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The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon

The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon

The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon

Jacinda Ratcliffe and Dano Duran in Evanston Salt Costs Climbing. Courtesy of Michael Brosilow.

Evanston Salt Costs Climbing Skids Off the Road

By Zachary Leiter / June 28, 2025
This production of Evanston becomes about so many things—anxiety, suicide, climate change, technology, the supernatural, grief, love—that it isn’t really about anything.
John Judd and Esteban Andres Cruz in Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin. Courtesy of Evan Hanover.

Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin Dazzles and Delights

By Zachary Leiter / June 28, 2025
Such sweet, magical, well-constructed art as A Red Orchid’s Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin is not just rare to find in the theater. It is rare to find in the world.
Chad Bay and Justin Albinder in Yasmina Reza’s Art. Courtesy of Nomee Photography.

Remy Bumppo’s Art Is Bright White and Brilliant

By Zachary Leiter / June 8, 2025
Art is fleeting, of a time and place, and, at its best, transformative.
Dan Cobbler, David Lovejoy, and Genevieve Corkery in Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo. Courtesy of J. Michael Griggs.

A Naked Astronomer and a Twice-Clothed Pope: Trap Door’s Galileo Thrills

By Zachary Leiter / June 8, 2025
This is a show so full of spectacle and movement, noise and light, that one cannot help but be snatched and thrashed alongside Galileo.
Kris Tori, Marvin Tate, Willie Round, and Matt Fleming in Richard Maxwell’s The End of Reality. Courtesy of Karl Soderstrom.

Two Spectacular Hours of Nothingness and Blood in The End of Reality

By Zachary Leiter / June 4, 2025
The audience, like it or not, is stuck in this world, with all its monotony, uncertainty, and sudden flashes of light and darkness.
Helena Glory (Madelyn Loehr) and the robot Sulla (Alex George) in Bo List’s adaption of Karel Čapek’s R.U.R. Courtesy of Steve Graue.

City Lit’s R.U.R. Brings Humor but Little Power

By Zachary Leiter / May 20, 2025
Stuck with half-compelling philosophy, City Lit dwells too long in a cartoonish void.
Gabriela Diaz and Alice Wu in Time is a Color and the Color is Blue. Courtesy of Akosua-Asamoabea Ampofo.

Time Is a Color and the Color Is Blue and the Blue Is Warm

By Zachary Leiter / May 12, 2025
In the end, messiness aside, Time is a Color reminds us just how captivating live theater can be.
From left to right: Millie Walsh, Robert Stimpson, Maggie Onsager, Joshua Winston. Courtesy of University Theater.

What’s in a Photograph? University Theater’s 35mm: A Musical Exhibition Offers a Glimpse

By Elias Buttress / May 9, 2025
University Theater’s recent production of Ryan Scott Oliver’s song cycle manages to skillfully encapsulate the power of photography and the complexity of the human condition.
Marthe (Raven Whitley) and Kurt (Tim Decker) in a snowstorm in Berlin. Courtesy of Michael Brosilow.

In Berlin, Beauty in the Life of the City and the Fall of Liberalism

By Zachary Leiter / May 5, 2025
Berlin wants to feel like the city in a way that recalls the early Soviet theater of Vsevolod Meyerhold and others.
Kierra Bunch, Shanésia Davis, Brian Keys, and Martasia Jones as members of the Younger family. Courtesy of Michael Brosilow.

A Night at Court Theatre’s A Raisin in the Sun

By Gabrielle Ortega / May 5, 2025
Arts Reporter Gabrielle Ortega reviews A Raisin in the Sun at Court Theatre, an exploration of dreams in 1950s Chicago.
Zainab Jah and Namir Smallwood in Suzan-Lori Parks’s The Book of Grace. Courtesy of Michael Brosilow.

Steppenwolf’s The Book of Grace Wanders Through the Desert

By Zachary Leiter / April 30, 2025
The Book of Grace does not quite add up to a play so much as it adds up to a collection of attractive images held together by suggestions of a theme.
The Salomon and Benhamou families gather for a Passover seder in Joshua Harmon’s Prayer for the French Republic. Courtesy of Michael Brosilow.

Prayer for the French Republic Is Dark in Mood but Warm in Tone

By Zachary Leiter / April 21, 2025
Prayer for the French Republic is, in its quiet insistence on work and secular hope, as much reminiscent of Chekov’s Uncle Vanya as it is of Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt.
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