Spotlight: Rhino Fest returns for its 37th year
Rhino Fest returns
The Curious Theatre Branch, together with Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble, Chicago Dramatists and the Labyrinth Club, present the 37th Rhinoceros Theater Festival, a monthlong showcase of mostly original work from Chicago artists such as Curious Theatre Branch, Jessica Wright Buha, Jenny Magnus, Jeff Glassman, Mark Enslin, Susan Parenti and the Fat Theater Project. The fest kicks off with A Full Moon Vaudeville performance featuring the art, folk and cabaret ensemble The Crooked Mouth.
Kickoff is at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, at the Facility Theatre, 1138 N. California Ave., Chicago. The festival runs through Oct. 26 at The Facility; Chicago Dramatists, 798 N. Aberdeen St., Chicago; The Labyrinth Club, 3658 N. Pulaski Road, Chicago; and Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble, 1650 W. Foster Ave., Chicago. Pay-what-you-can, $25 suggested. Rhinofest.com.
‘Wuthering Heights’ at the arboretum
The Morton Arboretum’s walking plays series resumes with an adaptation of Emily Bronte’s gothic romance “Wuthering Heights” about Heathcliff, an impoverished orphan adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family who shares a turbulent love affair with daughter Catherine Earnshaw. When she marries Edgar Linton instead of him, Heathcliff exacts revenge against two generations of the Earnshaw and Linton families. Performances run 90 minutes and include a 1.5-mile walk.
4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 19-20, and Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 25, at 4100 Illinois Route 53, Lisle. $27 adults, $17 kids. mortonarb.org.
Star struck
Refracted Theatre Company commences its seventh season with the Chicago-area premiere of “I’m Gonna Marry You, Tobey Maguire,” Samantha Hurley’s farce about an 8th grade girl infatuated with actor Tobey Maguire. She kidnaps him intending to marry him in her basement, until it turns out that he may not be the ideal guy she thinks he is. Tyler Struble directs.
Friday, Sept. 18, through Oct. 31, at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. $12-$40. RefractedCo.com.
Chicago premiere
Theatre Y presents the Chicago premiere of “I Am the Wind,” by Jon Fosse, recipient of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature. Melissa Lorraine and Hank Hilbert star in Fosse’s two-hander examining “companionship, loss and the fragility of life” staged with the actors suspended on narrow, swinging planks. Evan Hill directs.
Thursday, Sept. 24, through Nov. 1, at 3611 W. Cermak Road, Chicago. Free, but reservations are required. Donations accepted. Theatre-y.com.
Stars & Garters welcomes Late Nite Catechism
Vicki Quade debuts “Late Nite Catechism Trivia Bingo,” her latest interactive Nuns 4 Fun show that she promises will have audiences laughing their sins off, at Stars & Garters Theater. That show is followed by a revival of her annual Halloween show “Holy Ghost Bingo: God, Goblins & Games.”
“Trivia Bingo” is at 2 p.m. Sundays, Sept. 20 and 27. “Holy Ghost Bingo” is at 2 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 4-25, at 3914 N. Clark St., Chicago. $35. starsandgarterstheater.com.