Any of you all ever patronize live theater? Small companies? Large companies? Broadway extravaganzas?

My wife and I are going to see
Sweet Bird of Youth
(the Tennessee Williams play) on Thursday, at the Goodman Theater here in Chicago.

This is the first time in a while that we have been to see something on this grand a scale.
You seen anything recently? Going to see something?

Seems to me that this is the one area of the arts that we don't really talk about much.

I once dated a girl who was in local theater. Actually thought she was kind of cute, until I realized that she wore the stage makeup ALL THE TIME.

Sorry, Todd, that's all I got.

When I was in college, I took a course abroad on Shakespearean Theatre which included following the Royal Shakespeare Company around England. I wasn't really all that interested in theatre at the time. It was more an excuse to go hang out in London for awhile but I ended up developing an interest in the theatre as a result.

I probably go to about 10 plays a year with a mix of large, mid-sized and small theatre productions. I have a couple of friends who are actors so I try to see any of their productions. I used to get season tickets to a couple of the better theatres in LA but always found myself eating a couple of tickets per season because we just couldn't figure out a night to go so I just buy tickets to the things I'm interested in.

There are so many actors in LA that the small, indie theatre productions are often quite good and a cheap form of entertainment. I've seen name actors in 100 seat theaters for less than the cost of going to the movies.

The last play I saw that anyone would know of was probably Million Dollar Quartet. I have tickets to Book of Mormon next month. I'll probably try to see some smaller plays soon too but those are usually last minute decisions.

I saw Million Dollar Quartet with the family here in Chicago. It was wonderful.

I did a lot of theatre in high school. I wrecked my knee playing lacrosse pretty bad so I wasn't able to play it or football, so I decided to get involved with theatre after taking a general studies course on it.

Dropped it once I got to college, but I still have interest in it. This is held every year and I'm always tempted to pay the price and get tickets: http://www.catf.org

I really love black box, minimal prop plays. I remember seeing "Bug" done in this manner and it was incredible, and much more tense than the subsequent film version.

DC and Baltimore have a ton of indie theatre programs running all year, and when I need professional actors for commercials, I'll dip into their rosters of actors.

Last live show I saw was Evil Dead: The Musical. Sat in the splatter zone and got soaked in fake blood.

[quote="PopTodd"]My wife and I are going to see
Sweet Bird of Youth(the Tennessee Williams play) on Thursday, at the Goodman Theater here in Chicago.
quote]

sweet bird of youth should be pretty good. i see plays frequently and i prefer medium to small venues for a good play. last thing i saw was once in nyc. it was better than i thought. the highlights of last year were race (mamet) and red (logan). alfred molina and edie redmayne were freaking riliant in red.

I will just miss sweet bird as i am moving back to chicago that weekend. new job wit one of the most prestigious arts venue in the city. comin' at you in 3-d todd!

Well, welcome home! Drop me a line. I would love to finally meet you face-to-face.
Not much of a partier, but I think that I'm good for some conversation.

So Sweet Bird of Youth was last night and I was duly impressed.
Of course, as expected, Diane Lane was excellent, but the young actor in the lead male role was exceptional.
And, in typical Tennessee Williams fashion, every single character was flawed, and not a single one of them learned a thing in the end. A bit of a downer, but still provocative, well worth-while, and enjoyable despite itself!