Theater events: Ferguson, Mo.-based 'Until the Flood' debuts at Goodman

• Previews continue through Saturday, April 28, for "Until the Flood," writer/actor Dael Orlandersmith's solo show about the racial unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, following the 2014 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The production, directed by Neel Keller, opens Sunday, April 29, at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. (312) 443-3800 or goodmantheatre.org.

• Chicago-area theater veterans Joseph Anthony Byrd and Andrew Mueller appear in Lyric Opera of Chicago's North American premiere of the 2016 London production of "Jesus Christ Superstar," the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice rock opera chronicling the last days of Jesus Christ. Performances begin Friday, April 27, at 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago. The production, directed by Timothy Sheader and including the original creative team, opens Saturday, April 28. (312) 827-5600 or jcsuperstar.org.

• Previews begin Friday, April 27, for Greenhouse Theater Center's Chicago premiere of Marc Acito's play "Birds of a Feather," about Roy and Silo, gay male penguins living the Central Park Zoo who adopt an egg and raise the chick together. Jacob Harvey directs the production, which opens Monday, April 30, at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 404-7336 or greenhousetheater.org.

• A new translation of Aeschylus' "Prometheus Bound," commissioned by City Lit Theater from Nicholas Rudall, begins previews Friday, April 27, at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago. The play about the titan Prometheus, who Zeus chained to a mountain for daring to bring fire to humankind, features only two actors; the rest of the characters are played by life-size puppets. The show opens May 6. Also, City Lit hosts its annual spring tea and fundraiser at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 28, at Edgewater Beach Cafe, 5545 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago. The event includes a reading of Louisa May Alcott's "Becoming an Actress." (773) 293-3682 or citylit.org.

• Performances begin Friday, April 27, for the return of the touring production of "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella." Performances run through May 6 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com.

• Provision Theater Company presents "REDEEMED: The Fall and Rise of Chuck Colson," artistic director Timothy Gregory's play about the spiritual transformation of Colson, special counsel to President Richard Nixon. Sentenced to prison for his role in the Watergate scandal, Colson subsequently founded Prison Fellowship Ministries. Performances run Friday, April 27, through May 20 at Trinity Christian College, 6601 W. College Drive, Palos Heights. (866) 811-4111 or provisiontheater.org.

• Saint Sebastian Players concludes its 37th season with a revival of the 1920s-set Chicago comedy "The Front Page," about a stellar reporter who wants to trade scoops and front-page stories for a quiet family life. Performances begin Friday, April 27, at St. Bonaventure, 1625 W. Diversey, Chicago. (773) 404-7922 or saintsebastianplayers.org.

• A botched delivery pits female heads of organized crime families against each other in the whodunit "Crossing Aviva," written by Matt Rieger with original music by Jenny Magnus. Curious Theatre Branch's production begins performances Friday, April 27, at Prop Thtr, 3502 N. Elston Ave., Chicago. (773) 492-1287 or curioustheatrebranch.com.

• "Cards Against Humanity: Late Night Writers Room," improv comedy inspired by the politically incorrect card game, returns to the Greenhouse Theater Center Friday, April 27. The adults-only performance is at 10 p.m. at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. Proceeds benefit the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo. (773) 404-7336 or greenhousetheater.org.

• The Metropolis Performing Arts Centre hosts its annual fundraiser gala Night of the Stars from 5 p.m. to midnight Saturday, April 28, at the Arlington International Racecourse, 2200 W. Euclid Ave., Arlington Heights. Michael and Angela Ingersoll, who has earned acclaim and a 2017 Joseph Jefferson Award for her performance as Judy Garland in Porchlight Music Theatre's "End of the Rainbow," headline the event, which includes performances from the cast of Metropolis' upcoming "Avenue Q," a silent auction, dinner and dancing. Tickets start at $130 per person. Black tie recommended. (847) 577-2121 or metropolisarts.com.

• Chicago Dramatists hosts a free reading of "A Soldier's Tale," an in-progress play by Nancy Schaefer, at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 28, at 1105 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago. (312) 633-0630 or chicagodramatists.org.

• Sideshow Theatre Company hosts In Bloom, a garden party fundraiser from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 29, at A New Leaf, 1818 N. Wells St., Chicago. Tickets are $100 and include brunch, Bloody Mary cocktails and musical improv. During the event, Sideshow will honor the Chicago Women's Health Center, which provides health care and health education to women and trans people. See sideshowtheatre.org.

• The Gift Theatre welcomes writers Maggie Andersen, Katherine Bourne, Sherman Edwards and Shaina Warfield to its giftLit salon at 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 1, at the Community Tavern, 4038 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. The evening consists of "stories, wine, and entertainment in the grand tradition of a Parisian salon." See thegifttheatre.org.

• The International Voices Project showcasing plays from Spain, Serbia, Poland, Syria, Finland, Canada, India and Germany commences Tuesday, May 1, at Instituto Cervantes, 31 W. Ohio St., Chicago. The first play, produced in collaboration with Blue Parrot Chicago, is "Arizona," Spanish writer Juan Carlos Rubio's tale of two people defending the U.S. southern border. That's followed on Thursday, May 3, by Serbian playwright Dusan Kovacevic's "A Hypnotic Love," a comedy about a woman hoping to be transformed by love. Show time is 7 p.m. The festival runs through May 31. See ivpchicago.org for a schedule.

• Mark Toland brings his production "Mind Reader" to the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, beginning Wednesday, May 2. Toland's show consisting of "psychological illusions and mysteries of the mind" runs through June 13. (773) 404-7336 or greenhousetheater.org.

• The Yard, a professional teen ensemble, brings its production of "columbinus" - a docudrama by Stephen Karam and the late PJ Paparelli about the April 1999 shooting at a Littleton, Colorado, high school - to the Steppenwolf Theatre. Part of Steppenwolf's LookOut series, performances begin Thursday, May 3, in the 1700 Theatre, 1700 N. Halsted St., Chicago. (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.

• Previews begin Thursday, May 3, for Pride Films and Plays premiere of "Flies! The Musical," a mash-up of "Waiting for Guffman" and "Glee" in which high school drama kids are dropped off in a forest preserve on a "research retreat" to prepare for their musical version of "Lord of the Flies." The show, by writer/lyricist Larry Todd Cousineau and composer Cindy O'Connor, opens May 11 at 4139 N. Broadway, Chicago. Michael Driscoll directs. (866) 811-4111 or pridefilmsandplays.com.

• Theatre at the Center presents the popular, doo-wop revue "Forever Plaid," beginning previews Thursday, May 3, at 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana. Matt Edmonds, Adam LaSalle, Yando Lope and Christopher Ratliff star as high school pals in the 1950s who form a "guy group" in the hope of achieving pop stardom. Libertyville's Brenda Didier directs and choreographs the production, which opens May 6. (800) 511-1532 or theatreatthecenter.com.

• Strawdog Theatre Company examines bravery during its upcoming season, the Chicago company's 31st. It begins Oct. 1 with the premiere of "Masque Macabre," by Aly Greaves Amidei, John Henry Roberts and Cara Beth Heath. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's works, the immersive show unfolds during Prospero's masquerade ball the day before the world ends. That's followed by Lauren Gunderson's "The Revolutionists" (Nov. 15-Dec. 29). Set during the French Revolution, it centers on four history-making women: deposed Queen Marie Antoinette, would-be assassin Charlotte Corday, playwright/activist Olymbe de Gouge and Caribbean-born spy Marianne Angelle. The premiere of "Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins" - adapted from Eric Kimmel's children's holiday book by ensemble member Michael Dailey, with music by Jacob Combs - runs Dec. 1 to Jan. 5, 2019. The season concludes with the premiere of "Take Me," by former Daily Herald music critic Mark Guarino and composer/lyricist Jon Langford (The Mekons, The Waco Brothers). The musical centers on a woman who hears alien voices instructing her to move to Roswell, New Mexico, and build an amusement park in their honor. Performances take place at 1802 W. Berenice Ave., Chicago. Subscription packages range from $50 to $145 and are available at strawdog.org. Single tickets go on sale July 1. (773) 644-1380.

• Folks Operetta, a company whose mission includes recovering lost operas by Jewish composers who perished during World War II, opens its season July 7 with "The Csardas Princess." The operetta by composer Emmerich Kalman and book writers Leo Stein and Bela Jenbach is about the unlikely love affair between an aspiring young singer and the son of a wealthy Viennese family. Performances take place at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. "Forbidden Opera," a multimedia concert showcasing Jewish composers whose music the Nazis banned, takes place Oct. 19 and 21 at the Illinois Holocaust Museum, 9603 Woods Drive, Skokie. The season concludes in December at the 19th Century Club, 178 Forest Ave., Oak Park, with Franz Lehar's family-friendly "Peter & Paul in the Land of Nod," about two orphaned boys searching for a place to call home. The season also marks the start of the Korngold initiative, a fundraising campaign to bring Erich Wolfgang Korngold's rarely staged opera "Die Kathrin" - a love story between a German woman and a French soldier that "ran afoul" of Nazi censors - to Chicago for its American premiere. See folksoperetta.org.

- Barbara Vitello