Lookingglass Theatre: White Rooster

Sunnie Eraso

Lookingglass Theatre Presents WHITE ROOSTER Review - May I Tell You A Story?

TLDR: White Rooster is a multidisciplinary work incorporating movement, music, and puppetry seamlessly to craft a story that blends Chinese folklore with Western mysticism. Not knowing what is going to happen next, we follow Min’s journey as she uncovers her family’s and the land’s history to break whatever curses have descended upon them. 

Shadow Puppetry in White Rooster

Uncovering The Lore

We open on a worn down set of a house with beaten wood paneling and laundry hanging stiff in the breezeless day. A drought has existed here for years, believed to have been brought on by a curse from the mountain. Something else feels like it's stirring beneath the surface of this dried up dust town though.The veil between the living and the dead feels thin as red lights underneath the wooden deck that juts out from the house begin to glow. 

Stepping up onto the raised deck from the house, actors bring a sheet in between two characters. From one side of the stage we see a woman talking to a shadow. She’s illuminated by a flashlight behind her so only her profile is visible to the other side. From this angle, we realize two people are on either side of the sheet, but can only see the shadow of the other. It’s the perfect opening to establish things will appear different depending on how you look at them in White Rooster. 

That veil feels like it grows thinner as the show continues. It has allowed characters from folklore, myths, and stories to pass through. Here, the mystical is just as alive as the people living in this town. For Min (Sunnie Eraso), she’s on this journey hearing all these stories of beyond the veil to not only understand her own family’s mysteries but how they are part of a larger mythos at work. 

Turning People Into Myths

White Rooster is exactly the type of show content we expect from Lookingglass as it weaves together real people with myths accompanied by all the theatrical stage magic we’ve come to expect from the company

Actors pass instruments between themselves when we have a musical interlude. We get a blend of rock, indie, and blues motifs through original songs during the scene changes. Each of them holds the actual white rooster puppet and it takes a life on its own as it preens itself and sometimes shoots its beak to peck at the person holding him. Reilly Oh as Pong starts as a young man in love with Min, but when he comes back as the folkloric rooster-man he takes on those same mannerisms as the puppet itself.

Karen Aldridge as Maria plays the conflicted mother convincing us there’s nothing upstairs in the attic. We watch as she transforms from someone hiding from her past into someone currently being haunted by it as she crawls out from underneath the stage. 

Elliot Esquivel feels like the perfect fit to play the holy man as he lopes across the stage in an oversized fringed jacket, spitting sunflower shells into a tin cup, and calling down the ancient powers while at the same time sarcastically saying it takes time for the spells to work.

We see Sunnie Eraso and Noelle Oh as the two sisters, Min and June, finding ways to communicate with each other. When there’s moments of them onstage, they bond together in synchronized movements, almost becoming one person or two halves of one whole. They leave us with an air of wondering if either or both are alive. 

Everything about White Rooster is perfectly orchestrated so that nothing feels out of place and it works together seamlessly. 

Aldridge, Montgomery, Oh, Lamson, Esquivel, Smith

The After Party Thoughts

White Rooster is a unique and multidisciplinary piece of theater. I had no idea where we would be taken next and I’m here for it. The show has all the signature theatrical elements we expect from a Lookingglass show from movement work to puppetry with that dash of fantasy. It’s equal amounts tragedy and comedy as we get sarcasm and dark humor peppered throughout the dismal circumstances. 

For those that are more fans of straight forward works, this may not be the show for you. But for those that love mythology and folklore from around the world blended into a show that takes us on a hero’s journey, White Rooster would be a good fit for you!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Mark Montgomery and Sunnie Eraso

When

Now through April 26, 2026

Where

Lookingglass Theatre

163 E Pearson St.

Chicago, IL 60611

Runtime: 2hrs 30min, including an intermission

Tickets

$40

Tickets can be purchased through the Lookingglass Theatre website

Photos

Justin Barbin & Ricardo Adame

Find Allie and The After Party featured on Theatre in Chicago

Reilly Oh

CAST

Karen Aldridge (Maria)

Sunnie Eraso (Min)

Elliot Esquivel (Fang/Wu through April 5)

Nik Kmiecik (Fang/Wu April 8-12)

Louise Lamson (Judy)

Mark Montgomery (John)

Noelle Oh (June)

Reilly Oh (Pong)

Daniel Lee Smith (Hao/Ba).

CREATIVE

Matthew C. Yee (Playwright & Director)

Natsu Onoda Power (Scenic Designer)

Mara Blumenfeld (Costume Designer)

Hannah Wien (Lighting Designer)

Justin Cavazos (Sound Designer/Co-Composer)

Amanda Herrmann (Props Supervisor)

Caitlin McLeod (Puppet Designer)

Heidi Stillman (New Works Consultant)

Sheryl Williams (Intimacy Director)

Tess Golden (Production Stage Manager)

Emma Lipson (Assistant Stage Manager)