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Theater events: Second City promotes 'Free Speech!' at Paramount show

'Naperville'

Theater Wit offers a glimpse into suburban life with its Chicago-area premiere of "Naperville" by Mat Smart, whose "The Royal Society of Antarctica" earned a Joseph Jefferson Award for best new work. Named after Smart's hometown, the comedy is about a young man who returns home from Seattle to care for his mother who was blinded in an accident. Artistic director Jeremy Wechsler helms the production, which stars Laura T. Fisher and Andrew Jessop. Previews begin Friday, Aug. 26, at 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The show opens Sept. 6. $12-$36. (773) 975-8150 or theaterwit.org.

Second City in Aurora

The Second City brings "Free Speech! (While Supplies Last)" - a timely sendup of partisan politics - to the Paramount Theatre this weekend. The show features members of the national touring company including: Emily Fightmaster, Carley Moseley, Jeffrey Murdoch, Scott Nelson, Chucho Perez and Julia Weiss. 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora. $35-$45. (630) 896-6666 or paramountaurora.com.

Leiber-Stoller salute

Drury Lane Theatre revives the musical revue "Smokey Joe's Cafe," a salute to songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who composed such hits as "Jailhouse Rock" and "Hound Dog" among others. Director Marcia Milgrom Dodge sets the production in Chicago's 100-year old Maxwell Street Market, the weekly outdoor market comprised of merchants, food vendors and performers that takes place Sundays in the South Loop. Previews begin at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1, at 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace. The show opens Sept. 8. $43-$60. (630) 530-0111 or drurylanetheatre.com.

Other theater events

• Previews begin Friday, Aug. 26, for the double bill that kicks off American Blues Theater's 31st season. It consists of "Dutchman," Amiri Baraka's examination of race relations and the world premiere of "TRANSit," Darren Canady's drama about a woman who becomes attracted to a street performer while riding the subway on a summer night. The double bill, directed by Goodman Theatre's Chuck Smith and Lisa Portes respectively, opens Thursday, Sept. 1, at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 404-7336 or americanbluestheater.com.

• Dead Writers' Theatre revives "Oh, Coward!" a musical revue saluting writer/composer Noel Coward. Staged in a cabaret setting, the show includes Coward's most popular songs along with scenes from his plays and musicals. Ensemble member Joanna Riopelle stars along with Michael Pacas and Ian Rigg in the show, which opens Friday, Aug. 26, at The Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. (773) 935-6860 or deadwriters.net.

• Actor/director/choreographer Andre De Shields returns to Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, in the autobiographical "Confessions of a P.I.M.P." De Shields wrote and stars in the show tracing his journey from Baltimore to Broadway. It runs Friday, Aug. 26, through Sunday, Aug. 28. (773) 871-3000 or victorygardens.org.

• Collaboraction, in association with the Chicago Park District, continues Peacebook Festival, its free, citywide celebration of the arts at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 26-27, at Clarendon Park, 4501 N. Clarendon Ave., Chicago. Performances include a piece titled "Beatbox Symphony," a dance piece titled "You're Mean, Work on That," devised by Kasey Foster and a spoken-word ensemble piece about ignorance and privilege titled "When the Lights Turn Off" by Jenny Lynn Christoffersen. (312) 226-9633 or collaboraction.org.

• The devil debates the Holy Spirit and Jesus spars with Osama bin Laden in Richard (Rick) A. Roberts' new satirical play "Thee Trinity." It's about a post-apocalyptic conversation about religion, history, science and politics between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Brian Rabinowitz directs Polemic Theatre Company's production opening Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted St., Chicago. (312) 988-9000 or theroyalgeorge theatre.com.

• Bohemian Theatre Ensemble's revival of "Next to Normal," the musical by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt examining the impact of a woman's clinical depression on the rest of her family, opens Saturday, Aug. 27. Linda Fortunato directs the production, which stars Colette Todd as Diana Goodman opposite Donterrio Johnson's Dan Goodman. Performances run through Oct. 9 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. (773) 975-8150 or bohotheatre.com.

• Steel Beam Theatre holds its second annual garage sale fundraiser from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, at the theater company's rehearsal space at 951 State Ave., St. Charles. Items for sale include costumes, set pieces and props from Steel Beam productions. (630) 587-8521.

• Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St., Chicago, hosts its final panel discussion related to its current production "Direct From Death Row The Scottsboro Boys (An Evening of Vaudeville and Sorrow)." The discussion with Elizabeth Clarke, executive director of the Juvenile Justice Initiative and Veronica Williams, CEO of Mothers Against Wrongful Convictions, follows the 7:30 p.m. performance on Saturday, Aug. 27, and is free for audience members. The play with music and dance recounts the true story of nine African-American teenagers wrongly convicted in 1931 Alabama of assaulting two white women. (773) 338-2177 or raventheatre.com.

"Kinky Boots," the Tony Award-winning musical by Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein about a young man who saves his father's shoe factory from bankruptcy by manufacturing footwear for drag performers, returns for a brief run. Performances run Tuesday, Aug. 30, through Sept. 4 at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St., Chicago. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayin chicago.com.

• The seventh annual Chicago Fringe Festival, featuring 47 theater companies and performers along with the family-friendly Kids Fringe, opens Wednesday, Aug. 31, at locations in Chicago's Jefferson Park. Participating Chicago-area ensembles include Azusa Productions, Barrel of Monkeys and Hellbent Productions among others. Venues include The Gift Theatre, 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave.; Jefferson Playhouse and Windy City Music Theatre black box studio, 5340 W. Lawrence Ave., and the Congregational Church of Jefferson Park, 5320 W. Giddings St. Attendees must purchase a $5 button for admission. Performances are $10. A four-show pass is $36, a 10-show pass is $80 and an unlimited pass is $175. Adults-only productions include GoodPeople Theatre Company's "Is This Really Happening Right Now?" a series of vignettes exploring friendships and relationships; "That's F'd Up," Johnny Garcia's semi-autobiographical look at life on the West Side. See chicagofringe.org for a complete schedule.

• A dramaturg at a regional theater uncovers an impressive script by an up-and-coming, young African-American playwright that she proposes for the company's season, but it's rejected in favor of an August Wilson play in Warren Hoffman's dramedy "The Black Slot." Derek Bertelsen directs AstonRep Theatre Company's world premiere starring St. Charles native Brittany Stock. Previews begin Thursday, Sept. 1, at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St., Chicago. The show opens Sept. 4. (773) 828-9129 or astonrep.com.

• Clock Productions presents the world premiere of "Irrational Tales," consisting of four horror stories adapted for the stage by David Denman. Performances begin Thursday, Sept. 1, at 4139 N. Broadway St., Chicago. See clocktheater.com.

• Greenhouse Theater Center's Chicago-area premiere of off-Broadway's "Rose," about Kennedy family matriarch Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, opened this week. Linda Reiter stars in the solo show running through Sept. 25 at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, as part of Greenhouse Theater's solo celebration series. (773) 404-7336 or greenhousetheater.org.

• Teachers get to play class clown at 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 28, as part of The Annoyance Theatre's "Back to School: A CPS Stand-Up Showcase." Also at the Annoyance, "Bastards of the Underground," featuring veterans of TV dramas "Empire" and "Chicago Fire," opens Wednesday, Aug. 31. Lastly, "Character Assassination," a new sketch revue inspired by an overbearing writer, runs Wednesdays through Sept. 21 at the theater located at 851 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. (773) 697-9693 or theannoyance.com.

• Stage 773 is accepting applications for its 16th annual Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival taking place Jan. 5-15, 2017, at 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Festival organizers seek every kind of sketch comedy from satire to puppetry for the festival, which typically attracts more than 1,000 artists and more than 11,000 patrons. Applications are due by Oct. 15. See chicago sketchfest.com.

• Season of Concern, the Chicago-area theater community's fundraising organization that raises money for people coping with a catastrophic illness, announced recently that it had donated $80,000 to 16 Chicago organizations serving people with AIDS. Among them is Alexian Brothers Health Systems, which has facilities in Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Bensenville, Hanover Park, Addison, Mount Prospect, Schaumburg and other locations.

• First Floor Theater will begin its 2016/2017 season Nov. 5 with the world premiere of "The Deer and the Lovers," Emily Zemba's farce about a couple whose romantic weekend is interrupted by a deer crashing through their front window and relatives arriving unannounced. That's followed by the Chicago-area premiere of Jiehae Park's "Peerless" (Feb. 11-March 12, 2017), a comedy about a pair of perfect twins who "hatch a sinister plan to secure their future" after they fail to impress their chosen college's admission board. The season concludes with Bess Wohl's "American Hero" (May 5-June 4, 2017) about a trio of sandwich shop employees whose pursuit of the American dream is interrupted by "a series of strange events." Performances take place at The Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. See firstfloortheater.com.

• Circle Theatre, which is once again Joseph Jefferson Award eligible after a three-year hiatus, opens its 31st season with Michael John LaChiusa's musical "First Lady Suite," which examines Eleanor Roosevelt, Mamie Eisenhower and Jackie Kennedy - the women behind some of the last century's most powerful men. It runs Nov. 5-27 at the Heartland Studio, 7016 N. Glenwood Ave., Chicago. Circle returns in February 2017 with David Ives' darkly comic two-hander "Venus in Fur," about the power struggle between an ambitious actress and the male director for whom she's auditioning. The season concludes in spring 2017 with a remount of the company's successful "Triassic Parq," about a dinosaur in a community of females who suddenly become a male forcing the others to confront some shocking truths. See circletheatrechicago.org.

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