World premieres
Teeny Travel Takes a Trip, Coriolis Theater Company at Flat Iron Arts Building, March 21-April 13. This comedy show by Aaron Riccardi features music from Kelly Hoppenjans and it focuses on a jingoistic American travel show host and his rebellious daughter who tries to see through his nationalistic lies. www.coriolistheater.org
Dawn, Quixote, The Building Stage, March 22-April 27. The final production by this creative company is a new adaptation of Cervantes’ masterpiece about the dream-inspired Spanish knight and his odd adventures. 312-491-1369 or www.buildingstage.com.
Beautiful Broken, Broken Nose Theatre at Greenhouse Theater Center, March 23-April 21. Set against the backdrop of Chicago’s storefront theater scene, Benjamin Brownson’s new romantic comedy takes a look at relationships and what happens when someone tries to “fix” another person and his or her problems. 773-404-7336 or www.brokennosetheatre.com.
Elsewhere, the side project, March 24-April 21. Robert Tenges’ world premiere drama deals with a mother who hides money away so her rebellious son might be able to escape the draft in 1969. 773-340-0140 or www.thesideproject.net
Big Fish, Oriental Theatre, April 2-May 5. The latest big-budget Broadway-bound musical trying out in Chicago is inspired by the Daniel Wallace novel (not to mention the Tim Burton film) about a Southern father whose outrageous autobiographical tales frustrate his grown son. Five-time Tony Award-winner Susan Stroman (The Producers) directs and choreographs a cast that features two-time Tony Award-winner Norbert Leo Butz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Wicked) and Tony Award nominees Kate Baldwin (Finian’s Rainbow) and Bobby Steggert (Yank!, Ragtime). The score is by Andrew Lippa (The Addams Family) with a book by John August who wrote the screenplay. 800-775-2000 or www.broadwayinchicago.com.
Head of Passes, Steppenwolf Theatre, April 4-June 9. Out playwright and Steppenwolf ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney returns after his triumphant trilogy of The Brother/Sister Plays with a new drama inspired by the Biblical Book of Job. See what happens when a series of revelations at a birthday party point to a dark family secret. 312-335-1650 or www.steppenwolf.org
Living Large in a Mini Kind of Way, Teatro Luna and 16th Street Theater, April 4-May 11. A comic drama by Diane Rodriguez about two sets of Mexican-American sisters, one that is assimilated into mainstream American culture, and the other still navigating their immigration status. 708-795-6704 or www.16thstreettheater.org
Patria Libre, Prologue Theatre Company at Rivendell Theatre, April 5-May 5. Zoe Miller-Lee’s new drama focuses on the grown children of a Nicaraguan Sandinista fighter and her struggles with post-traumatic stress. 773-334-7728 or prologuetheatreco.org
The Happiest Song Plays Last, Teatro Vista and Goodman Theatre, April 13-May 12. An Iraqi war veteran struggles to overcome the traumas of combat by becoming an action film hero at the down of the Arab Spring in an ancient Jordanian town in this new drama by Pulitzer Prize-winner Quiara Alegria Hudes. 312-443-3800 or www.goodmantheatre.org
The Lake Effect, Silk Road Rising at Chicago Temple, April 23-May 26. An estranged Indian-American brother and sister are reunited by the sudden death of their father in Cleveland, only to discover plenty of family secrets. This is new drama comes from Rajiv Joseph, whose previous work seen in Chicago includes Gruesome Playground Injuries and his Pulitzer finalist play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, recently at Lookingglass Theatre Company. 312-857-1234 or www.silkroadrising.org
Tea with Edie and Fitz, Dead Writers Theatre Collective at Greenhouse Theater Center, April 26-June 9. Adam Pasen’s new drama images what might have happened if literary icons Edith Wharton and F. Scott Fitzgerald met at her estate for tea in the 1920s. 773-404-7336 or www.deadwriters.net.
Stella & Lou, Northlight Theatre, Skokie, May 3-June 9. Emmy Award-winner Rhea Perlman (Cheers) and Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble member Francis Guinan are set to star in this world premiere drama by Bruce Graham (The Outgoing Tide) about to kindred spirits who seek solace on a quiet night in a bar. 847-673-6300 or www.northlight.org.
Homecoming 1972, Chicago Dramatists, May 16-June 23. A returning Vietnam veteran has trouble adjusting back to small town life as the high school homecoming game approaches in Robert Koon’s new drama. 312-633-0630 or www.chicagodramatists.org
Local premieres
Pedro Paramo, Teatro Buendia presented by MCA Chicago and Goodman Theatre, March 22-31. The acclaimed Cuban theater company returns to stage an adaptation of Juan Rulfo’s 1955 magical realist novel about a grown son who returns home to meet his father, only to see how one man’s unchecked appetite destroys the town he loves. 312-443-3800 or www.goodmantheatre.org.
Maria/Stuart, Sideshow Theatre Company at Theater Wit, March 30-May 5. No, Jason Grote’s dark comedy is not an update of Schiller’s drama about Mary, Queen of Scots, but instead it’s about a shape-shifter that invades a birthday party for Grandma Ruthie thrown by her three dysfunctional daughters. 773-975-8150 or www.sideshowtheatre.org
Catch Me If You Can, Cadillac Palace Theatre, April 2-14. This 2011 Broadway musical is based upon the real-life con man Frank W. Abagnale, Jr. and the 2002 Steven Spielberg film of the same name. The out creative team include songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray) and playwright Terrence McNally (Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Ragtime), who tell the tale through the prism of a 1960s TV variety show. 800-775-2000 or www.broadwayinchicago.com
A Permanent Image, LiveWire Chicago Theatre at Storefront Theater, April 4-May 5. A funeral brings together estranged siblings to their small Idaho town, only for them to discover that their mother might be losing her mind in Samuel D. Hunter’s drama. 312-742-8497 or www.livewirechicago.com.
In a Garden, A Red Orchid Theatre, April 4-May 19. An ambitious U.S. architect is summoned to a fictitious Middle Eastern country with a commission to build the minister of culture a “thing of beauty” in this drama by Howard Korder. 312-943-8722 or aredorchidtheatre.org
To Cross the Face of the Moon (Cruzar la Cara de la Luna), Lyric Opera of Chicago, April 7. Jose “Pepe” Martinez and Leonard Foglia teamed up to write the world’s first mariachi opera, which focuses on three generations of one family divided by countries, cultures and immigration. It features the world-famous Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, and is performed in Spanish with projected English and Spanish texts. 312-332-2244 or www.lyricopera.org
The Silent Language, TUTA Studio Theatre, April 11-May 19. This is the U.S. premiere of Serbian playwright Miodrag Stanisavljevic’s 1981 comic and dark fairy tale, which is about a village servant who gains the ability to decipher the language of animals. 800-838-3006 or www.tutato.com.
The Knowledge, Steep Theatre, April 18-May 25. This is a pairing of plays by John Donnelly exploring the current state of education in Britain today. 866-811-4111 or www.steeptheatre.com
Yellow Moon, Writers’ Theatre, April 16-Aug. 4. Leila and Lee see themselves as a modern-day Scottish Bonnie and Clyde in this intimate drama by David Greig. 847-242-6000 or www.writerstheatre.org.
Reality Check, MPAACT at Greenhouse Theater Center, April 19-June 2. A sketch comedy show that questions reality in our age of iPhones, iPads and laptop computers. 773-404-7336 or www.mpaact.org
Death Takes a Holiday, Circle Theatre at Stage 773, April 20-May 26. The former Forest Park and Oak Park theater company begin its itinerant Windy City existence with the Chicago premiere of Maury Yeston’s 2011 off-Broadway musical about the personification of Death finding love with a young Italian woman on the brink of a new life. 773-327-5252 or www.circle-theatre.org
Next Fall, AstonRep Theatre Company at Heartland Studio Theatre, April 25-May 25. Geoffrey Nauffts’ Broadway drama focuses on an unlikely gay couple: one who is an atheist and the other who is devoutly religious. Their faith is tested after a tragic accident, which brings the parents into the picture. 773-828-9129 or www.astonrep.com.
What a Glorious Feeling, Theatre at the Center, Munster, Ind., April 25-June 2. Ever wondered what it might have been like behind the scenes during the filming of the legendary 1952 screen musical Singin’ in the Rain? This new dance musical makes plenty of guesses featuring the choreography of Danny Herman. 219-836-3255 or www.theatreatthecenter.com
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, Goodman Theatre, April 27-June 2. Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage (Ruined, Intimate Apparel) presents a comedy about an ambitious African-American actress who succeeds at finding film work in 1930s Hollywood as supporting characters like maids and confidantes, only to have her career choices condemned by cultural critics decades later for perpetuating negative stereotypes. 312-443-3800 or www.goodmantheatre.org.
SEX a.k.a. Wieners and Boobs, Chemically Imbalanced Comedy, May 2-June 8. A new sheriff of Teaneck, N.J., must come to terms with the crime boss and his henchmen and hookers in this comedy concocted by Joe Lo Truglio, Michael Showalter and David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer). 800-838-3006 or www.cicomedy.com
Blood and Gifts, TimeLine Theatre, May 9-July 28. This spy thriller by J.T. Rogers (White People, The Overwhelming) looks at the Cold War battle surrounding the Soviet Army’s invasion of Afghanistan. 773-281-8463 or www.timelinetheatre.com
Fight Girl Battle World, InFusion Theatre Company at Theater Wit, May 14-June 16. Qui Nguyen’s sci-fi comic drama follows the adventures of E-V, the last known female human in the galaxy who is also a hardnosed prizefighter. 773-975-8150 or www.infusiontheatre.com
Smudge, Ka-Tet Theatre at Athenaeum Theatre, May 25-June 23. Emmy Award-winning writer Rachel Axler looks at a marriage that falls apart when a couple’s newborn turns out not to be what they expected. 773-935-6875 or www.katettheatre.org