Tag Archive
Agamemnon stuns five: Dream Theatre Company produces an exceptional show, but an audience?
Included in the Dream Theatre Company’s mission statement is the wish to “shatter the barrier between actor and audience.” In their latest production, “Agamemnon”, it was a small barrier to shatter. Only two players act in the tragedy onstage, and last Saturday, only five that people sat in the audience. The lack of attendance... »
Pub puzzlers
If you want to pay lots of money in exchange for being asked increasingly obscure and intellectual questions that will leave you hunched over the bar counter, drunk, broke, and brainless, Hyde Park is the place you’re looking for. The University of Chicago Pub, in the basement of Ida Noyes (1212 E. 59th), hosts... »
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... »
Scout’s Horror: Chris Smith’s gruesome survivalist art at antena Gallery
On the ground lies Geoffrey, a cat who has seen better days. His limbs are splayed out and his skin is peeled off. The apparatus that killed Geoffrey is constructed from simple materials: a plastic bag, an air mattress pump, hair, epoxy, and packaging tape. The bag is appended to the twisted form of... »
Have You Seen These Kids?: A Pilsen production studio runs on youthful creativity
“After he cuts the kid’s arm off and the blood spurts everywhere, then you’re gonna roar, oh and you—you roll around this way…and you—when they fall you’re just gonna twirl the baton on down to the ground…” This is not usual office banter. This is not an ordinary office. This is not an ordinary... »
Bad Dreams: Too much abstraction mars Dream Theatre’s double feature
To describe Dream Theatre Company’s theatrical double-feature “Aelita” and “Shiny Boxes” as two plays is perhaps slightly inaccurate. The two shows, which opened February 4 at Pilsen’s Dream Theatre Company, desperately seek a postmodern audience as they align more with stage dramatizations of abstract, disturbing poetry. »
No Coast Goes Regional: The Pilsen collective hosts two Minneapolis printmakers
Chicago’s art scene continues to elude easy characterization, but the creative crosstalk between our own art community and those of smaller Midwestern cities is turning Chicago into a regional center of creative dialogue. Tapping into this teeming reservoir is Pilsen’s No Coast Collective, whose new series of gallery shows, “Exhibitions and Editions,” is devoted... »
Street-level art
At a damp and dark hour in Pilsen, a few people stand in a semi-circle in the window of a storefront, drinking hot chocolate with whiskey. Over the course of a couple of hours, the group fluctuates. Artists and friends tenacious enough to brave the slush and ice come in and out, clutching warm... »
