Kate Rockwood

With a title like "The Sparrow," there are a half-dozen cutesy ways one could say House Theatre's latest production soars, but let's keep it clear and crisp: "The Sparrow" rocks, and if it's the one play you see this spring, you'll have no regrets. This refreshing, vivacious bit of homespun theater recently transferred its run from the Viaduct to the sparse, cozy space at the Steppenwolf Garage Theatre...

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Originally published March 30, 2007, Centerstage Chicago  

In partnering with Milan-based marionette company Colla e Figli, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater has married two of the most classic components of theater: the text of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" with beautifully materialized and skillfully maneuvered marionettes. The result, "Marionette Macbeth," which opened in Chicago and will continue on to New York, is a visually powerful production but not without glitches...

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Originally published March 21, 2007, Centerstage Chicago  

"Flyin' West," directed by Ron OJ Parson at the Court Theater, has all the components of a feel-good, feminist play about embracing one's identity and empowering oneself. There's the classic trio of fiercely dedicated sisters: gun-toting Sophie, sweet-faced Fannie and woefully vulnerable Minnie, as well as the mesmerizing matriarch, Miss Leah, and the balanced male perspectives, self-loathing mulatto Frank, and the easy-tempered and always honorable Will...

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Originally published March 19, 2007, Centerstage Chicago  

In the first act of "The Wooden Breeks," the post-modern tragicomedy by Glen Berger currently playing at Lookingglass Theatre, it's hard not to let oneself get caught up in the Scottish banter and heath-strewn set. Toss in a kilt, a bit of mysticism and more than one limerick and you could almost mistake the play for Brigadoon—with less song and more sting, of course...

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Originally published February 12, 2007, Centerstage Chicago  

Between living and working on the North Side and zipping down to the South Side to visit friends, I can go months without actually setting foot in the Loop. Good news if the thought of the financial district makes you itchy; bad news if you happen to love scoping out clusters of drop-dead gorgeous buildings...

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Originally published February 12, 2007, Centerstage Chicago  

Fact may well be stranger than fiction, but it can also be funnier, sillier and tear-jerkier. So thought Molly Each and Ira Booker, co-editors of No Touching magazine and co-hosts of the mag's reading series. Centerstage sat down with Each to get her reflections on the past year, the line between fact and fiction and the books that make her go "Oh my gosh."

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Originally published February 15, 2007, Centerstage Chicago. 

Ottavio Canestrelli's childhood was peculiar by almost any standards. With an eight-generation-long tradition of circus performance in his family, Canestrelli, along with his many siblings, was destined to grow up as part of the family act. He toured with his parents and siblings across North America and around the world, attending school in Florida only during slower winter months...

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Originally published February 6, 2007, Centerstage Chicago  

Nothing says oo-la-la-love on a snowy day like sipping a steaming mug of hot chocolate. For some it's the ultimate marriage of decadent cocoa treat and wistful childhood memory. But just because you were stuck (merrily) slurping packet powder as an eight-year-old doesn't mean you can't update your tastes for a decidedly more decadent mug. Luckily, finding spruced up hot chocolate in Chicago is no more difficult than, oh, finding the cold in January...

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Originally published January 29, 2007, Centerstage Chicago

If you didn't know anything about August Wilson, about the staggering scope of the playwright's opus or the thundering praise his work has received, your fresh eyes would likely be more disappointed than enthralled by "Radio Golf," currently at Goodman Theatre. It is not that the play is unambitious—as part of Wilson's 10-play cycle depicting the African American experience in each decade of the 20th century, "Radio Golf" stretches and strives to complete the cycle with some sense of finality. It is not the play isn't well-produced—it receives full care under the agile hand of director Kenny Leon and a set that sends shivers down the back with the weight of its metaphor and beauty...

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