Theater spotlight: Sideshow's 'Tilikum' premieres at Victory Gardens

Sideshow premiere

Sideshow Theatre Company concludes its season with the premiere of the theater piece "Tilikum" by Kristiana Rae Colon, a member of Goodman Theatre's playwrights unit and a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists. It centers on the onetime king of the oceans now held captive in an aquatic amusement park. Reminded by his fellow prisoners of how freedom feels, the emboldened Tilikum (Gregory Geffrard) commences a rebellion that "threatens to consume everything." Previews are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, June 22-23, and Wednesday, June 27, and 2 p.m. Sunday, June 24, at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. The show opens at 8 p.m. Thursday, June 28. $20-$30. (773) 871-3000 or victorygardens.org or sideshowtheatre.org.

Men's club

Goodman Theatre heralds the start of summer with some laughs courtesy of "Support Group for Men" by Ellen Fairey ("Nurse Jackie," "Masters of Sex"). Fairey's comedy examines social and gender roles through the eyes of four regular guys from Chicago who gather weekly in a Wrigleyville apartment to share their middle-aged angst. Kimberly Senior directs Anthony Irons, Ryan Kitley, Keith Kupferer and Tommy Rivera-Veg, who play characters confronting what it means to be a man in 21st-century America. Previews at 8 p.m. Saturday, June 23; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays, June 24 and July 1; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, June 27-28; and 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, June 29-30, at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. The show opens July 5. $25-$80. (312) 443-3800 or goodmantheatre.org.