On stage: Music, comedy double-bill

On stage in Aurora

Paramount Theatre presents a double-bill of music and comedy beginning with “Rave On! A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Holly” starring Billy McGuigan. It's followed by the Second City revue “Fair and Unbalanced,” showcasing the company's favorite sketches from the last 50 years. “Rave On” is at 8 p.m. Friday, May 20, and “Fair and Unbalanced” is at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 21, at 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora. (630) 896-6666 or (a href="http//www.paramountaurora.com" target="_blank">paramountaurora.com.

Short plays in Elgin

Janus Theatre hosts its second annual short-play festival showcasing works by David Ives, a writer known for clever, deceptively demanding plays like #8220;The Sure Thing,#8221; chronicling a man and woman's first meeting; #8220;The Universal Language,#8221; in which a couple communicates using invented speech; and #8220;The Philadelphia,#8221; about a guy having an incredibly frustrating day. Thursday to Sunday, May 26-29, at the Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division St., Elgin. (847) 841-1713 or janustheatre.wordpress.com.

Writers' premiere

Barbara Robertson plays the titular role in #8220;The Detective's Wife,#8221; a new crime drama by Keith Huff (#8220;A Steady Rain,#8221; #8220;Mad Men#8221;) about a woman who investigates the murder of her police officer husband. Gary Griffin directs the Writer's Theatre world premiere staged at Books on Vernon. Previews begin Tuesday, May 24, at 664 Vernon Ave., Glencoe. (847) 242-6000 or writerstheatre.org.

Also on stage ...

#8226; The Metropolis Ballroom, at the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights, debuts Onstage, a combination dinner and show on Saturday, May 21. Doors open at 6 p.m. Dinner is at 7:30 p.m. followed by Paul Corona and Angela Mannino singing Broadway and opera favorites. The dinner/show package is $95 and includes unlimited wine and beer with dinner. A cash bar is available. Tickets are $45 for the concert only. (847) 870-8787, ext. 200, or metropolisballroom.com.

#8226; A pair of siblings discover their late father's journal, and it upends their lives in Richard Greenberg's #8220;Three Days of Rain,#8221; which concludes BackStage Theatre Company's 2010-11 season. Artistic director Matthew Reeder directs the comedy, which stars Tony Bozzuto, Rebekah Ward-Hays and Strawdog member John Henry Roberts. Performances begin Friday, May 20, at the Viaduct Theatre, 3111 N. Western Ave., Chicago. (773) 296-6024 or backstagetheatrecompany.org.

#8226; Matthew Morrison, the star of Fox TV's #8220;Glee,#8221; headlines the Goodman Theatre's annual gala benefiting education and community outreach programs on Saturday, May 21. Individual tickets start at $500 for the evening, which begins with a cocktail reception and performance at the theater, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, followed by dining and dancing to the Al Sofia Orchestra at the Fairmont Hotel, 200 N. Columbus Drive, Chicago. (312) 443-3811, ext. 586.

#8226; The Annoyance Theatre sends up 1970s variety shows with #8220;Ronnie and Lonnie's Variety Stampede,#8221; opening Saturday, May 21, at 4830 N. Broadway, Chicago. Also at the Annoyance is new family-friendly puppet show, #8220;Weirdos,#8221; which previews Sundays, May 22, and May 29. The show runs at 2 p.m. Sundays through July 3. (773) 561-4665 or theannoyance.com.

#8226; Victory Gardens presents #8220;Crip Slam: A John Belluso Retrospective,#8221; comprised of readings examining the disability experience, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, May, 22, at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 871-3000; (773) 871-0682 (TTY) or victorygardens.org.

#8226; Trap Door Theatre hosts a benefit from 5 p.m. to midnight Sunday, May 22, at Phyllis' Musical Inn, 1800 W. Division St., Chicago. The event includes hors d'oeuvres and music from the company's show, #8220;Me Too, I am Catherine Deneuve.#8221; Proceeds will go to support the company's 2012 French tour of the production. Admission is $10. See trapdoortheatre.com.

#8226; Evanston's Next Theatre hosts its 30th anniversary benefit, The Black Pearl Affair, at 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 23, at the Woman's Club of Evanston, 1702 Chicago Ave., Evanston. Aaron Freeman will serve as celebrity host and auctioneer for the event, which salutes the theater's 30 years. It includes #8220;flash mob#8221;-style performances of original short works by Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley, J.T. Rogers, Keith Bunin and Alex Gersten-Vassilaros, along with dinner and a live auction. Tickets are $150 and $200 and are available at (847) 475-1875, ext. 2, or nexttheatre.org.

#8226; Hollis Resnik plays Margo Channing, Sandra Delgado plays Eve Harrington, Larry Yando plays Addison DeWitt and James Vincent Meredith plays Margo's lover Bill in Season of Concern's benefit reading of the 1950 classic film, #8220;All About Eve.#8221; Goodman Theatre's Steve Scott directs the reading, which begins at 7 p.m. Monday, May 23, at the Mayne Stage, 1328 W. Morse Ave., Chicago. Tickets are $45. Proceeds benefit Season of Concern, which assists artists dealing with life-threatening illnesses. See seasonofconcern.org.

#8226; Previews begin Tuesday, May 24, for #8220;Bug,#8221; the next play in redtwist theatre's season-long examination of fear. Kimberly Senior directs Tracy Letts' darkly comic thriller about a paranoid Gulf War veteran and the disaffected woman with whom he shares a seedy hotel room while hiding out from #8220;the Man.#8221; The show opens Friday, May 27, at 1044 W. Bryn Mawr, Chicago. (773) 728-7529 or redtwist.org.

#8226; The Gift Theatre premieres the latest play by William Nedved written for the company he co-founded. #8220;Northwest Highway#8221; centers around a cop interested in selling the Jefferson Park home where his father grew up. Si Osborne directs. Previews begin Thursday, May 26, at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. The show opens June 7. (773) 283-7071 or thegifttheatre.org.

#8226; Chicago-area cabaret duo Beckie Menzie and Tom Michael perform for the Griffin Theatre Company's spring benefit from 7 to 11:30 p.m. Thursday, May 26, at Northside Federal Savings, 5159 N. Clark St., Chicago. The evening includes entertainment, food, an open bar and silent auction. Tickets are $35 per person at the door. (773) 769-2228, ext. 2 or griffintheatre.com.

#8226; #8220;One Flea Spare,#8221; the first production in Eclipse Theatre's season devoted to playwright Naomi Wallace, is set during the plague that ravished London during the 17th century. The play centers on a wealthy couple who find themselves quarantined in their home with a sailor and a young girl. Performances continue through Sunday, May 22, at the Greenhouse Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 404-7336 or eclipsetheatre.com.

#8226; Broadway in Chicago announced that its hit production of Studs Terkel's #8220;Working,#8221; at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St., Chicago, will close on June 5. E Faye Butler, Rebecca Finnegan, Gene Weygandt, Emjoy Gavino, Michael Mahler and Gabriel Ruiz star. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com.

#8226; Route 66 Theatre Company's remount of its hit show, #8220;A Twist of Water,#8221; has been extended at its new venue, the Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. The drama, about a gay widower whose adopted African American daughter decides to seek out her birth mother, runs through June 26. (774) 325-1700, route66theatre.org or mercurytheaterchicago.com.

#8226; #8220;Gleeks Freaks, A Glee Burlesque Musical#8221; has been extended through June 29 at Gorilla Tango Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. (773) 598-4549 or gorillatango.com.

#8226; Previews began May 12, and the show doesn't officially open until May 21, but Court Theatre has already extended its production of George and Ira Gershwin's #8220;Porgy and Bess.#8221; The production, directed by Charles Newell, with music direction by Doug Peck, runs through July 3, at 5355 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago. (773) 753-4472 or courttheatre.org.

#8226; Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre has extended the production of its critically acclaimed revue #8220;Some Enchanted Evening: The Songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein.#8221; Performances run through July 3 at the No Exit Cafe, 6970 N. Glenwood Ave., Chicago. (800) 595-4849 or theoubique.org.

#8226; Broadway in Chicago and Threesixty Entertainment have extended the run of #8220;Peter Pan,#8221; a spectacle that incorporates computer visuals, aerial stunts, puppetry and live action. Performances run through July 10 at the Freedom Center, 650 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago. (888) 772-6949 or broadwayinchicago.com.

#8226; Prop Thtr offers $5 off admission to #8220;Arizona, No Roosters in the Desert,#8221; Kara Hartzler's drama about four women searching for the American dream in the American desert, to anyone ordering tickets and mentioning the National Museum of Mexican Art. Performances run through May 29 at 3502 N. Elston Ave., Chicago. (773) 539-7838 or propthtr.org.

#8226; TUTA Theatre Chicago announces the appointment of Cynthia Castiglione, the former curator for Around the Coyote who also managed the day-to-day operations for the large-scale puppet theater, Blair Thomas and Company, as its new managing director. Props designer Joel Lambie is a new associate member, and the company has added Kirk Anderson, Stacie Beth Green and Jaimelyn Gray to its acting ensemble. See tutato.com for more information.

#8226; Chicago high school student Johari Mackey won the August Wilson Monologue Competition held in New York on May 9. Mackey and the other contestants performed short monologues from the 10 plays that comprise Wilson's #8220;Century Cycle.#8221;

#8226; Columbia College Chicago's symposium, #8220;Chicago #8212; Theatre Capital of America: Past, Present and Future,#8221; continues through Sunday, May 22, at the Film Row Center, 1104 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago. See colum/edu/theatresymposium for information.

#8226; Determined to serve the very youngest theatergoers, Emerald City Theatre will debut a baby theater geared for newborns to 3-year-olds in May 2012 at 2933 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. The company will inaugurate its new space with the world premiere of #8220;Goodnight Gorilla,#8221; based on Peggy Rathmann's picture book about a gorilla who'd rather cause mischief than sleep. Emerald City will continue to produce family friendly shows at its Apollo Theater home at 2540 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. See emeraldcitytheatre.com for information.