Spotlight: Manual Cinema reanimates its distinctive ‘Frankenstein’
Seasonal shudders courtesy of Manual Cinema
Manual Cinema brings its distinctive adaptation of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” to the Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building for a brief run. A multimedia performance collective, Manual Cinema incorporates shadow puppetry, live music, cinematic techniques and sound effects to tell Shelley’s story about what happens when a creator neglects his obligation to his creation.
Wednesday, Oct. 28, through Nov. 1 at 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. $35-$85. fineartsbuilding.com/frankenstein.
Steppenwolf premiere
Steppenwolf Theatre Company launches its 51st season with “Adirondack Chair Circle,” a new play by Barrington native Stephanie Alison Walker inspired by real-life attempts of Northwest suburban residents to ban select books at a school library. Tony Award-winner Pam MacKinnon directs the premiere, which features ensemble member Caroline Neff and Tony winner Katrina Lenk among others.
Runs through Dec. 6 at 1646 N. Halsted St., Chicago. $20-$149. 312-335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.
Open Space Arts offers snapshot of an era
Open Space Arts revisits plays from the early days of the AIDS crisis in the context of today’s LGBTQIA movement as part of “Before We Are History,” a limited series consisting of revivals of “One” by Jeff Hagedorn, “Blood Spill” by Lee Raines, “Jerker, or The Helping Hand” by Robert Chesley and a one-night staged reading of “A Quiet End” by Robin Swados. The plays provide a snapshot of the lives, relationships and friendships of gay men as AIDS transformed their community.
Friday, Oct. 23, through Nov. 8 at Open Space Arts, 1411 W. Wilson Ave., Chicago. $30, $25 and pay-what-you-can. OpenSpaceArts.org.
‘Book of Mormon’ is back
The Tony Award-winning “The Book of Mormon,” the zestfully subversive tuner by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (“South Park”) and Robert Lopez (“Avenue Q”) returns to Chicago for a brief run. While the show sends up organized religion’s more fantastical tenets, it respects believers and celebrates the compassion, duty and loyalty that animates their faith.
Friday, Oct. 23, through Nov. 1 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago. $49-$139. BroadwayInChicago.com.
Saint Sebastian Players commence season
Saint Sebastian Players opens its 45th season with Agatha Christie’s “A Murder is Announced,” which finds Christie’s famous sleuth Miss Marple investigating a murder connected to a newspaper ad inviting residents of a fictional British burg to a murder.
Friday, Oct. 23, through Nov. 15 at St. Bonaventure Church, 1625 W. Diversey Ave., Chicago. $35, $30. saintsebastianplayers.org.
An ode to family
Chicago Children’s Theatre opens its season with a revival of its family-friendly “Carmela Full of Wishes,” adapted by Alvaro Saar Rios from Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson’s children’s book about a young girl’s wishes: a machine that distributes free desserts, a fancy bed for her mom and “papers” for her dad so he can come home. Isadora Coco Gonzalez plays the titular role.
Sunday, Oct. 25, through Nov. 15 at 100 S. Racine St., Chicago. $42. chicagochildrenstheatre.org.
More family, Italian style
Candice Guardino brings “Italian Bred,” her solo show about life with her loud, lovable New York family, to the Des Plaines Theatre for one show this weekend.
2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25, at 1476 Miner St., Des Plaines. $56.75-$78.75. 224-354-2333 or desplainestheatre.com.
Chicago premiere
A Red Orchid Theatre ensemble member dado helms the company’s Chicago-area premiere of “Heroes of the Fourth Turning,” Will Arbery’s play about four graduates of a small, conservative liberal arts college. Their reunion — which includes a former professor recently named the college’s new president — “spirals into spiritual chaos” as the friends clash over politics and personal philosophies.
Thursday, Oct. 29, through Dec. 6 at 1531 N. Wells St., Chicago. $33-$55. 312-943-8722 or aredorchidtheatre.org.