Theater: Stand-up comics inspire Agency Theater production, Windy City Playhouse extends 'Southern Gothic'

• The Chicago theater summer residencies at Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph St., Chicago, continue on Friday and Saturday, July 26-27, with excerpts from Chicago Dance Crash's "Belly of the Whale." In this hip-hop version of "Pinocchio," the puppet boy saves his father Geppetto from the whale who swallowed him. The show is family-friendly. Admission is free. See millenniumpark.org.

• Free Street Theater presents "Still/Here," a performance piece created by 17 artists that reflects their vision of "what a just and joyous city looks like." The next performance takes place at 3 p.m. Saturday, July 27, at Humboldt Park, 1400 N. Humboldt Drive, Chicago. That's followed by a 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 1, performance at Cornell Square, 1809 W. 50th St., Chicago. The run concludes at 3 p.m. Aug. 3 at Walsh Park, 1722 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago. Admission is free for the show, which is produced in cooperation with the Chicago Park District. See freestreet.org.

• The Chicago League of Lady Arm Wrestlers presents CLLAW XXXIII: A Midsummer Night's Smack Down benefiting Sideshow Theatre Company and Girls Rock! Chicago, an organization that assists girls, transgender and gender-nonconforming youngsters. The adults-only event begins at 9 p.m. Saturday, July 27, at Logan Square Auditorium, 2539 N. Kedzie Ave., Chicago. In addition to the competition, the event features music by Mister E Machine. Tickets are $25 at the door. See cllaw.org.

• Chicago Dramatists concludes its Monday Night Drama Series, consisting of public readings of in-progress plays, at 7 p.m. Monday, July 29, at 1105 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago. Next up is "When They Came" by resident playwright MT Cozzola. See chicagodramatists.org.

• The national tour of "Come From Away," the musical by Irene Sankoff and David Hein about the small Newfoundland town that accommodated thousands of travelers stranded after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, comes to Chicago for a limited engagement. Performances begin Tuesday, July 30, at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com.

• Performances begin Thursday, Aug. 1, for the Chicago-area premiere of "International Falls" in a co-production between The Agency Theater Collective and End of the Line Productions. Written by Thomas Ward, the play is about Dee (Marie Weigle), a hotel clerk and aspiring comedian who has a one-night stand with Tim (Sean Higgins), a burned-out comic headlining a club in International Falls, Minnesota. The show runs through Aug. 30 at Nox Arca Theatre, 4001 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago. See wearetheagency.org.

• Windy City Playhouse announced another extension of its Joseph Jefferson Award-winning, immersive production of "Southern Gothic," Leslie Liataud's 1960s-set drama about secrets revealed during a cocktail party. Performances run through Sept. 1 at 2229 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. (773) 891-8985 or windycityplayhouse.com.

• "Miracle," the new musical set against the backdrop of the Chicago Cubs' 2016 championship season, is coming to an end. Performances run through Sept. 1 at the Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted St., Chicago. (312) 988-9000 or miraclethemusical.com.

• The League of Historic American Theatres awarded Chicago's Auditorium Theatre its Outstanding Historic Theatre Award earlier this month. The award recognizes the quality of its restoration, programs and its community impact. "When the Auditorium first opened (on December 9, 1889), it helped establish Chicago as a world-class city," said interim chief executive officer Rachel Freund in a prepared statement. "It continues to significantly contribute to the city's cultural, historical and architectural landscape today."

• Haven, formerly Haven Theatre, announced its 2019-2020 season will begin Oct. 13 with the fifth annual Directors Haven 2019 showcasing Lauren Katz, Aaron Mays and AJ Schwartz. Next up, artistic director Ian Damont Martin helms William Shakespeare's bloodiest play, "Titus Andronicus" (Feb. 13-March 15, 2020), about the bloody impact of personal and political vengeance. The season concludes with the premiere of Samantha Behr's "The Fig and the Wasp" (July 2-Aug. 2, 2020), an apocalyptic drama about a politician whose 13-year-old daughter is in a coma suffering from "hopelessness." Performances take place at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. See havenchi.org.

• Two local premieres and one world premiere make up First Floor Theater's three-play season, which begins Oct. 19 with "Sugar in Our Wounds," Donja R. Love's Civil War-set drama about James, a young slave, who begins a romance with a visitor to the plantation. That's followed by "Plano" (Feb. 15-March 27, 2020), a comedy by Will Arbery about sisters stricken with a series of plagues. The season concludes with the premiere of "The Juniors" (April 18-May 30, 2020), Noah Diaz's dark comedy about high school students who have to parent a sack of flour for a week to pass their home economics class. "Sugar in Our Wounds" and "The Juniors" take place at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. "Plano" takes place at Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre, 1700 N. Halsted St., Chicago. Memberships range from $10 to $25 per month and are available online at firstfloortheater.com.

• Promethean Theatre Ensemble examines the rights and roles of women during its 14th season. It begins Sept. 13 with the Chicago-area premiere of "Blue Stockings." Jessica Swale's comedy is about four young women attending Girton College, the first women's college at the University of Cambridge, in 1896 to the dismay of many male students. It runs at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. Next up is the premiere of a new adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's "Mrs. Warren's Profession" (Feb. 28-March 29, 2020, at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark St., Chicago). Melanie Spewock adapted Shaw's drama about a bright, independent young woman who learns her mother got wealthy through prostitution. The season concludes with the premiere of "A Town Called Progress" (June 13-July 18, 2020, at Strawdog Theatre, 1802 W. Berenice Ave., Chicago), Trina Kakacek's play about two women who start their own town. See prometheantheatre.org.

• Thompson Street Opera Company opens its season with "I will fly like a bird" (Sept. 12-14 at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave., Chicago), the true story of an immigrant tazed to death attempting to reunite with his mother at an airport. That's followed by "Apart/ment," a short opera produced with Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art as part of a multidisciplinary event examining homelessness and housing insecurity. The opera tells four stories of people who became homeless. It runs Dec. 6 and 7 at the Intuit Center Gallery, 756 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. The season concludes with a double bill consisting of "Trifles," about a woman accused of killing her husband, and "Sojourner Truth," about the former slave turned abolitionist and women's rights activist. The double bill runs March 26-28, 2020, at the Athenaeum Theatre. See thompsonstreetopera.org.

• Sideshow Theatre Company launches its 2019-2020 season Sept. 22 with the U.S. premiere of "X," Alistair McDowall's future-set drama about a research station located in a remote part of the galaxy that stops receiving messages from earth. That's followed by the premiere of "PRO-AM" (May 17-June 21, 2020), Brynne Frauenhoffer's look at Miami's professional-amateur porn scene. Performances take place at Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. Tickets go on sale at a later date. See sideshowtheatre.org.