On stage: 'Broken Glass' reading

Staged reading

The Elgin Cultural Arts Commission presents a free, staged reading of “Broken Glass” as part of its Page to Stage series. Hoffman Estates writer Christopher Bibby examines Kristallnacht, when the anti-Semitic policies Hitler began imposing years earlier culminated in Nazi storm troopers destroying thousands of Jewish synagogues and businesses and deporting 30,000 Jewish men to concentration camps. The play focuses on two friends — a Catholic and a Jew — who struggle to survive the Nov. 9, 1938, rampage.

7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 29-30, and 1 p.m. Sunday, May 1, at the Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division St., Elgin. (847) 951-1515 or cityofelgin.org.

Mystifying mentalist

The Amazing Kreskin knows what you're thinking. And the famed mentalist and hypnotist will tell you when he headlines Zanies Comedy club this weekend.

8 p.m. Friday, April 29; 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. p.m. Saturday, April 30, at Zanies, 230 Hawthorn Village Commons, Vernon Hills. (847) 549-6030 or zanies.com.

Quintessential Coward

A divorced couple, honeymooning in France with their new respective spouses, find themselves in adjacent hotel rooms in “Private Lives” by Noel Coward. Buffalo Theatre Ensemble revives the classic comedy from 1930 about ex-lovers who have as much trouble living together as they have living apart. BTE artistic director Amelia Barrett directs.

Previews begin Thursday, May 5, at the McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. The show opens Friday, May 6. (630) 942-4000 or atthemac.org.

• “Defending the Caveman” returns to the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre for a brief run. Performances are on Friday, April 29, and Saturday, April 30, at 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights. (847) 577-2121 or metropolisarts.com.

• Writer and actress Mary Fons creates and stars in the one-woman musical revue, “Performing Tonight: Liza Minnelli's Daughter,” in previews at the Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago. Fons stars as the fictional Mary Minnelli, who believes she's Liza Minnelli's daughter and goes to New York to perform for the diva and live the life she believes she was destined to have. The show opens Saturday, April 30. (773) 275-5255 or neofuturists.org.

• Broadway in Chicago brings “Peter Pan,” a retelling of the J.M. Barrie story conceived as an in-the-round spectacle complete with puppets, music and acrobatics. Performances begin Friday, April 29, in the 360-degree, CGI equipped Chicago Tribune Freedom Center, 650 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago. The show opens Wednesday, May 4. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com.

• Saint Sebastian Players concludes its 30th season with “Steel Magnolias,” Robert Harling's drama about six Southern women who support each other through life's most significant events. Performances begin Friday, April 29, at St. Bonaventure Church, 1625 W. Diversey, Chicago. Additionally, Chicago radio personalities, including WXRT's Lin Brehmer, WFMT's George Preston, WLUW's Cooper St. James and WBBM-AM's Joe Collins will take turns supplying the voice of the DJ the women listen to. (773) 404-7922 or saintsebastianplayers.org.

• A photographer discovers a child soldier in a Baltimore nature preserve and develops a relationship with him that falls somewhere between assistance and exploitation in “goodness,” by Sean Christopher Lewis. Performances begin Friday, April 29, at Clockwise Theatre, 221 N. Genesee St., Waukegan. See clockwisetheatre.org for more information.

• The New Millennium Theatre Company revives the lighthearted “Cubicle! An Office Space Musical” beginning Friday, April 29, at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The show runs late nights on Fridays and Saturdays through June 4. (773) 975-8150 or nmtchicago.org.

• Griffin Theatre Company, an ensemble that has a special talent for adapting children's and young adult books for the stage, concludes its 22nd season with the world-premiere stage adaptation of Gordon Korman's novel “No More Dead Dogs.” It centers on a boy named Wallace who ends up in detention after he gives an unfavorable review to one of his teacher's favorite books, pointing out that in any book with a dog and an award sticker on the cover, “that dog is going down.” Griffin's production marks the third collaboration between Griffin artistic director and adapter William Massolia and director Dorothy Milne, Lifeline Theatre's artistic director. Rick Sims provides the original music. Previews begin Saturday, April 30, at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The show opens Sunday, May 8. (773) 975-8150 or griffintheatre.com.

• Goodman Theatre presents the world premiere of Sarah Ruhl's “Stage Kiss,” about ex-lovers, each of whom is involved with someone new, who are hired to play the romantic leads in a 1930s melodrama. Ruhl teams up with longtime collaborator Jessica Thebus for the premiere starring Jenny Bacon and Mark L. Montgomery as the ex-lovers and Ross Lehman as the director who has to manage the situation. Previews begin Saturday, April 30, at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. The show opens Monday, May 9. (312) 443-3800 or goodmantheatre.org.

• The Wild Party Variety Hour featuring burlesque and contemporary vaudeville returns to the Prop Thtr, 3504 N. Elston Ave., Chicago. The show, which is part of Silent Theatre's late-night series, reopens at 11 p.m. Saturday, April 30, and runs the last Saturday of every month. See silenttheatre.com for information.

• Former “Saturday Night Live” cast member and iO Chicago alum Tim Meadows returns to iO's main stage at 10 p.m. Sunday, May 1, to perform long-form improv with Brad Morris and Joe Canale as part of “Uncle's Brother.” It's at 3541 N. Clark St., Chicago. Also iO Chicago debuts a new sketch show on Saturday, April 30. The Other Other Guys will perform “The 17th Annual Summerville Massacre and Cat Parade” at midnight Saturdays through June 4. (773) 880-0199 or ioimprov.com.

• Pride Film & Plays hosts its variety show “Four Minutes Max!” beginning at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 1, at Mary's Attic, 5400 N. Clark St., Chicago. The show features music, comedy, dance and multimedia and includes cast members from Hell in a Handbag's “Trogg! A Musical.” Proceeds benefit Gay UK, a Pride Film & Plays program held during Gay Pride Month. (800) 838-3006. Also, the organization holds its second Great Gay Screenplay Contest seeking new works relevant to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. The entry fee is $30 for plays submitted between May 1-31, $45 for those submitted between June 1-30. Submission deadline is June 30. The 15 semifinalists will be announced Aug. 15. Five finalists will be announced Sept. 15 and those scripts will be performed as staged readings at the Hoover Leppen Theater in October. Each finalist will receive $400. See pridefilmsandplays.com for contest rules.

• Tony Award winner Alice Ripley, currently starring in “Next To Normal” at the Bank of America Theatre, performs in concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 2, at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Ripley's show, “Daily Practice: The Acoustic Sessions,” features rock standards ranging from Carole King's It's Too Late” to Bruce Springsteen's “Thunder Road.” (773) 327-5252 or stage773.com.

• The 18th annual Michael Merritt Design Awards celebrating set designer Walt Spangler (Goodman Theatre's “Desire Under the Elms” and “King Lear”) takes place Monday, May 2, at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. Goodman artistic director Robert Falls will present the award to Spangler. Sound designer/composer/musician Mikhail Fiksel (“Old Town,” “Last of the Dragons”) will receive the Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award. Doors open at 5 p.m. for the Theater Design Expo showcasing dozens of Chicago area designers. Sun Times critic Hedy Weiss will lead a 7 p.m. panel discussion featuring honorees Spangler and Fiksel in the Owen Theatre. The awards presentation follows at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20, $5 for students and include refreshments. For tickets, see merrittawards.com/2011-event/.

• Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's Tony Award-winning musical “Spring Awakening,” based on Frank Wedekind's 1891 play about teenagers' sexual coming-of-age, returns to Chicago for a brief run. Performances begin Tuesday, May 3, at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St., Chicago. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com.

• iO Chicago cast member Anthony Oberbeck debuts his one-man sketch show “I Am The Horizon” on Tuesday, May 3, at the Playground Theater, 3209 N. Halsted St., Chicago. The show runs through June 7. (773) 871-3793 or the-playground.com.

• “Roadkill Confidential,” by Sheila Callaghan gets its Midwest premiere courtesy of Dog & Pony Theatre Company. A darkly comic meditation on violence, “Roadkill Confidential” centers on a G-man tailing an artist with “an affinity for accident victims.” Co-artistic director Devon de Mayo directs. Previews begin Wednesday, May 4, at The Building Stage, 412 N. Carpenter St., Chicago. The show opens Friday, May 6. (312) 491-1369 or dogandponychicago.org.

• Christopher Durang (book and lyrics) and Peter Melnick (music) parody film noir in their musical comedy, “Adrift in Macao,” which centers on a sexy blonde, a cynical casino owner and a man framed for murder. InnateVolution Theater's production begins previews on Wednesday, May 4, at The Call Bar, 1547 W. Bryn Mawr, Chicago. The show opens Sunday, May 8, and runs Sundays only through May 29. (312) 513-1415 or innatevolution.org.

• “A Lesson Before Dying,” Romulus Linney's drama set in 1948 Louisiana and centered on the relationship between a black teacher and a young black man sentenced to death, begins previews Wednesday, May 4, at Lincoln Square Theatre, 4754 N. Leavitt St., Chicago. The production opens Friday, May 6. (773) 275-7930 or lincolnsquaretheatre.org.

• The Annoyance Theatre presents the unscripted show “Earthqueef,” a musical inspired by blockbuster disaster movies. Previews begin Wednesday, May 4, at 4830 N. Broadway, Chicago. The show opens May 11. (773) 561-4665 or theannoyance.com.

• Previews begin Thursday, May 5, for Chicago Dramatists' production of “Hickorydickory,” by resident playwright Marisa Wegrzyn, winner of the 2009 Wendy Wasserstein Prize for playwriting. Artistic director Russ Tutterow directs the show, which marks his 25th anniversary production with the company. The dark comedy imagines a world where each person has an internal clock that tells him or her the exact moment of death. The show opens Friday, May 13, at 1105 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago. (312) 633-0630 or chicagodramatists.org.

• Will Eno turns the post apocalypse into a comedy in “Tragedy: a tragedy,” beginning previews Thursday, May 5, at Red Tape Theatre, located at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 621 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Jeremy Wechsler directs the show, which opens Monday, May 9. See redtapetheatre.org for information.

• Salsation Theatre Company hosts Cinco de Salsation! its annual fundraising fiesta from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday, May 5, at Ristorante al Teatro, 1227 W. 18th St., Chicago. Tickets are $25 and include food, entertainment and a raffle. (312) 505-1861 or salsation.org.

• Performances continue for Theatre Nebula's production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice rock musical about the last days of Christ. Performances run through Sunday, May 1, at Cutting Hall, 150 E. Wood St., Palatine. (847) 202-5222 or theatrenebula.org.

• Chicago's n.u.f.a.n. ensemble has come up with a unique approach to new play development dubbed “Scenes.” The company will put up a couple of scenes from several plays-in-progress at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 1 and 8, at the Second Stage Theatre, 3408 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago. Audience response will determine which of the scenes expands into a full-length play which n.u.f.a.n. will stage next season. See nufanensemble.com.

• The new sketch comedy revue “Is This Your First Dead Husband?” about how people deal with adversity, continues through June 2 at Donny's Skybox Theatre, Pipers Alley, 1608 N. Wells St., Chicago. See secondcity.com for information.

• The Gift Theatre has extended its production of “Night and Her Stars,” Richard Greenberg's play about the 1950s television quiz show scandal involving Charles Van Doren and Herbert Stempel. Performances continue through Sunday, May 1, at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. (773) 283-7071 or thegifttheatre.org.

• Oracle Productions has extended director Max Truax's production of “Woyzeck” through Saturday, May 21, at 3809 N. Broadway, Chicago. (252) 220-0269 or oracletheatre.org.

• “Dixie's Tupperware Party,” Kris Anderson's adults-only, one-person show combining humorous tales, audience participation and an array of Tupperware available for purchase, has been extended. Performances continue through June 12 at the Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted St., Chicago. (312) 988-9000 or theroyalgeorgetheatre.com.

• Eta Creative Arts Foundation has extended its production of “Birthright,” Jackie Alexander's drama about a minister whose past has come back to haunt him. Performances run through Saturday, May 14, at 7558 S. South Chicago Ave., Chicago. (773) 752-3955 or etacreativearts.org.

— Barbara Vitello