Spotlight: Chicago Shakes, Shattered Globe, Facility and Steppenwolf stage premieres
All’s fair in love and marital war
“Seinfeld” veteran and Emmy and Tony Award-winner Jason Alexander returns to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where he made his Chicago stage debut two years ago, to direct “Fault,” a new, dark comedy by Scooter Pietsch about the battles between long-married couple Lucy and Jerry. CST’s premiere stars Enrico Colantoni (“English Teacher,” “Galaxy Quest,” “Veronica Mars”) and Joseph Jefferson Award-winner Rebecca Spence (“The Madison”).
Previews at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 18-19, and 7:30 p.m. April 21-23 at Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave., Chicago. The show opens at 7:30 p.m. April 24. $60-$131. (312) 595-5600 or chicagoshakes.com.
Ophelia on her own
Strawdog Theatre Company concludes its 38th season with “12 Ophelias,” Caridad Svich’s take on William Shakespeare’s tragic heroine, who rises from the water and has to chart a new path in a “neo-Elizabethan Appalachian setting, where Gertrude runs a brothel, Hamlet is a Rude Boy and nothing is what it seems.” Strawdog co-artistic director Kamille Dawkins helms the production, which features Tierra Matthews as Ophelia.
7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 17-18, and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 19, and through May 24, at The Factory Theater, 1623 W. Howard St., Chicago. $10-$80, sliding scale ticketing. strawdog.org.
Midwestern masculinity fantasia
Best friends Sven and Ole gather with pals for an ice-fishing bachelor party prior to Ole’s wedding, when an unexpected confession threatens to upend everyone’s plans in “Eelpout!” a queer romantic comedy by Paul W. Kruse premiering at Shattered Globe Theatre. Jeremy Ohringer directs the show, which stars Carl Hallberg as Ole and Jeff Rodriguez as Sven.
Previews at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 17-18, and Wednesday, April 22, and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 19, at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The show opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 23. $20-$60. sgtheatre.org.
For adults only
A man and a woman are on a date when he asks her to get into a cage. She agrees in “date,” a new play about “degradation, pornography and who we become for one another” by Facility Theatre company member Jake Flum. Ilirida Memedovski and Danny Tramantona star in the show, which contains nudity and mature subject matter.
Previews at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, April 16-17, at 1138 N. California Ave., Chicago. The show opens at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 18. $25 suggested donation. facilitytheatre.org.
Redtwist revival
Redtwist Theatre revives “’night, Mother,” Marsha Norman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning two-hander about the chronically ill, chronically depressed Jessie, who informs her widowed mother Thelma that she intends to end her life that evening. Executive artistic director Dusty Brown helms the production starring ensemble member Kathy Ruhl as Thelma and Anne Sheridan Smith as Jessie.
Previews at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, April 16-18, at 1044 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago. The show opens at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 19. $10-$60. RedtwistTheatre.org.
Welcome home, Brendan
Emmy Award winner Brendan Hunt (“Ted Lasso” co-creator and co-star) returns home with his autobiographical show “The Movement You Need: An Evening With Brendan Hunt.” Described as a “love letter to the family that makes us, the music that shapes us,” the show is fueled by memories of Hunt’s childhood in Chicago and his love for The Beatles.
7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 19, and Tuesday through Friday, April 21-24; 3 and 7:30 p.m. April 25; 3 p.m. April 26; and through May 10, at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago. $55-$105. (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org/movement.
‘Great Gatsby’ on stage
The North American tour of “The Great Gatsby,” the musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age classic about love, class and the corruption of the American dream, stars Jake David Smith as the titular millionaire who pursues his former love Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy socialite married to the brutish Tom. The tour of the 2024 tuner by composer/lyricists Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen and writer Kait Kerrigan plays the Cadillac Palace Theatre.
The preview is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, at 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago. The show opens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, and runs through May 3. $49-$140. BroadwayInChicago.com.
In other news
• After more than a decade as a Drury Lane Theatre collaborator and artistic team member, Matthew D. Carney has taken over as the new artistic director of the Oakbrook Terrace theater. Carney started at Drury Lane in summer 2013 as the company manager. He served as casting director and was the resident director for “A Christmas Carol” for young audiences. In 2019, Carney — who served as assistant director on “The 38 Steps,” “Steel Magnolias,” “Shrek” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” — was appointed associate artistic director.
“I am deeply honored to lead the next chapter in our story and continue to build on Tony DeSantis’ (Drury Lane’s founder) legacy while embracing a fresh perspective for a new generation of theatergoers,” he said in a prepared statement.
• The League of Chicago Theatres’ Deal Hunt offering audiences a $5 discount on theater tickets to participating theaters and select performances continues through April 22. See HotTix.org and use the code “Deal Hunt” for the discount.