Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
famous literature (if she's directing a show while you're in town, don't miss it).
Schwimmer himself also makes appearances here, either as an actor or director.
Lookingglass shows emphasize visual effects as much as they do acting, whether it's
having performers wade through a giant shallow pool or take to the sky on tra-
pezes.
821 N. Michigan Ave.
&
312/337-0665.
www.lookingglasstheatre.org. Tickets $30-$50.
Subway/El: Red Line to Chicago.
Neo-Futurists
A fixture on Chicago's late-night theater scene, the Neo-
Futurists have been doing their hit
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind
since 1988 (it's now the longest-running show in Chicago). The setting isn't
much (a cramped room above a funeral home), but the gimmick is irresistible:
Every night the performers stage a new collection of “30 plays in 60 minutes.”
The “plays” vary from a 3-minute comedy sketch to a lightning-quick wordless
tableau; the mood veers from laugh-out-loud silly to emotionally touching. The
show starts at 11:30pm on weekends; you'd better get there about an hour ahead
of time because seats are first-come, first-served—and the show does sell out.
The late-night curtain attracts a younger crowd, although my 60-ish parents had
a great time when I took them (unlike many improv comedy troupes, the Neo-
Futurists don't rely on raunchy or gross-out humor). Admission is random: The-
atergoers pay $5 plus the roll of a six-sided die. If you want to feel like you've
experienced edgy, low-budget theater—but still want to be entertained—this is
the place to go.
5153 N. Ashland Ave. (at Foster Ave.).
&
773/275-5255.
www.neofuturists.
org. Tickets $6-$11. Subway/El: Red Line to Berwyn.
Pegasus Players
It's worth seeking out this indefatigable champion of for-
gotten musical masterpieces. Performing in a rented college auditorium in the
gritty North Side neighborhood of Uptown, Pegasus Players specializes in the
kind of intellectually demanding fare that bigger mainstream theaters are afraid
to risk. A few years ago, Pegasus scored a coup, convincing Stephen Sondheim to
let the performers stage the U.S. premiere of his first musical, the little-known
Saturday Night.
Challenging musicals aren't the theater's only Herculean efforts.
They've also mounted rarely produced dramatic works such as Robert Shenkkan's
1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning
The Kentucky Cycle,
a 6-hour nine-play marathon.
O'Rourke Performing Arts Center, Truman College, 1145 W. Wilson Ave.
&
773/878-9761.
www.
pegasusplayers.org. Tickets $10-$25. Subway/El: Red Line to Wilson.
Redmoon Theater
Redmoon Theater might well be the most intrigu-
ing and visionary theater company in Chicago. Founded in 1990, the company
produces “spectacle theater” comprising masks, objects, and an international
range of puppetry styles in indoor and outdoor venues around town—includ-
ing, at least once a year lately, in Steppenwolf Theatre's studio space. Utterly
hypnotic, highly acrobatic and visceral, and using minimal narration, their
adaptations of Melville's
Moby Dick,
Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein,
Victor Hugo's
The Hunchback of Notre Dame,
and
Rachel's Love,
an original work based on Jew-
ish folktales, were revelations that have earned the company an ardent and bur-
geoning following. Every September, Redmoon presents an annual “spectacle,”
transforming a public park into a site for performance art, larger-than-life pup-
pet shows, and dramatic visual effects.
Office at 1438 W. Kinzie St.
&
312/850-8440.
www.redmoon.org. Tickets $18-$22.
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Once a pioneer of bare-bones
guerilla theater, Steppenwolf has moved firmly into the mainstream, with a
state-of-the-art theater and production budgets as big as any in town. The com-
pany has garnered many national awards and has also launched the careers of
Finds
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