Recommended by Scott Carter Cooper

  • One Pot Wonders
    21 Aug. 2020
    Persechino creates a complex family world with honesty and sensitivity. A deceptively simple play, Backfill is a wonderful actor's vehicle that generates an intimacy that will appeal to a wide audience. Pereschino fiercely tackles a tough situation and leaves the audience with satisfaction and hope.
  • EAT CROW
    19 Aug. 2020
    Hayward creates a frothy romp that promises nothing but good clean fun, and then in the final moments packs a punch that is worthy of her cast of characters. The characters are vivid, the action fast paced and the dialogue quippy. A pure delight.
  • Verboten
    16 Aug. 2020
    Rossi's light touch makes history fresh. Characters representing a bygone era pulse with vitality and parallel modern turmoil in a way that only a thoroughly researched topic can be articulated by a masterful artist. And he can write a damn good lyric. Time with Verboten is time well spent.
  • Marianas Trench (Part One of The Second World Trilogy)
    16 Aug. 2020
    The highest praise I can offer: the perfect synthesis of Anne Frank, George Orwell, and Stephen Spielberg. And yet frighteningly plausible. A must read. Super-highly recommended.
  • Thursday at 4:00
    28 Mar. 2019
    Forman nails the tropes of romantic comedy in a unique scenario with warm, authentic characters the audience immediately roots for, and does the almost impossible: creating depth from a frothy format and at once resolving the story while leaving their audience wanting more.
  • Catherine Forever (the parasite)
    17 Mar. 2019
    Chris is one of the best playwrights working in Chicago today. Catherine Forever, as with all of Chris's work I know, is refreshingly specific while also being universal to everyone who's had a period in life when almost nothing makes sense as their world evolves into something they never expected -- and yet always knew was coming. Chris's effortless style envelops the audience and welcomes us into his world without requiring us to pass judgment on his characters. And this play is just fun.
  • Click Fate
    17 Mar. 2019
    Straddling the line between an homage and a send up of Samuel Beckett, Click Fate weaves cultural references as widespread as Greek tragedy to Walt Disney. In the very best way, Wolfe's work appears to be a wash of random details -- almost like a masterpiece constructed of found elements -- but creates a very specific world any person with an artistic soul will recognize. Click Fate is a smorgasbord masquerading as an appetizer.
  • ELEVATOR GIRL
    16 Mar. 2019
    Saw the Vanguard Arts Collective production of Elevator Girl in Chicago. A crisp satire that combines the national epidemic of sexual assault with the national craze for super heroes. This piece not only explores the impact of sexual assault and imagines the different responses between the traditional genders, but will generate a lively discussion among theatre goers long after the final curtain.
  • Marvelous Madeleines
    6 Mar. 2019
    Dark social satire successfully masked as light farce. Lives up to its title.
  • Octagon
    6 Mar. 2019
    Kristiana Rae Colon builds vivid worlds with words and tackles complex issues of race, sex, and class with heart and intelligence. Octagon uses poetry to create a dramatic, dynamic tension not only between the characters on stage, but between herself and the audience. One of the best original plays produced in Chicago in 2016.

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