Displaying items by tag: Good for Otto
"Good for Otto" A Masterful Exploration on the Importance of Mental Health Care
I was expecting a great work of art from David Rabe, the American Tony Award-winning playwright, screenwriter and author, famous for his Vietnam trilogy (“Sticks and Bones”, “The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel”, “Streamers”), as well as other notable plays, like “Hurlyburly” and “In the Boom Boom Room”. I was not disappointed.
In “Good for Otto”, Artistic Director Michael Patrick Thornton does a fantastic job directing this three hour long presentation, which literally squeezed actors into every nook and cranny of his tiny but acclaimed stage at The Gift Theatre in Jefferson Park.
David Rabe's writing is so enchanting, so spacious, and much like prose poetry at times that it lulls the audience into a type of trance which makes it possible to watch your own demons and thoughts even as the play is unfolding before you.
Rabe tackles just about every aspect of mental health care including the maddening difficulty of getting treatment at all from insurance companies in this country!
Good for Otto is set in a small town based on the Northwest Center for Family Services and Mental Health in Torrington, Connecticut, where the psychotherapist Richard O'Connor worked and whose work, "Undoing Depression," is the main inspiration for the characters in this play.
Whether your problem is growing old and depressed in your 70's or cutting yourself at the age of 12, or even reliving your own mother's suicide when you were nine (which the psychologist/ narrator struggles with), Rabe shows that life can't just "go on as usual" unless you actually receive and accept professional help.
Yes, the play is still in a type of workshop phase partly because Rabe's writing is all so lush, so poetic I can see where he is having trouble cutting any of it, yet it needs cuts because some of the minor characters just end up floating around, unfulfilled and confusing in what should be a cannonball of a play on the lifelong importance of treating mental illness - instead of a shotgun which scatters these powerful messages like buckshot.
The entire fifteen member ensemble cast did a great job with a couple standouts.
The beautifully sensitive and expressive twelve-year-old named Frannie and played by Caroline Heffernan was a very heartfelt yet real performance from someone so young.
The other character who both made the audience laugh the most yet at the same time made all of us young, or old and in between, feel the genuine pit and hopelessness of geriatric depression came from Rob Riley.
The scene where the psychologist argues with an ice cold double talking insurance rep who flatly denies his multiple urgent requests for one on one treatment for a suicidal child is so common and written in way so true to life it actually sickened me.
Given the fact that so many mentally ill people are now taking their illness to the street and killing innocent people time and time again in this country just shows that we have got to stop making it so difficult to get therapy. After all, therapy is cheap. It doesn't involve multi-million dollar machinery. It's just two people or a group of people talking it out, encouraging each other to keep on living in this crazy world.
It was a great honor for David Rabe to choose both Chicago and The Gift Theater for the first staging of this very important and empowering play. I look forward to seeing it in its polished and more laser-like form here in Chicago again or on Broadway in the near future.
“Good for Otto” is being performed at The Gift Theatre through November 22nd. For tickets and more show information visit www.thegifttheatre.org.
The 37th annual Rhinoceros Theater Festival Returns September 20 – October 26 at Six Chicago venues
12 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreCurious Theatre Branch, with co-producers Chicago Danztheater Ensemble, Chicago Dramatists and Labyrinth Club, are pleased to announce the 37th annual Rhinoceros Theater…
Collaboraction announces two major productions at its new House of Belonging in Humboldt Park in 2026-27
12 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreCollaboraction Theatre Company announced today two major productions for its 2026-27 season: the world premiere of Chicago writer Willie Round’s…
A Red Orchid Theatre Opens 34th Season with Chicago Premiere of HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING October 29 – December 6, 2026
12 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreA Red Orchid Theatre is pleased open its 34th Season, exploring the theme of "world on fire," with the Chicago premiere of Will…
Open Space Arts to present THE SWALLOW, by Spain's Guillem Clua, September 11 - 27
12 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreOpen Space Arts has announced it will stage the Chicago Premiere of THE SWALLOW - the internationally acclaimed drama by…
CHICAGO HUMANITIES announces full Fall Festival 2026 programming
11 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreChicago Humanities proudly announces the full lineup for its Fall Festival 2026, with conversations ranging from social justice, music, politics, literature, food,…
Tin Drum Theatre Company announces Chicago premiere of A Dark Wood by Eric Coble, Oct. 15–Nov. 1 at Greenhouse Theater Center
11 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreTin Drum Theatre Company is proud to announce the cast and creative team for Chicago premiere for A Dark Wood, October 15 -…
Young dancers and performers invited to audition for Joffrey Ballet's The Nutcracker, September 10 and 13
11 August 2026 in Theatre BuzzThe Joffrey Ballet holds open auditions for the Children's Cast of Christopher Wheeldon's The Nutcracker at its downtown studios in Joffrey Tower, 10 East…
Midsommer Flight to present staged reading of ADELINDA – an irreverent class comedy from 1796, at The Understudy on September 14
11 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreMidsommer Flight will for the third year present a one-night-only staged reading of a play from the EXPAND THE CANON list,…
Oil Lamp Theater Presents DIAL M FOR MURDER, October 2 - November 1
11 August 2026 in Theatre BuzzOil Lamp Theater, presenting I Love You Because, August 14 - September 13, is proud to announce the cast and creative team…
Music Director/Conductor James Moore To Receive Sarah Siddons Society's "Leading Artist Award"
10 August 2026 in Theatre BuzzThe Sarah Siddons Society is honored to present its 2026 Leading Artist Award to James Moore, Music Director and Conductor of Lincoln Center Theatre's…
House of the Exquisite Corpse, Chicago’s only puppet haunted house, returns with the nightmare-inducing new theme LULLABIES, October 8-November 1 at Steppenwolf’s The Merle
10 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreHouse of the Exquisite Corpse, Chicago’s one and only puppet haunted house, returns for its sixth Halloween season with a…
Red Clay Dance Company announces Season 18 programming
10 August 2026 in Upcoming DanceRed Clay Dance Company, Chicago's premier Afro-contemporary dance company, proudly announces its exciting Season 18: Spectrum programming, including Founding Artistic Director and…
Mean Girls, the hit Broadway musical getting a fierce Chicago premiere at Aurora’s Paramount Theatre, August 26-October 11
09 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreBreak out your Burn Book and mark these dates: Aurora’s Paramount Theatre is launching its 15th Broadway Series with the…
American Blues Theater names Nia Akilah Robinson the recipient of the 2026 Blue Ink Award for her play Overnight at the Museum and announces featured finalists Benjamin Benne and Claire Crowley
07 August 2026 in Theatre BuzzAmerican Blues Theater, under the continued leadership of Executive Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside, announces the recipient of the 2026 Blue Ink Award is Nia Akilah…
Love and Time On Our Side: The Notebook: The Musical at Broadway in Chicago
06 August 2026 in Theatre in ReviewIn times of stress, we often turn to familiar and comforting things: a favorite song, a dog-eared book, a movie…
Otherworld Theatre's Starship Edsel - Second City’s De Maat Theatre - Through September 13
05 August 2026 in Now PlayingThis summer, the Starship Edsel boldly goes where they maybe shouldn’t go as Otherworld Theatre, Chicago’s premier destination for Science…
Remy Bumppo Theatre Company Announces Mud Row October 15 - November 15 at Theater Wit
05 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreRemy Bumppo Theatre Company is pleased to announce the cast, creative and production teams for the first production in its 2026…
Victory Gardens Theater presents the World Premiere of Zayd Ayers Dohrn's The Humanities beginning September 10th
05 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreVictory Gardens Theater (2433 N. Lincoln Avenue), an historic incubator for new play development, proudly announces the World Premiere staging of The…
Goodman Theatre Presents Dead Girl's Quinceañera September 26th Through November 1st
05 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreSecrets, sisterhood and solving crime take center stage this fall in the world premiere co-production of Dead Girl's Quinceañera by Miami native…
Steppenwolf Theatre Presents ADIRONDACK CHAIR CIRCLE – October 22 – December 6, 2026 – World Premiere!
04 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreSteppenwolf Theatre Company, the nation's premier ensemble theater company, is pleased to continue its 51st Season with the world premiere of Chicago playwright Stephanie…
Writers Theatre celebrates record-breaking 2025/26 Season with artistic growth and unprecedented ticket sales
04 August 2026 in Theatre BuzzWriters Theatre, under the leadership of Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma and Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Artistic Director Braden Abraham, concluded its 2025/26…
The Notebook - James M. Nederlander Theatre - Through August 16th
04 August 2026 in Now PlayingProducers Kevin McCollum and Kurt Deutsch, along with Broadway In Chicago are thrilled to announce THE NOTEBOOK, a new musical based…
Harris Theater Presents return of Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project, Aug. 28
04 August 2026 in Upcoming DanceFollowing last year’s smashing sold-out engagement, the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance proudly presents the return…
Chicago Magic Lounge Welcomes Back David Parr as Fall Artist in Residence with Time Traveler October 7 – December 16
04 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreChicago Magic Lounge welcomes back acclaimed magician David Parr as its Fall Artist in Residence with David Parr: Time Traveler, a new theatrical experience…
ETA’s for colored girls Honors the Enduring Power of Ntozake Shange
04 August 2026 in Theatre in ReviewNearly fifty years after its groundbreaking premiere, Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow…
yo ho. Delivers Queer Pirate Chaos, Big Laughs, and Fierce Swordplay
03 August 2026 in Theatre in ReviewA quick history lesson: Anne Bonny and Mary Read are two of history’s most famous female pirates. Both women disguised…
PrideArts' WINDOWS - Hoover-Leppen Theatre in Center on Halsted - Through August 23rd
03 August 2026 in Now PlayingPrideArts' 2026-27 season will open in August with the world premiere of Chicago-based playwright Matt Schutz's WINDOWS, a comedy of LGBT…
The Outsiders - Cadillac Palace - Through August 16th
03 August 2026 in Now PlayingThe Tony Award® winning Best Musical, THE OUTSIDERS, based on the seminal novel by S.E. Hinton and Francis Ford Coppola’s landmark motion picture, returns to Chicago…
Chicago Shakespeare Theatre to present Play On! September 11–October 18
01 August 2026 in Upcoming TheatreChicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) announces the cast and creative team for Play On!, which opens the Theater's 40th Anniversary Season. This jazz musical tells…
Iceboy! Sets New Goodman Box Office Record
31 July 2026 in Theatre BuzzToday, Goodman Theatre achieves a new milestone in its 100th anniversary season: Walter Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Executive…
Latest Articles
-
Otherworld Theatre's Starship Edsel - Second City’s De Maat Theatre - Through September 13
Written by Buzz Center StageThis summer, the Starship Edsel boldly goes where they maybe shouldn’t go as Otherworld Theatre, Chicago’s premier destination for Science Fiction and Fantasy performance, presents the premiere of Starship Edsel: Season 4. Running from August 9 through September 13 at… -
CHICAGO HUMANITIES announces full Fall Festival 2026 programming
Written by Buzz Center StageChicago Humanities proudly announces the full lineup for its Fall Festival 2026, with conversations ranging from social justice, music, politics, literature, food, poetry, photography, architecture and much more. This year’s Fall Festival spans Sept. through Nov. and offers day-long festival dates throughout three Chicago…
-
Tin Drum Theatre Company announces Chicago premiere of A Dark Wood by Eric Coble, Oct. 15–Nov. 1 at Greenhouse Theater Center
Written by Buzz Center StageTin Drum Theatre Company is proud to announce the cast and creative team for Chicago premiere for A Dark Wood, October 15 - November 1, written by Eric Coble and directed by Steve Needham, at Studio 44 in the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.…
-
The 37th annual Rhinoceros Theater Festival Returns September 20 – October 26 at Six Chicago venues
Written by Buzz Center StageCurious Theatre Branch, with co-producers Chicago Danztheater Ensemble, Chicago Dramatists and Labyrinth Club, are pleased to announce the 37th annual Rhinoceros Theater Festival, September 20 - October 26 at four venues across Chicago. The month-long festival of shows will kick off with a special…
Does your theatre company want to connect with Buzz Center Stage or would you like to reach out and say "hello"? Message us through facebook or shoot us an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
*This disclaimer informs readers that the views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to Buzz Center Stage. Buzz Center Stage is a non-profit, volunteer-based platform that enables, and encourages, staff members to post their own honest thoughts on a particular production.