Theater

Spotlight: Goodman’s revival of August Wilson classic

Posted March 24, 2026 2:54 pm

Al’Jaleel McGhee, left, and E. Faye Butler, seen here in rehearsal, co-star in Goodman Theatre’s revival of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” by August Wilson. Courtesy of Justin Barbin

Goodman revives August Wilson classic

E. Faye Butler plays Ma Rainey, the titular “Mother of the Blues” in Goodman Theatre’s revival of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” August Wilson’s 1927-set play in his Century Cycle, which chronicles the Black experience in America during each decade of the 20th century. Goodman resident director Chuck Smith directs and Harry J. Lennix serves as music director for the play, which unfolds during a Chicago recording session between Ma and her band, which includes Levee, a hot young trumpeter eager to start his solo career.

Previews at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 28; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, March 29, and Saturday, April 4; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, April 1-3; and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 5, at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. The show opens April 6. $34-$104. (312) 443-3800 or GoodmanTheatre.org/MaRaineys.

On suburban stages

TheaterWorksUSA brings “The Magic Schoolbus: Lost in the Solar System” to the McAninch Arts Center for one performance only. Courtesy of Jeremy Daniel

• TheaterWorksUSA brings “The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System” to the McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage for one performance. Adapted from Joanna Cole’s children’s books, the musical is about Ms. Fizzle’s elementary students working together to navigate the solar system during their interplanetary field trip.

7 p.m. Friday, March 27, at 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. $19-$24. (630) 942-4000 or AtTheMac.org.

• MadKap Productions revives Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire,” about a disgraced Southern belle forced to leave her Mississippi home and move in with her sister and her volatile husband in their cramped New Orleans apartment. MadKap co-founder Wayne Mell directs.

7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 27-28, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 29, and through April 26, at the Skokie Theatre, 7924 Lincoln Ave., Skokie. $42, $38. (847) 677-7761 or SkokieTheatre.org.

• Improv Playhouse stages its 16th production of “The Last Supper Chronicles,” which puts a contemporary spin on Jesus’ final Passover with disciples who are struggling with their faith. David Brian Stuart directs.

7 p.m. Saturday, March 28, and April 4; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 29; and 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, April 2-3, at 130 N. Milwaukee Ave., Libertyville. $25 adults, $22 seniors, $15 students, $10 kids. (847) 968-4529 or improvplayhouse.com.

A pair of premieres

• A young Black journalist develops an unlikely bond with the aging white novelist she’s been assigned to interview in “The Official Biography,” a two-hander by Kurt McGinnis Brown. The novelist’s revelation about something in his past forces both writers to consider the relationship of truth to storytelling. Gary Houston and Shelby Marie Edwards star in Her Story Theatre’s world premiere. Richard Shavzin directs.

Previews at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 28, and Tuesday, March 31, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 29, at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. The show opens Wednesday, April 1. $35, $40. (773) 697-3830 or thedentheatre.com.

• The Artistic Home concludes its 25th season with the U.S. premiere of “The Sugar Wife,” by British playwright Elizabeth Kuti. Set in 1850, in famine-stricken Ireland, the play centers on a Quaker woman who is torn between assisting poor people and her husband’s business, which is built on exploiting them.

Previews at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 28, and Wednesday, April 1, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 29, at Theater Wit, 229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The show opens Thursday, April 2. $15-$35. (773) 975-8150 or theaterwit.org.

Cal Mitchell, left, Dana Cimone, D. Jerome and Elijah Ahmad Lewis star as Dorothy and her pals — The Lion, The Tinman and The Scarecrow — in the North American tour of “The Wiz.” Courtesy of Jeremy Daniel

All hail ‘The Wiz’

The national tour of “The Wiz,” the groundbreaking Tony Award-winning tuner by composer Charlie Smalls and writer William F. Brown, about Dorothy’s life-changing visit to Oz, returns to Chicago for a limited run. Dana Cimone makes her national tour debut as Dorothy.

Performances are at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 31, and Thursday and Friday, April 2-3; 1 and 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 1; 2 and 7:30 p.m. April 4; and 1 p.m. April 5 at the James M. Nederlander Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St., Chicago. $43-$121. broadwayinchicago.com.

Redtwist revives Pulitzer-winning drama

Redtwist Theatre revives “’night, Mother,” Marsha Norman’s wrenching, Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about Jessie, a chronically ill, chronically depressed middle-aged woman, who informs her widowed mother Thelma that she intends to end her life. Executive artistic director Dusty Brown helms the two-hander, which stars ensemble member Kathy Ruhl as Thelma and Anne Sheridan Smith as Jessie.

Previews at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, April 2-4, at 1044 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago. The show opens Sunday, April 5. $10-$60. RedtwistTheatre.org.