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!

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   Changing Channels   Like a sleeping Elder God I have once again been roused to write a blog review. This past weekend I saw a preview performance of City Lit's production of John Reeger's Red Scare drama Changing Channels .   The usual disclaimers about my utter lack of objectivity: it's a preview which typically is not reviewed, and the show's star, Kat Evans, is my good friend and comfortably on my Favorite Humans of All Time list (currently accepting applications, the fee is a reasonable $35)    It's 1952, the dressing room of rising comedy star Maggie Carlin (Evans) on the set of a sketch comedy TV series that's about to be propelled to major success with an acquisition by CBS. Major praise goes to scenic designer Joe Larkin and costumer Emily McConnell for making the play's one setting period appropriate and fun to look at.    Evans is (objectivity be damned) absolutely glorious in how she captures Carlin's essence, the bold, brassy hilari...
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Much Ado About Nothing, Chicago Shakespeare Theater

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  Chemistry. This is the key to any successful show but perhaps especially a successful production of Much Ado About Nothing , one of the brightest gems of Shakespeare's comedy canon. Chemistry between the cast of Selina Cadell's production at Chicago Shakespeare Theater shines through and brings to life the friendships and love embedded in the text. These people seem like they really, really like each other, if they don't they're fooling us brilliantly. The banter driven romance between the witty, initially quarrelsome Benedick (Mark Bedard) and Beatrice (Deborah Hay) is what makes the play beloved although it's in most respects the "B plot". Don Pedro, (Debo Bologun) is a nobelman who has recently won a great military battle along with his best friends Benedick and Claudio (Samuel B. Jackson) and has come to idyllic Messina to visit Leonato (Kevin Gudahl). Claudio falls in love with Leonato's daughter Hero (Mi Kang) and all looks well until Don Pedro...
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Henry V

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  Henry V The nominal purpose of my blog is to celebrate Chicago’s storefront theatre, the low budget, independent theatre of the streets made by and for working class joes like me. With exceptions I generally don’t review “the big ones” like Goodman and Steppenwolf, but Chicago Shaespeare Theater is an exception for me, because it’s meant a lot to me since a high school field trip to see Othello in the mid-90s, before they secured their now famous Navy Pier space. Under the leadership of founding Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and her recently crowned successor Edward Hall, this production’s director, CST has always provided its audience with productions of Shakespeare’s canon that feel both faithful and innovative. Much of Henry V is just that. The production centers on the charismatic performance of Elijah Jones, who perfectly captures the essence of the formerly wild and wanton Prince Hal, now transformed into the mature, fearsome warrior king. Jones is the solid anchor arou...
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