American Theatre Company–The Original GREASE

RESTORED. REVISED. R-RATED. RETURNED TO CHICAGO.
Chicago. 1959. Before two movies and three Broadway productions, summer lovin’ happened on Lake Michigan and the Pink Ladies were a group of working class outsiders living on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Including never-before-heard music, lyrics and scenes, author Jim Jacobs teams up with Artistic Director PJ Paparelli and Choreographer Jim Corti to bring to life for the first time since 1971 the original R-Rated version of the world’s most famous movie musical.

This production contains language and material not suitable for children. Parental discretion is advised.

Runs April 21 – June 26, 2011
Book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey
Directed by PJ Paparelli
Choreographed by Jim Corti

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 InFusion Theatre Company–Soul Samurai

An action-adventure comedy about Dewdrop, a young samurai girl, and her sidekick who fight through the mean streets of post-apocalyptic New York, featuring martial arts, a live DJ, multi-media, hip-hop, and vampires – an adrenaline-charged production of love, loss, and revenge, infused with high-octane martial arts and video.  (Warning: Coarse language – leave the kids at home!)

Runs April 25 – June 5, 2011
Directed by Mitch Golob
Written by Qui Nguyen

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Recently Closed

Fox Valley Repertory – Leaving Iowa

Are we there yet?     Don’t make me turn this car around!      I have to go to the bathroom! 
Middle-aged writer Don Browning is searching for the perfect spot to scatter his father’s ashes.  As he travels the paths his family took on their annual vacations, images of his father and the shared family tortures surround his memories.  This homegrown comedy will have you revisiting your fond (and not-so-fond) memories of your youth. Rating: PG

Runs January 20 – March 13, 2011
Directed by Rachel Rockwell
By Tim Clue and Spike Manton

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Steep Theatre – Lakeboat

Sex, booze, and ballet are the topics bandied about by the crew on the lakeboat,  T. Harrison, as it freights materials from Chicago to Duluth. Mr. Mamet’s ear and iconic voice sift through the tedium of ship life to offer a glimpse into the soul of these men. This semi-autobiographical piece was inspired by Mr. Mamet’s stint as a steward on a Great Lakes freighter in the mid-1960s. Lakeboat was first produced in 1970 at the Theatre Workshop at Marlboro College and received its first professional production in 1980 at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.

Runs January 20 – February 26, 2011
by David Mamet
Directed by George J. Cederquist

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Northwestern University – Peribanez

One of the most important playwrights and poets of the Spanish Golden Age, Lope de Vega, creates a romantic tale of desire, honor, obsession and revenge with Peribanez. Newlyweds Pedro and Casilda have found perfect bliss … until fate intervenes, bringing into their lives a jealous Commander determined to take the bride for himself. Directed by award-winning TIC artistic director Henry Godinez, with a stirring translation by Tanya Ronder, Peribanez is a daring classic that explores what a man will do for the love of a woman.

Runs February 11-20, 2011
by Lope de Vega
Directed by Henry Godinez

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Northwestern University – Spinning into Butter 

Named one of the best plays by Time magazine in 2000, Spinning Into Butter follows the saga surrounding racist vandalism at a quiet Vermont College. It falls to Sarah Daniels, Dean of Students, to resolve this unprecedented situation … or perhaps just to quiet the hype. Directed by Congo Square’s founding artistic director Derrick Sanders, this thought-provoking and engaging play by award-winning Northwestern faculty member Rebecca Gilman holds a mirror to modern America, forcing a deeper examination of identity and whether values are absolute or subject to circumstance.

Runs January 28 – February 6, 2011
by Rebecca Gilman
Directed by Derrick Sanders

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Redmoon Theatre — Winter Pageant

Runs November 6, 2010 – January 2, 2011
Directed by Seth Bockley

Redmoon’s Winter Pageant tradition continues with puppetry, gadgets, a wild transforming set, a host of hilarious characters, and a fantastic soundtrack straight from the 1960’s (Music by MIKHAIL FIKSEL)! Don’t miss this one of a kind family celebration of the changing of the seasons and the coming of spring!

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Adventure Stage Chicago — And A Child Shall Lead

Runs October 30 – December 9, 2010
Directed by Tom Avetis

Thirty miles outside Prague lies the city of Terezin, a Nazi-described “Jewish ghetto” and makeshift way station for millions of people awaiting transfer to death camps. Against all odds, a group of courageous children create stories, music, poetry, drawings, plays, puppets, and even an underground newspaper. Incorporating actual poems and other writings recovered from Terezin after the war, this exquisite play explores the strength, optimism and extraordinary resilience at the core of the human spirit.

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Rivendell Theatre — 26 Miles

Runs October 16 – November 21, 2010
Directed by Tara Malpass

An ’83 Buick Regal may be an unlikely place to find out what family really means, but when Beatriz and her estranged daughter head west on a spontaneous cross-country road trip, neither is prepared for what lies ahead. “26 Miles” reminds us that the best souvenirs on the road of life are the relationships we make along the way and that sometimes all it takes to find yourself is the power of family… and a herd of buffalo.

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Light Opera Works — I Do! I Do!

Runs October 3 – November 14, 2010
Directed by Rudy Hogenmiller

In this charming and nostalgic musical we meet Michael and Agnes on their wedding day and follow their lives for 50 eventful years.

We watch them go through wedding night jitters, raise a family, negotiate mid-life crises, quarrel, separate, reconcile and grow old together, all to the strains of a tuneful, charming score by the creators of The Fantasticks and 110 in the Shade.

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Noble Fool — Red Herring

Runs September 2 – October 24, 2010
Directed by John Gawlik
Three love stories, a murder mystery, and a nuclear espionage…oh my! It’s 1952: America’s on the verge of the H-bomb, Dwight Eisenhower’s on the campaign trail, and I Love Lucy’s on Monday nights. Meanwhile, Senator Joe McCarthy’s daughter just got engaged to a Soviet spy, and Boston detective Maggie Pelletier has to find out who dumped the dead guy in the Harbor—or else lose out on a honeymoon in Havana. A blunt-nosed, sharp-eyed look at love and tying (and untying, and retying) the knot.

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Red Tape Theatre – Obscura

By Jennifer Barclay
Directed by Julieanne Ehre
Runs September 23 – October 23, 2010
Red Tape’s world premier production of Obscura: a voyeuristic love story: Behind the walls of an aging apartment building, the reclusive neighbors’ lives are being closely monitored. Amidst the Orwellian atmosphere, Ned invents a story to win his neighbor’s heart. But the arrival of a stranger threatens to unveil their darkest secrets.