On Stage: Comedic look at "Gone with the Wind"

"Moonlight and Magnolias"

A behind-the-scenes comedy about the filming of "Gone With the Wind," in which producer David O. Selznick desperately tries to recruit a new writer and director, marks the opening of Buffalo Theatre Ensemble's 2009-2010 season. Ensemble member Kurt Naebig directs.

Opens Friday, Sept. 18, at College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. (630) 942-4000 or atthemac.org.

Comedy after dark

Metropolis Performing Arts Centre premieres resident playwright Scott Woldman's new comedy "Dinner for Six" this weekend. The adults-only comedy centers on a single guy whose romantic dry spell might come to an end if his friends approve of his latest love interest.

Runs at 10 p.m. Saturdays, Sept. 19 to Nov. 14, at 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights. (847) 577-2121 or metropolisarts.com.

EverGreen remounts 2008 hit

EverGreen Theatre recounts the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous in "Bill W. and Dr. Bob," Samuel Shem and Janet Surrey's play about two men who fought their own demons and then established a group to help other people fight theirs.

Runs Friday, Sept. 18, to Saturday, Sept. 26, at North Central College, 31 S. Ellsworth St., Naperville. (630) 637-7469 or evergreentheatreensemble.org.

• When an expensive sculpture goes missing during a fancy house party, the Marx Brothers do their best to find the thief in "Animal Crackers," the slapstick-filled Broadway musical comedy turned hit film by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind with music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Goodman Theatre's revival features Joey Slotnick, Molly Brennan, Jonathan Brody and Ed Kross as Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo Marx. The creative team consists of director Henry Wishcamper, music director Doug Peck and 500 Clown's Paul Kalina. Previews begin Friday, Sept. 18, at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. The production opens Sept. 28. (312) 443-3800 or goodmantheatre.org.

• Hubris Productions opens its fourth season with the adults-only "Annee Pocalypse!" - a parody of Hollywood and Broadway's family-friendly fare. Performances begin Friday, Sept. 18, at Hydrate, 3458 N. Halsted St., Chicago. (800) 838-3006 or hubrisproductions.com.

• Annoyance Theatre celebrates Halloween early with "Salem! The Musical," a satirical take on Puritan times featuring an all-female cast. Previews are Fridays, Sept. 18 and 25. The production opens Oct. 2, at 4830 N. Broadway, Chicago. (773) 561-4665 or theannoyance.com.

• Newcomer Clockwise Theatre aims to produce contemporary plays in Waukegan, but before they begin they need money and a home. To that end, the company hosts a launch party fundraiser at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Genesee Theatre, 203 N. Genesee, Waukegan. The event features performances by Gift Theatre member and Jeff Award nominee Alexandra Main, Jeff winner and Shattered Globe ensemble member Doug McDade, Jasmin Cárdenas, Miranda Gonzalez, Maggie Graham, Mac Myles and Icelle Anderson. Tickets are $50 and are available online at clockwisetheatre.com.

• New Leaf Theatre begins its play reading series at 1 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 19, with "The Wall of Water," Sherry Kramer's farce about modern females featuring the mistaken identities and miscommunication typical of the time-honored genre. The reading takes place at the Lincoln Park Cultural Center, 2045 N. Lincoln Park West, Chicago. See newleaftheatre.org.

• Brendan Behan's absurdist play "The Hostage" marks the opening of Griffin Theatre's 21st season. Ensemble member Jonathan Berry directs the satire about a British soldier held captive by the Irish Republican Army, while his counterpart - a young IRA member - awaits execution in a British jail for killing a policeman. It opens Sunday, Sept. 20, at the Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. (773) 327-5252 or griffintheatre.com.

• Las Vegas veterans host one last show before their lounge is demolished to make way for a new martial arts-themed casino in Annoyance Theatre's latest, "UFC: Under Forced Closure." The show begins previews on Sunday, Sept. 20, and opens Sunday, Sept. 27, at 4830 N. Broadway, Chicago. (773) 561-4665 or theannoyance.com.

• Previews continue through Sunday for Steppenwolf Theatre's world premiere of "Fake," written and directed by ensemble member Eric Simonson. Larry Yando and Coburn Goss join ensemble members Kate Arrington, Francis Guinan and Alan Wilder to star in the play, which unfolds at a dinner party thrown by Arthur Conan Doyle where all the guests have a connection to the Piltdown man, said to be the missing link between ape and man. The production opens Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago. (312) 335-1650 or Steppenwolf.org.

• Kathleen Puls Andrade chronicles her and her husband's experience trying to conceive in her one-woman, multimedia show, "Journey to the Center of the Uterus: Adventures in Infertility!" The show opens Wednesday, Sept. 23, at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 404-7336 or journeytothecenteroftheuterus.com.

• One of Shakespeare's most compelling and eloquent villains schemes his way to England's throne in "Richard III," the season-opening production from Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Washington D.C.-import Wallace Acton makes his CST debut in the titular role. Previews begin Wednesday, Sept. 23, at Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave., Chicago. The production opens Wednesday, Sept. 30. (312) 595-5678 or chicagoshakes.com.

• American Theater Company has rescheduled the opening of the Chicago-area premiere of "Yeast Nation (the triumph of life)," by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis, the duo responsible for the Tony Award-winning "Urinetown." Set during the primordial soup era (about 3 billion B.C.), the musical tells the story of a family of salt-eating yeasts and the single-cell visionary who sets evolution in motion. It opens Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 1909 W. Byron St., Chicago. (773) 929-1031 or atcweb.org.

• Eta Creative Arts Foundation opens its season with the Midwest premiere of "Resurrection," Daniel Beaty's examination of what it's like to be a black man in America told through monologues and poetry. Cheryl Lynn Bruce directs the production which opens Thursday, Sept. 24, at 7558 S. South Chicago Ave., Chicago. (773) 752-3955 or etacreativearts.org.

• The Neo-Futurists pay homage to Edgar Allan Poe with "Fear," a seasonally appropriate and environmentally staged production inspired by Poe's most famous stories. The show unfolds in the Neo-Futurists' version of a haunted house, which should make for an interesting setting. Previews begin Thursday, Sept. 24, at 5153 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago. The production opens Saturday, Sept. 26. (773) 275-5255 or neofuturists.org.

• Three women commit murder in the name of sisterhood in "Lights Out Alma," a dark comedy that originally premiered as part of The Annoyance Theatre's Triple Feature series. The play opens Thursday, Sept. 24, at 4830 N. Broadway, Chicago. (773) 561-4665 or theannoyance.com.

• "The Great Jellybean Taste Test" is a musical about a woman who likens the men in her life to various jelly bean flavors. The FBI Creative Productions premiere runs through Oct. 31 at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 404-7336 or greenhousetheater.org.