Home / Kris Vire

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.

Time Out Chicago • 30th August 2016

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.

Chicago Sun-Times • 5th September 2019

‘The Band’s Visit’ a marvelous, exquisitely crafted arrival indeed

What joyously unexpected depths this beautiful and moving desert tale plumbs.

Chicago Sun-Times • 20th May 2019

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.

Chicago magazine • 19th October 2018

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.

Chicago magazine • 25th July 2018

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.

Time Out Chicago • 7th December 2016

Why is theater in Chicago (still) so white?

A new generation of artists weighs in on Chicago theater’s continuing color bind.

Time Out Chicago • 15th June 2010

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.

AMERICAN THEATRE • 17th February 2016

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.

Time Out Chicago • 12th March 2015

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.

Time Out Chicago • 21st November 2014

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.

Time Out Chicago • 13th December 2010

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Edward Albee's marital-strife drama no longer carries the shock value that scandalized 1962 audiences, but as Tracy Letts and Amy Morton prove in Steppenwolf's searing revival, it still has plenty of potential to upend expectations.

Time Out Chicago • 5th December 2013

Actor John McGinty stars in Steppenwolf's Tribes

The actor steps out of Nina Raine's play at the Guthrie and directly into the same role, with a new family and director, at Steppenwolf.

Time Out Chicago • 8th October 2015

Ride the Cyclone at Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Six dead teenagers reflect on their lives—but this delightful Canadian chamber musical is far funnier, and more moving, than it sounds.

Time Out Chicago • 30th August 2011

Finding the stars of Spring Awakening

A writer sits in on the auditions for Griffin Theatre Company’s new show.

AMERICAN THEATRE • 1st December 2013

The Adaptive Spirit of Sean Graney

The Hypocrites founder made his name punking the classics. Now, as a solo auteur, he’s leavening Greek tragedies.

Time Out Chicago • 5th February 2012

Black Box Acting Studio launches the Academy conservatory

The popular actor training studio run by Audrey Francis and Laura Hooper announces a new nine-month, full-time program.

Kris Vire

Kris Vire

Hello! These are a few of my favorite pieces.

A Lost Latino Hotspot Is Reborn on a Chicago Stage

After Moonlight

90 minutes on the rocks with Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy

Lin-Manuel Miranda on recreating Hamilton’s success for Chicago

‘The Band’s Visit’ a marvelous, exquisitely crafted arrival indeed

Biographical ‘Four Chords and a Gun’ missing key ingredient: the Ramones’ music

Hamlet Is the Latest Chicago Shakespeare Theater Role that Didn’t Go to a Local

Chicagoist Helped Make the Media Landscape that Chance the Rapper Hates

Why is theater in Chicago (still) so white?

Playwright Tanya Saracho

Arkansas’s TheatreSquared: The Middle of Somewhere

First Wives Club at Oriental Theatre

The Humans at American Theater Company

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Actor John McGinty stars in Steppenwolf's Tribes

Ride the Cyclone at Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Finding the stars of Spring Awakening

The Adaptive Spirit of Sean Graney

Black Box Acting Studio launches the Academy conservatory