City Lit Theater: Changing Channels
Skyler Tipton, Orion Lay-Sleeper
City Lit Theater Presents CHANGING CHANNELS Review - Don’t Touch That Dial!
TLDR: At the height of the Red Scare, media professionals face losing work with the release of the Red Channels list. Led by two formidable leads that complement each other on stage, Changing Channels makes us question our current society and shows how your decisions in a pivotal moment can influence others.
Kat Evans, Orion Lay-Sleeper
Feeling Like We’re Part of the Show at City Lit
1950s America. A time where everything in the country is booming and changing. It’s the decline of the theatre of the mind where radio is on its way out and the television set is making its way into every household in America. Variety programs like The Ed Sullivan Show are what the audiences are watching, and so the TV networks know that’s where the ratings are. For the two stars of the “Your Show of Stars” variety show, not only is the media landscape changing, but the political one as well.
Kat Evans and Orion Lay-Sleeper are a formidable pair playing the stars of the show, Maggie and Eddie. Though Eddie does everything for producing the show, he knows he couldn’t do it without his on-stage and off-stage counterpart Maggie. Lay-Sleeper comes barreling into Evans dressing room and the two jokingly face off about how the show went that evening. Another night the two can’t contain their laughter after a mishap on stage. These two are comedy gold as they hit all their beats having us laugh at their sitcomesque antics.
Lay-Sleeper embodies the male, star of the show persona of that time, goading people on for drinks after the show and joking about the wife and kids at home. Evans and Skyler Tipton playing her husband, Peter, show us a couple with heads on their shoulders and a pair that support each other and their decisions. Andrew Pappas as the stagehand Kenny is as cheerful and optimistic as any newcomer would be because his eyes haven’t been opened to the shadier side of the business.
Set entirely in the backstage dressing room, Changing Channels feels like a sitcom itself during the first act, with quippy one liners and physical comedy bits with us, the actual audience, laughing like a live studio audience.
The Decision is Never Black and White
Hindsight is always 20/20 as the saying goes. Here in Changing Channels our characters are in the midst of the 1950s McCarthy-era Red Scare. For them, pledging unfaltering and uncritical loyalty to the United States is starting to feel reminiscent of a certain fascist country during World War II. For us watching Changing Channels, the fear and recognition starts to creep in as we think about the direction our current day United States is headed as well.
With a chance that their show could be picked up by a major network, this would be a huge break not only for Maggie and Eddie, but for everyone else involved with the show as well. But is the asking price too high? The new network deal is threatened by a publication listing entertainment professionals that might be associated with communists. Though they have a chance to declare their loyalty to the US with a written statement, do they sign this agreement that is unconstitutional and against their values? Or do they stand for what they believe in and risk losing it all? All they have to go by is their moral compass, but we feel the pressure mounting as we know what's at stake.
Orion Lay-Sleeper
The After Party Thoughts
History does in fact repeat itself. As timely as a play can be, Changing Channels is playing during a time where the United States is yet again facing acts that violate constitutional rights. The show brings up conflicting feelings and shows people with different perspectives and what happens when they make those different decisions. It shows how your position can influence others and raises questions like the most important one, what would you do?
For those that are looking for a show that captures this particular part of US history that is smart, funny, and politically poignant, Changing Channels would be a great fit for you.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
(Also, for you Illinoisians, remember to vote on March 17th!)
Kat Evans, Skyler Tipton
When
Now through April 12, 2026
Where
City Lit Theater
1020 W Bryn Mawr Ave.
Chicago, IL 60660
Runtime: 2hrs, including an intermission
Tickets
$32+
Tickets can be purchased by calling the box office at (773) 293-3682 or through the City Lit Theater website
Photos
Steven Townshend
Kat Evans
CAST
Kat Evans (Maggie Carlin)
Skyler Tipton (Peter Carlin)
Orion Lay-Sleeper (Eddie Gilroy)
Johnny Moran (Bullets Bloomquist)
Andrew Pappas (Kenny)
CREATIVE
Kevin Theis (Director)
Joe Larkin (Scenic Designer)
Emily McConnell (Costume Designer)
Liz Cooper (Lighting Designer)
Petter Wahlbäck (Sound Designer)
Aubrey Pierce (Carpenter)
Tseela Sokolin-Maimon (Stage Manager)
C.J. Day (Dramaturg), Mark Brown (Production Electrician)
Bruce Bennett (Scenic Charge)