Collaboraction's 'Reverb': The sketches are worth a spin on Sketchbook's greatest-hits album
THEATER REVIEW: "Sketchbook Reverb" ★★½ Through March 27 at Flat Iron Arts Building, 1575 N. Milwaukee Ave.; Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes; Tickets: $18-$25 at 312-226-9633 or www.collaboraction.org
When Collaboraction's Sketchbook Festival first opened just after the turn of the millennium, it made for quite the 21st-century scene. A DJ spun as crowds of cool kids meandered around a cavernous, art-filled space, drinks in hand. Part art installation, part collection of 10-minute plays, and all party, Sketchbook seemed to signal a new kind of off-Loop experience, where the tricked-up dressing was just as important, if not more important, as the dramatic meat.
That said, the short, scripted shows were always cooked up by impressive chefs — the likes of Keith Huff, Rebecca Gilman, Ellen Fairey, Itamar Moses, Adam Rapp, Regina Taylor. Michael Shannon showed up one year as an actor.
These days, Collaboraction has greatly scaled back its ambitions — its new permanent home, a very modest upstairs studio inside the Flat Iron Arts Building seating only around 60, is far simpler and smaller than such old haunts as huge abandoned warehouses, ripe for a wild happening. And although a few pieces of art still line the walls and Collaboraction can still attract a hipster or two, it's nothing quite like the glory days of the early Sketchbooks.