Tag Archive
Back to the Future Generation: EP Theater’s latest play blurs the line between kitsch and classic
All the surfaces in the lobby of Pilsen’s EP Theater are covered in vinyl, chipped polish, and at least seven layers of irony. The decorators of this room seem to have taken their cues from effete Victorian imagery and coupled it with the limp-wristed flamboyance of ’70s chic. So it came as no surprise... »
Angry Young Man: Brecht’s first play comes to EP Theater
The eponymous main character in Bertolt Brecht’s play “Baal” shares his name with an ancient Phoenician deity and a Christian demon—fitting, as his personality is both radiantly charming and deeply perverse. Baal is a talented young poet, an unabashed hedonist, and a certifiable sociopath, traits which in the course of the play come to... »
Fact and Fiction: EP Theater debates artistic authorship in “The Lost Shakespeare Play”
A man squeezes into EP Theater’s top row, with slicked back hair, a swallow-tailed coat and waistcoat. It is “Edmund Malone,” a.k.a. actor Kevin Gladish, waiting for his cue. Moments into the play, Edmund Malone interjects, bounds to his feet and rushes down to the stage. “William-Henry Ireland,” played by actor Nick Vidal, is... »
Best of the South Side 2008: Pilsen
In the late 1800s, a restaurant opened up in this formerly German and Irish neighborhood called “At the City of Plzen,” in honor of the second largest city in West Bohemia (the modern-day Czech Republic). But with World War I came vast labor shortages, which attracted a variety of immigrant groups, most notably the... »
The War at Home: “By Obit” at EP Theater
It seems that the Iraq War is all too easily contained within the glaring screens and inked pages of news media today. It has become easy to observe as an audience member, to appreciate from a distance, and to argue about over coffee. We can stick a yellow ribbon magnet to the SUV and... »
One-Act Wonder: Catch the end of “Paint & Ink” at the EP Theater
Amid a row of unlit houses standing on an alley sandwiched between 18th and 19th Streets on South Halsted Street, one house with bright, shining Christmas lights adorning the back gate stood out, begging passersby to take a look inside. Up the back porch and through a red door is EP Theater, an independently... »
Best of the South Side: Pilsen
Empanadas. Theater. Futbol. Experimental art. Once a Czech enclave and now the largest barrio in a state not named “California,” Pilsen is also one of the perennially up-and-coming neighborhoods in Chicago. The mix of Latino culture of West Pilsen and high-end culture in East Pilsen make for a charming neighborhood, though the divide between... »
