Theater – Page 9 – Clef Notes Chicagoland Journal for the Arts

Mercury Theatre Mounts Online Video Series, “Backstage Stories”

May 16, 2020 Vickie Moore COVID-19, Mercury Theatre

L. Walter Stearns, executive director of Mercury Theater Chicago, recently announced an ongoing lineup of three video series featuring past and present Mercury talent, to include actors, musicians and members of several creative teams. The three series of videos will be entitled “Backstage Stories,” “On the Air with Mercury Theater Chicago,” and “On the Road to Priscilla,” and will be posted on an ongoing basis on the theater’s social media pages. The theater will also be coordinating a city-wide initiative video entitled “Stay Home Chicago” in response to the stay-at-home orders following the COVID-19 crisis, featuring performers from previous Mercury Theater Chicago productions.

Theater

Chicago Children’s Theatre Launches At-Home Initiative with Hope-Affirming Window Installation

May 16, 2020 Vickie Moore COVID-19

Artists have transformed Chicago Children’s Theatre, 100 S. Racine Ave. in the West Loop, into a bright new beacon of hope.
Stroll by the former Chicago police station at Monroe and Racine any evening and you’ll see a gorgeous new window installation that changes the colors of the rainbow around the life-affirming message “Everything will be okay.”

Theater

Goodman Theatre Postpones Balance of 2019-20 Season

May 16, 2020 Vickie Moore COVID-19, Goodman Theatre

As shelter-in-place due to COVID-19 continues in Illinois, Goodman Theatre has announced its intention to postpone the four remaining 2019-2020 Season productions to the upcoming 2020-2021 Season. These four shows include School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh, directed by Lili-Anne Brown; Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel, directed by Robert Falls; American Mariachi by José Cruz González, directed by Henry Godinez; and the world-premiere musical adaptation of The Outsiders based on the novel by S.E. Hinton and Francis Ford Coppola’s motion picture, book by Adam Rapp, music and lyrics by Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance) and Justin Levine, music supervision, arrangements and orchestration by Justin Levine, choreography by Lorin Latarro, directed by Liesl Tommy. The complete 2020-2021 Season and additional details to be announced.

Theater

Actors Gymnasium to Present New Work, Isolated, Amid COVID-19 Closure

May 7, 2020 Vickie Moore Actors Gymnasium, Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi

Actors Gym has announced “Isolated,” its annual Spring Youth Circus, which has been devised through an innovative online rehearsal process. It features 28 of its top youth performers working under the direction of Kasey Foster and the company’s artistic director, Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi. The show will be screened online on May 16 and 23 at 7:30 p.m.

Theater

Chicago Theater Community Mounts Effort to Support Theater Workers

May 7, 2020 Vickie Moore Coronavirus, COVID-19, League of Chicago Theatres, Steppenwolf Theatre

The Chicago theater community is banding together to raise funds for The Chicago Theatre Workers Relief Fund, a League of Chicago Theatres initiative that directly assists theater workers who have lost work as a result of COVID-19 and are facing financial uncertainty.

Society Calendar Theater

Steppenwolf Announces Pants Optional: A Steppenwolf Soirée

April 28, 2020 Vickie Moore

Steppenwolf Theatre Company replaces its 2020 Gala with a special online event, Pants Optional: A Steppenwolf Soirée, celebrating the power of theater and raising vital funds to keep it alive during a time of necessary social-distancing. Ensemble member Audrey Francis emcees this festive virtual gathering on Saturday, May 9, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. CST, with special appearances by Steppenwolf ensemble members Joan Allen, Gary Cole, John Malkovich, Sandra Marquez and Laurie Metcalf, along with celebrity guests who will be announced on Steppenwolf’s social media channels and website.

Nightmares-and-Nightcaps-by-Ed-Ruthorford

Theater

Black Button Eyes Productions Presents Poe Adaptation with COVID-19 Spin

April 17, 2020 Vickie Moore Black Button Eyes Production, Ed Ruthorford, Edgar Allen Poe

Black Button Eyes Productions will present the world premiere of Masque of the Red Coronavirus, a free online-only script and video experience, written and directed by producing artistic director Ed Rutherford and adapted, in part, from Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Masque of Red Death.” Poe’s story, along with a few contemporary newspaper articles about how the wealthy are reacting to the current pandemic, inspired Rutherford to create a script combining the two into a short, angry satirical piece.

Theater

Timeline Theatre to Stream Performance of Popular James Ijames Work

April 3, 2020 Vickie Moore James Ijames, Timeline Theatre

TimeLine Theatre is has announced that it is able to offer a limited number of opportunities to stream a previously filmed performance of its Chicago premiere of James Ijames’ Kill Move Paradise, directed by Wardell Julius Clark—completing a run that was unfortunately cut short on March 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spring 2020 Theater

Risky Business

March 29, 2020 Oscar Peterson Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Daryl Cloran, The Beatles

Acclaimed stage director Daryl Cloran brings an unlikely paring of The Beatles and The Bard to Chicago in his hit

Arts Theater

Michael Shannon and Billy Dec to Co-Host A Red Orchid Theatre’s 2015 Gala

December 9, 2019 Vickie Moore

Chicago restauranteur and television personality Billy Dec and Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon will once again host A Red Orchid Theatre’s annual gala at Dec’s posh Sunda New Asian restaurant with after party at the restauranteur’s Underground nightclub November 15, 2015 (photo courtesy of A Red Orchid Theatre).