On the street where they live
For almost 40 years, kids the world over have been spending sunny days chasing the clouds away on a street called Sesame. Eventually, those kids grew up and migrated to a decidedly less kid-friendly place called "Avenue Q," where puppets and humans alike face real-world issues like low-paying jobs, personal debt, sex and racism.

Joffrey Ballet pulls off 'Moderns' miracle

Whether you are a longtime follower of the Joffrey Ballet or a complete neophyte testing the waters, the company's spring program, "American Moderns: One Step Beyond," which opened Wednesday at the Auditorium Theatre, should prove irresistible on every front.

A draw for playwrights

Collaboration's annual Sketchbook Festival programs conform to the same axiom that defines Chicago weather. In other words, if you don't particularly like a play in one of the two lineups of short works -- each featuring about seven 10-minute pieces -- you can just wait a few minutes and something more to your liking is bound to turn up.

'April' shines under Circle's enchanted touch

The rainy spring weather is making London housewife Lotty Wilton do strange things. She's obsessing over an Italian castle, talking to strangers and hiding things from her husband. She is on a mission, and these are simply the steps to making her dream come true.

'Taste' treat at Shattered Globe

Though it might sound fairly mainstream these days, there was little familiar or comfortable about Shelagh Delaney's play "A Taste of Honey" when it debuted in London in 1958. Sure, two years earlier, John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger" had struck the first blow against a largely genteel English theater. But Delaney, just 19 herself when her first play was produced, gave us a story that dealt frankly with sex, race, class and family dysfunction.

Masters to dish the dirt in 'Hollywood Insider'

Billy Masters, a comedian and syndicated gossip columnist for Gay Chicago Magazine, will showcase his humor beginning Wednesday at the Bailiwick Studio on the North Side.

Griffin making theater cool for younger audience

Griffin Theatre co-artistic director William Massolia is always on the lookout for interesting young adult novels that can be adapted for the stage. So when he heard author Judy Blume was a big fan of Ned Vizzini's novel Be More Chill, he checked it out and found just what he was looking for.