Worth the trip
Haunting tales
First Folio Shakespeare Festival reprises its Jeff Award-nominated "The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe: A Love Story," an inventive, expertly staged homage to the writer.
Larry Neumann Jr. returns as Poe with Robert Allan Smith as the Madman in this scrupulously adapted show that is part literary survey, part biography and all theater. Previews begin Wednesday at the Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 W. 31st. St., Oak Brook. "Madness" opens Oct. 6. (630) 986-8067.
Berlin to Broadway
Light Opera Works salutes the music of Kurt Weill, from German cabaret to New York's Great White Way, in the musical revue "Berlin to Broadway With Kurt Weill." Previews begin Sunday at Light Opera Works Second Stage, 1420 Maple Ave., Evanston. The revue opens Oct. 5. (847) 869-6300.
-- Barbara Vitello
Openings:
Hypocrites' ensemble member Geogg Button directs "Desire Under the Elms," Eugene O'Neill's Oedipal tragedy about a young man lusting after his father's new young wife, opening Sunday at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago. (312) 409-5578.
The world premiere of Edward Eager's "Half Magic," about a mysterious coin that grants half wishes, inaugurates this season's Lifeline Theatre KidSeries. The play opens Sunday at 6912 N. Glenwood Ave., Chicago. (773) 761-4477.
Steven Dietz's comedy "Fiction," about seemingly happily married writers whose diary swap causes marital discord, opens Sunday at Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 871-3000.
Longtime friends and fellow police officers make a horrible mistake for which a young boy pays in Keith Huff's "A Steady Rain." The Chicago Dramatists production opens today at 1105 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago. (312) 633-0630.
Will Act For Food's production of "We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!" -- Dario Fo's satire on literal and spiritual hunger -- opens Tuesday at Stage left Theater, 3408 N. Sheffield, Chicago. (773) 327-9725.
Seneca's sibling rivalry tragedy "Thyestes," about brothers battling for power in ancient Greece, opens Saturday at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago. (773) 753-4472.
Silk Road Theatre Project's "Merchant on Venice," a Bollywood-inspired take on Shakespeare's tragedy, opens today at the Chicago Temple Building, 77 W. Washington St., Chicago. (888) 745-5849.