Angel Island Theater

Angel Island is home to the Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company. Now air-conditioned, the upstairs theater is no longer the sweltering hothouse it used to be. Good thing, too, because Mary-Arrchie's offerings--a rambunctious "Tracers," solid "Petrified Forest" and menacing "The Killer and the Comic"--were already combustible enough. Artistic director Richard Cotovsky likes a gutsy, rock 'n' roll style of theater, often with big casts (as in Sidney Brustein's "Detective Story" and "Beyond Mozambique"). Past successes by prominent playwrights include Sam Shepard's "Curse of the Starving Class," David Mamet's "Edmond," Terry Johnson's "Insignificance," Harold Pinter's "The Birthday Party" and Bertolt Brecht's "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" and "The Caucasian Chalk Circle." There's never been a dull show at Angel Island--they're loud and sometimes ludicrous, but bursting with contagious energy and complete conviction. Also, each August the theater is home to the "Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sins" festival, a marathon 3-day event where Chicago's most eclectic and experimental theaters can breathe free.

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Lakeview East theaters, Chicago theaters