY years and so the advice to "go on pestering” was felt as an unbelievably patronizing and disgustingly inhumane response from the Prime Minister, which spawned the more militant actions to come. 

One of the most interesting things I did not know about the WSPU and the formation of " The Bodyguard" is that the WSPU members debated  among themselves whether or not to return violence with violence or continue to resist peacefully, doing only damage to abandoned buildings and closed stores in order to avoid using violence to defend their aging leader and other young members from  the  physical destruction of lives through the "Cat and Mouse" torture and release legislation.This production mentions the interesting and bitterly ironic fact that Parliament also passed another legislation protecting it's armed forces that forbade women attending WSPU peaceful marches or protests to wear "hat pins" to fasten their hats because so many police were "poked with hat pins while attempting to arrest protesters that the hat pins were now considered by baton and gun wielding policemen as weapons! 

Hence, the brilliant and necessary formation of " The Bodyguard" which utilized the peaceful art of jujitsu; one of the only martial arts in the world which uses ONLY the energy of an attacker’s momentum to respond to and end the attackers violent actions. 

The essential scenes for this production directed with passion by Elizabeth Lovelady and fight choreographer Gaby Labotka made great use of the relatively small space for so much physical action and complex action scenes. I loved the use of the sumptuous period costumes and official colors of the WSPU. As is stated, “In 1908 the WSPU adopted purple, white, and green as its official colours. These colours were chosen because Purple...stands for the royal blood that flows in the veins of every suffragette...white stands for purity in private and public life...green is the colour of hope and the emblem of spring."

Some of the British accents could use some work because it was a little bit distracting to hear them come and go within a couple cast members. Each member of this ensemble did a great job expressing the fever, excitement and anguish of meeting each day’s challenges and humiliations. 

Emmeline Pankhurst was played beautifully with great wisdom and pride by Jean Marie Koon. Grace Roe, a jailed WSPU member and one of the founders of the movement, was played with wonderful sensitivity and forceful energy by Arielle Leverett. 

I enjoyed watching this play surrounded by Chicagoan's who are right now marching 300,000 strong downtown to protest all GOP of the human rights being eroded by the current Trump administration. 

The fact that in 2018, it has been less than 100 years since women have been given the right to vote and the fact that not only are women still fighting for equal pay, they are also still fighting to keep their rights to abortion, healthcare and protection from career ending sexual harassment while an accused sexual harasser of the worst kind  has been " voted" somehow into the highest office in the land, makes this production a must see for all who are struggling daily to keep up their own energy physically and emotionally to fight "the good fight".  

I highly recommend taking your sons and daughter to see this informative and sadly, still VERY relevant, production to show them how long it takes to win this type of good fight and also that the good fight has not yet been entirely won. 

“The Good Fight” is being performed through February 17th at City Lit Theatre - http://babeswithblades.org/winter-2018-good-fight/.

Bard Fiction retells the cult classic Pulp Fiction, transplanting the story in time and space to London 1614. Cool cars become carriages, motorcycles become stallions, guns become swords, a quarter pounder becomes cottage pie and drugs…. well they stay drugs! Written in Shakespearean prose by Ben Tallen, Aaron Greer, Brian Watson-Jones, and the members of the Pulp Bard Wiki, it recreates the Quentin Tarantino hit a truly creative way.

Presented by Commedia Beauregard at the City Lit Theater, the play follows the unconventional and somewhat disjointed storyline of Pulp Fiction very closely.  If you are not familiar with Pulp Fiction, this may make the play hard to follow.  Similar to watching a Shakespeare play, it can be tough to really catch all of the intricate dialogue but if you listen closely it will be sure to have you laughing as you catch the inspired translation from the original. 

The acting was well executed all around with Julius (Steven Royce) and Vincenzio (Josh Zagoren) being true standouts and really channeling the original roles played by Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta. Accents were a bit all over the place but everyone was committed to their characters. The costumes by Jackie Davies, based on the original design by kClare Kemock, took modern textiles like jeans and terrycloth bathrobes, and converted them into Elizabethan era designs. My initial impression was that it was a cheap, budget version of proper Shakespearian costumes, but they grew on me as the show went on and I started to appreciate the homage to the early 90’s fashion of the original.

City Lit Theater is a small black box style theater and the play was staged with very limited set pieces. Produced as 16 scenes, they used a few tables, benches and chairs to set the stage. The original movie had no score but instead used an eclectic mix of music, with a particular focus on surf music. For Bard Fiction, Joe Griffen brings back some of the iconic songs of the movie that sound like they are being played on a harpsichord and a lute, helping to transition us from scene to scene.

Before seeing this show, I re-watched Pulp Fiction. Thanks to that, I was able to pick up on some more subtle jokes and appreciate the unique “translation”. It was an entertaining show and will be sure to please fans of the movie. Those who have not seen the original, or did not like the original, I would recommend either skip this or better yet watch the movie on Netflix before catching the show. It will certainly heighten the experience.

Bard Fiction will be playing in Chicago at the City Lit Theater through August 2^nd.  Purchase your tickets at www.cbtheatre.org or by calling the box office at (312) 487-1893.