Spotlight: Local favorites appear in Northlight's livestreamed reading

Bechdel Fest 8

Broken Nose Theatre presents Bechdel Fest 8: Realign, a festival of short plays featuring femme, female-identifying, nonbinary, transgender and queer actors playing characters who talk about subjects other than men. The festival references the Bechdel-Wallace Test created by cartoonist Alison Bechdel that asks whether an entertainment work features at least two non-male identifying characters in conversation about something other than a man. "Many of the immensely talented artists involved in this season's festival have been signed on since last spring, back when we were expecting to host the event in-person during the summer," said Broken Nose artistic director Elise Marie Davis in a prepared statement. "The fact that they graciously and enthusiastically stayed onboard as this year's lineup was pushed back, and ultimately pivoted to becoming digital, is enormously exciting to the Broken Nose family and myself."

Streaming begins Friday, Jan. 29, on Broken Nose Theatre's YouTube channel. A new play will be released each Friday and stream for one week through the end of the festival on March 26.

Northlight reading

Longtime Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble members Rondi Reed and Francis Guinan star in Northlight Theatre's livestreamed reading of "Such Small Hands," a play about love and loss by Adam Szymkowicz. BJ Jones directs the reading, which is part of Northlight's Interplay Program to support in-development works. A recording will be available for 96 hours following the premiere.

Livestreamed at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 31, at northlight.org/events/interplay-suchsmallhands. Free but reservations are required. Donations accepted.

Women of Steel

Steel Beam Theatre's Women of Steel series continues with Debra Ann Miller playing the titular novelist in "Meet Jane Austen," a solo show chronicling the private and literary life of the beloved 18th-century writer.

Livestreams at 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 31, at steelbeamtheatre.com. $10.

'Missed Connections'

A Red Orchid Theatre presents "Missed Connections," an interactive play with magic created by magician Jon Tai and writer/producer Alex Gruhin and performed virtually. "I ask audience members to join me in taking a leap into the strange unknown, to explore the complexities of fate and discover the universe's most beautiful magic trick of all," said Tai in a prepared statement.

Livestreaming begins Tuesday, Feb. 2. Runs at 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and Sundays and 5 and 8 p.m. Saturdays (and Feb. 14) through Feb. 28. No show Feb. 7. $25. See aredorchidtheatre.org.

Festival on the Square

Congo Square Theatre hosts "Festival on the Square," a three-day celebration of the arts. Inspired by New Orleans' Congo Square where people of color gathered to celebrate the cultures of their homelands, the mini-fest features short plays and conversations with actor Morocco Omari ("Empire," "Homeland") and Dionna Griffin-Irons, The Second City's director of diversity talent inclusion. The festival concludes with the Vision Benefit - featuring Congo Square ensemble member Kelvin Roston Jr. and the Red Clay Dance Company - saluting the company's first director, Ron OJ Parson, and first board chairman, Les Coney.

Presented virtually from 7-9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 4-6, at congosquaretheatre.org/fos. Free, but registration is required. Donations are accepted.

In other news

• AstonRep Theatre Company presents its 12th annual Writers Series consisting of virtual readings of new works by emerging writers. "American Dinner" by Maggie Antonijevic is about a mixed-race family's dinner when secrets are unearthed. It features Elgin native Faiz Siddique. "Just So Typically Me" by Troy Loftin is about a onetime pop star trying to make a comeback. The free readings are at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 30-31. See astonrep.com.

• Goodman Theatre's Future Labs series, showcasing works by playwrights of color, commences with a reading of "Layalina," Martin Yousif Zebari's drama about a family surviving during a time of upheaval. The live virtual reading streams at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30. Admission is free, but reservations are required at goodmantheatre.org/layalina.

• Porchlight Music Theatre's virtual Sondheim@90 Roundtable series continues at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30, with artistic director Michael Weber discussing "Passion" with director John Doyle and actresses Judy Kuhn and Kathy Voytko. That's followed at 7 p.m. Feb. 6 with Weber discussing "Company" with Goodman Theatre artistic director Robert Falls, actor Raul Esparza and actor/director Lonny Price. New and previously released episodes are available for free at Porchlight's YouTube page.

• The Annoyance Theatre marks the seventh incarnation of its annual "The Gobbler's Knob Groundhog Day Spectacular," a retelling in a television variety show format of what might happen at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, as the community salutes weather-predicting groundhog Punxsutawney Phil. The 2021 incarnation will be staged virtually as a series of video shorts at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, at twitch.tv/theannoyance. $10 suggested donation. See theannoyance.com.

• PrideArts presents a second live online reading of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2. Shakira Searle will play both Viola, the shipwreck survivor who pretends to be a man, and her twin brother Sebastian, who is missing and presumed dead. Tickets are $10. They're available at pridearts.org/tickets.

• The grant-making organization 3 Arts announced the Disability Culture Leadership Initiative, which features a new online platform that assists deaf artists and artists with disabilities and encourages art and culture organizations to prioritize disability culture in their programming. Theater artists Michael Herzovi, Arlene Malinowski and Robert Schleifer are participants in the initiative, which seeks "to document the experiences of alumni in the program, advocate for the artistic and economic mobility of Deaf and disabled artists, and highlight the potential for disability aesthetics to expand and enrich every artistic discipline."

• "Up Close and Musical," The Stratford Festival's new cabaret series, debuted this week. The weekly series features festival ensemble members performing classic and contemporary songs from musical theater. The concerts will be streamed on Stratfest@Home, the festival's $10 per month subscription service. Free performances are available on Wednesdays on the festival's YouTube channel. Additionally, The Stratford Festival's free YouTube viewing parties have resumed. The filmed productions stream at 6 p.m. Thursdays at youtube.com/stratfordfestival. The festival's 2019 production of "Othello" begins streaming Feb. 4 and 1988's "The Taming of the Shrew" begins streaming March 4.

• Artemisia Theatre announced its 2021 virtual season will include two world premieres by resident playwright Lauren Ferebee beginning May 5 with "Goods," the story of interplanetary trash collectors forced to confront their secrets and their choices. That's followed on Oct. 20 with "Into the Blaze: The Triangle Shirtwaist," about the 1911 fire in New York City's Triangle Shirtwaist Factory that claimed the lives of hundreds of young women and sparked the labor movement. In addition to these streamed productions, Artemisia will feature eight audio productions on its "We Women" podcast, which drops Wednesdays through Nov. 10 at artemisiatheatre.org.

• Sideshow Theatre Company announced recent ensemble additions including: actor/director Wardell Julius Clark, educator/actor/spoken word artist Greg Geffrard, multidisciplinary artist Arti Ishak, actor/singer/writer Krystal Ortiz, director/dramaturge Gabrielle Randle-Bent and actress Netta Walker. New artistic associates include Patrick Agada, J. Nicole Brooks, Brynne Frauenhoffer, Jyreika Guest and Sarah Price.