What's new
Ÿ Three sisters attempt to reconcile the tragedies that defined their youth and reconnect in Beth Henley's “Crimes of the Heart,” opening Friday, March 30, at Steel Beam Theatre, 111 W. Main St., St. Charles. Ann Keen, founder of Chicago's Polarity Ensemble Theatre, directs the production, which stars Maura Clement, Hilary Holbrook and Abigail Trabue as the three sisters. (630) 587-8521 or steelbeamtheatre.com.
Ÿ Previews begin Friday, March 30, for Victory Gardens Theater's production of “We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as South-West Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915” by Jackie Sibblies Drury. Selected for the main stage from VGT's 2010 IGNITION Festival, a new play development initiative, “We Are Proud to Present” is about a group of actors confronting their own bigotry during a retelling of the of near extermination of the Herero and the Namaqua people following their rebellion against German colonial rule, thought to be the first genocide of the 20th century. Eric Ting directs. The show opens Monday, April 9, at 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 871-3000 or victorygardens.org.
Ÿ From the same group that delivered “Menopause The Musical,” comes “Motherhood The Musical,” a four-woman show examining motherhood in all its incarnations. Previews begin Friday, March 30, at the Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted St., Chicago. The show opens Thursday, April 12. (800) 982-2787 or theroyalgeorgetheatre.com or motherhoodthemusical.com.
Ÿ Time travelers turned rock stars Bill and Ted — now married with children — team up with historical heroes to defeat a rival band Creeping Rusty Meat which threatens to destroy the universe in the original musical “We are Wyld Stallyns or How Bill and Ted Save the World.” The New Millennium Theatre Company production runs Friday, March 30, through Sunday, April 22, at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. (773) 975-8150 or nmtchicago.org.
Ÿ About Face Theatre invites supporters to relive their prom as part of its annual Wonka Ball fundraiser Friday, March 30, at the Chicago Illuminating Company, 19 E. 21st St., Chicago. General admission is $150 and includes an open bar, appetizers, dancing and entertainment along with the presentation of the Leppen Leadership Awards honoring volunteers who work on behalf of the LGBTQA community. (773) 784-8565 or aboutfacetheatre.com.
Ÿ Light Opera Works hosts its Broadway and Vine fundraising gala beginning at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31, at the North Shore Country Club, 1340 Glenview Road, Glenview. The event includes cocktails, dinner, a live auction and entertainment. Tickets start at $185. They're available by phone at (847) 920-5360.
Quest Theatre and Indiana State University team up for two nights of “The People's History,” an original production examining pivotal events in U.S. history. Performances are at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 31, and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 1, at Blue Theater, 1609 W. Gregory St., Chicago. (312) 458-0895 or questensemble.org.
Ÿ Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele of Comedy Central's “Key and Peele” headline the Chicago Improv Fest Gala beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 31, at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. The event will honor Key and Peele; Dan Patterson, creator of TV's “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and actor Jon Barinholtz. Tickets are $75 and are available by phone (773) 875-6616 or online at 2012cifgala.eventbrite.com.
Ÿ Kristiana Colon and Damon Williams debut their new hip-hop duo on Saturday, March 31, at Luna Central, 3914 N. Clark St., Chicago. The April Fools performance begins at 9:30 p.m., following an 8:30 p.m. reception. Live music and a DJ follow the show. See teatroluna.org for information.
Ÿ Bootstraps Comedy Theater presents its “City Life Supplement” — the irreverent counterpart to “A Prairie Home Companion” — consisting of sketches, stories and music at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31, at Transistor Chicago, 3819 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. Shows are pay-what-you-can. (214) 460-1735 or citylifesupplement.org.
Ÿ Professors Timothy Larsen of Wheaton College and Christopher Nissen of Northern Illinois University participate in a talk back on “Love, Sex, the Meaning of Life and the Existence of God,” following the 1 p.m. Sunday, April 1, performance of “Freud's Last Session,” at the Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. The play by Mark St. Germain chronicles the exchanges between Sigmund Freud and writer C.S. Lewis in the weeks before Freud took his own life. (773) 325-1700 or mercurytheaterchicago.com.
Ÿ The Annoyance Theatre, 4830 N. Broadway, Chicago, presents the family-friendly puppet show “Weirdos Presents: Strange Tales” previewing Sunday, April 1, at the theater. The show opens Sunday, April 15. (773) 561-4665 or theannoyance.com.
Ÿ Chicago Slam Works debuts its series of three original performances showcasing Chicago area performance poets. It begins on Tuesday, April 3, with “Two Sides” featuring poets telling their stories. It continues on May 25 with “Dead or Alive Battle Royale for Slam Poetry Supremacy for All Eternity” pitting living poets work against that of their deceased counterparts. The series concludes July 21 with “In Any Tongue” featuring slam poets from Germany. Performances take place at Vittum Theater, 1012 N. Noble, Chicago. (866) 811-4111 or chicagoslamworks.com.
Ÿ Chicago Kids Company brings its musical retelling of “The Three Little Pigs” to the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights. Performances run Wednesday, April 4, through Friday, April 13. (847) 577-2121 or metropolisarts.com.
Ÿ Goodman Theatre artistic association Steve Scott directs Silk Road Rising's new production “Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret,” featuring a “pastiche of Asian and Middle Eastern images in American and British song and verse.” Previews begin Wednesday, April 4, at the Historic Chicago Temple Building, 77 W. Washington St., Chicago. The show opens Saturday, April 7. (312) 857-1234, ext. 201, or silkroadrising.org.
Ÿ DC Pierson, a member of the sketch group Derrick Comedy performs his solo show “DC Pierson is Bad at Girls” on Wednesday, April 4, and Thursday, April 5, at Gorilla Tango Theatre at 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, and on Saturday, April 7, at GTT's Skokie venue at 7924 Lincoln Ave., Skokie. (773) 598-4549 or gorillatango.com.
Ÿ Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member Frank Galati returns to direct his adaptation of “The March,” E.L. Doctorow's novel about General William Sherman's march through Georgia during the Civil War. Commissioned by Steppenwolf and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is among the first plays commissioned as part of American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle chronicling significant moments in American history. Previews begin Thursday, April 5, at 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago. The show opens Saturday, April 14. (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.
Ÿ When Valerie's husband goes missing, everyone suspects his wife is involved, especially her sister-in-law who is also the town sheriff in Marisa Wegrzyn's “The Butcher of Baraboo.” Shade Murray directs A Red Orchid Theatre's production which features AROT artistic director Kristen Fitzgerald as Valerie. Previews begin Thursday, April 5, at 1531 N. Wells St., Chicago. The show opens Tuesday, April 10. (312) 943-8722 or aredorchidtheatre.org.
Ÿ The Tony Award-winning “Jersey Boys,” the jukebox, bio-musical chronicling the rise, fall and rise of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, returns to Chicago beginning Thursday, April 5. Performances continues through June 2, at the Bank of America Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St., Chicago. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com.
Ÿ Following a run-in with police in 1965, a 17-year-old has the option of going to jail or going to Vietnam. He chooses the latter. His wartime experiences and his battle with post-traumatic stress disorder make up “Tunnel Rat” by Australian playwright Neil Cole. Genesis Theatrical Productions presents the show beginning Thursday, April 5, at National Pastime Theatre at the Preston Bradley Center, 941 W. Lawrence Ave., Chicago. (773) 327-7077 or brownpapertickets.com.
Ÿ AstonRep Theatre Company revives John Patrick Shanley's “Doubt,” an examination of alleged misconduct by a Bronx, New York priest in 1964 that unfolds against an ideological debate over the temperament of the Catholic Church. Previews begin Thursday, April 5, at BoHo Theatre at the Heartland Studio, 2016 N. Glenwood Ave., Chicago. Derek Bertelsen directs the show which opens April 7. (773) 828-9129 or astonrep.com.
Ÿ Fox Valley Repertory announced the playwrights selected for its second annual Collider Project which pairs writers and Fermilab scientists to create new works. Playwrights includes Gloria Bond Clunie of Chicago, co-writers Kevin Kautzman of Texas and Charles Midwinter of Minnesota, and Monica Byrne of North Carolina. Staged readings begin July 7. See foxvalleyrep.org/collider for more information.
Ÿ New theater company Step Up Productions made its Chicago debut recently with a revival of Rebecca Gilman's “The Sweetest Swing in Baseball,” about a troubled artist who imagines she is troubled baseball player Darryl Strawberry in a dark-comedy that examines the price fame exacts on one's identity. Performances continue through Sunday, April 22, at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport, Chicago. (773) 935-6875 or stepupproductions.net.
Ÿ Lookingglass Theatre Company revives its groundbreaking production of “Metamorphoses” as part of its 25th anniversary season. Written and adapted by Mary Zimmerman, who won a Tony Award for her efforts, the play is based on the myths of Ovid and will feature original cast members. Lookingglass' 2012-2013 season also includes the Chicago area premiere of Rajiv Joseph's “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” about U.S. marines and their Iraqi interpreter confronting a now deceased but very angry tiger. The season also includes “Still Alice,” based on Lisa Genova's novel about an expert in the human brain whose own mind begins to fail her; and the world premiere of “Big Lake Big City,” Keith Huff's noir-inspired take on the detective genre. Subscriptions are available by phone at (312) 337-0665 or lookingglasstheatre.org.
Ÿ The Chicago area premiere of “Equivocation,” Bill Cain's drama set in 1605 about a writer named Shakespeare who's commissioned to write a play promoting the government's version of the activities of Guy Fawkes, who attempted to blow up Parliament, will open Victory Gardens Theater's 2012-2013 season. Other productions include the world premiere of Philip Dawkins' “Failure: A Love Story,” about the final days of three sisters; “Disconnect,” Anupama Chandrasekhar's dramedy about a forty-something company man transferred to India to manage a call center; Samuel D. Hunter's “The Whale” about a morbidly obese man who “eats himself into oblivion” after the death of his boyfriend and the world premiere of Marcus Gardley's “Chicago is Burning” about the underground drag balls taking place in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. Subscriptions and flex passes are available at (773) 871-3000 or victorygardens.org.
Ÿ American Blues Theater's 2012-2013 season includes the world premiere of “Illegal Use of Hands,” about men reliving past glory and contemplating revenge by ABT artistic affiliate James Still. Also on tap is the annual production of the staged radio broadcast of “It's A Wonderful Life: Live on State Street!” The season concludes with “Collected Stories,” by Donal Margulies. Codirected by Mary Ann Thebus and Jessica Thebus, the play is about the battle between a mentor and her protégé. Subscriptions are available by phone at (312) 725-4228 or americanbluestheater.com.
— Barbara Vitello