UIC Theater

I have seen three plays here, two were mandatory as part of a class and one was for fun because it was recommended to me.
The two that were for class were not too bad, better than I thought they would be for a mainly student run production.
The last play I saw was «i wonder if it’s possible to have a love affair that lasts forever and things i found on craigslist». A real mouthful of a title.
The play was actually quite good, far better than I expected. The student discounted tickets also help since they are only $ 12.
The theater space itself is somewhat small. I would estimate it could at most hold 100 seats.

We bought a subscription to this theater this past academic year (2008 – 2009).
Sorry, Brandon, but I don’t really know what you were expecting — this is the college of performing arts and I think college students should be allowed to «find their voice.» At $ 30 pp for the full year, it’s an incredible deal and I have always been impressed with how most if not all of the actors are pouring their heart into their performance. The costumes are fun and the sets are really cool.
The only think I don’t like about this place is the actual theater itself. On the outside, it’s god-​awful ugly. But most of the UIC campus is. It is confusing which level to enter into, but once you’re inside the actual theater itself, you feel like you could be in any theater in the country.
This past year I really enjoyed the Seagull and American Ma (u)l. The latter being very challenging to sit through (because of the VERY honest subject matter and explicit portrayal of race relations). I thought Hotel Baltimore was ok, but could have been better. But that’s more of a judgment on the play itself rather than the actors.
Is this the Steppenwolf? No, but the prices reflect that. This is a great place to go for cheap live theater.

From the late start, to the confusing directions on which door to enter, to the «technical difficulties» getting the sqeaky conductors pit to electrically screech up and down, to the annoying overacting, including the cheesy costumes and confusing attempts at intellegent post-​modern commentary on ancient texts, with the sparse confused audience, sensing the dusty, boxy black space, I was quite unimpressed. The particular production at the time was a cheap, unintelligible spin-​off of a Mary Zimmerman production.