What's new on stage

"Doubt" on stage

Steel Beam Theatre opens 2009 with the stage version of "Doubt," John Patrick Shanley's meditation on power, tradition and faith. Founder and artistic director Donna Steele plays Sister Aloysius opposite her daughter Amy, who plays young nun Sister James. Dennis Edwards plays Father Flynn.

Opens Friday, Jan. 9, at 111 W. Main St., St. Charles. (630) 587-8521 or steelbeamtheatre.com.

Chick Shtick in Schaumburg

The all-female improve group Chick Shtick heat up Thursdays this winter when they bring their version of TV's "Whose Line is It Anyway" to Laugh Out Loud theater, located in the Streets of Woodfield.

8 p.m. Thursdays through Feb. 5, at 601 N. Martingale Road, Schaumburg. (847) 240-0386 or loltheater.com.

Court returns to the MCA

Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art provides the setting for Court Theatre artistic director Charles Newell's world premiere of Richard Nelson's translation of "The Wild Duck," Henrik Ibsen's tragedy about what happens when the crimes one family committed against another are revealed. The all-star Chicago cast includes Court favorites Kevin Gudahl, Timothy Edward Kane, Jay Whitaker and Rob Lindley along with Maury Cooper, Mary Beth Fisher, Johanna McKenzie Miller, John Reeger, Laura Scheinbaum and Henry Odum.

Previews begin Thursday, Jan, 15 at 220 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago. The production opens Jan. 23. (312) 397-4010 or courttheatre.org.

• Thirteen Pocket continues its showcase of original works with actor/writer Anthony Nikolchev's solo show "Look, What I Don't Understand," inspired by his family's experiences under a Communist regime in 1960s Bulgaria and their eventual escape from that totalitarian state. The show opened this week at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport, Chicago and continues through Feb. 1. (312) 902-1500 or ticketmaster.com.

• Previews continue for Shattered Globe's production of Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes" about wealthy southern aristocrat siblings at the turn of the 20th century scheming to enrich themselves further at each other's expense. Ensemble members Eileen Niccolai and Linda Reiter star in the production which opens Sunday, Jan. 11, at the Greenhouse Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 404-7336 or shatteredglobe.org.

• Lanford Wilson's early, metatheatrical drama "The Sand Castle," gets a rare revival courtesy of Theatre Seven of Chicago. Brian Golden directs the progressive drama, which unfolds on a quiet summer evening at the beach during which the family matriarch makes a life-changing decision even as nature changes the landscape. The play opens Friday, Jan. 9, at Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago. (773) 853-3158 or theatreseven.org.

• The Mill presents the world premiere of "The Private Lives of Eskimos (or 16 words for snow)" on Sunday, Jan. 11, at Stage Left Theatre, 3408 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago. Playwright Ken Urban's comic drama about a young man confronting the death of his sister embraces the kind of surreality that defined the 2001 feature film "Donny Darko." (312) 388-7660 or themilltheatre.org.

• Pegasus Players 23rd annual Young Playwrights Festival opens officially Monday, Jan. 12, at the O'Rourke Center at Truman College, 1145 W. Wilson Ave., Chicago. The festival showcasing one-act plays written by Chicago teenagers includes Vincent Del Toral's "Dine & Hash," about the oddballs who gather around one family's dinner table; Jihad Kheperu's "The Bench" about three couples whose lives intersect on a park bench and Raina Sun's "Where We Have Been" about a young man inspired by love to change his life. Performances run through Feb. 1. (773) 878-9761 or pegasusplayers.org.

• Infamous Commonwealth Theatre hosts its fourth annual 24 Hour Project, during which four playwrights will write one-act plays centered around the topic "nature" and four musicians will compose an overture. After that, four directors and their casts will rehearse and perform the plays. And it all happens within 24 hours, culminating in one-time-only performances at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10, at Vittum Theater, 1012 N. Noble St., Chicago. (312) 458-9780 or infamouscommonwealth.org.

• Director Sean Graney puts his distinctive imprint on "Alice in Wonderland" in Chicago Playworks' production of the Lewis Carroll classic. Performances begin Tuesday, Jan. 13, at DePaul University's Merle Reskin Theatre, 60 E. Balbo, Chicago. (312) 922-0999.

• Chicago Kids Company's new production of "The Princess and the Pea," about a queen who tests the worthiness of a seemingly lowborn young woman who claims to be a princess, begins Wednesday, Jan. 14, at the St. Patrick Performing Arts Center, 5900 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. (773) 2059600 or chicagokidscompany.com.

• Jeff Award winner Michael Patrick Thornton directs the Gift Theatre's production of "Stop/Kiss," Diana Son's play about friendship between two women that evolves into a romance. Previews continue through Sunday at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. The production, featuring Gift ensemble members Paul D'Addario and Alexandra Main, opens Monday, Jan. 19. (773) 283-7071 or thegifttheatre.org.

• American Theater Company launches an inspired theatrical collaboration with Congo Square Theatre Company that pairs Sam Shepard's "True West" with Suzan-Lori Parks' "topdog/underdog." The plays run in repertory at ATC's home at 1909 W. Byron St., Chicago. ATC artistic director PJ Paparelli directs "True West," about a Hollywood screenwriter whose big chance is thwarted by the return of his volatile older brother. Congo Square artistic director Derrick Sanders directs "topdog/underdog," which centers around former cardplayer turned legitimate entertainer Lincoln and his petty thief brother Booth, both of whom desperately want to escape the poverty that ensnares them. Not only will the plays alternate, the casts will as well. In a nontraditional staging that underscores the universality of sibling rivalry, ATC's Matthew Brumlow and Stephen Louis Grush, the white actors portraying Shepard's characters, will switch roles with Congo Square's Daniel Bryant and Anthony Irons, the black actors playing Parks' characters. "True West" begins performances Thursday, Jan. 15. "topdog/underdog" begins performances Jan. 22. (773) 409-4125 or atcweb.org.

• Chicago Dramatists' 30th anniversary season continues with "How I Became an Interesting Person," by resident playwright Will Dunne. The comedy concerns Wayne Drabowski (played by Will Clinger), an isolated man who gradually becomes involved with his elderly landlady and her three oddball boarders with whom he shares her home. Previews continue through Jan. 22 at 1105 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago. "How I Became an Interesting Person" opens Jan. 23. (312) 633-0630 or chicagodramatists.org.