Invisible Man
Playwright Oren Jacoby has closely followed Ralph Ellison's novel—right down to the dialogue—in this first-ever adaptation of the novelist's 1952 magnum opus.
Court Theatre, Chicago
(773) 753-4472
***
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Playwright Oren Jacoby has been “remarkably faithful to the source” in this first-ever adaptation of novelist Ralph Ellison’s 1952 magnum opus, said Chris Jones in the Chicago Tribune. The late Ellison had expressed skepticism that his celebrated novel, a wide-ranging encapsulation of the African-American experience, could ever be adapted for the theater. But Ellison would have been impressed by what Jacoby has achieved. Because the play hews so closely to the novel—even taking all of its dialogue from the book’s pages—it loses momentum when the story’s black Everyman retreats from life’s tumult to a basement. Still, though Jacoby and director Christopher McElroen need to do some tweaking, their Invisible Man is already “a must-see” work of theater.
We should expect nothing less from a book that was a “mid-20th-century American version” of Dante’s Inferno, said Hedy Weiss in the Chicago Sun-Times. As the protagonist journeys from a promising start at a Southern college to activism and disillusionment in Harlem, no good intention goes unpunished and “no circle of hell is left unvisited.” Teagle F. Bougere, in the challenging lead role, proves again to be “an actor of breathtaking range.” Every life his story touches has been poisoned by pre–civil-rights-era racism, but his journey is no historical curiosity. It “suggests the human condition writ large.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
How to travel with your dog
The Week Recommends These tips will help both of you have a great time
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US
-
'Congress could help by providing federal protections'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Musk vows DOGE pullback as Tesla profits plunge
Speed Read The Tesla SEO says he will soon step back from government matters to devote more time to the company
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
If/Then
feature Tony-winning Idina Menzel “looks and sounds sensational” in a role tailored to her talents.
By The Week Staff
-
Rocky
feature It’s a wonder that this Rocky ever reaches the top of the steps.
By The Week Staff
-
Love and Information
feature Leave it to Caryl Churchill to create a play that “so ingeniously mirrors our age of the splintered attention span.”
By The Week Staff
-
The Bridges of Madison County
feature Jason Robert Brown’s “richly melodic” score is “one of Broadway’s best in the last decade.”
By The Week Staff
-
Outside Mullingar
feature John Patrick Shanley’s “charmer of a play” isn’t for cynics.
By The Week Staff
-
The Night Alive
feature Conor McPherson “has a singular gift for making the ordinary glow with an extra dimension.”
By The Week Staff
-
No Man’s Land
feature The futility of all conversation has been, paradoxically, the subject of “some of the best dialogue ever written.”
By The Week Staff
-
The Commons of Pensacola
feature Stage and screen actress Amanda Peet's playwriting debut is a “witty and affecting” domestic drama.
By The Week Staff