Spotlight: 'Naperville' comes home courtesy of Buffalo Theatre Ensemble

Coming home

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble concludes its season with a revival of "Naperville." Written by Naperville native Mat Smart, the play is about an adult son who returns to the suburban home where he grew up to care for his mother. The action unfolds in a coffee shop where he encounters several others who've returned to the 'burbs after circumstances derailed their dreams and ambitions. Ensemble member Kurt Naebig directs.

Preview at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 28, at the McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. The show opens Friday, April 29. $42. COVID-19 precautions: Proof of vaccination and masking required. (630) 942-4000 or atthemac.org.

Racism in the workplace

Shattered Globe Theatre revives "Rasheeda Speaking," a comedy turned thriller by Joel Drake Johnson, retired Stevenson High School teacher turned playwright who died in 2020. Associate artistic director AmBer D. Montgomery directs Johnson's examination of workplace racism that unfolds in a doctor's office where Ileen, a white employee, is instructed to spy on Jaclyn, her Black co-worker. Daria Harper plays Ileen and Deanna Reed-Foster plays Jaclyn, a role she understudied during the play's premiere nine years ago at Rivendell Theatre.

Previews at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 22-23, and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 24, at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The show opens Monday, April 25. $25-$45. COVID-19 precautions: Proof of vaccination and masking required. (773) 975-8150, theaterwit.org or sgtheatre.org.

Family drama

In "On the Greenbelt," by Strawdog Theatre Company ensemble member Karissa Murrell Myers, Jules can't shake what she experienced in the hospital the night her mother died. Kathryn Acosta plays Jules, a woman haunted by the past, in director Jonathan Berry's production. Strawdog's premiere also features Jamie Vann, Lynne Baker, Jessica Ervin, Dan Lin and Alexis Ward.

Previews at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 22-23, at Links Hall, 3111 N. Western Ave., Chicago. The show opens Sunday, April 24. Free, but donations are accepted and reservations are required. COVID-19 precautions: Proof of vaccination or negative COVID test and masking required. See strawdog.org.

'Magical thinking'

Remy Bumppo Theater Company ensemble member Annabel Armour stars as writer Joan Didion in "The Year of Magical Thinking," the solo play adapted from Didion's memoir chronicling the year following the death of her husband and a long illness that her daughter endured. Didion's book resonated with artistic director Marti Lyons, who, in a prepared statement, described it as an examination of "how the mind bends when it refuses to break. This work, which is both adaptive and urgent, is based in the past but resonates fiercely with the present."

Previews at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, April 27-30, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 1, at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The show opens May 2. $30-$55. COVID-19 precautions: Proof of vaccination and masking required. (773) 975-8150 or theaterwit.org.

In other news

Check with venues about COVID-19 precautions.

• The Chicago Circus and Performing Arts Festival runs through Sunday, April 24, at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. The multidisciplinary mini-fest consists of circus acts, dance, avant-garde sideshow and burlesque offerings, family-friendly juggling and clowning shows, sketch comedy and queer-themed works, among other offerings. Tickets range from $10 to $35, with some pay-what-you-can options. (773) 697-3830 or ccpaf.org.

• Chicago Shakespeare Theater's season continues with William's Shakespeare's "All's Well That Ends Well," about a young woman of modest birth who loves a nobleman and will go to extreme lengths to make him her husband. Goodman Theatre veteran Alejandra Escalante stars in the production, which also features Ora Jones, Elizabeth Ledo and Francis Guinan, among others. Previews begin Friday, April 22, at Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave., Chicago. The show opens April 29. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination and masking required. (312) 595-5600 or chicagoshakes.com. CST also hosts a free streaming event, "To Be," to commemorate William Shakespeare's birth 458 years ago. The 45-minute program consists of musical and spoken-word performances and streams on demand from Saturday, April 23, to May 22 at chicagoshakes.com/tobe.

• Writer/actor/comedian Jamie Lee ("Ted Lasso," HBO's "Crashing") headlines four shows Friday and Saturday, April 22-23, at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. The Den Theatre also will be hosting a couple of standup special tapings. The Todd Barry special taping is at 7 and 9 p.m. Sunday, April 24. That's followed at 7 and 9 p.m. Monday, April 25, by the Joe Bartnick special taping hosted by Bill Burr. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination and masking required. (773) 697-3830 or thedentheatre.com.

• Previews begin Friday, April 22, for The House Theatre of Chicago's North American premiere of "The Tragedy of King Christophe," the 1963 play by West Indian playwright and poet Aimé Césaire based on the true story of King Christophe of Haiti. The play tells the story of Henri Christophe, a general in the army of Jean-Jacques Dessalines who was elected president following the 1804 Haitian Revolution. However, in 1811, Christophe declared himself king. Artistic director Lanise Antoine Shelley directs the production, which opens May 1 at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination and masking required. See thehousetheatre.com.

• Young Carmella, finally old enough to accompany her brother on the family errands, finds a dandelion growing in the pavement. After her brother encourages her to make a wish before she blows away the white puffs, she struggles to come up with the perfect wish in the family-friendly "Carmella Full of Wishes," adapted from the book by Matt de la Peña and illustrator Christian Robinson. The Chicago Children's Theatre's production begins Saturday, April 23, at 100 S. Racine Ave., Chicago. Masking required. See chicagochildrenstheatre.org.

• The interactive murder-mystery musical comedy "My Big Fat Italian Wedding Murder" opens Saturday, April 23, at The Reveler, 3402 N. Damen Ave., Chicago. After a guest is murdered at a wedding gone awry, audience members are tasked with solving the crime. Tickets are $69 and include dinner and the show. (773) 296-6400 or buytix.net.

• Chicago Opera Theater premieres "Quanimo's Map," an opera by composer Errollyn Wallen and librettist Deborah Brevoort, set in post Revolutionary War London where thousands of African Americans who fought for the British took refuge. The world premiere is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 23, at The Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. See chicagooperatheater.org.

• Black Ensemble Theater hosts its 2020 Black Playwrights Festival featuring works by members of the Black Playwrights Initiative: Viola Bennett, Jill Ross, Lillian Mitchum, Reginald Williams and Dwight Neal and curated by managing director Daryl D. Brooks. It runs Tuesday through Saturday, April 26-30, at 4450 N. Clark St., Chicago. "The festival highlights the lives and music of Phyllis Hyman, Hattie McDaniel, Tammi Terrell, Sylvester, and comedian Flip Wilson," said Brooks in a prepared statement. "These performers were not only known for their talent, but also leaders for civil rights in the fight for equality." Masks required. (773) 769-4451 or blackensembletheater.org.

• Lincolnshire native Brenda Didier directs Porchlight Music Theatre's revival of "Spring Awakening," Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's 2006 coming-of-age musical based on Frank Wedekind's 1891 play about adolescents' sexual awakening. Previews begin Saturday, April 23, at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. The cast includes Barrington native Quinn Kelch and Arlington Heights resident Michael Joseph Mitchell, and music director Justin Akira Kono of Woodridge. The show opens Thursday, April 28. (773) 777-9884 or porchlightmusictheatre.org.

• The Gift Theatre marks its return to in-person performances with the Chicago premiere of "At the Vanishing Point" by Naomi Iizuka, whose portrait of a community is told through character monologues. Previews begin Thursday, April 28, at Filament Theatre, 4041 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. In a prepared statement, director Lavina Jadhwani recalls reading the play in 2019 and noting "how much it speaks to the idea of how people can be connected across great distances, especially across time and generations. For me today, it's also a piece about how community can be connected in isolation." The show opens May 1. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination and masks required. (773) 283-7071 or thegifttheatre.org.

• First Folio Theatre general manager Addoris Davis' play "Eleven Minutes," about a young woman determined to learn the truth about the accident that claimed her parents' lives, has been selected for inclusion in 2022's Last Frontier Theatre Conference, hosted by the University of Alaska Anchorage as part of the conference's play lab for in-development works.

• Chicago Opera Theater announced its 50th anniversary season will commence Nov. 18 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St., Chicago, with the Chicago premiere of "King Roger," a Polish language opera produced in association with the Lira Ensemble, which specializes in Polish music and dance. The opera, by composer Karol Szymanowski and librettist Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, is about a queen who asks the king to pardon a shepherd convicted of heresy. That's followed on Jan. 26, 2023, by Benjamin Britten's "Albert Herring" (Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture, 2936 N. Southport Ave., Chicago) about a young man determined to be of noble character who's mocked for the honor and embarks upon an evening of debauchery. Next up, "The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing," about the British computer scientist who developed ways to protect the Brits against Nazi U-boat attacks and who was chemically castrated after being convicted of indecency. The premiere is March 23, 2023, at the Harris Theater. The season also includes workshop performances of "The Cook-Off" by emerging composer Shawn Okpebholo and a new opera produced in association with Music of Remembrance, which is based on former critic Howard Reich's story about a Vietnam veteran who learns he is heir to a priceless art collection stolen by the Nazis. See chicagooperatheater.org.