The “Chicago theater season” is as anachronistic as our Columbia House Record Club membership. August was simply a lull before the crush of Fall openings coming to major institutions and their well-funded houses, who'll receive sufficient ink and column inches in the daily and weekly papers. We’re turning an eye to those less heralded venues doubling as rental space, educational resource, and meeting locale. None of these theaters are named after deep-pocketed donors, but that... more ›

Here’s what you missed while you were gawking at fallen trees and the troubled lives of Michael Vick and Owen Wilson: The first signs that fall’s on the way: cooler temps, fading leaves and university gallery art openings. Two shows open today at Columbia College’s Glass Curtain Gallery and C33, and a new exhibit of Carol Jackson’s ‘signatureless’ work opens at UIC’s Gallery 400 tomorrow. When Thursday’s storms cut power to Belmont Avenue businesses, Bailiwick... more ›

Now that Spidey 3 and Transformers have opened and iPhone mania is starting to subside, it’s time to find a new place to direct all that geek-out energy. Enter Chicago Tap Theatre’s latest storybook show, The Hourglass in the Stop-Time Chronicles, a CTT collaboration with comic-book artist Andrew Pepoy. Fans of the genre don’t need to be reminded that local boy and Loyola grad Pepoy has inked Spiderman, Superman, Batman, and The Simpsons comix, among... more ›

Here's a trivia question for you: what is North America's oldest competitive international film festival? Answer: the Chicago International Film Festival, which has been going strong for 43 years. A lot has changed since 1964 (well OK, there's still a Daley in the mayor's office). For a great peek at the past there's nothing better than the photographs of Gary Stochl. But, we digress. Much of the credit for CIFF's longevity must go to Michael... more ›

This past weekend reinforced why we live in Chicago. Everything may still be brown and muddy, but the fact remains that the blue skies and warm sun reminded us why this city rules. Here are two more reasons why Chicago is awesome, just in case this weekend wasn’t enough for you. more ›

Here's what we can tell you about Redmoon Theater's From Nothing, a "non-theatrical theater event" opening Wednesday. It's different. It's a spectacle presented at Redmoon Central, the company's new West Loop space. Timed, ticketed admission will limit the crowds to 50 people at a time. It's replacing their annual Winter Pageant. And it's got a really large design team. more ›

Site specific theater? Whatever do you mean? Bottle Can Draft is the latest offering from the Sandbox Theatre Project , and it brings together the elements of actors, audience and space in a way that breaks out of the constraints of the way we normally see theater. more ›

Note: This is Part 2 of an occasional series. Part 1 can be found here. Theater companies have been working overtime lately, killing a forest to print their brochures and flooding inboxes with exciting emails—You Just Can’t Miss This Season!, We’ve Got Stuff You Can’t See Anywhere Else!, and Its’ Our Anniversary! Are You Going To Stand Me Up On Our Anniversary?!?! It’s a lot of clutter and noise, but it’s far more interesting than... more ›