Theater events: World premiere of 'Hazel' opens at Drury Lane

'Buddha' special

First Folio Theatre offers theatergoers two-for-one tickets to its world premiere of "Fooling Buddha" on Easter Sunday. Use the code "Easter" when ordering tickets. David Kovac created and stars in the one-man show about a boy who uses magic and misdirection to defend himself against a neighborhood bully. 3 p.m. Sunday, March 27, at Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 W. 31st St., Oak Brook. $29-$39. (630) 986-8067 or firstfolio.org.

'Anne Frank' on stage

Metropolis Performing Arts Centre remounts its production of "The Diary of Anne Frank" featuring Claire Katz-Mariani of Vernon Hills as the young girl who chronicled so eloquently the two years her family and others hid from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic. Metropolis' Stories in Action production is recommended for grades 5 to 12. Opens at 9:30 a.m. Monday, March 28, at 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights. $12, $14. (847) 577-2121 or metropolisarts.com.

Maid in America

Drury Lane Theatre continues its commitment to new works with "Hazel, A Musical Maid in America," inspired by the comic strip and the 1960s TV sitcom about the exploits of a live-in housekeeper and perpetual busybody and the family who employs her. Joshua Bergasse, 2015 Tony Award nominee for "On The Town," directs the show by composer Ron Abel and lyricist Chuck Steffan and book writer Lissa Levin. Previews begin at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 31, at 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace. The show opens April 6. $43-$60. (630) 530-0111 or drurylanetheatre.com.

Other theater events

• Court Theatre's revival of "Long Day's Journey Into Night," Eugene O'Neill's searing examination of a dysfunctional family, continues through April 10, at 5535 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago. Harris Yulin and Mary Beth Fisher star as James and Mary Tyrone, with Michael Doonan and Dan Waller as their children Edmund and Jamie, in director David Auburn's production. (773) 753-4472 or courttheatre.org.

• Performances continue through April 23, for Trap Door Theatre's "How to Explain Communism to Mental Patients," Matei Visniec's satire set weeks before Josef Stalin's death, about a writer sent to a hospital to help rehabilitate mental patients by informing them about Communism. Inside, he discovers "revolutionaries" pretending to be crazy and doctors and nurses devoted to preserving the Stalinist cult. Performances take place at 1655 W. Cortland St., Chicago. (773) 384-0494 or trapdoortheatre.com.

• Previews begin Friday, March 25, for American Theater Company's Midwest premiere of "Kill Floor," Abe Koogler's 2015 drama about establishing connections in which a recently paroled single mom who returns to her hometown and gets a job at the local slaughterhouse to the chagrin of her vegetarian son. The show opens March 29, at 1909 W. Byron St., Chicago. (773) 409-4125 or atcweb.org.

• ComedySportz Theater Chicago hosts the semifinal round of its Improv Madness tournament beginning at 8 p.m. Friday, March 25, at 929 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The semifinals continue at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 26, with the championship following at 8 p.m. (773) 549-8080 or cszchicago.com.

• Playwright Kristiana Colon presents a spoken word, storytelling event celebrating sensuality titled Black Sex Matters at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 25, at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. See black-sex-matters.bpt.me.

• Provision Theater Company presents the world premiere, family-friendly adaptation of "Heidi" as part of its Theater for Young Audiences series. Adapted by Timothy Gregory from Johanna Spyri's novel it's about an orphan girl who goes to live with her grandfather in the Alps where her carefree life is interrupted when she's engaged as a companion to a sick girl in the city. Previews begin Saturday, March 26, at 1001 W. Roosevelt Road, Chicago. "The beautify of this new adaptation is that it reveals the transformative power of a little girl's ability to shine light into the lives of everyone around her," said director Priscilla Hummel in a prepared statement." (312) 455-0066 or provisiontheater.org.

• Adventure Stage Chicago examines inequality and responsibility in its spring production "Sight Unseen: Chapter Two of The Prometheus Project," by producing artistic director Tom Arvetis, directed by Rives Collins. The story follows brothers Zeph and Kegan who live in an impoverished land called Shambles, which is kept separate from the privileged, Tower. Performances begin Saturday, March 26, at Vittum Theater, 1012 N. Noble St., Chicago. (773) 342-4141 or adventurestage.org.

• Actors Harmony France and Danni Smith announced the formation of Firebrand Theatre, a female-centered ensemble dedicated to expanding the roles of women in musical theater both onstage and backstage, by re-imagining the classics and commissioning new works. The new company hosts a launch party featuring musical performances by Smith and others theater artists at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 27, at the Underground Lounge, 952 W. Newport Ave., Chicago. See firebrandtheatre.org.

• Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire joins David Belew, director of Metropolis Performing Arts Centre's revival of "The 39 Steps" to discuss the play's evolution from page to screen to stage at 7 p.m. Monday, March 29, at 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights. The evening includes a screening of Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film, which was adapted from John Buchan's 1915 novel. Both the film and the novel inspired playwright Patrick Barlow's comic whodunit which runs through April 3, at Metropolis. A discussion about the novel's evolution and its incarnations follows. Admission is free but reservations are required. (847) 577-2121 or metropolisarts.com.

• Previews began this week for a new sketch comedy show at iO Chicago, 1501 N. Kingsbury St., Chicago. The millennial centered "United We Fall" opens Wednesday, March 30. (312) 929-2401 or ioimprov.com.

• Tony Award winner Blair Brown co-stars in Tracy Letts' latest drama "Mary Page Marlowe," which chronicles the life of an ordinary Ohio accountant trying to figure out who she is and what she wants. Brown is one of seven actors playing the role of Mary over her the course of a lifetime. The others include Carrie Coon, Laura T. Fisher, Caroline Heffernan, Annie Munch, Rebecca Spence and three infants who will alternate in the role. Previews begin Thursday, March 31, at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago. Anna D. Shapiro, who also directed Letts' Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning "August, Osage County," helms the world premiere which opens April 9. (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.

• A lonely girl's preferred nightmares become reality when a birthday wish "damns her to the worst fate her imagination can come up with" in "Olive and the Mouse Spider King," Jeremy Menekseoglu's adult fairy tale. Dream Theatre Company stages the show which begins performances Thursday, March 31, at 5026 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 552-8616 or dreamtheatrecompany.com.

• The Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago, premiers Blair Thomas contemporary adaptation of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" incorporating original music, puppets, projections and shadows to tell of Captain Ahab's epic revenge quest for the great whale. Performances run Thursday, March 31 through April 3. (312) 397-4010 or mcachicago.org.

• Oracle Productions hosts screenings of short films by the makers of "Hoop Dreams" a 1994 documentary by Steve James and Frederick Marx about high school students William Gates and Arthur Agee living in impoverished Chicago neighborhoods and aspiring to NBA careers. "Life After Hoop Dreams" examining Gates and Agee's lives after the film; Marx's "Rites of Passage;" a "Hoop Dreams" companion piece titled "Higher Goals" featuring NBA star Isiah Thomas; "@home" about homelessness in America and "Journeyman" about an aging NBA player will be screened Thursday, March 31, April 1 and 2, at 3809 N. Broadway St., Chicago. "Hoop Dreams will be screened April 3, at Black Cinema House, 7200 S. Kimbark, Chicago. Admission is free but reservations are required and donations are accepted. See publicaccesstheatre.org.

• Emerald City Theatre presented its One Fund Arts Education Award to Mary Pope Osborne, author of "The Magic Tree House." The One Fund program provides free books and free theater performances to low-income students. See emeraldcitytheatre.com.