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Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
Entertainment
Johnny Oleksinski

BRIEF: A speech from 'Airline Highway'

Jan. 29--This week's Theater Loop Showcase video is Judith Roberts ("Orange Is The New Black") in Steppenwolf Theatre Company's Broadway-bound production of "Airline Highway" by Lisa D'Amour.

D'Amour's drama takes place outside of a New Orleans motel that sits on a nondescript stretch of road near the airport. Its longtime dwellers are the low-class workers who populate the bars and strip clubs of the French Quarter, making New Orleans a yearlong Mardi Gras for tourists.

The play depicts a preemptive funeral/party for the still-living Miss Ruby (Roberts), a Hummingbird Motel resident and spiritual mother to many, who is very near death. Famous for her lectures on sex, acceptance and other world-weary wisdoms, Miss Ruby here discusses why she sees her admirers as "little yellow baby ducks."

Steppenwolf Theatre Company's "Airline Highway" continues through Feb. 14 in Chicago, before transferring to Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway this spring. Broadway previews begin April 1.

We filmed this video in our studio in Tribune Tower.

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