Theater events: Kevin McCaffrey brings the laughs to St. Charles

Comic comes home

Suburban native Kevin McCaffrey, a comedian and writer for "The Late Show With David Letterman," headlines Zanies in Pheasant Run this weekend. McCaffrey appears on "truTV Presents: World's Dumbest" and VH1's "I Love the 2000s." He also writes and performs in Vicarious George sketches on FunnyorDie.com.

8 p.m. Friday, April 3, and 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Saturday, April 4, at Pheasant Run Resort, 4051 E. Main St., St. Charles. $20, plus a two-item food or beverage minimum. (630) 584-6300 or zanies.com.

Unrest inspires play

The racial unrest that gripped the nation last year after the deaths of Eric Garner in New York City and Tamir Rice in Cleveland inspired playwright Marcus Gardley ("The Gospel of Lovingkindness") to set aside the play he was working on and write "An Issue of Blood." The play, set in 1676 Virginia, centers on an interracial love affair, a secret wedding and a crime of passion. Victory Gardens Theater artistic director Chay Yew directs the world premiere.

Previews begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 3, at 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. The show opens April 10. $15-$60. (773) 871-3000 or victorygardens.org.

Star-studded

Director/choreographer Marc Robin, recipient of 15 Jeff Awards, returns to Marriott Theatre to helm the taptastic musical comedy "Anything Goes" featuring a score by Cole Porter ("De-Lovely," "You're the Top"). The musical - about romantic high jinks involving a nightclub singer, a gangster, a stockbroker and a debutante aboard an oceanliner bound for London from New York - features an all-star cast including Gene Weygandt, Mary Ernster, Summer Smart, Ross Lehman, John Reeger and Mark David Kaplan among others.

Previews begin at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 8, at 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire. The show opens April 15. $50-$55. (847) 634-0200 or marriotttheatre.com.

Other theater events

• Michael Halberstam, artistic director of Writers Theatre in Glencoe, helms Definition Theatre Company's adaptation of "A Doll's House," Henrik Ibsen's seminal drama about a young woman whose seemingly perfect marriage is upended by a secret from her past. Previews begin Friday, April 3, at Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago. The show opens April 9. See definitiontheatre.org.

• Music from the band Wizard Rock, custom craft beers and a comic book adaptation accompany the world premiere of "Badfic Love," Adam Pasen's dramedy about a man who scours the Internet to rid it of bad fan fiction and falls in love with the primary purveyor of bad "Harry Potter"-inspired writing. Previews begin Friday, April 3, at The Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. The show opens April 6. (773) 697-3830 or thedentheatre.com or strange bedfellowstheatre.com.

• Chicago's citywide August Wilson celebration, centered around Goodman Theatre's revival of "Two Trains Running," continues Saturday, April 4, with a staged reading of "The Piano Lesson," at 3 p.m. at the Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave., Chicago. That's followed on Monday, April 6, with a concert reading of "Radio Golf," at 7 p.m. at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago. (312) 443-3800 or goodmantheatre.org.

• The Indiana doo-wop groups The Spaniels and Stormy Weather inspired the new, family-friendly musical "The Signal," which recounts the rise of Gary natives Jerry Butler, Jimmy Reed and Willie Rogers of The Soul Stirrers to the top of the 1950s and 1960s pop music charts. Performances are at 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday, April 4, at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana. (219) 836-3255 or theatreatthecenter.com.

• Barrel of Monkeys celebrates the change of season with "That's Weird, Grandma: Spring Into Action!" The revue, featuring sketches written by Chicago public school students, runs at 2 p.m. Sunday, from Sunday, April 5 through April 26, at the Neo-Futurist Theater, 5153 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago. (312) 409-1954 or barrelofmonkeys.org.

• "23," a multimedia sketch show made up of vignettes drawn from the Millennial Generation's point of view, runs at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday through May 5 at The Annoyance Theatre, 851 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Also at the Annoyance writer/director Liz Anderson's solo show performed by people other than Liz Anderson. "The One-Woman No-Show" opens at 9:30 p.m. Sunday, April 5, and runs through May 10. (773) 697-9693 or theannoyance.com.

• Previews begin Monday, April 6, at Bughouse Theater, 1910 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago, for Odradek Theatre's "Hobohemia: Disorderly Conduct as One of the Fine Arts." The play examining the country's great revolutionaries was devised by Michael Sater. Ashley-Marie Quijano directs. It opens Thursday, April 9. (773) 998-1284 or odradektheatre.com.

• Steppenwolf Theatre artistic director Martha Lavey and ensemble member Frank Galati welcome Carey Perloff, artistic director of San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater, in a conversation about Perloff's memoir: "Beautiful Chaos: A Life in the Theater" at 5 p.m. Monday, April 6, at the Garage Theater, 1624 N. Halsted St., Chicago. Perloff, who took over A.C.T. in 1992, discusses her passion for theater and her experiences helming a major national theater in the male-dominated profession. Also, Steppenwolf hosts a fashion event titled "Explore: The World of Marie Antoinette" in conjunction with its production of "Marie Antoinette," currently running in the upstairs theater. The fashion show/party includes a critique of the costumes in "Marie Antoinette," fashion inspired by the show from local designers and French cuisine. It begins at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 9, in the Steppenwolf rehearsal hall at 758 W. North Ave., Chicago. Both events are free but reservations are required. (312) 335-1650.

• The New Colony presents a staged reading of the play "Scapegoat" by Connor McNamara, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 8, at The Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. The play is about a beloved U.S. senator and his family who for years have hidden the fact that they are Satanists and what happens when their beliefs come to light. See thenewcolony.org.

• One minute 10-year-old Kai is listening to his grandfather tell a story of a magic doorknob, the next minute, he's 15 years in the future with an uncertain television career and a wedding reception disrupted by a streaking caterer in Jordan Harrison's "The Grown-Up." Shattered Globe Theatre's world premiere begins previews Wednesday, April 8, at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The show, directed by Krissy Vanderwarker, opens April 12. (773) 975-8150 or theaterwit.org or shatteredglobe.org.

• Previews begin Thursday, April 9, for A Red Orchid Theater's Chicago area premiere of "Red Handed Otter," Ethan Lipton's comedy about a guy who commiserates with his fellow security guards about losing his girlfriend and their attempts to console him. The show opens April 13 at 1531 N. Wells St., Chicago. (312) 943-8722 or aredorchidtheatre.org.

• Theatre Y presents the English language premiere of Simon Abkarian's "Penelope, O Penelope" with a translation from the French by Melissa Lorraine, beginning Thursday, April 9, at 2649 N. Francisco Ave., Chicago. Inspired by Homer's "Odyssey" and the 1970s war in Lebanon in which Abkarian's father fought, the play tells the story of Dinah, who awaits the return of her husband Elias after a 20-year-war, even as suitors vie for her hand. See theatre-y.com.

• After the attempted robbery of his family diner ends in bloodshed, owner Tom finds himself the center of attention from his friends, the press and a trio of men from Chicago in "History of Violence: An Unauthorized Adaptation of an Authorized Adaptation." Bare Knuckle Productions' latest undertaking was adapted and directed by Cody-Evans-Gan and Jeff Newman. It runs Thursday, April 9, through April 19 at Prop Thtr, 3502 N. Elston Ave., Chicago. See bareknuckleproductions.com.

• Pride Films & Plays has extended its world premiere musical "The Book of Merman," about two Mormans who ring the doorbell of a house in a small town and encounter Ethel Merman on the other side of the door. Performances run through spring at the Apollo Theater, 2540 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 935-6100 or pridefilmsandplays.com.

• Acclaimed improvisers TJ Jagodowski (of the Sonic Drive-In commercials) and Dave Pasquesi perform at 10:30 p.m. Wednesdays at iO Chicago, 1501 N. Kingsbury St., Chicago and at New York's Barrow Street Theater. They have cowritten a book with Pam Victor. Titled "Improvisation at the Speed of Life: The TJ and Dave Book," it's available at the iO Chicago box office and at amazon.com.

• Kokandy Productions begins its 2015-2016 season Dec. 3 with "A Kokandy Christmas," featuring performers from past and current shows. That's followed by the Chicago premiere of "Heathers: The Musical" (Feb.- April, 2016), a musical by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O'Keefe based on the 1988 film about a young girl who's embraced by her high school's most exclusive clique, then falls in love with newcomer delinquent J.D. and accidentally starts offing her fellow Heathers. The season concludes in July, 2016, with "Gutenberg! The Musical," a two-man spoof by Scott Brown and Anthony King, in which a pair of aspiring playwrights perform for potential backers their proposed show about the inventor of the printing press. Performances take place at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Tickets will go on sale later this year. See kokandyproductions.com.

• Lookingglass Theatre Company's 23rd season begins Oct. 7 with the world premiere of "Treasure Island," adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel by ensemble member Mary Zimmerman, in a coproduction with Berkeley Repertory Theatre. After young Jim Hawkins discovers a pirate's treasure map, he sets sail accompanied unwittingly by a band of rogues. That's followed by Federico Garcia Lorca's "Blood Wedding" (March 2-April 24, 2016), translated by Michael Dewell and Carmen Zapata and directed by ensemble member Daniel Ostling. Lorca's drama about passion and revenge centers on the feud that ignites after a man visits his former lover on the day she is to marry another man. The season concludes with the world premiere of ensemble member Kevin Douglas' "Thaddeus and Slocum: A Vaudeville Adventure" (June 1-Aug. 7, 2016). The play, set in 1908 Chicago, is about how racial boundaries and prejudice threaten to derail the next great vaudeville act. Performances take place at Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago. Season subscriptions range from $110 to $162 for current subscribers who renew before April 15. Thereafter, subscriptions range from $116 to $170. They include discounted parking, among other perks. (312) 337-0665 or lookingglasstheatre.org.

• Chicago Shakespeare Theater's 2015-2016 season includes founder and artistic director Barbara Gaines' six-part history cycle along with the world premiere of a new musical and a new work from The Q Brothers. CST launches its season in September with "The Tempest." Aaron Posner adapts and directs the play about the magician Prospero (Larry Yando) who takes revenge on the usurpers to his dukedom by causing a storm that shipwrecks them on his island. The tale is accompanied by songs from Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan and magic from Teller, one half of the comedy/magic duo Penn and Teller. A new musical by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell titled "Ride the Cyclone" also opens in September under director/choreographer Rachel Rockwell. It's about six high school chamber choir members who are involved in a freak accident while riding a roller coaster called the Cyclone, who come to terms with their fate by telling their life stories to Karnack, a mechanical fortune teller. In December, CST presents the Chicago premiere of "The Heir Apparent," adapted by wordsmith David Ives from "Le Legataire," a comic romp by Jean-Francois Regnard about a young man who has it all, except for his uncle's inheritance. Dion Johnstone, from Canada's Stratford Festival, plays the titular role in "Othello," the warrior hero brought down by prejudice and jealousy. Performances for the production, directed by Britain's Jonathan Munby, begin in February, 2016. The season concludes with Gaines' epic, two-part production examining "Shakespeare's battle-scarred history plays from the perspective of kings and commoners." It begins May, 2016 with Tug of War: Foreign Fire consisting of "King Edward III," "Henry V" and "Henry VI, part 1." The second part, Tug of War: Civil Strife, begins in September, 2016, and consists of "Henry VI, parts 2 and 3" and "Richard III." Lastly, The Q Brothers debut "Madsummer," their hip-hop adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," opens sometime in 2016. All performances take place at Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave., Chicago. Season subscription information will be available soon, according to the CST website. (312) 595-5600 or chicagoshakes.com.