Theater events: 'Outgoing Tide' gets world premiere

Northlight premiere

A husband and father devises a way of ensuring his family's financial future, but his plans conflict with those of his wife and son in “The Outgoing Tide” by Bruce Graham. Northlight Theatre presents the world premiere of the play, starring Tony Award-winner John Mahoney and Rondi Reed and Lookingglass Theatre founding member Thomas J. Cox. Artistic director BJ Jones directs.

Previews begin Thursday, May 12, at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. The show opens Saturday, May 21. (847) 673-6300 or northlight.org.

A classic revisited

Court Theatre concludes its season with George and Ira Gershwin's “Porgy and Bess,” featuring an all-Chicago cast led by Alexis Rogers and Todd M. Kryger. Director Charles Newell and music director Doug Peck reunite for the first time since their acclaimed 2008 production of “Caroline, or Change” for a show that proposes to “retell” the 1935 opera about Porgy's attempts to rescue his beloved Bess from the clutches of her violent lover.

Previews begin Thursday, May 12, at 5535 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago. The show opens Saturday, May 21. (773) 753-4472 or courttheatre.org.

More openings:

Ÿ Citadel Theatre concludes its season with “Something's Afoot,” a musical spoof of murder mysteries where guests at a remote English manor discover one of the group is found murdered. Performances are at the at West Campus, 300 S. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest. (847) 735-8554 or citadeltheatre.org.

Ÿ A young samurai girl named Dewdrop and her faithful friend Cert roam the streets of post-apocalyptic New York so that she can exact her revenge on the men who killed her fiancé in Qui Nguyen's “Soul Samurai.” InFusion Theatre Company's Midwest premiere runs through June 5 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. (773) 975-8160 or infusiontheatre.com.

Ÿ Saint Sebastian Players' revival of “Steel Magnolias” runs through Sunday, May 22, at St. Bonaventure, 1625 W. Diversey, Chicago. (773) 404-7922 or saintsebastianplayers.org.

Ÿ “For Profit,” the latest nontraditional production from Abraham Werewolf, opened Friday, May 6, at Gorilla Tango Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. The show examines what happens when theater exists merely for profit. (773) 598-4549 or gorillatango.com.

Ÿ The world premiere of “500 Clown Trapped” marks the first collaboration between 500 Clown and Adventure Stage Chicago. 500 Clown's first children's show, created by Adrian Danzig, examines what it means to be trapped and then set free. It runs through Saturday, May 21, at Vittum Theater, 1012 N. Noble St., Chicago. (773) 342-4141 or adventurestage.org.

Ÿ Desmin Borges, 2010's Jeff Award winning best actor, stars in Teatro Vista's 20th season finale, “Freedom, NY,” Jennifer Barclay's examination of black and Latino relations set in a small town in rural New York. The cast also includes Naperville's Paige Collins (Northlight's “Eclipsed”) and Cheryl Lynn Bruce (Writer's Theatre's “The Old Settler”) who plays a grandmother determined to shelter her granddaughter (Collins) in the wake of a school shooting, until a young man (Borges) disrupts their solitude. It's in previews now at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The show opens Thursday, May 12. (773) 975-8150 or teatrovista.org.

Ÿ Chicago Children's Theatre collaborates with Seattle Children's Theatre on the world premiere of the interactive “Dot & Ziggy,” a play suitable for babies and toddlers, about a ladybug and a skunk who become friends. Performances take place at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (866) 811-4111 or chicagochildrenstheatre.org.

Ÿ “Life is a Dream,” by 17th-century Spanish poet Calderon de la Barca, is the latest from Vitalist Theatre. Elizabeth Carlin-Metz directs the new adaptation by Helen Edmundson of the play about a king who imprisons his son from birth in order to prevent the boy from fulfilling a terrible prophecy. Decades later the king reconsiders, but by then his completely unsocialized son is at the mercy of his own appetites. Performances begin Tuesday, May 10, at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. (773) 327-5252 or stage773.com.

Ÿ Signal Ensemble Theatre presents the world premiere of “Aces,” a new comedy by ensemble member Jon Steinhagen. Set during 1975 in Las Vegas, it centers around six casino workers more concerned with running their scams than minding the tables. Ronan Marra directs the show, which begins previews Thursday, May 12, at 1802 W. Berenice Ave., Chicago. The show opens Saturday, May 14. (773) 347-1350 or signalensemble.com.

Ÿ “Murder for Two — A Killer Musical” gets its premiere courtesy of Chicago Shakespeare Theater. David H. Bell directs the show, which runs through June 19, at Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave., Chicago. (312) 595-5633 or chicagoshakes.com.

Ÿ American Theatre Company hosts Fly Me to the Moon, its annual fundraising gala from 6 to 11 p.m. Thursday, May 12, at The Germania Club, 108 W. Germania Place, Chicago. The theater company will honor Jim Jacobs, creator of “The Original Grease” running at ATC. The evening includes dinner, live and silent auctions and the award presentation. (773) 409-4125 or atcweb.org.

Ÿ TimeLine Theatre Company has extended its hit production of the sendup of the Fourth Estate and the Chicago way, “The Front Page.” Performances continue through July 17 at 615 W. Wellington Ave., Chicago. (773) 281-8463 or timelinetheatre.com.

Ÿ The Joseph Jefferson Award Committee announced the 2011 non-Equity nominations recently. The Hypocrites earned 14 nominations, more than any other company, for its productions of “Cabaret” (seven nominations), “The Pirates of Penzance” (four nominations) and “No Exit” (three nominations). Rogers Park ensembles Theo Ubique and Lifeline Theatre received 12 and nine nominations respectively, with Lifeline earning seven nominations for its adaptation of Neil Gaiman's “Neverwhere.” Redtwist Theatre, on Chicago's far North Side, received seven nominations, including three for best production of a play for Edward Albee's “A Delicate Balance,” Kenneth Lonergan's “Lobby Hero” and Tracy Letts' “The Man From Nebraska.” The awards will be presented on June 6 at the Park West, 322 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago. See jeffawards.org for details.

Ÿ Speaking of awards, the Orgie Theatre Awards, recognizing originality and adventurousness among fringe theater artists, recently announced this year's winners. They include: Annoyance Theatre, Blair Thomas & Company, Caffeine Theatre and Chicago Opera Vanguard, Cock & Bull Theatre, Collaboraction, Ebb and Flow, Mary-Arrchie, The Paper Machete, Prop Thtr, Red Orchid, Side Project and Theater Oobleck.

Ÿ The League of Chicago Theatres announced The New Colony as the recipient of the 2011 Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theater Award recognizing newer theater companies that show artistic promise and fiscal savvy. The New Colony will receive $5,000 and assistance from the Broadway in Chicago team to develop a marketing package. Formed in 2007, The New Colony is working on its ninth world premiere. “It confirms our belief that Chicago is the home of original theater,” said artistic director Andrew Hobgood. “We're thrilled that this award will help us find more ways to introduce Chicagoans to new theater.”

Ÿ Two-time Jeff Award-winner Rebecca Finnegan (Goodman's “Candide,” Marriott's “Fiddler on the Roof,” Porchlight's “Sweeney Todd”) recently joined the cast of the hit Studs Terkel musical “Working,” in an open run at the Broadway Playhouse, Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St., Chicago. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com.

Ÿ A new theater company dubbed The Hundredth Monkey made its Chicago area debut with an original comedy called “Great Land” about two men traveling across the country during 1977 searching for Elvis Presley. Performances run through Saturday, May 14, at The Possibility Playhouse, First Trinity Community Center, 643 W. 31st St., Chicago. (773) 412-7780 or possibilityplayhouse.com.

Ÿ Porchlight Music Theatre has named Jeff Award winner Michael Weber its new artistic director. Weber, a veteran of Marriott, Chicago Shakespeare, Oak Park Festival, First Folio and Porchlight theaters, replaces L. Walter Stearns, who resigned to become the executive director of the Mercury Theater. Porchlight opens it 2011-12 season in September with the Stephen Sondheim revue, “Putting It Together.” For more information, see porchlighttheatre.com.

Ÿ Local Chicago-area bands play warm-up sets Fridays and Saturdays before Bailiwick Chicago's production of “Passing Strange,” the Tony Award winning, coming-of-age musical about a young man searching for his artistic self, running through Sunday, May 29, at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, 777 N. Green St., Chicago. The bands play one hour before curtain. (312) 733-6000 or bailiwickchicago.com.

Ÿ Annoyance Theatre, 4830 N. Broadway, Chicago, presents “Planet Karate,” a post apocalyptic comedy about a new world order in which everyone knows karate. While some use it for good, others use it for ill. The show runs at 10 p.m. Fridays through June 17. (773) 561-4665 or theannoyance.com.

Ÿ Producers have announced that George Hamilton will star in the touring production of “La Cage Aux Folles,” the musical about a flashy nightclub owner and his partner meeting for the first time the conservative parents of their son's fiancee. The production plays the Bank of America Theatre from Dec. 20 to Jan. 1.