Programming

Welcome Back, Lookingglass!

After a pandemic-related programming pause, Chicago’s Tony-winning Lookingglass Theatre Company returns with a new season of programming, including their current production of Circus Quixote, based on Miquel de Cervantes’s novel. Longtime LTC ensemble member and newly appointed artistic director Kasey Foster discusses how Lookingglass managed to survive the pandemic; how they created a much more welcoming presence on Michigan Avenue; how she’s gone from being a performer to being a classic actor-manager; and most importantly, how Lookingglass offers the sort of performance spectacle you can only get in a live theatre experience. (Length 19:25)

Podcast: Download (Duration: 19:25 — 22.3MB)

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By austin, ago

Holiday Murder Mystery

In a delightfully macabre bit of counter-programming, Northlight Theatre is producing the classic Dial M For Murder, which has already been extended into 2024 and whose director Georgette Verdin talks about why it’s the perfect kind of play for the holiday season. Georgette reveals the fantastic run of mystery-thrillers she’s been on; the opportunity and payoff of leaning into genre programming; the fundamental need for catharsis; how the theatre industry struggles to market new work and reach new audiences (and sometimes succeeds); and the powerful beauty of finding light in the darkness. (Length 17:47)

Podcast: Download (Duration: 17:47 — 20.4MB)

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By austin, ago

Meet Braden Abraham

Braden Abraham, the new artistic director of Chicago’s Writers Theatre, just announced the theater’s 31st season, the first one he’s programmed since joining the company. Braden talks about what goes into planning a season (and how that thinking never really ends); how a theatre season is like a great album; the importance of being in a learning and discovery phase; remaining in conversation with various overlapping communities; how programming a show in one city leads to a different show in another; the challenge of making each show an event; finding the right balance of scale and intimacy; and the value of bring some west coast energy to the north shore. (Length 19:18)

Podcast: Download (Duration: 19:18 — 22.2MB)

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By austin, ago