Items filtered by date: June 2026

It’s no secret Hitler feared he would be killed, by political assassins, rivals or enemy troops. He spent much of the war seeking security underground at The Wolf’s Lair, his heavily fortified command center 400 miles east of Berlin, while directing action on the Eastern front.

One of his fears was poisoning. So Hitler’s S.S. officers arranged for a cadre of fifteen 20-something women, three of them bussed in daily to the Wolf’s Lair, tasked with eating three meals from the same batches prepared for Hitler.

Then they waited an hour to see if they sickened – this process repeated thrice daily for years to verify the Fuhrer’s bland vegetarian meals (rice, cauliflower, etc.) were safe. 

This little-known story came to light in 2013 when one of the girls, Margaret Woelk, told her tale to German television. Playwright Michelle Brooks recreates Woelk's experience in  Hitler’s Tasters, playing through July 14th at the North Shore Center in Skokie. Directed by Sarah Norris, it must return to New York and thence to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – where it has been designated among "10 to watch" of some 4,000 entries. So take advantage of this opportunity to see it.

In Hitler’s Tasters, we witness 90 minutes of babbling girl talk about lipstick colors, hair, celebrities, and makeup, punctuated by an almost ceremonial delivery of the meals. The girls have been taught to look down as they receive their trays, then eat everything on their plates.

Occasionally one of the three girls is replaced by another – without explanation, but giving rise to speculation by the other two on whether the gone girl was too friendly to Jews, or had a relative who failed in service to the Reich. From scene to scene they change skirts, blouses and frumpy shoes, cable knit sweaters, one-piece uniform dresses - which helps convey the passage of time.

The girls fill the empty hours by endlessly snapping photos, trading grooming advice, and occasionally bullying whoever is most vulnerable. Liesel (Hallie Griffin), Hilda (MaryKatherin Kopp), and Anna (Hanna Mae Sturges) are insecure, with only vague notions about the goals of the Third Reich (“Is it the Motherland or the Fatherland?” one asks). Taster replacement Margot (Hanna Mae Sturges) arrives when Anna disappears, and she is more of a questionner: "Where is the meat?" she asks when her first meal arrives.

Hilda seems most aligned with the Reich's agenda, telling the others, "Hitler is making everything better." When they look at her in disbelief, she corrects herself: "He will make everything great again when he can finish his plans." The audience reacted to this and numerous other pointed references to politics past and present. While Hilda is only too ready ready to lord it over the others since her father is a high-ranking German officer, eventually even she loses face when it turns out he may be a deserter.  

Unlike the idealized young women profiled in Nazi propaganda whose mission was to whelp broods of Aryan men, Hitler’s tasters are simply frivolous young ladies with not much on their minds. Still the repetitiveness weighs on them, as does the arrival of the meals, triggering repeated contemplation of their own mortality.

If familiarity breeds contempt, these too-close relationships devolve into moments of deep enmity and cruel behavior. Each may potentially inform on her peers, which could mean time in a concentration camp, or even execution. We get what Hannah Arendt called "the banality of evil," with an especial emphasis on the banal - like a bad reality TV show set in Hitler's bunker.  

Brooks has done something unique in Hitler’s Tasters - adding anachronisms like Smart Phones and contemporary pop music and dance (with choreography by Ashlee Wasmund) to drive home the point that these girls where not much different than the average girl (or young guy) on the street today. They haven’t got it figured out yet, and for these three, even when they do, they will be destined to aim at motherhood uber alles.

Dancing to Madonna and sharing photos may seem jarring, but the playwright says, “I wanted to reach another generation. Young people don’t know about the War.” Indeed, since the days of my youth, we have given schools so many more wars to teach about, that the Third Reich and World War II merits just a day, and students get only glancing familiarity with its impact and implications for contemporary life.

Brooks said in an after-show discussion that she had determined “to make this the most completely researched play,” and amassed a wealth of material. “Then I wrote it in 48 hours, without opening a book.” That gave the play its energy and vision, and subsequent research added details that are subtly and skillfully woven in.

The real Hitler’s taster Margaret Woelk revealed she was raped by an S.S. officer in this period, and eventually escaped on a train with Goebbels, while the rest of the young women at The Wolf’s Lair met violent ends at the hands of the advancing Soviet army.

Hitler’s Tasters is a strong work, and Brooks and the creative team even adapt the music to different venues in which it plays – in an effort to engage audiences. With the all-women cast and creative team, Brooks says the music is also drawn from women performers – Ow Ow Ow by Spud Cannon; The Navigator by Hurray for the Riff Raff and Child of the Sun by Amyra among them. Perhaps this show could be tightened by 5 or 10 minutes – there are moments when the pace lags - but it's a minor concern. 

See Hitler's Tasters through July 14 at the North Shore Center Show times are Tue, July 09 at 7:30pm; Wed, July 10 at 7:30pm; Thu, July 11 at 7:30pm
Fri, July 12 at 8pm; Sat, July 13 at 2pm; Sat, July 13 at 8pm; and Sun, July 14 at 2pm. 

The Flower of Hawaii (originally Die Blume von Hawaii) is a 1931 operetta by Hungarian composer Paul Abraham. Working in Berlin, Abraham was popular for his light operatic works, the type that live in the niche between grand opera and our classic Broadway musicals. In recent years, operettas seem to have been displaced at major metropolitan opera houses with renditions of West Side Story or Carousel dropped in, partly in efforts to expand audience reach, and ticket sales.

The Flower of Hawaii has something of the look and feel of these classic operettas, like The Merry Widow or The Student Prince. It is a modestly entertaining romantic story with a happily ever after ending. Conductor and music director Anthony Barrese has given an admirable passion and integrity to this project, conducting 19 musicians in a 23 piece orchestra (some do double duty, like the three clarinetists who also play saxaphones).

The standout singing performance is by Joachim Luis as Kanako-Hilo/Prince Lilo-Taro, whose commanding tenor is wonderful. For serious operetta followers, the chance to hear and see this work fully staged and choreographed, with two dozen performers, makes The Flower of Hawaii a must-see.

Composer Abraham was noted for injecting jazz interludes into his operettas – but “jazz” to a composer working in Germany in 1931 meant Josephine Baker, earlier Dixieland and New Orleans styles. Some pieces in this show sounded to me like precursors of big band, while other upbeat numbers I would associate with the Charleston and other 1920s dances.

Overall, though, Abraham’s The Flower of Hawaii is dominated by waltzes, Cossack marches, doleful Slavic laments, and classical romantic motifs – quite lovely, but a bit off-theme for a fantasy set in Hawaii. The composer does include Hawaiian slide guitar, ukeleles and coconut shell percussion, giving us a snapshot of the island music as it sounded in the 1920s to a European composer.

For contemporary American audiences, the show has different resonances altogether. The Folks Operetta has mounted this as the U.S. premiere of Abraham’s work as part of its Reclaimed Voices Series – performances of works by Jewish writers and composers who were banned after the rise of Hitler. 

Abraham, a Hungarian Jew working in Berlin, fled for Vienna – the Nazi’s had banned the study and performance of “decadent” jazz - and when Austria was annexed by Germany, he went home to Hungary and ultimately to the U.S. His style, rooted in the 19th century, couldn’t compete on Broadway or in Hollywood with Gershwin and Cole Porter. 

He continued to create movie scores for the German film industry but never regained his fame. Gerald Frantzen, who is producer, editor and lyricist for Folks Operetta, translated The Flower of Hawaii with dramaturg Hersh Glagov. The humor and pathos come through generally, though at a few points things fall flat, and the story and subplots are more complicated than necessary with romance and intrigue. 

The other dynamic going on with The Flower of Hawaii is a story that seemed to resonate with the audience, perhaps unexpectedly for Folks Operetta – for it is based on events following displacement of the monarchy of an indigenous native people, the Hawaiian islanders. When Queen Liliuokalani moved to establish a stronger monarchy, Americans under the leadership of Samuel Dole deposed her in 1893. The U.S. then.annexed the islands in 1895 and appointed Dole as Governor. This time frame is advanced to the 1920s, and the Governor is a played as a non-singing role by Jerry Miller. The Governor is written in this script as a disreputable drunkard –“I prohibited Probation” he says - and he sealed off the royal palace to forestall any efforts to restore the monarch.

In this telling, updated to the pre-war decade, the heiress to the throne, Princess Lahia (in real life, it was Princess Ka’julani), returns to be crowned in a traditional ceremony. Dissidents hope to throw off the yoke of U.S. imperialism and restore their monarchy. The dissidents have the support of Imperial Japan in this effort.

The audience was clearly tracking this story of sedition. After the coronation ceremony and the reopening of the Hawaiian Royal Palace, the Governor orders the U.S. Navy’s commanding officer to arrest Ladia. When he refuses to do so, the audience burst into applause.

The dance is another aspect of The Flower of Hawaii that is quite notable. It opens with a solo conch-shell dance by Ivory Leonard IV, and his recurring dance appearances are wonderful. Likewise for Ysaye McKeever, who plays Okelani – and seems to lead the company in the expressive traditional Hawaiian dance style. No wonder – McKeever, who is a choreographer for Teatro Luna, has trained in dance in Taipei and has completed her first level of training at Tupuna Kultur, a Tahitian culture school in Moorea, Tahiti.

The Flower of Hawaii runs through July 14 at Stage 773, 1221 W. Belmont. It is a unique cultural experience - and the devotion of Folks Operetta in bringing it to use should be richly rwarded. 

Something Clean, directed by Lauren Shouse, gives us a compelling story, very well acted, and with that touch of magic that comes from a great chemistry in the performers.

The script (by Selina Fillinger) is notable for the way it depicts real human beings who develop and change in the course of the action. Fillinger is an actor, and it shows in the dynamic, truly living characters she places onstage.

It is a story for our times, and tells of three people whose lives have been impacted by a sexual assault. One, whom we meet later in the action, is Joey (Patrick Agada), a tall, strapping, charming, perpetually upbeat counselor at a downtown assault crisis center. 

But first we meet Charlotte (Mary Cross) and Doug (Guy Massey) whose 19-year-old son Kai was involved in an assault. Gradually we learn that he was not a victim (we never meet him), but was the perpetrator. Until Kai was convicted and imprisoned, his parents lived humdrum lives, pretty much on autopilot socially and domestically. Now, they visit their son in jail each week, and their angst festers and threatens their relationship. They are unsuccessful finding couples counseling, with Doug rejecting therapists weekly after a single visit.

As we get to know these two, we sense they are estranged from each other, physically aloof, and alienated from their social circle by the shame of their son’s crime. Charlotte cleans compulsively, and Doug buries himself in his work.

Eventually, Charlotte volunteers at the sexual assault crisis center – and her process of healing commences when she meets Joey. Agada’s performance is deft, and striking. His effusive personality (he is Joey with a "Y" because "I like to end my name with a smile!") makes these two seem an unlikely pair, but they develop a completely convincing bond that seems to draw energy from their work together as actors – informing their portrayals as emotionally connected workers at the center. This relationship and performances are what sustains Something Clean. It is hard to imagine it working without this level of excellence in the roles of Charlotte and Joey. 

Under Joey's nurturance, Charlotte emerges from her protective shell to become a sweet, charming and vulnerable woman. Charlotte’s emotional recovery contributes to Doug’s healing as well – something we see in real life when one person’s therapy ends up addressing their partner’s problems, too. The neutral gray set (Arnel Sanciano) is noteworthy, as is one of the props (which are byJonathan Berg-Einhorn): a book by Jennifer Weiner, I think it was Who Do You Love, a tale that mirrors the emotional dynamics of this show. 

I have to admit I sometimes approach Rivendell Theatre Ensemble’s productions with trepidation that I will end up being more edified than entertained. Something Clean does both, and in no small part because of Mary Cross ‘s great performance – she has her craft nailed, and watching her crawl out of her shell is a delight. Produced in partnership with Sideshow Theatre, (it received funding from The Eliabeth Cheney Foundation) which commissioned the work, Something Clean played to acclaim after premiering at New York’s Roundabout Theatre last month. It runs through July 21 at Victory Gardens Theater (the old Biograph Theater building).

I heard about Forq, watched a video and decided to go. It was a Friday night and Martyr’s is always an interesting place. It has some of the vibe of the old Rock Clubs but you can bring a date there. This however was Jazz Fusion night, not the 1970’s version exactly.

Spare Parts is a Chicago band. After a look at their website, they describe themselves as a Funk band. This category thing is tricky. One thing the listener will find is that there is indeed Jazz fused into the Funk of Spare Parts.

This is a trio that is keys, bass and drums. Kevin Kozol is on keyboards. That’s where the 70’s funk sounds are really strong with this band. He had two vintage keyboards. It looked like a Wurlitzer ala Ray Charles in the Blues Brothers and something that had that old clavinet sound at times. Run a delay pedal and the sounds were very reminiscent of early Pink Floyd. Kozol has chops, no doubt. There were some nice chord voicings and soloing flowing through the sound system at Martryr’s. How ‘bout that rhythm section? Colin Scott on bass and Mike Bruno on drums. They were solid, funky and more than a good compliment to the keys. Scott’s approach was somewhat unique. He used a variety of effects and techniques to fill ups space without a guitar player. They had a sax player sit in on one song. A melody instrument might be a nice addition to the lineup.

Forq is a band that also seem to be somewhat led by the keyboards but this time, there is guitar added to the mix. Henry Hey is on keys. He sets up right in front with a small keyboard rack. It looked like he had one regular, utility board and one hooked up to a lap top. If Keith Emerson were starting out today, he could use a lap top instead of the giant Moog, but the visuals wouldn’t be the same. The concept is exactly the same. The role of mad scientist takes shape in Hey the same way as it did with Emerson.

Chris McQueen sits in the guitar seat. Chris is a former member of Snarky Puppy. He played a Fender guitar with Gibson style pickups through a Supro if you are a guitar geek keeping score. Pedals and gadgets were tastefully used. He got a great tone and played some tasty stuff. McQueen even snuck a little slide in there in one song.

If you left the other players out, the rhythm sections could have competed for the most solid. Jason “JT” Thomas is a pocket owning drummer. He and bassist Kevin Scott built a very strong foundation for Hey and McQueen. These guys were tight.

Here’s an observation for both bands. You can often say too much in the first song. I would say the same thing to a lot of Jazz influenced bands. Chops are impressive, but in both bands there could have been more melody. I am not claiming to be familiar with either band’s specific music. I just know what I like to hear. Even though I love improvisation and jamming, I am a sucker for a good melody. That’s the song really. It was there but a little more would be nice.

June 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and the New York City funeral for Judy Garland. Some suggest that the emotional intensity of the day lead to the patrons of the Greenwich Village bar resisting the police thus starting what we know as “Pride” today. As we head into Pride season in Chicago, fewer cabarets would be more fitting than ‘Angela Ingersoll Sings Judy Garland’.

Some may remember Ingersoll’s excellent performance as Judy in Porchlight Music Theatre’s production of ‘End of the Rainbow’ in 2016. She bears uncanny likeness to Judy Garland in both appearance and voice. This is the closest to seeing the real Judy Garland perform as any of us will get.

Not only does Angela Ingersoll do Judy’s songbook justice, but she’s a real Judy Garland historian. In the two rousing sets, she relays the story of Judy’s life as well as many interesting bits of Garland trivia. This is a show for fans. Interestingly enough, she worked with Judy Garland’s surviving son, Joey Luft, on this act which has now toured the country and has been recorded for PBS.

For those who are well versed in Garland’s work, each song will be a delight. Watching her move to the band with Judy’s signature mannerisms is almost eerie. As she goes through the medleys from the famed Carnegie Hall album, it would be impossible not to smile.

But it’s not just a Judy tribute concert. Angela is very charming as herself. She keeps an informal attitude throughout, while telling her own stories of how she relates to Judy. Some are funny and some are very authentic, creating a bond with the audience the way Judy had with hers. It’s as if she’s holding every patron in the intimate cabaret space in her arms to say I’m happy you’re here.

Angela Ingersoll has made a name for herself as the Judy Garland impersonator. As Judy’s life and death fade further into history, it’s important someone with as much enthusiasm is out there keeping her memory warm. It’s startling how many people from younger generations don’t even know who Judy was or that she’s Liza Minnelli’s mother. Ingersoll is keeping a star alive and doing a first-rate job. This cabaret is a pleasing way to celebrate Pride this year.

Through June 30th at Venus Cabaret. 3745 North Southport Avenue. 773-325-1700. 

I’ve probably said this before — the sheer volume of shows we here in Chicago have on offer makes me count my lucky stars whenever I enter a theater, be it for an opulent touring production or for a more intimate local performance. But it’s always the latter for which I feel even more blessed — that I am, that we all are, privileged to witness the variety and virtuosity of talented artists who ply their trade around town. And no show has left me smiling more widely, tapping my toe as hard, humming along as loud, and feeling more blessed to be a witness to Chicagoland’s theater scene as Theo Ubique’s current production of John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s now-classic Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Entering the Theo Ubique Cabaret for this show, you enter the show’s world immediately — a bar and a black box, both — as the tools of a rock band’s trade sit onstage and colorful and off-color and culturally significant graffiti decorates the walls around it. Along with the earplugs offered at the door, Colt Frank’s simple but striking set lets you know you’re in for an evening of rock ‘n’ roll, and the best kind, to boot — the kind that’ll piss off those it’s supposed to and provoke those it’s meant for.

And an evening of rock ‘n’ roll it was! Will Lidke, headlining the show and fronting its band The Angry Inch, turns what was an Off-Broadway and Broadway musical about a rock frontwoman’s concert into said concert. Lidke’s got the posture, the preening, and the pipes to pull it off, too. Strutting on heels, flashing his fishnets, and flaunting wig after wig (all of them designed by Keith Ryan), Lidke’s Hedwig is transfixing from start to finish, equal parts Transformers-era Lou, Ziggy-era Bowie, and East German derelict and diva. He tears things apart on numbers like “Tear Me Down” and “Sugar Daddy,” breaks our hearts with “Wicked Little Town,” and makes us all a part in the singalong “Wig in a Box.” I kept thinking to myself, what I’d give to see Lidke front a band in a small rock club, and then I’d realize, I’m getting to see that right here at Theo Ubique!

Equally stage-worthy is Jacob Gilchrist (AKA Mikki Miraj), who plays Hedwig’s first husband as well as her backup singer on our side of the Berlin Wall/cabaret stage. Each time we were graced with Gilchrist’s enthusiastic song and dance, I’d think they’d be someone I’d love to see fronting a band, too. And wouldn’t you know it — by show’s end my wish came true when Gilchrist came out as Hedwig’s one-time understudy in life, rock star Tommy Gnosis.Lidke and Gilchrist are joined by a ridiculously talented cast and band. As Hedwig’s spouse and sidekick Yitzhak, Brittney Brown shows she’s got perhaps the best voice of the bunch. And as Hedwig’s Berlin mutter and his backup singer East, Adriana Tronco keeps up with her castmates throughout.

And the whole shebang wouldn’t be a banging rock show without a killer rock band, The Angry Inch. Led by pianist and musical director Jeremy Ramey, these guys KILL. Guitarist Perry Cowdery gets things started by shredding “America the Beautiful.” Jakob Smith, also on guitar, switches between electric and acoustic as the mood requires. Joseph Drzemiecki brings the bong-rattling bass. And drummer Carlos Mendoza brings the beat.

So, if you want an intimate rock show, see Theo Ubique’s Hedwig. If you want to see a production of a musical that’s now hung around long enough to reach classic status, see Theo Ubique’s Hedwig. And if, like me, you just love being reminded what terrific talent our wicked little town’s blessed with, see Theo Ubique’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch from now through the end of July.

Does not supporting Israel make you an anti-semite? This is the central theme of playwright Steven Levenson’s work ‘If I Forget’ now running at Victory Gardens under the direction of Devon De Mayo. Levenson is best known for providing the book to Broadway’s smash hit ‘Dear Evan Hansen’. “If I Forget” made its Broadway premiere in 2017 at the Roundabout Theatre Company.

“If I Forget” is a classic family drama that echoes of Arthur Miller. The set up is very simple, a DC-based family reunites for their father’s 75th birthday. Their father, Lou (David Darlow) is still mourning the recent death of his wife when his three adult kids come to visit. The action mainly concerns itself with a controversial book his son Michael (Daniel Cantor) is writing titled ‘Forgetting the Holocaust’. In two acts deep familial revelations are made as the family hotly debates what Jewish heritage means in our modern world.

While Michael is the main character, this is largely an ensemble piece. His older sister Holly (Gail Shapiro) is a socialite with few ethical cares, while his younger sister Sharon (Elizabeth Ledo) is the caretaker-type to whom Judaism is quite sacred. Michael’s wife Ellen (Heather Townshend) has no religious affiliation but serves to represent the respect for tradition some non-believers have. When it’s discussed what is to be done with their father’s valuable real estate, each character confronts their connection to their lineage.

The female ensemble gives very compelling performances. Elizabeth Ledo provides the moral backbone of the play even if her character has selfish intentions. She’s the voice of traditional values lost along the way to progress. Ledo’s performance is touching and complicated and even tragic by the play’s end. Gail Shapiro is a Karen Walker-flavored character that gives the play its levity. She saunters about naturally with the cool authority of the upper classes, seemingly untouchable by political tides.

“If I Forget” is an uncomfortable play to watch. As we move further from the recent memories of the Holocaust, we see generations become destigmatized by the horrors found at Dachau and Auschwitz. The scary part is that without the memory of it, there’s a chance it could happen again. This play also picks apart the nuances of the politics around Israel. Talking about this play will be difficult as some of the dialogue could be triggering for some audiences. This is exactly what good theatre should do. There are bits of dialogue so divisive your jaw might hang open. Levenson’s play hinges on a single hypothesis and rarely strays from that essential question. De Mayo gives this play an impressive Chicago premiere with a strong cast and a commitment to the intensity of the words.

Through July 7th at Victory Gardens Theater. 2433 N Lincoln Ave. 773-871-3000

The Ballad of Lefty & Crabbe is a new musical comedy that is so good I found myself lamenting half-way through Act 1 that its run at Underscore Theatre ends July 14 – or ever!

It is hard to imagine anyone not being smitten by it; it is just the type of show that you can imagine endearing itself like Hand to God or Avenue Q to an Off-Off-Broadway audience as it works its way into the hearts of investor angels.

Smartly written and played with boundless verve, it takes us through the rocky path trod by many early 20th Century Vaudeville performers, who hoped to save their flagging careers – decimated by the talkies – by transferring themselves onto celluloid in Hollywood.

The main characters are Theodore “Lefty” Childs (Kyle Ryan) and James “Crabbe” Hathaway (Shea Pender), a pair of comedians not unlike Laurel & Hardy, whose regular performance circuit is disappearing as playhouses convert to movie houses. They board a train to Hollywood and we are introduced to other performers doing likewise. 

On their arrival, the duo quickly is told their brand of humor won’t translate to the screen, and they are cast separately. The portly Crabbe plays the butt of jokes in a series of demeaning “Fatty” movies (a likely nod to the real life Fatty Arbuckle who hailed from Kansas City where this show originated https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roscoe_Arbuckle). The more photogenic Lefty repeatedly plays the unrequited suitor in romantic films. (This character type is vaguely like Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis’s co-star.) Lefty & Crabbe are disillusioned at first, then inspired when the big fat checks arrive from the studio.

We meet so many notable characters and performers it’s hard to list them all – but megaphone-wielding movie director Mac Lloyd (he’s co-author Ben Auxier) is a blast; and blonde bombshell Lolo Carmichael (Elisabeth del Toro) delivers great singing. You will probably enjoy the Mr. Burns-like producer wraith Mr. Rocksfeld Stephanie Boyd). Directed by Rusty Sneary with choreography by JennaShoppe, this show in Underscore’s tiny storefront with just a piano (Annabelle Rivak yields an orchestra from the keyboard) and a dozen earnest players features songs, singing, dance, and performances that are positively top drawer. 

There is also a depth to the show, as the characters eventually tire of the vaporous Tinsel Town success and long for live performances before real people. Perhaps we're hearing a warning drawn from another era's experience with media transfoprmation that seems to parallel the offline longing engendered by our own digital age.

The writing team (book by Ben Auxier, Brian Huther and Seth Macci with music and lyrics by Auxier and Huther) has clearly drawn inspiration from the vaults of old time stage comics to adapt into this show’s slapstick schtick, with fast-paced dialog, smart jokes and throwaway one-liners. It is so quick, my mind did double-takes, provoking laughter sometimes mid-way into the next scene.

The Ballad of Lefty & Crabbe was originally work shopped and produced by the Living Room Theatre in Kansas City, MO, and was produced last year in a new musicals festival in Chicago. You won’t want to miss this run at Underscore Theatre – it’s highly recommended. See it through July 14 at 4609 N. Clark St. in Chicago. 

When Chicago drag performer Joan Jett Blakk ran for President in 1992 – the year Bill Clinton was nominated – it was certainly the most outré act of political insurrection Americans had seen – for those who noticed, anyway. It’s unlikely the Tribune and Sun-Times gave her candidacy much coverage.

Now Steppenwolf Theater is telling her story, in Ms. Blakk for President, timed for Gay Pride Month and the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.Let me tell you something: it will make you laugh and cheer.

This show is particularly special for its genesis – co-authored by Tina Landau (who directed) and Tarell McCraney. McCraney also plays Joan Jett Blakk in a shoot-for-the-stars great performance. McCraney has also had several other plays produced at Steppenwolf. Oh, and he chairs Playwriting at Yale. Oh, and he also won an Oscar for the script with Barry Jenkins for Moonlight. To put it bluntly, this is a moment in Chicago theater you will not want to miss.

The real Joan Jett Blakk, Terence Alan Smith, was a transgressive performance artist who dashed straight cultural and political norms. Smith has collaborated on this play, which finally gives him his due. Running for Mayor of Chicago against Richard M. Daley in 1990, as a black, gay, man in drag, this Queer Nation Party candidate was well ahead of her time. Then she went on to the Democratic National Convention, gaining credentials and making it to the floor. OMG!

In fact, Joan Jett Blakk actually ran twice for President of the U.S. – in 1992 and 1996 – and some of her best lines are put to the service of this show – “Lick Bush in ’92!” “If a bad actor can be elected president, why not a good drag queen?” Doesn't that convey the power of drag?

Her platforms included legalizing all drugs, and to have “dykes on bikes” secure our borders. She posed as Angela Davis in a wicker chair holding a machine gun, but turning that violent Black Panther slogan “By Any Means Necessary” to something altogether mind-bending, delivering power on another plane. That is what Joan Jett Blakk was all about.

The very subversiveness of Blakk’s drag queen candidacy by necessity is ephemeral. Seeing it staged, against the gay liberation protests and demands made at the Madison Square Garden Democrativ Convention for AIDS support and abortion choice, reminds us of not just how far society has come, but how fragile those victories remain.

Landau and Jenkins felt that a more experiential play would tell the story better. So the Steppenwolf has been converted to a drag show bar, with a runway, cocktail table seating, and familiar denizens (some look like Village People types). The audience is encouraged to dress in drag, I suspect, because many did the night I saw it. And some ask questions of the candidate in a free-flowing town hall.

Ms. Blakk for President relates basic factual aspects of the history: how Joan Jett Blakk got to New York (the Limelight Nightclub flew her); where she stayed (a former trick put her up); how she got credentials, and her path the floor of Madison Square Garden, appearing after a young Rep. Maxine Waters and Gov. Mario Cuomo gave nominating speeches. We see clips of those speakers from the real convention.

It is a great story – and Landau and McCraney give us an entertaining semblance of a drag show, with the requisite vamping, dancing, vogueing – all supporting McCraney’s high energy performance. She reveals Smith’s internal process as he changes from an ordinary black man to Joan Jett Blakk, while lying in a stall in the men’s room at Madison Square Garden. It was an almost sacramental transformation, that emancipated Smith into the powerful Joan Jett Blakk. (Smith chose not to use falsies or hide his male body; she donned gold earrings, makeup, and a tight-fitting spaghetti strap flag dress before joining the throngs on the floor). You can see photos of the real dress on the real Joan Jett Blakk in the theater lobby. 

Smith’s achievement with Joan Jett Blakk would be easy for contemporary viewers to overlook – she arrived long before characters like Ru Paul and from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy became household names. If you were around at the time and became aware of her campaigns, you were either tickled or repulsed. But there was a deadly serious element here: gay liberation was taking to the streets, and Queer Nation and ACT UP were demanding action on gay issues– which were largely disregarded by the political mainstream.

Joann Jett Blakk’s campaign brought an element of street theater to bear on pressing issues: LGBTQ Rights, gay oppression and discrimination, marriage equality, and the AIDS crisis. The establishment could only have viewed Smith’s run as an act of political insolence.

This show is good theater, and the play itself accomplishes its slapdash tale-telling, albeit with some loose threads, like the recuring wraith, dressed in popular drag roles, who gives Joan guidance at crossroads in her life. (It kinda sucks.) We do get to know Joan Jett Black, and through her, Terence Alan Smith. We get a pretty good sense of the streams of gay political movement – the more fiery queer rage and the more conciliatory gay gradualists who find drag threatening. The play is male-centric, given its drag focus, a fact that is acknowledged from the stage.

And this work is self-aware – largely a farce, and admittedly so. But it does chronicle someone who made an important contribution to our poltiics and society, by any means necessary.” Ms. Blakk for President” is lots of fun, big laughs, and will also draw you to spontaneous applause for those political statements that ring even truer today. The experience is extended with after-show talks, the DJ SLO'MO at Steppenwolf's Front Bar on Friday nights, and other events. Ms. Blakk for President  runs through July 14 at Steppenwolf Theater. 

*Extended through July 21st

The Physical Theater Festival, running through June 9 at Stage 773, is an exciting opportunity to really enjoy theater from around the world.

It overcomes the biggest barrier to shows from abroad – language – by reducing or eliminating the spoken script, subordinating it to broad movement, pantomime, facial expressions - that convey as much or more than words do. It also shows off a performance style that seems to spring from improvisational roots, while drawing the better aspects of mime.

Now in its sixth year, the Physical Theater Festival runs in tandem with workshops by these accomplished global artists,for actors interested in learning the techniques. held in the same Stage 773 location at 1225 W. Belmont. It includes performers from Brazil, India, UK, Canada, Belgium and other countries, with acts that run from 60 to 90 minutes.

We had a chance to catch two of them – Next Door, performed by Out of Balanz, a duo from Finland and Denmark; and Helga: Life of a Diva Extraordinaire, a one-woman show by the Kallo Collective of Finland, performed by Henni Kervinen, a circus artist. It is nearly wordless, and both highly entertaining, and quite distinctive. Helga is performed as a caricature, and exaggerated protrait of an apparently crabby and lonely old woman spending her days reading the paper and drinking bitter expresso. But wait - she ahd a past, a glamorous and exciting past. She dispells our prejudices about her condition by moving onto a trapeze in a spoof of a high wire act. 

Next Door was a poignant telling of the story of a man in Copenhagen, Ivan Hansen, who becomes aware, belatedly, of the death of an elderly man in a neighboring apartment. The two were in close proximity – they were separated by the wall about 18 inches thick between their domiciles – but weren’t close at all.

Ivan learns, about a month after the fact, that his elderly neighbor had collapsed and died just the other side of his bedroom wall, probably while Ivan was standing by inches away. This realization triggers an hour-long depiction of his upbringing in Copenhagen, with reenactments of his best friends enclouters, the apartment in which he was raised with his brother, times with his parents, and his youthful adventures with his buddies.

The digressions are tremendously entertaining, with brief narrative transitions (in English), as the two characters move us to insights into our individual human conditions. It was very powerful. Here's a traler to give you a sense of what a performance is like:

The Festival begain in 2014, when Alice da Cunha and Marc Frost originally launched the Chicago Physical Theater Festival through the Artistic Associate program at Links Hall. The inspiration for the Festival drew upon their combined experience in London as physical theater students at the London International School for the Performing Arts (LISPA). Moving from London to Chicago, they were inspired to start a new festival to promote a more progressive, fresh and physical approach to theater-making in Chicago. Do try to catch one or more of these shows for an exceptional experience. And mark your calendar for the next series in 2020, so you don’t miss it. www.physicalfestival.com