Theater news
High 'Art'
Steel Beam Theatre presents Yasmina Reza's Tony Award-winning play about the seismic shifts that rock the relationship between three longtime friends when one of them buys an expensive piece of abstract art whose value the others question.
Opens today at 111 W. Main St., St. Charles, (630) 587-8521 or steelbeamtheatre.com
Classic musical comedy
Light Opera Works inaugurates its 28th season with Lerner and Loewe's sparkling musical "Gigi," about a young French girl groomed to be courtesan, but whose heart intends otherwise. Light Opera Works Artistic Director Rudy Hogenmiller directs and choreographs the show, which includes the tunes "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" and "I Remember It Well."
Opens today at Cahn Auditorium, 600 E. Emerson St., Evanston, (847) 869-6300 or lightoperaworks.com
Apple Tree's 'Bench'
Ron Clark's comedy "A Bench in the Sun" concerns cantankerous retirees Harold and Bert, whose longtime friendship is threatened when former actress Adrienne moves into their retirement community. Ray Frewen directs the Apple Tree Theatre production featuring Dennis Kelly, Robert Scogin and Ami Silvestre.
Opens Saturday at the Karger Center, 1850 Green Bay Road, Highland Park, (847) 432-4335 or appletreetheatre.com
Saint Sebastian Players presents "A Perfectly Good Lady," Carlton Bailey's bio-drama about Clara Shortridge Foltz, one of California's first women lawyers. The play runs today through Sunday at St. Bonaventure Church, 1625 W. Diversey Ave., Chicago. (773) 404-7922 or saint sebastianplayers.org.
A chance meeting on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" turns to romance for Tracy and Andy, the protagonists of Annoyance Theatre's new show, "Marry Me, You Idiot!" about how the love affair between two people affects everyone around them. The preview is today. "Mary Me" opens June 13 at 4830 N. Broadway Ave., Chicago. (773) 561-4665 or annoyanceproductions.com.
The Chicago Park District's 56th annual Theater on the Lake showcasing some of Chicago's small and mid-size companies begins Wednesday at the theater located at the Fullerton Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago. Greasy Joan and Company's "The Misanthrope" runs Wednesday through June 15. Featured productions include Pegasus Players' "Jitney" (June 18-22); Chicago Dramatists' "Cadillac" (July 9-13) and Shattered Globe's "Suddenly, Last Summer (July 23-27) among others. (312) 742-7994 or chicagopark district.com.
"Bloody Bess: A Tale of Piracy and Revenge," a swashbuckler set during the 18th century about governor's daughter Elizabeth Presberty, who turns to piracy to avenge her honor and her father, previews Thursday at the Storefront theater, 66 E. Randolph St., Chicago. The BackStage Theatre Company production opens June 13. (312) 742-8497 or back stagetheatrecompany.org.
- Barbara Vitello