The Farnsworth Invention, TimeLine Theatre, through July 24. Philo Farnsworth invented TV but RCA mogul David Sarnoff exploited it. In this sharp play and crackling production they are visionaries, competitors, enemies and American archetypes. JA
Fucking Men, Bailiwick Chicago at Stage 773, extended through Aug. 8. Joe DiPietro’s modern-day gay reworking of Schnitlzer’s daisy-chain sex comedy La Ronde may not have any major new insights on man-on-man coupling, but his observations of what goes on emotionally underneath will certainly resonate with its target audience. SCM
Lookingglass Alice, Lookingglass Theatre Company, through Aug. 1. This is a circus-like version of Lewis Carroll that kids will like, but with adult psychological depths such as repeated images of burial and resurrection. It marks a return visit of the troupe’s signature show. JA.
The Ruby Sunrise, Gift Theatre at Theatre on the Lake, July 28-Aug. 1. Broadcast television was born of parents filled with hope for their child’s future—so says playwright Rinne Groff in her romantic and speculative look at the unlikely pioneers who forged the empire we nowadays take for granted. MSB
—By Abarbanel, Barnidge
and Morgan