Fall 2025

On Saturday, I saw three plays at the rhino fest ,Eugene O'Reilly's tight short drama Karmas Curse, the triumphant return to rhino of BOY GIRL,4 smart writers.

If I was looking for theater that amuses me and make me think, I would have walked away satisfied...but I stayed at the theater that night and here comes SWEETBACK'S latest production , Shopping with Ghosts at Goodwill, mostly written and produced by Kelly Anchors . I was blown away, this should not come as a surprise to me, the past year two of SWEETBACK'S productions have landed on my list of the most powerful work coming out of the Chicago fringe, that Fringe far eclipse any shows that i have seen at Goodman or the Steppenwolf...

Sweetback's current production is a cocktail of genuine loss and grief, Hamlet in many styles, thrift store shopping, eulogy, and political outrage.

Kelly Anchors is funny, electric, courageous in the narrator role and the Prince of Denmark, she left this viewer weeping several times. She is ably assisted by her Sweetback cohorts; Mike McKune, Paul Brennan , and Max McKune, who take over with their jugband from the back porch of heaven, handing Hamlet back to us in new guises ...new comer, Stephen Overhardt, at the piano, spins a blues out of Ophelia's plight and Annie Yolom almost takes over the night with a great vocal performance or three ...everybody sings with gusto and the Shakespeare -from -hair ending made me want hit the streets with a bullhorn and bail money. None of this feels sloppy or thrown together, there is a purposeful quality to all of Anchors’ work. Only one more performance , there should be a 100 ...Sweetback is doing the best work in town Right now , see it.

beau o'reilly

Past Shows

2024

dorothy mae sweetback productions poster.jpg

Hamburgers & Disappointment

5 short 2 character plays that explore relationships in all their beautiful and twisting forms. Two shows per night. Thursdays and Saturdays feature Julia Williams and Kristy Lockhart in Fruit Tree Backpack where Ceil and Anna traverse the various rooms inside the exhausting, sweet, metaphorical mansion of love paired with I Love You Permanently with Vicki Walden and Jeffrey Bivens. Jay wants to be with Lee, but is unable to leave his abusive relationship. They meet one last time and try to find out if it is possible to have an entire relationship in the span of one cold night.

Fridays and Sundays start with Capacity with Kelly Anchors and KellyAnn Corcoran, A World Premiere that explores a thorny relationship between a friendship between a playwright and an actor who were both, at different times, married to the same man. Followed by Meaning is Tricky, with David Isaacson and Diana Slickman. Roommates and former lovers Mark and Clare navigate Clare’s burgeoning relationship with TV-obsessed man in an open marriage whose wife operates a flower kiosk.

Elevator Tours: A special audio play with animation featuring original cast members Carolyn Hoerdemann and Colm O’Reilly. Ruth has just moved into a new apartment when her recently divorced friend Will, comes to stay with her. They discuss life as a spectacle, art, and sex.

Labyrinth Arts 3658 N. Pulaski

Dorothy Mae

It was back by popular demand for 2 nights only: July 2024! Dorothy Mae and her 1978 Holiday Rambler Ramblette. Sweetback Productions, in collaboration with Labyrinth Arts Performance Collective, presents "Dorothy Mae and Her 1978 Holiday Rambler Ramblette". Ride along with Dorothy Mae as she heads down Route 66, pulling a 25 foot trailer in the middle of the pandemic with no idea what she's doing; depending only on the kindness of Trumpsters and the comfort of AM radio.