Local theaters: Rhinoceros' returns
'Rhinoceros' sighting
The Organic Theater Company remounts its 2012 production of Eugene Ionesco's “Rhinoceros” at North Central College's Meiley-Swallow Hall. The action unfolds in a small town with the sudden appearance of a rhinoceros. More follow as residents transform until only one man remains, a man who refuses to relinquish his humanity. Artistic director Alexander Gleman directs.
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26, at Meiley-Swallow Hall, 31 S. Ellsworth, Naperville. $20, $30. (630) 637-7469 or organictheater.org.
New 'Variations'
TimeLine Theatre Company opens its 16th season with director Nick Bowling's Chicago-area premiere of Moises Kaufman's “33 Variations.” Janet Ulrich Brooks plays an ailing music scholar trying to solve the mystery of why Ludwig van Beethoven (Terry Hamilton) devoted the final years of his life to composing variations on a mediocre waltz by music publisher Anton Diabelli.
Previews at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 24-25, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26, at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The show opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30. $22-$42. (773) 327-5252 or timelinetheatre.com.
FVR food drive
Fox Valley Repertory partners with the Northern Illinois Food Bank to accept donations from theatergoers attending performances of the comedy “Sirens,” running through Oct. 7, at the Pheasant Run Resort, 4051 E. Main St., St. Charles. The food bank serves more than 60,000 people in 13 counties through its partner shelters, soup kitchens, youth and senior centers. Additionally, a portion of the proceeds will support FVR's performing arts academy serving local students. (630) 584-6342 or foxvalleyrep.org.
Other theater events:
Ÿ The Waltzing Mechanics' “El Stories” — comprised of vignettes drawn from interviews with CTA riders — is in its second year at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. The company changes up the script and cast beginning Saturday, Aug. 25. The new incarnation centers on stories gleaned from interviews conducted on the Red Line's Dan Ryan branch and interviews with riders from Englewood and Chatham who expressed their opinions on the pending construction that will close portions of the line through 2013. Performances run at 11 p.m. Saturdays, through Nov. 17. (773) 404-7336 or waltzingmechanics.org or greenhousetheater.org.
Ÿ Salsation Theatre Company hosts Word Up!, its first poetry slam beginning at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26, at Gorilla Tango Theatre, 7924 N. Lincoln Ave., Skokie. Three judges selected from the audience will judge six Chicago area poets. The top two move onto the second round, with the audience supplying the topic about which the finalists will improvise. (312) 725-9801 or salsation.org of (773) 598-4549 or gorillatango.com.
Ÿ The Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Ave., Chicago, announced the final extension of “Freud's Last Session,” starring Mike Nussbaum as Sigmund Freud and Coburn Goss as C.S. Lewis. Performances continue through Nov. 11. Additionally, James Anderson and Eva Lichtenberg, from the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis, participate in a post-show discussion following the 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26, performance. (773) 325-1700 or mercurytheaterchicago.com.
Ÿ Chicago newcomer Cor Theatre, led by co-artistic directors Victoria Deiorio and Tosha Fowler, presents its inaugural production, the adults-only “Skin Tight,” a physical, erotic look at marriage by Gary Henderson. Previews begin Tuesday, Aug. 28, at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells St., Chicago. The show, which contains nudity, violence and strong sexual content, opens Wednesday, Aug. 29. (866) 811-4111 or cortheatre.org.
Ÿ The 2012 Chicago Fringe Festival showcasing traditional theater, solo shows, dance and other less strictly defined performances begins Thursday, Aug. 30, and continues through Sept. 9, at various venues in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. Performers hail from Minnesota, Indiana, New York, Oklahoma, California, Wisconsin, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, South Korea and France. Chicago area performers include Evanston's White Elephant, Highland Park's Bitter Jester Creatives, Strangeloop Theatre, Wishbone Theatre Collective and Terra Mysterium among other ensembles and solo artists. They perform in Chicago at Fringe Central/Americana Stage, 600 W. Cermak Ave.; Black Cloud Gallery, 1909 S. Halsted St.; Both Sides Art Gallery, 1838 S. Halsted St.; Chicago Art Department, 1932 S. Halsted St. and Dream Theatre, 556 W. 18th St. Entrance to the festival requires a one-time purchase of a $5 button. Thereafter, all individual performances are $10. A five-show pass is $45; a 10-show pass is $80 and an unlimited pass is $175. For tickets and an events schedule, see chicagofringe.org or call (866) 441-9962.
Ÿ Speaking of the Fringe Festival, transgender performer Rebecca Kling — an instructor at Evanston's Piven Theatre Workshop — brings her latest show examining gender issues to Both Sides, 1838 S. Halsted St., Chicago at 10 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30; 7 p.m. Aug. 31; 1 p.m. Sept. 2; 5:30 p.m. Sept. 3; 8:30 p.m. Sept. 6; 4 p.m. Sept. 8; and 7 p.m. Sept. 9. See rebeccakling.com.
Ÿ Babes With Blades, together with the League of Chicago Theaters, hosts a Theatre Thursday event on Aug. 30 at the Grafton Pub, 4530 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. Costume designer Kimberly Morris will discuss how she created Victorian costumes suitable for fighting for Babes With Babes' world premiere of the detective comedy “Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride.” The event begins at 6:30 p.m. The $25 admission includes a performance of the show. (773) 904-0391 or brownpapertickets.com.
Ÿ Red Tape Theatre announced the productions making up its ninth season examining the collapse of empires. It begins Thursday, Sept. 13, with Caryl Churchill's dark fairy tale “The Skriker” about a shape-shifter determined to destroy the lives of two young mothers. Erik Hoff directs this examination of gender, ecology and urban life. Next up is Ruth Margraff's “Stadium Devildare” (Jan. 17-Feb. 24), an examination of power, loyalty and love set against a world war, in which five people battle each other for the “ultimate prize.” The season concludes with Young Jean Lee's “Lear” (May 9-June 23), “King Lear” without the king. The quirky, experimental work looks at how the tale might have unfolded if the children were in charge. Performances take place at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 621 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Tickets available soon. See redtapetheatre.org for more information.
Ÿ Pride Films and Plays has announced its 2012-2013 season which includes two world premieres and a 20th anniversary revival of a classic. The season begins Nov. 16 at the Hoover-Leppen Theater at the Center on Halsted, 3730 N. Halsted St., Chicago, with “At the Flash,” by Sean Chandler and David Leeper. The winner of PFP's 2012 Great Gay Play and Musical Contest, the play examines the history of the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender movement as told through five characters: a closeted man in the 1960s; a black drag queen in the 1970s; a 1980s club kid; a 1990s budding lesbian activist and a family man from the 2000s. That's followed by Jonathan Harvey's 1993 coming-of-age play “Beautiful Thing” (Jan. 17-Feb. 17), at Luna Central, 3914 N. Clark St., Chicago. Centered on the members of a working-class family outside London, it's about a person struggling to find acceptance in a world that treats cruelly those who are different. The season concludes with “Under a Rainbow Flag” (time and location to be announced), Leo Schwartz's musical about gay soldiers during World War II and a finalist in the PFP's 2012 Great Gay Play and Musical Contest. Season tickets are available at pridefilmsandplays.com. Additionally, PFP will accept entries for its 2013 Great Gay Play and Musical Contest through Oct. 22. For more information, call (773) 250-3117.
Ÿ Stage Left Theatre recently announced the recipients of its second Downstage Left Playwright Residencies for its 31st season. Residencies help playwrights take a project from concept to production-ready script. From 100 submissions, selection committee members chose 15 semifinalists who were reduced to five finalists. The committee awarded the residences to Kristin Idaszak — former associate artistic director of Collaboraction and Caffeine theaters — for her play “The Liar Paradox” about an accident that dramatically changes the lives of three friends; and Bilal Dardai (the Joseph Jefferson Award-nominated “The Man Who was Thursday”) for “The Abacus” about middle-school teacher Qassem Ayoub who's fired after an incendiary essay he penned years earlier is discovered.