In this post which I will not call a “review” for obvious reasons, I will abandon all pretense to “objectivity” which is an overrated concept anyway. One of the reasons I haven’t tried to attach my current theatre writing to an existing website or publication this time, even though I could use the money, is that I want complete freedom to express whatever thoughts I have. I’ve played both sides of the fence over the years, both as a theatre creator and as a reviewer, but above all as an enthusiastic audience member. I love watching plays, which is why my current subject is calibrated to hit me in precisely every feel. The Artistic Home’s current production Vanya On the Plains is a play which I have watched grow from its infancy. I was one of the first people to read it. Its author, Jason Hedrick was a friend and colleague of mine at Southern Illinois University Carbondale where we took the same playwriting classes with Dr. Jacob Juntunen. There were a lot of talented people...

Love And Information By Caryl Churchill Directed by Kim McKean Trap Door Theatre If you ask me, and by clicking on this post I suppose you are, Caryl Churchill is one of the world's greatest living playwrights. Top Girls , The Skriker , and Mad Forest  are just my fav orites among the many plays of her half century spanning career. Her 2012 play Love and Information  it must be admitted, is a tricky beast. Less a play than a series of minute to two minute long vignettes strung together to full length, Love and Information  has no overarching characters or storylines. What it does have is some very good writing about fascinating themes, one of which is whether it's better to know things or not know them, along with the various ways technology is reshaping the human experience. Some of the standout scenes for me included one about a person experiencing hallucinations and refusing to take her medication because she thinks of the hallucinations as "informati...

Women of 4G Babes With Blades Written by Amy Tofte Directed by Lauren Katz I saw this show before I had the idea to launch this blog, so this is less a review than it a retrospective. It's closing this weekend. Go see it! Like most right thinking Americans I love a good space opera that relies on fantasy and mythological world building like Star Wars  and (later) Star Trek  where space is domesticated, home to millions of aliens and robots and laser guns and things. But there is nothing that beats a good grimly realistic space adventure, where outer space is understood to be a desolate void that it will in fact kill you unless you are very, very competent and very, very careful, more in line I would argue with the original Trek , as well as properties like Firefly, Alien , or 2001 (floating space baby aside) Women of 4G fits very well into the latter tradition, it's hard sci fi not too far removed from our own time. A crew of female astronauts and their male captain h...

Hello! I'm Rory, an actor, playwright and general theatre maven. I was a reviewer for many years for publications like New City, and the late Centerstage Chicago. I've decided to launch this blog like it's 2005 or something so that I can review Chicago plays and say hopefully interesting things about them. Hope you enjoy!