Spotlight: Vanessa Williams headlines virtual'Women of Broadway' benefit
Dream team
Some of Chicago's most respected female theater artists unite for a virtual, staged reading of "Fefu and Her Friends," Maria Irene Fornés' play about women struggling to escape constraints and stereotypes imposed by a male-dominated society. "Fefu" unfolds in 1935 at Fefu's home where the women have gathered to rehearse a charity skit. Stacy Stoltz directs Charin Alvarez, Sandra Delgado, Ora Jones, Delia Kropp, Sadieh Rifai, Lisa Tejero, Janet Ulrich Brooks and Penelope Walker.
"This play settles some of my very unsettled feelings about being a woman in our country right now - what would it be like if I didn't have to censor myself or smile and stay calm when I'm feeling the opposite," said Stoltz in a prepared statement. "It kind of scratches an infuriating itch. It's a rare thing for a group of women to be given so much time and space to try to connect and grapple with their intimate feelings."
The reading is co-produced by Season of Concern in collaboration with Joseph Jefferson Award-winner Mary Beth Fisher. Proceeds benefit Chicago-area theater artists coping with illness, injury or other circumstances that prevent them from working.
7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5. Tickets will be sold through Dec. 12, allowing viewers to watch the performance on demand within 24 hours of purchase. Tickets are $10, $5 for students and seniors. (312) 375-1133 or seasonofconcern.org.
Virtual concert
"Live From the West Side: Women of Broadway," the virtual concert series showcasing Broadway veterans, concludes with a performance by television, theater and pop music star Vanessa Williams whose hits include "Save the Best for Last" and "Colors of the Wind." Skokie's Northlight Theatre is one of 20 nonprofit organizations participating in the virtual concert series, co-produced by Dallas Summer Musicals and the Entertainment Benefits Group.
7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5. $30. Proceeds benefit Northlight Theatre. See northlight.org/events/women-of-broadway.
'Par-Tay' holiday edition
PlayMakers Laboratory presents the holiday version of its ongoing, online revue "That's Weird, Grandma" made up of stories written by elementary school students and adapted for the stage by PlayMakers ensemble members. "That's Weird, Grandma: House Par-Tay" includes skits about Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's. Brandon Cloyd directs.
Begins streaming at 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7. Runs through Dec. 28. The last performance features a New Year's celebration. $2-$4. See playmakerslab.org.
Show Girls comedy
Show Girls, a networking group for actresses over age 50 founded on social media in 2016, has moved from online support to online productions with the six-part web series "What Did Clyde Hide?" The pandemic-inspired comedy unfolds during a famous director's Zoom funeral, which is attended by women he loved, hated and/or wronged. Show Girls members conceived the show in July 2020 in response to the COVID-19-related theater shutdown.
New episodes stream at 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Dec. 22 at chicagoshowgirls.us/episodes.
In other news
• 16th Street Theater introduces upcoming featured playwrights Najla Saïd, Siena Marilyn Ledger, Todd Logan and Natalie Y. Moore and presents excerpts from their works at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5, at 16thstreettheater.org.
• Victory Gardens Theater hosts a virtual fundraiser at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 9, to benefit the theater's drama in the schools program. "Voices of Tomorrow: Their World on Stage" showcases spoken word and other works by Chicago Public School students. See victorygardens.org/event/voices-of-tomorrow-their-world-on-stage.
• Chicago Shakespeare Theater artistic director Barbara Gaines and Teller (of the comedy/magic duo Penn & Teller and the co-adapter/director of 2015's "The Tempest" and 2018's "Macbeth") host "Chicago ShakesFear: An Eve of Magic and Mayhem," a 30-minute video exploring all things scary and strange in Shakespeare's cannon. It's available on demand at chicagoshakes.com.
• Collaboraction Theatre has moved its operations from Chicago's Wicker Park to the South Loop. The company has relocated to AV Chicago, 619 W. Taylor St., Chicago, as part of a digital media residency as Collaboraction pivoted to producing virtual theater in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past nine months, AV Chicago partnered with Collaboraction as it switched to all-digital programming. That consisted of technical support for Collaboraction's youth theater festival, its fall 2020 Peacebook Festival and the company's virtual fundraiser. "Until its safe to be back together in a theater, AV Chicago's warehouse and access to their state-of-the-art equipment and production studios make it the ideal home for Collaboraction and our new digital platform, the Together Network," said artistic director Anthony Moseley in a prepared statement.