Audrey Francis's Femme-Forward Steppenwolf Debut
A feminist political comedy kicks off coleader Audrey Francis’s new era for the storied theater company.
Kris Vire is a writer and editor based in Chicago, Illinois.
I'm a journalist and copywriter fluent in the complementary languages of storytelling and SEO, with extensive experience in print and digital-first environments. Native Arkansan. Naturalized Chicagoan. Rhymes with fire.
On this page you'll find a selection of my favorite work; see more under the category headings in the navigation menu.
Fall Guide: Join the Slow Pulp Fan Club at Thalia Hall
A Theatrical Take on Marginalized Americans’ Rights
In its dive into constitutional rights and wrongs, TimeLine Theatre grapples with a post-Roe world.
King James Shows How Sports Help Us Express Ourselves
Rajiv Joseph’s new Steppenwolf play views friendship through the lens of fandom.
A Lost Latino Hotspot Is Reborn on a Chicago Stage
Sandra Delgado wrote "La Havana Madrid" to answer her own question: How could a hub of the Spanish-speaking community be so forgotten?
The Conversation: Sophie Scott [PDF download]
A funny thing happened during this neuroscientist's research: She stumbled on the study of laughter
Comfort Viewing: 3 Reasons I Love ‘Happy Endings’
In its day, this hangout comedy was lumped in with “Friends.” But its crisp, rat-a-tat style is more like “30 Rock.”
Museums Are Reopening. But Will They Ever Be the Same?
Science and nature exhibits are rife with buttons to press, touchscreens to swipe, and levers to pull — all the high-touch activities we’re meant to be avoiding.
Theaters Are Dark, But Manual Cinema Works in Shadows
Puppeteering powerhouse Manual Cinema celebrates its 10th anniversary with a livestreamed variety show.
Victory Gardens loses an ensemble of playwrights, again
Why the theater's board of directors really, really should have seen this coming.
“Where Did You Laugh?”
Carrie Coon and Tracy Letts talk spousal script reading, being almost famous, and bringing Bug back to Steppenwolf.
The best Chicago theater of the 2010s
As we enter a new decade, I was moved to look back over the one we’re ending, and the maybe-literally thousands of Chicago plays I saw in it.
After Moonlight
Oscar-winning screenwriter Tarell Alvin McCraney returns to Chicago — and to acting — for his new Steppenwolf play.
90 minutes on the rocks with Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy
The actors talk about the Goodman’s revival of ‘The Iceman Cometh.’
This piece earned Bronze in the category of ‘single article, consumer/regional magazine’ at FOLIO: Magazine’s 2012 Eddie Awards. It also picked up my second Lisagor nomination for Arts Reporting and Criticism.
This piece earned Bronze in the category of ‘single article, consumer/regional magazine’ at FOLIO: Magazine’s 2012 Eddie Awards. It also picked up my second Lisagor nomination for Arts Reporting and Criticism.
Lin-Manuel Miranda on recreating Hamilton’s success for Chicago
There’s no debating: ‘Hamilton’ has made American history hot. Now that it’s elected Chicago as its first post- Broadway home, get ready to enter the ticket lottery early and often.
‘The Band’s Visit’ a marvelous, exquisitely crafted arrival indeed
What joyously unexpected depths this beautiful and moving desert tale plumbs.
Biographical ‘Four Chords and a Gun’ missing key ingredient: the Ramones’ music
Shunting the band’s actual songs off to the postshow mini-concert feels inescapably odd, especially in a city as teeming with talented actor-musicians as Chicago.
Hamlet Is the Latest Chicago Shakespeare Theater Role that Didn’t Go to a Local
In casting Raúl Esparza as the Bard’s thinky prince, the theater yet again overlooks qualified locals.
Chicagoist Helped Make the Media Landscape that Chance the Rapper Hates
If he wants to stop the eagle-eye coverage of his every move, the rapper will need a better model than hyperlocal news aggregator.
Why is theater in Chicago (still) so white?
A new generation of artists weighs in on Chicago theater’s continuing color bind.
Playwright Tanya Saracho
With a new Chekhov adaptation in the Goodman's Latino Theatre Festival and a pair of commissions from Steppenwolf, Tanya Saracho is poised to break out.
Arkansas’s TheatreSquared: The Middle of Somewhere
Martin Miller and Robert Ford have made their small company a theatrical force in Northwest Arkansas, but it hasn’t happened in a vacuum.
First Wives Club at Oriental Theatre
You'll want to hang out with the new musical's dazzling lead actresses—just not in this particular club.
The Humans at American Theater Company
Playwright Stephen Karam is in rare form here, showing a remarkable ear for the way families converse. For all of the characters' woes, this is a warm, funny, sharply observed portrait of their abiding connections with one another.
Load More
