Theater events: 'The Opportunities of Extinction' opens at The Den

• Waltzing Mechanics inaugurates its Documentary Play Festival showcasing nine original docudramas. The festival takes place at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 1, and 4 p.m. Saturday, June 2, at Jackalope Theatre's Frontier Space, 1106 W. Thorndale Ave., Chicago. Subjects include: date rape, women's experiences with the Iraq War, a reflection on the Sandy Hook shooting and an examination of Theodore Roosevelt, among others. The mini-fest concludes with Waltzing Mechanics' "#JusticeFor" David Guiden's play about police brutality against African-Americans. Tickets are $10. See waltzingmechanics.org.

• "The Opportunities of Extinction," a new play by Sam Chanse about three people who escape to the desert as a way to survive these chaotic, uncertain times, begins previews Friday, June 1, at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. Broken Nose Theatre ensemble member Jen Poulin directs the season-ending production, which opens Monday, June 4. Tickets are pay-what-you-can. See brokennosetheatre.com.

• The Physical Festival Chicago returns to Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, for its fifth incarnation from Friday, June 1, through June 10. In addition to Chicago's Michael Montenegro, whose Theatre Zarko presents a puppet and mask performance titled "Drunken Half Angel," participating theater artists include Montreal's Equivoc, New York's Red Bastard, Franco-Brazilian ensemble Gael Le Cornec and the Spain/United Kingdom-based Little Soldier Productions. Founded in 2014 and curated by Alice da Cunha and Marc Frost, Physical Festival Chicago showcases clown, puppetry, mime, mask, vaudeville, circus, dance and theater among other physical and visual art forms. Festival passes are $45 and $60. Individual tickets range from $12 to $18. See physicalfestival.com.

• Previews begin Friday, June 1, for "Wild Women of Planet Wongo," an immersive, sci-fi, musical comedy sendup of 1960s B movies. First produced in New York in 2015, the show is by Ben Budick, Steve Mackes and Dave Ogrin. The show opens June 8 at the Chopin Theater, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago. Performances are for ages 16 and older, except the late-night Saturday show, which is for ages 21 and older. See planetwongo.com.

• The Second City celebrates Pride Month with "The Second City's Let's Make It Perfectly Queer: A Salute to Pride," a sketch show featuring an all LGBTQ cast. Performances begin Friday, June 1, at the Blackout Cabaret at Piper's Alley, 230 W. North Ave., Chicago. Also at Second City, the fifth annual Bob Curry Fellowship Showcase featuring new comedic voices takes place at 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 6, at the Second City e.t.c. Theater, 230 W. North Ave., Chicago. Lastly, Second City's Up Comedy Club, 230 W. North Ave., Chicago, is the site of the fourth annual NBCUniversal Second City Break Out Comedy Festival hosted by David Pompeii ("Key and Peele") and featuring Azhar Usman, Godfrey and Chicago-area comedians. It runs Thursday through Saturday, June 7-9. (312) 337-3992 or secondcity.com.

• The sixth annual Pivot Arts Festival showcasing multidisciplinary works runs Friday, June 1, through June 10 in Chicago's Uptown and Edgewater neighborhoods. The festival marks the Chicago premiere of Rude Mechs, a theater ensemble from Austin, Texas. The fest features theater, dance, puppetry, site-specific and visual art exhibitions. Venues include FLATSstudio, 4612 N. Clifton St.; Senn Park, 1501 W. Elmdale Ave.; Colvin House, 5940 N. Sheridan Road; Chicago Filmmakers, 5720 N. Ridge Ave.; Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.; the Mundelein Center at Loyola University, 1020 W. Sheridan Road; Bar 63, 6341 N. Broadway St.; and the Parish House, 5944 N. Magnolia Ave., among other venues. Tickets range from free to $30. Three-show festival passes are $40. See pivotarts.org/festival.

• Lost and Found Productions presents the world premiere of "Burnham's Dream: The White City," beginning previews Saturday, June 2, at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The new musical by writer/lyricist June Finfer and composer/lyricist Elizabeth Doyle centers on architect Daniel Burnham's efforts to build the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago commemorating the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the New World. Erik Wagner directs the production, which opens Tuesday, June 5. (773) 975-8150 or theaterwit.org or lostandfoundproductions.org.

• Otherworld Theater, a company devoted to producing Sci Fi and fantasy works, hosts the sixth annual Juggernaut SciFi Fantasy Film Festival showcasing 40 short- and full-length films from around the world. The festival runs from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 2-3, at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. Gates McFadden, who played Dr. Crusher on TV's "Star Trek: The Next Generation," serves as celebrity host. See juggernautfilmfestival.com.

• "Late Nite Catechism" celebrates 25 years in Chicago with a special performance at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 3, at the Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted St., Chicago. Chicago actress Rosie Newton plays the wisecracking Sister, a role she has performed here and on tour since 1997, in the interactive show created by Vicki Quade and Maripat Donovan. For this performance only, 25 tickets will be available for $8, the price of the ticket when the show premiered at Live Bait Theatre in 1993. Sunday's production will be followed by a mini-tour, which brings the show to Skokie's North Shore Center for the Performing Arts on July 14 and 15. (312) 988-9000 or nuns4fun.com.

• Chicago-area cabaret artists join Melissa Young for "Out and Proud: A Rainbow Celebration," an examination of the history of the LGBTQ movement through song and comedy. Young, Nick Sula, Daryl Nitz, Jeannie Tanner and Dan Riley perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 3, at Pride Films and Plays, 4139 N. Broadway St., Chicago. (866) 811-4111 or pridefilmsandplays.com.

• Joseph Jefferson Award-winner Donica Lynn hosts Porchlight Music Theatre's revue series New Faces Sing Broadway 1975 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 5, at The Skokie Theatre, 7924 Lincoln Ave., Chicago, and at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 6, at The Arts Club of Chicago, 201 E. Ontario St., Chicago. The June 6 performance is preceded by a 6:30 p.m. reception. The Porchlight series showcases up-and-coming musical theater artists from the Chicago area. The show features tunes from 1975 productions of "A Chorus Line," "Chicago" and "Mack & Mabel" among others. (773) 777-9884 or porchlightmusictheatre.org.

• Previews begin Wednesday, June 6, at 4147 N. Broadway St., Chicago, for Pride Films and Plays' U.S. premiere of "Pink Orchids" by Patrick Cash. The play consists of five interwoven monologues about living with HIV. It opens June 8. (866) 811-4111 or pridefilmsandplays.com.

• Krissy Vanderwarker makes her Neo-Futurists directorial debut with "Empty Threats," ensemble member Lily Mooney's sendup of contemporary theater in which a college professor is confronted by the play's author who forces the professor to defend his fictional existence. Previews begin Thursday, June 7, at 5153 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago. The show opens June 11. (773) 275-5255 or neofuturists.org.

• The League of Chicago Theatres' next Theatre Thursday event takes place Thursday, June 7, at Strawdog Theatre Company, 1802 W. Berenice, Chicago. The company is staging Bennett Fisher's thriller "Damascus" about a Somali-American shuttle driver who agrees to take a teenager stranded at the Minneapolis airport to Chicago. Tickets are $25 for the event, which begins at 7 p.m. with a preshow reception with director Cody Estle and concludes with a talk back following the 8 p.m. performance. See strawdog.org or chicagoplays.com.

• Strawdog Theatre Company will receive a special achievement award for its 30 years as one of Chicago's storefront theater cornerstones during the 2018 Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson Awards taking place June 11 at the Athenaeum Theatre. Dedicated to bringing audiences "the whole wide world in a little black box," Strawdog's ensemble has numbered more than 140 members over three decades, during which the company produced 31 world premieres, along with contemporary works and re-imagined classics. "Damascus," Strawdog's final production of its 2018 season, runs through June 23 at 1802 W. Berenice, Chicago.

• Pride Films and Plays has extended its world premiere of "Flies! The Musical," about high school students' ill-fated adaptation of William Golding's "Lord of the Flies." Performances run through June 16 at 4139 N. Broadway St., Chicago. (773) 857-0222 or pridefilmsandplays.com.

• Scheduling conflicts have forced the postponement of the U.S. premiere of "Djembe! The Show," featuring African musicians and artists, which was to have played an extended run at the Apollo Theater beginning this month.