Days before Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued stay-at-home orders to address the COVID-19 pandemic, writer/producer Jason Brett, producer Scott Silberstein and author Mark Larson were mulling over a new project: producing a documentary based on Larson's 2019…

So you can't go to the theater because (gestures weakly toward everything). Sure, there are streaming productions galore right now—even if they lack the communal experience of live performance. But there is also a special thrill to curling up with a…

The Chicago theater movement that has grown to more than 250 companies and garnered international recognition really started in Hyde Park, according to Mark Larson's recently published “Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago Theater”. The time was…

The best of us are trying to help and this current crisis has reawakened in many the impulse toward altruism, that admirable behavior that expresses concern for the well-being of others. Examples abound. You read about them every day in the…

Jack Wallace may not have attained the flashy stardom and big money success of some of his contemporaries from the formative days of our now legendary local theater scene. But he managed, against considerable odds, to have a very fruitful stage, TV…

When current mystery novelist and former Reader theater critic Lenny Kleinfeld (aka Bury St. Edmund) first met Stuart Gordon in 1968, it was at a rehearsal for Gordon's student production of Peter Pan at the University of Wisconsin. But instead of…

Dear Chicago Theater Community, This was not an easy article to write. I recently had the pleasure of being part of a very important bit of theater called Teenage Dick, at Theater Wit. (I was the violence and intimacy designer.) Sadly Monday, March…

Windy City Playhouse's 2018-2019 production of Southern Gothic was not the first and not the only immersive theater production in town, but it is among the first to achieve a sustained high profile and perhaps the longest run at some 22 months. It…

If you had founded a small professional theater company in Chicago before the mid-70s and wanted to open it in a storefront, you couldn’t have done it without the risk of getting closed down by the city. Before that, you had to call yourself a…

In just a few short days, if you’re in the right place at the right time, a rare comedy portal will open and you’ll have a chance to step through it. That’s the vision I had as I spoke with Paul Barrosse. I saw a capsule filled with laughter, raucous…

Lists Find the perfect gift (for you or the theatre fan in your life) on this extensive list of memoirs, historical retrospectives, industry guides, and more. This past year has been a fruitful one for theatre—and not just on the stage. Dozens of…

Agate Publishing is an unexpected gem in an unlikely place – or, more true to its name, a semiprecious stone. Its offices are unassumingly located on a quiet neighborhood corner amongst residential houses in Evanston. The Chicago area is far from a…

Randolph Street may be Chicago’s version of Broadway, but as any theater fan knows, the touring productions that roll in and out of the Loop are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to theater in this town. The real, authentic, homegrown scene has…

Mark Larson's new book Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago Theater (Agate Midway), tells the stories of the town's theatre in the words of its makers, from Steppenwolf to Second City to Goodman to Lookingglass. In Chapter 26, "We Are Here and We Are…

Author: Mark Larson $13; Lethe Press; 243 pages Chicago has proven itself many times over that it is multifaceted. It is a Midwestern diamond, a lake city, a food hotspot, the foundation of house music. The two American coasts might underestimate its…

★★★★★ I am not an avid reader. I do enjoy a thriller from time to time and in my younger days, I was a huge fan of the Luis Mendoza mysteries by Del Shannon. Since most of my time is spent at the theater or preparing for my radio show, my time is…

It's always good news when an acclaimed director announces a new project, but it's somehow especially thrilling when that project is set in space. We started 2019 with two highly anticipated space missions: Claire Denis' HIGH LIFE with Robert…

Chicago’s robust theater scene is indeed a cultural force; however, when it comes to recognizing the contributions of African Americans to the city’s artistic landscape, there is still some work to do. In his new book, “Ensemble: An Oral History of…

This week, Paul goes behind the curtain with author Mark Larson to discuss his new book: “Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago Theater.” The book tells the story of Chicago theater from its roots in 1953 thru today and all through the memories and…