Theater events: Marley's tale times 2

Marley's tale

The Organic Theater Company of Chicago brings its family-friendly production of “Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol” to Naperville for a brief run. Tom Mula centers his play on Ebenezer Scrooge's former business partner who enlists the aid of a sprite named Bogle to achieve his own redemption.

7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 10-11, at North Central College's Meiley-Swallow Hall, 31 S. Ellsworth, Naperville. $20, $30. (630) 637-7469 or organictheater.org.

Tale, take 2

A tale so nice, they told it twice. Patrick Able stars in Steel Beam Theatre's benefit production of Tom Mula's “Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol.” Proceeds from the show benefit the theater and the Chicagoland Dog Rescue.

7 p.m. Sundays, Dec. 11 and 18, at 111 W. Main St., St. Charles. $23, $25. (630) 587-8521 or steelbeamtheatre.com.

Comic returns

Comedian Lenny Schmidt, a Bolingbrook High School graduate and a veteran of iO Chicago, returns to his old stomping grounds. Schmidt, who has appeared in HBO's “True Blood” and “Big Love,” headlines Zanies in St. Charles this weekend.

8 and 9:45 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, and 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at Pheasant Run Resort, 4051 E. Main St., St. Charles. $24 plus a two drink or item minimum. (630) 583-6342 or zanies.com.

Other upcoming theater events:

• Pavement Group hosts its second annual Amuse Bouche, featuring “small bites of six new plays.” The showcase runs this weekend at the Flat Iron Arts Building, 1579 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. Six playwrights have 24 hours and 10 ingredients to write a 15-minute play. A director and actors have another 24 hours to rehearse the play, which is then performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 9-10, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11. See pavementgroup.org for more information.

• Puppeteer and director Blair Thomas and his touring puppet theater company team up with the Music Institute of Chicago to present “A Kite's Tale,” a family-friendly show about a kite-flying young girl who learns to deal with her fear and anger. The 40-minute show is set to Modest Mussorgsky's piano suite, “Pictures at an Exhibition.” The performance is at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at the Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston. An open house featuring an instrument petting zoo and other activities begins at 9 a.m. in the lobby. (847) 905-1500, ext. 108, or musicinst.org.

• The Scooty & JoJo show presents a holiday performance of the adults-only “Alien Queen: The Concert” at 10 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St., Chicago. The concert combines the music of Queen with a parody of the “Alien” films. (773) 549-4140 or scootyjojo.com.

• “True Story,” a new show in which writers deliver two comedic monologues that sound true, but only one is factual. The writers won't reveal which of the two monologues are true until the next performance. Audience can vote using Facebook as to which story they think actually happened. The show runs monthly at 5:30 p.m. Saturdays, Dec. 10, and Jan. 7, at Gorilla Tango Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. (773) 598-4549 or gorillatango.com.

• Griffin Theatre and the cast of its current production of “Spring Awakening,” host a benefit titled Cabaret, Cabernet & Canapes, from 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13, at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Tickets are $35 and include food, cocktails and performances. Proceeds go to the Griffin Arts Center scheduled to open in 2012. (773) 769-2228 or griffintheatre.com.

• Teatro Luna hosts a holiday party on Wednesday, Dec. 14, at its new home at 3914 N. Clark St., Chicago (the former home of Live Bait and Artistic Home theaters). Tickets are $15 and include a DJ, performances and a dessert buffet. See teatroluna.org for information.

• Northwestern University's broadcast of plays from London's National Theatre continues at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15, at the Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston. The next production is the new play by John Hodge (“Trainspotting,” “The Beach”) titled “Collaborators,” which centers on an imaginary meeting between Joseph Stalin and writer Mikhail Bulgakov who penned “The Master and Margarita,” a satire on Soviet society. (847) 491-7282 or tic.northwestern.edu.

• The Gift Theatre has extended Caryl Churchill's “Cloud 9,” a gender-bending farce about 19th century British colonials and Africa natives transported to sexually liberated 1979 London. Performances continue through Sunday, Dec. 18, at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. (773) 283-7071 or thegifttheatre.org.

• “Love, Loss, and What I Wore,” Nora and Delia Ephron's adaptation of Ilene Beckerman's novel examining significant moments in a woman's life as expressed through her wardrobe, runs through Sunday, Jan. 1, at the Broadway Playhouse, at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St., Chicago. Erica Watson and Michelle Shupe join Dawn Wells (“Gilligan's Island”) along with original Chicago cast members Roni Geva and Katie O'Brien. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com.

• The Annoyance Theatre announced the return of its “(expletive) Comedy Hour.” The free show runs at midnight on Fridays through Jan. 20 at 4830 N. Broadway Ave., Chicago. (773) 561-4665 or theannoyance.com.

• The Nation Institute has awarded its $100,000 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship to award-winning playwright Tony Kushner (“Angels in America,” “Homebody/Kabul,” “Caroline, or Change”). The Puffin Foundation and the Nation Institute award the prize to an individual in academia, the arts and humanities, journalism, public health, labor or environmental sciences who has “challenged the status quo through ... imaginative and socially responsible work.”