Theater news
Theater Oobleck remounts its production of "The Strangerer," Mickle Maher's satiric re-imagining of Albert Camus' absurdist tale. Maher re-sets it during the 2004 presidential debates in which John Kerry and George Bush argue about how to kill moderator Jim Lehrer. It opens today at Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago. (773) 347-1041 or www.theateroobleck.com.
Adventure Stage Chicago presents the bilingual "The Blue House," Jose Cruz Gonzalez's family-friendly play about a young girl who tries to uncover the secrets of a house that once stood in an abandoned lot. An examination of racial tension and forgiveness, the play opens Saturday at Vittum Theater, 1012 N. Noble St., Chicago. (773) 342-4141 or www.adventurestage.org.
Previews continue through Saturday for Porchlight Music Theatre's production of Maury Yeston's musical "Nine," inspired by Federico Fellini's "8½" about an artistically stymied director trying to untangle his romantic life. It opens Sunday at the Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. (773) 327-5252 or www.theatrebuildingchicago.org.
Babes With Blades concludes its 10th season with its first mixed-gender production "Los Desaparecidos (The Vanished)." The play concerns two sisters confronting society and family pressures in 16th-century Spain. It opens Monday at the Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St., Chicago. (773) 880-0016 or www.babeswithblades.org.
Joel Drake Johnson's latest, a dark family comedy titled "Four Places," about the relationship between a contentious mother and her adult children, opens Monday at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 871-3000 or www.victorygardens.org.
Vitalist Theatre and Premiere Theatre and Performance stage Martin Sherman's ("Bent") adaptation of E.M. Forster's "A Passage to India," about Western colonialism, political suppression and sexual repression in India. Tuesday's opening at the Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, marks the first non-London production of this adaptation rooted in physical theater. (773) 327-5252.
-- Barbara Vitello