Third Coast Creatives

Chicago theater has long had a reputation for producing some of the best theater in the country.   As a result, Chicago audiences expect a high bar as they enter the theater doors.   Occasionally, audiences are blessed with productions that exceed that bar.   Warp (produced by the Organic Theater), Macbeth (starring Aidan Quinn at Northlight Theater), and True West , Balm in Gilead , and Of Mice and Men (Steppenwolf Theater) are examples Chicago theater productions people continue to talk about years, or even decades, after the lights go down.   Under the direction of Artistic Director Michael Weber, Porchlight Music Theatre kicks off its 25 th season with their production of Sunset Boulevard that may well join the list of special productions that theater aficionados will boast “they were there when…”. Based on the Academy Award winning Billy Wilder Film, Sunset Boulevard features music by Andrew Lloyd Weber with lyrics and book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton.  Winn

e-quiv’-o-ca ’ -tion n.   1.   to use terms having two or more meanings in order to deceive or mislead   2. Uncertain; doubtful   3.   Suspicious Micahel Dalberg and Brendan Hutt Photo by Steven Townshend Idle Muse Theatre Company kicked off its 2019-20 Season with Equivocation , by Bill Cain, at the new Theatre Off Broadway.   This work is a perfect choice for a company with a mission to produce theater that is transporting, timely, and true.   Cain’s multi-layered storytelling is not far off from current political events. The story transports us to the aftermath of the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605 to assassinate King James I and destroy the British parliament. Playwright William Shagspeare (the contemporary spelling of the Bard’s name) has received a royal commission to write a “true history” of the events, subject to the particular specifications of His Majesty.   Shag and his fellow troupe members work to unravel the truth behind the conspiracy only to lead to a c