Spotlight: First Folio presents online reading series of literary favorites

December delights

First Folio Theatre delivers a bit of warmth this winter in the form of a family-friendly, online reading series featuring executive director and co-founder David Rice and artistic associate Hayley Rice, the daughter of Rice and his late wife First Folio co-founder Alison C. Vesely.

David and Hayley perform selections from "The Wind in the Willows," Kenneth Grahame's well-loved children's book about the adventures of animal pals Mole, Rat, Toad and Badger.

The reading series also features associate artistic director Melanie Keller reading Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," as well as new selections performed by First Folio artistic associates weekly.

Streaming online through Jan. 3 at First Folio's YouTube channel.

Home for the holidays

Broadway veteran Liz Callaway returns virtually to Lincolnshire's Marriott Theatre (where the Winnetka native appeared in 1986's "Baby") for a holiday concert showcasing her latest record, "Comfort and Joy - An Acoustic Christmas." A question-and-answer session follows Friday's livestream premiere.

Livestream premiere at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11. The stream will be available through Dec. 19. $20, plus fees. See marriotttheatre.com.

A different Dickens tale

Remy Bumppo Theatre Company artistic director and First Folio Theatre artistic associate Nick Sandys channels Charles Dickens in Sandys' adaptation of "The Chimes." "I first adapted and performed this version in 2012," said Sandys in a prepared statement. "For some reason it feels right to celebrate the coming New Year by bringing it back." Published in 1844, one year after "A Christmas Carol," "The Chimes" is about a poor, beleaguered man who succumbs to despair and the mistaken belief that he and other impoverished people were born bad until a goblin shows him that desperation and an unfeeling society drive people to desperate acts.

Streams on demand through Jan. 3. $15. See remybumppo.org/shows/chimes.

In other news

• Santa and Mrs. Claus will meet and greet families - safely and from a social distance - from noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at the Improv Playhouse, 733 N. Milwaukee Ave., Libertyville. "As an alternative to our traditional holiday programming, we are creating a winter wonderland in our annex space and opening up for Santa visits," said executive director David Stuart in a prepared statement. Visitors will be temperature screened and must wear face coverings. (847) 968-4529 or improvplayhouse.com.

• About Face Theatre opens its 25th season with Kickback, an online festival of 10 new, short plays by Black LGBTQ artists. Described as "a celebration of Black lives now and through the ages," the festival features works by About Face artistic associate Paul Oakley Stovall, Robert Cornelius, Michael Turrentine, Ben Locke, Dionne Addai, Vic Wynter, Ky Baity, Keyonna Jackson, Cori Wash and ShaZa (a collaboration between Zahra Baker and Shanta Nurullah). Also participating are Jenn Freeman and avery r. young, resident artists with the Rebuild Foundation, a nonprofit organization on Chicago's South Side. The festival streams from Saturday, Dec. 12, through Jan. 11 at aboutfacetheatre.com.

• Porchlight Music Theatre celebrates the season with a holiday concert featuring Broadway veteran Shoshana Bean ("Hairspray," "Wicked" and Drury Lane Theatre's "Beaches," among others). Recorded live at New York City's Apollo Theatre, "Sing Your Hallelujah" also features Broadway's Jeremy Jordan, Tony Award nominee Daniel J. Watts and Tony winner Gavin Creel, among others. It streams at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12. Tickets are $30. Porchlight receives a percentage from tickets sold through its site. See porchlightmusictheatre.org.

• Chicago stage and screen actor and activist Harry Lennix ("Ray," "Man of Steel," "The Matrix" sequels, NBC's "The Blacklist" and Fox's "24") directs a virtual benefit reading of "Mercy" by Felicia Oduh for Northlight Theatre. The in-development play is about a man convicted of a crime he did not commit, who returns home after 18 years to reclaim his life. The livestream takes place at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13. It's followed by a question-and-answer session with Oduh and Lennix. Admission is free, but donations are suggested. See northlight.org/events/interplay-mercy.

• The Neo-Futurists' all-digital season continues on Sunday, Dec. 13, with an all-night online fundraiser based on its virtual production of the company's popular show "The Infinite Wrench." The fundraiser, titled "TIW24," unfolds over 24 hours during which ensemble members write, rehearse and produce 30 digital plays. "Thanks to the support of funders and subscribers, we have been able to follow through with a long-held promise to maintain prices low and standards high," said managing director Jorge Silva in a prepared statement. The company's virtual platform allows fans "to re-engage with the work at a price-point comfortable to them in a time where that need for ease of access has never been greater," Silva said. The show premieres at 8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13, following a 7 p.m. reception. See neofuturists.org.

• Collaboraction Theatre hosts virtual screenings of "Healing from Hate: Battle for the Soul of a Nation," a documentary about former extremists' attempts to reform and de-radicalize white nationalists. The film streams on Collaboraction's Together Network through Sunday, Dec. 13. See collaboraction.org/together-network.

• Chicago area actor Yousof Sultani, a veteran of Drury Lane, Northlight, Steppenwolf and Silk Road Rising theaters, plays a son who reunites with his estranged father over Zoom in "This is Who I Am," a new play by Amir Nizar Zuabi. Produced by The Play Company and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, in association with American Repertory Theater, Guthrie Theater and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the streamed production previews through Saturday, Dec. 12. It opens Sunday, Dec. 13, on woollymammoth.net.

• PrideArts hosts an online screening of "A Not So Silent Night," a 2009 film of the The McGarrigle Christmas Hour concert featuring Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Kate's children Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright and guests Emmylou Harris, Lou Reed, performance artist Laurie Anderson and trans singer-songwriter Justin Vivian Bond. The screening takes place Tuesday, Dec. 15. Tickets are $10 for singles, $15 per household. See pridearts.org.

• Evanston's Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre and The Musical Offering have established the Evanston Performing Arts Collective (EPAC) to "celebrate life, community and the arts." EPAC members will collaborate on multidisciplinary performing art installations that combine music, dance, theater, puppetry and circus arts beginning Jan. 1 with selections from the musical "Songs for a New World" by Jason Robert Brown. EPAC's first four collaborations will be streamed during the winter and spring with an outdoor performance to follow in summer 2021. "We want to serve the Evanston community by providing to all, at no charge, art that will be inspiring and healing during these challenging times," said Fleetwood-Jourdain producing artistic director Tim Rhoze in a prepared statement. See theo-u.org, fjtheatre.com or themusicaloffering.org.

• In addition to its livestreaming, sketch comedy show, Cigarette Sandwich's "The Power Hour," The Annoyance Theatre will serve up a pair of virtual holiday shows: the adults-only shows "Superspread the Cheer" at 8 p.m. Dec. 18, 19 and 26, and "The Little Piggy Girls Do Christmas" at 9 p.m. Dec. 20. $5 suggested donation. The shows are available on twitch.tv/annoyancetheatre.

• South suburban Cook County's Stray Dog Theater and This Moment Productions present "A Very COVID Christmas," a socially distanced, modern adaptation of Charles Dickens' tale set during the time of the coronavirus. Performances begin at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11. Tickets are $10, $15 per family. They're available at thismomentproductions.org.

• Writer/actress Vicki Quade (co-creator of "Late Nite Catechism" and other shows) shares life stories in her new book "Close Encounters of a Chicago Kind," comprised of the odd, dangerous and poignant encounters she had with everyday folk. Quade anticipates adapting the stories to the stage. "I think these will work really well on stage, especially given the quirky people in them," she said in a prepared statement. See eckhartzpress.com/shop/close-encounters-of-a-chicago-kind.