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Articles tagged with: Dan Waller

‘The Night Alive’ at Steppenwolf: It’s three guys, girl and thug looking for answers in life’s rubble

Oct 14, 2014 – 10:26 pm | 2,495 views
Aimee (Helen Sadler) spices the lives of Tommy (Francis Guinan, left) and Doc (Tim Hopper). (Michael Brosilow)

Review: At the center of “The Night Alive,” Conor McPherson’s wry and compassionate spin on the human comedy, are three men grappling with life near its baseline. And in Steppenwolf Theatre’s unglossed, touching perspective on the play, these ordinary guys find in each other the redemptive qualities of connection, meaning and purpose. ★★★★

‘Lay Me Down Softly’ at Seanachai: Characters looking for a narrative in the Irish countryside

May 16, 2014 – 5:11 pm | 3,140 views
Junior (Dan Waller, left) and Dean (Matthew Isler, right) are the boxers, and Theo (Jeff Christian) is the carnival boss. (Emily Schwartz)

Review: Billy Roche’s play of the Irish outback, “Lay Me Down Softly,” is a bit of a shaggy-dog story – and in the instance of Seanachai Theatre’s dreary go at it, the emphasis is on the dog.

Role Playing: Brad Armacost switched brothers to do blind, boozy character in ‘The Seafarer’

Jan 19, 2014 – 1:49 am | 10,125 views
Brad Armacost (brave lux)

Interview: Brad Armacost’s earthy, funny and deceptively nuanced portrait of the blind, drunken brother of a lost soul in Conor McPherson’s “The Seafarer” was shaped in part, he says, by a blessing and a curse. How Irish that both circumstances should spring from the same source. Armacost’s performance as the devoutly plastered Richard Harkin, in Seanachai Theatre’s brilliant go at “The Seafarer,” is his second pass at the play in recent Chicago seasons.

Seanachai’s ‘Seafarer’ taps into human comedy with earthy charm and touch of grace

Jan 1, 2014 – 1:35 am | 6,420 views
Everybody's laughing but the troubled Sharky (Dan Waller, right) in this 'Seafarer' alternate feature with Brad Armacost, Ira Amyx and Kevin Theis. (Joe Mazza)

Review: It’s hard to imagine a sweeter greeting for the New Year than Seanachai Theatre’s announcement that it will extend its luminous production of Conor McPherson’s “The Seafarer” – originally scheduled to close Jan. 5 – for another four weeks. Lovely, lads, lovely. ★★★★★

Role Playing: Dan Waller wields a personal brush as uneasy genius of ‘Pitmen Painters’

Nov 26, 2011 – 5:20 pm | 7,983 views
DanWaller2

Interview: Actor Dan Waller describes himself as a simple guy who values friendship and the respect of his peers. That makes him a close kin to the North England coal miner, revealed as gifted artist, he portrays in Lee Hall’s play “The Pitmen Painters” at TimeLine Theatre.