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Billy Masters
"I wasn't trying to have his career because he sings, he dances. I'm barely a single threat. I'm just an actor."—Tuc Watkins, explaining how he emulated the career trajectory of Kevin Kline— to the best of ...
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SHOWBIZ Jane Lynch, Dwayne Johnson, 'Star Trek,' Beyonce, Shea Coulee
NBC has renewed the Jane Lynch-hosted game show Weakest Link for a third season, Variety noted. Season three will run for 20 episodes. The series is based on a British format distributed by BBC Studios that ...
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Casting announced for queer-centered play 'St. Sebastian'
Refracted Theatre Company announced casting for its world premiere of Andrew Kramer's dark comedy St. Sebastian, directed by Artistic Director Graham Miller. The play features Nolan Robinson, Mack Spotts and ...
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Angelica Ross to be first trans lead in Broadway's 'Chicago'
Trans actors have made all sorts of impressions on Broadway, but former Chicagoan Angelica Ross has set a precedent. Next month, the leading role of fame-hungry murderess Roxie Hart will be played by Angelica Ross. Ross ...
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PASSAGES Chicago Latino Theater Alliance Executive Director Myrna Salazar dies at 75
The Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA) announced that co-founder and Executive Director Myrna Salazar passed away Aug. 3—two weeks after celebrating her 75th birthday. According to a press release, "Salazar ...
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THEATER 'Cabaret' coming to Metropolis Arts on Sept. 15
Musical Broadway classic and hit film Cabaret re-creates the decadent and complicated world of 1929 Berlin at the Arlington Heights venue Metropolis Performing Arts Centre on Sept. 15-Oct. 22. Cabaret is Kander and Ebb's legendary musical ...
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Oak Park Festival Theatre's 'The Winter's Tale' running thru Aug. 20
Oak Park Festival Theatre's The Winter's Tale will run at Austin Gardens (167 Forest Ave., Oak Park) through Sunday, Aug. 20. The Winter's Tale marks Oak Park Festival Theatre's return to the stage after a devastating ...
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Story Jam and Cerqua Rivera collaboration on July 27 at Artifact Events
Story Jam's next storytelling show—in a series of monthly shows at Artifact Events —will take place Wed., July 27, at 7:30 p.m. at 4325 N. Ravenswood Ave. "Living Truth: True Stories" is a storytelling collaboration with ...
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SHOWBIZ Broadway, 'Game of Thrones' prequel, Dexter Mayfield, Shania Twain
The Broadway League announced that theaters will continue their recently adopted mask-optional policy for audiences at least through August, Deadline reported. The mask-optional policy—in which audiences are encouraged but not ...
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THEATER 'The Mamalogues' in Evanston on July 23-Aug. 7
The Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre will present Lisa B. Thompson's The Mamalogues—an evening of monologues about the experience of parenting while Black, unmarried and middle-class in the age of anxiety—from July 23 to Aug. 7 at the Noyes ...
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THEATER 'The Devil Wears Prada' cast members dish about musical's Chicago debut
"All right, everyone! Gird your loins" as a stage musical version of The Devil Wears Prada is set for a world premiere in the Windy City this July as part of the lineup for Broadway in Chicago. Tony Award winner Beth ...
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SHOWBIZ Warhol/Basquiat, 'Raven's Home,' Jonathan Bailey, Broadway, Ricky Martin
Video below
The Collaboration—Anthony McCarten's hit London play about artists Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat—will make its U.S. premiere on Broadway this fall, with Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope as the two ...
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'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in Chicago parks through Aug. 21
For Midsommer Flight's annual summer production of Shakespeare in Chicago parks, the company will celebrate its 10th anniversary by revisiting the play that in 2012 began the company's 10-year run as an arts partner with Chicago ...
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Streisand interpreter Steven Brinberg at The Acorn on July 31
Celebrating Barbra Streisand's 80th birthday, Steven Brinberg will perform the live musical performance "Simply Barbra" on Sunday, July 31, at The Acorn, 107 Generation Dr., Three Oaks, Michigan (approximately 70 miles from Chicago). ...
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THEATER Lookingglass event 'Sunset 1919' taking place July 27
Lookingglass Theatre Company begins its 35th season with "Sunset 1919: A Ritual" on Wed., July 27, at the Eugene Williams Memorial Marker, 125 Ft. Dearborn Dr., at 7 p.m. The location is near 29th Street, on ...
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THEATER REVIEW A Fine Feathered Murder: A Miss Marbled Mystery
A Fine Feathered Murder: A Miss Marbled Mystery. Playwright: David Cerda At: Hell In a Handbag Productions at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St. Tickets: $29-$65. Runs through: July 31 If your source material is ...
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Kevin Spacey pleads not guilty in London in sexual-assault case
On July 14, two-time Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey pled not guilty of sexual assault in London's Central Criminal Court, according to WAGM-TV. The former House of Cards star, who ran London's Old Vic theater between 2004 ...
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A Red Orchid Theater announces 30th season
-- From a press release
CHICAGO — A Red Orchid Theatre announces its 30th season, kicking off the with world premiere of The Malignant Ampersands by Ensemble Member Brett Neveu, directed by Ensemble Member Dado (September 29 — November 20, 2022). ...
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THEATER August Wilson's 'Fences' running through Aug. 6 at Theater Wit
American Blues Theater is running Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson's Fences at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., through Saturday, Aug. 6. This drama is about Troy Maxson, a former star of the Negro Baseball League ...
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Hannah Gadsby at Chicago Theatre on July 13
Australian LGBTQ+ comedian Hannah Gadsby will bring her "Body of Work" show to The Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St., on Wed., July 13, at 7 p.m. Gadsby took the comedy world by storm with the ...
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THEATER REVIEW Hurricane Diane
Title: Hurricane Diane. Playwright: Elizabeth George At: Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave; https://www.theaterwit.org/ . Tickets: $25-$48. Runs through: July 31 If you had an exceptionally audacious lit professor, you probably read The Bacchae for your ...
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THEATER Theo Ubique hosting production about Elizabeth Taylor
Evanston's Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, 721 Howard St., will run Call Me Elizabeth—an acclaimed one-woman show about the early life of Elizabeth Taylor—on Aug. 20 (at 7:30 p.m.) and 21 (at 2:30 p.m.) only. The production ...
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Production based on Larry Kramer speech at Center on July 22-31
Open Space Arts announced its inaugural production of The Kramer Project, directed and adapted by David Zak from activist Larry Kramer's watershed speech "The Tragedy of Today's Gays." This will be the first production for Open ...
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SHOWBIZ Elliot Page, NPH, Madonna, Chita Rivera, Jennifer Lopez
Elliot Page talked with talk-show host Seth Meyers about how her Netflix show The Umbrella Academy incorporated the actor's own personal transition into season three of the series, Deadline noted. "With Steve Blackman, the showrunner of ...
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Writers Theatre's 2022-23 season to include 'Tiger Style!,' 'Once' and other productions
-- From a press release
Glencoe, IL—Writers Theatre Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma and Interim Artistic Director Bobby Kennedy announce the company's 2022/23 four-play season, to include Mike Lew's Tiger Style!, directed by Brian Balcom; ...
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Goodman Theatre running musical 'Life After' through July 17
Goodman Theatre is running the musical Life After through Sunday, July 17. With humor and wit, this "luminous new musical…lush, poetic and surprisingly funny" (The San Diego Union-Tribune) explores how people move through and live with ...
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Billy Masters
"u don't know my alphabet."—Sexy Lukas Gage (from The White Lotus; Love, Victor; and the rebooted Queer as Folk) tweets his response to criticism that Hollywood shouldn't hire him to play LGBTQIA+ roles. When asked to ...
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WORLD Pride disruption, trans journalists, Tunisian play, marriage bills
Turkish police officers carrying clear-plastic riot shields, wielding batons and deploying pepper powder balls as well as tear gas violently broke up a Pride parade that Middle East Technical University students organized in the capital of ...
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SHOWBIZ 'Lightyear,' celebrity event, LGBT runner, Mariah Carey
Video below
Pixar's latest film Lightyear is hitting theaters, and it has a special moment for gay fans—a same-sex kiss between the character Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba) and her female partner—that almost didn't happen, Out Magazine note ...
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Steep Theatre's race-centered 'Paris' running June 17-July 23
Steep Theatre, 1044 W. Berwyn Ave., will run the Eboni Booth work Paris on June 17-July 23. Jonathan Berry will direct. Returning home to the small town of Paris, Vermont, Emmie tries to make ends meet ...
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PERFORMANCE 'Moonset Sunrise' at Navy Pier on June 16 and 18
Collaboraction announced that Moonset Sunrise, its 25th-anniversary production, with live performances on June 16 and 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Beat Kitchen's new Bar Sol on Navy Pier, 700 E. Grand Ave. Through healing ritual, storytelling, ...
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Queer-themed plays win Tonys; Hudson reaches EGOT status
On June 12, the 75th annual Tony Awards were held to honor the top performances from the theater industry. The event—hosted by LGBTQ+ Oscar winner/Tony nominee Ariana DeBose at New York City's Radio City Music Hall—followed ...
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SHOWBIZ Jodie Comer, 'Queer As Folk,' trans film, Tom of Finland photos
Jodie Comer—the Emmy- and BAFTA-winning actress perhaps best known for playing LGBTQ+ assassin Villanelle on BBC America's Killing Eve—will make her Broadway debut next spring in Prima Facie, a new play by Suzie Miller, Deadline noted. ...
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Theo Ubique marks 25th-anniversary season with four musicals
-- From a press release
CHICAGO (JUNE 10, 2022) Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre's Artistic Director Fred Anzevino and Managing/Casting Director Christopher Pazdernik announced the 25th Anniversary season today with four musicals including a Midwest Premiere ...
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Strawdog Theatre announces new managing director and production manager
Strawdog Theatre Company announced the appointments of Paul Cook (he/him) as its new managing director and Donna "Dante" Gary (they/them) as its new production manager. Cook has been the production manager at Strawdog since 2019 and ...
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TRAVEL Chicago theater blooms outside and out of town
Chicago Shakespeare Theater is keeping its show docked at its Navy Pier facility and Oak Brook's First Folio Theatre is taking the summer off before re-commencing in the fall, but playgoers eager to swap the urban ...
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Drama Desk Awards to be presented June 14 in NYC
-- From a press release
Winners for the 66th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced today. This year's Drama Desk Awards will take place at Sardi's Restaurant (234 W 44th Street) on Tuesday, June 14, 3-6 p.m. The full list of ...
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Theater Wit to run 'Hurricane Diane' starting June 17
Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., will run Hurricane Diane on June 17-July 31. Hurricane Diane is described as "a hilarious whirlwind of a play about a butch lesbian gardener who just might be the Greek ...
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THEATER REVIEW The Magnolia Ballet
Title: The Magnolia Ballet. Playwright: Terry Guest At: About Face Theatre at the Den, 1333 N. MiIwaukee Ave. Tickets: $5-$35. Runs through: June 11 Ignore the play's title. Ignore the publicity photo, too. In fact, you ...
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THEATER Felicia P. Fields to star in 'Pearl's Rollin' with the Blues'
Writers Theatre, under the leadership of Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma and Interim Artistic Director Bobby Kennedy, concludes its 2021-22 season with Pearl's Rollin' with the Blues: A Night with Felicia P. Fields. The production runs ...
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THEATER REVIEW Seven Days at Sea
Title: Seven Days at Sea. Playwright: Martha Hansen At: Light and Sound Productions at the Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway. Tickets: $20-$40. Runs through: June 5 A story set aboard a lesbian cruise ship in 1995 ...
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THEATER Drury Lane announces 'Steel Magnolias' cast
Drury Lane Theatre announced the cast for its production of the Robert Harling work Steel Magnolias, directed by Johanna McKenzie Miller. Steel Magnolias has been extended and will now run June 10-Aug. 7 at Drury Lane ...
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16th Street Theater to run abortion-centered 'The Billboard' June 23-July 17
Berwyn's 16th Street Theater is running The Billboard on June 23-July 17 at Northwestern University's Abbott Hall, 710 N. Lake Shore Dr., Chicago. Natalie Y. Moore's play follows a fictional women's clinic in Chicago's Englewood neighb ...
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About Face to run immersive comedy about climate-change activism
About Face Theatre brings its 27th season to a close with a world premiere comedy created by and starring the About Face Youth Theatre ensemble. Gayme Changers will run June 18-24 at The Den Theater, 1331 ...
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THEATER Steppenwolf's gay-themed 'Choir Boy' to run June 16-July 24
Steppenwolf Theatre Company will run the Tony-nominated play Choir Boy. by Oscar-winning Steppenwolf ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight), on June 16-July 24. Directed by Kent Gash, the production features ...
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THEATER REVIEW Seagull
Title: Seagull. Playwright: Anton Chekhov At: Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St.; Steppenwolf.org Tickets: $20-$88. Runs through: June 12 The final test of success for any undertaking lies in how well it accomplishes its intended purpose. ...
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THEATER Lesbian-cruise drama 'Seven Days at Sea' running thru June 5
Light and Sound Productions is running the world premiere of Seven Days at Sea, written by Martha Hansen and directed by Margaret Knapp, through Sunday, June 5, at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway. The performance ...
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THEATER Musical 'Get Out Alive' running July 8-Aug. 7
Haven will continue its 2021-22 season with Nikki Lynette's multidisciplinary afrogoth musical Get Out Alive, co-directed by Roger Ellis and Lucky Stiff, which features the writer and her personal journey with mental health. The production will ...
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Billy Masters: Theater
"Well, thanks Colin. That's the end of my career. Because you know, that role really should have been mine."—Rupert Everett tells Piers Morgan his reaction when he heard Colin Firth would play the lead in Tom ...
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PREVIEW Here comes the sun: Summer plays are blooming indoors and outside
There were times when we thought that the sunshine would never return, but despite climate change and contagion, there's no stopping summer—and while we usually associate expanded daylight hours with outdoor activities, a number of theaters ...
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SHOWBIZ Broadway, JoJo Siwa, WEHO Pride, 'Jurassic World,' Madonna
The Broadway League announced that all 41 Broadway theaters in New York City have extended the current mask requirement for audiences through at least June 30, Playbill noted. Charlotte St. Martin, president of The Broadway League, ...
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THEATER REVIEW The Chinese Lady
It began in 1834 as an advertising gimmick: In order to promote sales of their Far East Oriental imported goods, the Carnes Brothers procured their company a real-life spokesperson. This was the teenage Afong Moy, known ...
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THEATER Season of Concern to present 'Jerry's Girls' on June 27
"Jerry's Girls: A Benefit for Season of Concern" will take place Monday, June 27, at 7:30 p.m. at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. Season of Concern Chicago is dedicated to providing financial assistance to ...
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Quiz program 'Wait, Wait' to start taping June 16 at the Studebaker
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, NPR's weekly hour-long quiz program, will resume live audience recordings Thursday, June 16, in a new Chicago home: the historic Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building, 401 S. Michigan Ave. ...
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SHOWBIZ Queer playwright, LGBTQ+ films, BMI Pop Awards, new superhero
Jeremy O. Harris, the queer Tony-nominated author of Slave Play, has been named the presiding playwright for the 2023 Yale Drama Series Prize—one of the theater world's most prestigious playwriting honors, Deadline noted. Harris joins the ...
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THEATER 'The Secretaries: A Parable' running through June 11
First Floor Theater returns to live production with the world premiere of company member Omer Abbas Salem's The Secretaries: A Parable following the script's 2021 development as part of Goodman Theatre's Future Labs. The production will ...
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THEATER Underscore's 'Notes & Letters' running through May 28
Underscore Theatre Company celebrates its 10th-anniversary season with the world premiere of the musical Notes & Letters, which features book, music and lyrics by Annabelle Lee Revak (she/her) and is ...
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FILM 'The Adventures of Priscilla' to show nationwide on June 2
Iconic Events Releasing will kick off Pride Month with a special nationwide rerelease of MGM's classic 1994 Australian film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Screenings will take place in select theaters nationwide on ...
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Kokandy Productions to present 'Cruel Intentions: The '90s Musical' June 9-Aug. 7
-- From a press release
CHICAGO (May 10, 2022) — Kokandy Productions is launching its 10th-anniversary season this summer with the Chicago storefront premiere of Cruel Intentions: The '90s Musical—a flirty and fun, nostalgia-packed show ...
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Tonys: Queer-themed 'A Strange Loop' leads nods; 'Paradise Square,' 'MJ' close behind
Nominations for the 75th Tony Awards were announced May 9—and a Pulitzer Prize-winning original musical and a play that recounts the 2008 financial crisis led the nods, CNN reported. Leading the nominations was A Strange Loop, ...
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THEATER Performers Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young skate into the Windy City
The popular television show American Idol brought Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young together, even though they actually competed on separate seasons. Fate and destiny are also parts of the storyline in the duo's latest project Skates. ...
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THEATER Silk Road co-founders talk about journey from medical setback
Malik Gillani co-founded Silk Road Rising—a theater company focused on sharing the life stories of the overlooked and underrepresented people living along the Silk Road in Asia and the Middle East—with his husband, Jamil Khoury, almost ...
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Actors 30 and older needed for Bronzeville murder-mystery production
Actors and actresses who are at least 30 years old are needed for a murder-mystery production that revolves around a historical Bronzeville development. Wooley's Place will involve a murder that will take place in Chicago's Bronzeville ...
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Raven Theatre announces 40th Anniversary Season
-- From a press release
CHICAGO (May 2, 2022) — Raven Theatre is pleased to announce its 40th Anniversary Season, kicking off this fall with a fresh take on Noel Coward's iconic 1930 comedy Private Lives, directed by Ian Frank. The ...
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DANCE A&A Ballet to offer Family Dance Series starting May 14
A&A Ballet (A&A), under the artistic direction of Alexei Kremnev and Anna Reznik, announced a new Family Dance Series at the Athenaeum Theater, 2936 N. Southport Ave., premiering Saturday, May 14, at 3 p.m. Fresh from ...
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Refracted Theatre to launch inaugural Chicago season with queer production
Refracted Theatre Company has announced its inaugural Chicago season, featuring a launch event and a world-premiere queer-themed production where curiosity is rewarded with the unexpected, and an open heart is met with a colorful display of ...
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THEATER 'At the Vanishing Point' running through May 22
The Gift Theatre is welcoming back live audiences with the Chicago premiere of Naomi Iizuka's drama At the Vanishing Point, directed by Lavina Jadhwani. It runs through Sunday, May 22, at Filament Theatre, 4041 N. Milwaukee ...
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'Moulin Rouge' performance canceled after Loop shooting
Broadway In Chicago canceled the May 1 performance of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, at the James M. Nederlander Theatre, following the nearby shooting in The Loop, ABC 7 Chicago reported. A 27-year-old man and a 55-year-old ...
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SHOWBIZ 'Broadway Rising,' Webby Awards, 'Kinky Boots,' Tom Ford
The upcoming documentary Broadway Rising will have its world premiere on June 13 at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, Playbill noted. The documentary follows theater subjects—ranging from stage doorman to actors—on their journeys back to the ...
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PASSAGES Playwright/disability-rights activist Susan Nussbaum dies
Susan Nussbaum—a Chicago playwright, novelist and longtime disability-rights activist—died April 28 at age 68. Nussbaum won the 2012 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Social Engaging Fiction for her novel Good Kings Bad ...
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Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's 'RE/UNION' to take place May 12-15
After reconnecting with audiences this spring at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC) has announced the program for the company's return to the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph ...
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PrideArts to present cabaret nights in May and June
-- From a press release
CHICAGO — PrideArts Artistic Director Jay Espano (he/him/his) today announced a series of four Monday night cabaret performances by Chicago area musical theater and cabaret artists at the Pride Arts ...
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'Rasheeda Speaking' now running through June 4 at Theater Wit
Shattered Globe Theatre is now running the workplace production Rasheeda Speaking through June 4 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. The production was supposed to run Feb. 25-April 9 but was pushed back due to ...
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THEATER Otherworld hosting sci-fi drag fantasy cabaret 'Hyperfantasia' on May 11
Otherworld Theatre Company, 3914 N. Clark St., has announced a special one-night-only performance of the sci-fi fantasy drag cabaret show Hyperfantasia, to be staged Wed., May 11. Employing original music ...
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THEATER 'Rock of Ages' at Paramount through May 29
Nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Rock of Ages will run through Sunday, May 29, at Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., in downtown Aurora. According to a press release, Rock of Ages is ...
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