Pinter's 'Betrayal' to open at New World Repertory

New World Repertory Theater stages "Betrayal," the late Harold Pinter's piercing examination of marital infidelity told in reverse chronology, beginning with the bitter end of an affair and ending with its boozy beginning. Mike Speller, Patricia Hoffman and Errol McLendon star as the ill-fated lovers.

Facts: Opens 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb., 21, at 923 Curtiss St., Downers Grove. (630) 663-1489 or newworldrep.org.

Steel Beam serves up 'Tuna'

Aurora's Jackson Schultz and Chicago's David Belew play the entire population of a Texas town called Tuna in Steel Beam Theatre's production of "Greater Tuna," a comedy about small-town life that grew out of a sketch created by Joe Sears, Jaston Williams and Ed Howard. Aurora's Bernie Weiler directs.

Facts: Opens 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, at 111 W. Main St., St. Charles. (630) 587-8521 or steelbeamtheatre.com.

'Movin' Out' moves in

"Movin' Out," director/choreographer Twyla Tharp's dance-centric musical inspired by Billy Joel's music, moves into the Rosemont Theatre for a brief run. The show, featuring "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me," "Pressure" and the titular "Movin' Out," follows five friends from college graduation in the 1960s to middle age in the 1980s.

Facts: Runs Friday, Feb. 20, to Sunday, Feb. 22, at 5400 N. River Road, Rosemont. (312) 559-1212 or rosemonttheatre.com.

What's new

• Apple Tree Theatre's Orchard Series showcasing theatrical and musical performances continues at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb., 20, with Don Stiernberg and his jazz trio. Tickets are $20. Performances are at the Karger Recreation Center, 1850 Green Bay Road, Highland Park. (847) 432-4335 or appletreetheatre.com.

•Circle Theatre invites patrons to help chose the company's next world premiere at staged readings at 7300 W. Madison St., Forest Park. "Ratkillers," E. Eugene Baldwin's adults-only comedy about the patrons of a downstate Illinois diner, will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20. It's followed by Jon Steinhagen's "The Analytical Engine," about a woman who uses the world's first computer to find herself a perfect match at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. (708) 771-0700 or circle-theatre.org.

•Quest Theatre Ensemble incorporates puppetry into its production "Into the Woods," the Stephen Sondheim musical populated by fairy tale favorites that examines what happens after happily ever after. The show opens Friday, Feb. 20, at the Blue Theatre, 1609 W. Gregory, Chicago. (312) 458-0895 questensemble.org.

•Humorist J.W. Baz debuts his first stage play about love and addiction, "No One Can Fix You" Friday, Feb. 20, at Gorilla Tango Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. (773) 598-4549.

•Two young Japanese lovers hook up in a "love hotel" as the U.S. begins its 2003 invasion of Iraq in "Five Days in March," performed by the Japanese theater ensemble chelfitsch at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago. Performances run Friday, Feb. 20, to Sunday, Feb., 22. (312) 397-4010 or mcachicago.org.

•"Leaving Iowa," Tim Clue and Spike Manton's look at the family road trip opens Friday, Feb. 20, at the Jedlicka Performing Arts Center at Morton College, 3801 S. Central Ave., Cicero. (708) 656-1800 or jpactheatre.com.

•Centre East at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, hosts two performances of the musical revue, "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" at 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. (847) 673-6300 or centreeast.org.

•TheatreworksUSA brings its production of the kid-friendly musical "Junie B. Jones," about a precocious first-grader navigating school, kickball and new glasses, to the Center for the Performing Arts at Governors State University, 1 University Parkway, University Park. Performance are at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. (708) 235-2222 or centertickets.net.

•Remy Bumppo Theatre hosts its annual benefit titled The Play's the Thing beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Grand Piazza, 1431 W. Taylor St., Chicago. The benefit includes a silent auction for an opportunity to have a picture taken with Tony Award-winning actress and Remy Bumppo veteran Deanna Dunagan, star of the Pulitzer and Tony winning "August: Osage County." (773) 244-8119 or remybumppo.org.

•Steppenwolf Theatre's Anna D. Shapiro and Jessica Thebus team up to direct Lookingglass Theatre Company's revival of "Our Town," Thornton Wilder's ode to small-town America. The production opens Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago. (312) 337-0665 or lookingglasstheatre.org.

•Artistic Associate Kimberly Senior directs Curt Columbus' translation of Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" for Strawdog Theatre. Previews of this timely production continue through Saturday, Feb. 21. The play, about a family's attempts to save their beloved estate from creditors, opens Sunday, Feb. 22, at 3829 N. Broadway, Chicago. (773) 528-9696 or strawdog.org.

•The burden of saving a small town trapped in perpetual winter falls to a young girl in "Rose and the Rime," House Theatre of Chicago's world premiere of an original fairy tale by Chris Matthews, Jake Minton and Nathan Allen. Carolyn Defrin, brilliant as the titular character in House's "The Sparrow," stars as Rose in the production, which opens Sunday, Feb. 22, at Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago. (773) 251-2195 or thehousetheatre.com.

•The Circus Cats of Chicago perform at 1 and 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22, at the Woodstock Opera House, 121 Van Buren St., Woodstock. (815) 338-5300.

•Broadway veteran Charlotte d'Amboise and "Dancing With the Stars" favorite John O'Hurley star in the touring production of "Chicago," coming to the Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre for a limited run. Performances begin Wednesday, Feb. 25, at 24 W. Randolph St., Chicago and run through Sunday, March 8. (312) 902-1400 or broadwayinchicago.com.

•Stage Left Theatre presents the world premiere of ensemble member David Alan Moore's "The Day of Knowledge," a meditation on grief and endurance inspired by a terrorist siege of a Russian school in 2004 that resulted in more than 300 deaths. The play opens Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 3408 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago. (773) 883-8830 or stagelefttheatre.com.

•A pair of down-and-out Shakespearean actors come up with a scheme to bilk a dying heiress out of her inheritance in "Leading Ladies." Multiple Jeff Award winner William Pullinsi directs an all-star cast featuring Dale Benson, Larry Adams, Linda Gillum and Kate Bergeron. Previews continue through Wednesday, Feb., 25, at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Ind. The show opens Thursday, Feb. 26. (219) 836-3255 or theatreatthecenter.org.

•Griffin Theatre's 20th anniversary season continues with a production of "The Robber Bridegroom," a folk and bluegrass inspired musical by Robert Waldman and Alfred Uhry ("Driving Miss Daisy") about a Mississippi folk hero who woos the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner. The show opened this week at the Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. (773) 327-5252 or griffintheatre.com.