WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

- TimeOut critic Oliver Sava won Chicago Theatre Off Book's prize of an entire episode dedicated to whatever theater company he wanted. Sava chose Strangetree Group, so this week's episode is all about them, with guests like Emily Schwartz, the playwright of their latest production Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play, as well as director Jess McLeod and other members of the cast and crew.

- About Face Theatre Company's Board of Directors announced Thursday that Artistic Director Bonnie Metzgar would be leaving at the end of their 2012-13 season.

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- The Goodman has cast Other Desert Cities, with Tracy Michelle Arnold (A Midsummer Night's Dream at CST), Tony-winner Deanna Dunagan (August: Osage County), John Hoogenakker (The Iceman Cometh), Linda Kimbrough and Chelcie Ross (Conrad Hilton on Mad Men) starring. Tickets go on sale December 7.

- Zac Thompson recaps a few famous people sightings that have occurred in his life in and around the theater recently, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Harvey Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper, and Michael Shannon.

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Burn This, Shattered Globe Theatre at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont; 773-975-8150; opens Thursday and runs through November 18; $32.

Lanford Wilson’s play is very much of its time, the ‘80s, in that it features not one but two gay characters whose sole function is to make sure straight people find happiness. OK, so one of them is dead; still. Nonetheless, his study of four people looking for love in all the wrong places retains its full vigor in Linda Gillum's muscular production. It’s intimate, funny and ultimately deeply romantic. See it with someone you love. (KK)

The Father, Rendition Theatre at the Swedish American Museum, 5211 N. Clark, 773-728-8111; opens Thursday and runs through November 17; $15-$20

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Stuck trying to figure out what to be for Halloween? Don't want to try being a binder full of women? Reading at The Paper Machete, comedian Ken Barnard has some ideas for you.

Read an excerpt below or listen to more picks above:

All Hallows Eve is almost upon us, and the only thing more embarrassing than showing up to a Halloween party without a costume is showing up with a costume that someone is already wearing. So I've taken all of the guesswork out of Devil's Night for you guys this year and researched the top costumes of 2012.

Top Scary Costumes

1) Devil

2) Southwest Airlines flight attendant
3) Penn State Defensive Coordinator
4) Scary Spider-Man
5) President-elect Mitt Romney

Top Pet Costumes
1) Cat costume (for a dog)
2) Dog costume (for a cat)
3) Dog costume (for a dog)
4) Spider-Man dog
5) Dog in a cage on top of a car

Top Plus-size Costumes
1) Bulging Hulk
2) Fat Ninja
3) Overweight Spider-Man
4) Diabetic Pirate

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- People are still loving Too Much Light... so a reminder: go see it!

- David Mamet's The Woods is being put up by Mechanical Advantage: "At a New England lake house, Ruth and Nick spend their first weekend together as a couple. Isolated in the woods, these two lovers inhabit a world that feels like our own but is also magical and otherworldly.

During their time in the woods, away from the city, Ruth and Nick tell stories to one another about the animals who live in the lake, the history of their families, martians, and a mysterious brown bear who may be living under the house.

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Being the leader of the free world doesn't leave a lot of free time, but President's still manage to participate in the great American past time of plopping down in front of the television and being whisked away to a fantasy land.

Along those lines, "I think it's pretty funny that Barack Obama loves combating terror so much that even when he goes home at night, he watches a show about it," said New York magazine television critic Margaret Lyons at The Paper Machete, on the President's admitted love of Showtime's Homeland. However, Lyons thinks Mitt Romney might want to check out Parenthood to "examine his white privilege." And both candidates should reevaluate their love for Modern Family, because "I hope they don't think that's an average family."

Read an excerpt below or listen above:

Mitt Romney came under fire[last week] for co-opting the Friday Night Lights slogan "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose." If you've ever watched Friday Night Lights you know that it's completely antithetical to everything Mitt Romney represents.

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- Backstage with John Judd, courtesy of the Goodman, who is currently performing in Sweet Bird of Youth. He says he fears he'll never get to George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, says every word he has to say in the play before he goes on, and has perhaps invented the new catchphrase for the city of Chicago: "In Chicago we do it from the heart."

- Something I've been wondering about has apparently bothered others as well; as many papers switch to paywalls, a great deal of arts coverage is being moved behind them.

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