| How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found Nov 10 - Dec 20, 2009 |
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Mary-Arrchie Theatre at
Angel Island Theater |
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| If you had to disappear from your life, would you be able to delete yourself from Facebook? In this thrilling new play, a young advertising executive reaches the breaking point and decides to buck the system. He turns to an expert who can give him a detailed lesson in the art of escape. The mission? To dispose of everything that defined his former self. It's an adrenaline-charged, apocalyptic journey to the edge of existence. HOW TO DISAPPEAR will have you questioning everything that makes us who we are in the 21st Century. |
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| Plaid Tidings Nov 11 - Dec 27, 2009 |
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Noble Fool Theatricals |
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| The Forever Plaid four part harmony group returns thanks to a heavenly phone call from Rosemary Clooney! The heaven-sent boys (Sparky, Smudge, Jinx, and Frankie) are back to sing songs of the 30's, 40's, 50's, and a "Plaid-erized" version of Christmas specials to fulfill their mission of creating a little harmony in a troubled world. Includes a hilarious tribute to the Ed Sullivan Christmas Spectaculars featuring the Rockettes, the Chipmunks, The Vienna Boys Choir and more! |
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| He Who Gets Slapped Nov 11 - Nov 22, 2009 |
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Columbia College Chicago |
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| When life gets difficult, Paul Beaumont responds to betrayal and despair by slamming the door on a life of culture and science and running away….to join the circus! In a provincial French town in the early 19th century, Beaumont is re-incarnated as HE WHO GETS SLAPPED, a clown who can endure 100 slaps in the face, and have the audiences begging for more. However, Paul’s sad past comes back to haunt him, and new entanglements bring tragedy to the family of “artistes” that have made him one of their own among the aerialists, lion tamers and stunt people of this mesmerizing one-ring circus. |
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| Bear Down! Nov 11 - Dec 16, 2009 |
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Pub Theater at Fizz Chicago |
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| Bear Down! is a new comedy from The Pub Theater that asks Bears Fans, “Have you accepted Jay Cutler as your personal savior?” Ghosts of Bears Quarterbacks Past appear to a group of diehard fans who devote their entire lives to the blue and orange during football season. These obsessed fans are ready for a monster year thanks to the Bears new, highly-heralded quarterback, Jay Cutler, but begin to get frustrated, however, as the season takes a turn for the worse. Bear Down! is an over-the-top comedic ride that is a must-see for Bears fans across Chicago. |
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| Democracy Nov 12 - Dec 20, 2009 |
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Eclipse Theatre Company at
The Greenhouse Theater Center |
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| In the political society of Washington in the spring of 1875, two beautiful American women must decide whether to marry two dashing American men, knowing they will also marry what their men believe about America, religion, truth and success. Linney's theatrical adaptation of two novels mixes Henry Adams' tales of love and ambition in Washington with scandals from the Ulysses S. Grant administration. This insightful vision of American democracy is scathing, funny and surprisingly relevant. |
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| A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant Nov 12 - Jan 3, 2010 |
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A Red Orchid Theatre |
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| Based on the tremendous critical and artistic success of last years Chicago premiere and in the spirit of other’s Christmas Carol and Santaland Diaries, the Pageant is back. With many of the original cast members as well as new faces on stage, this year promises to be hugely entertaining, surprisingly enlightening and just a bit disturbing. An anonymous company of merry children gather on a cold winter night to rejoice in telling the story of Scientology founder and hero L. Ron Hubbard. This satirical musical explores the magic of Dianetics, the fascinating E-meter, the immortal Thetans, and the entrancing story of Xenu with the straightest of faces. |
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| Souvenir Nov 12 - Dec 20, 2009 |
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Northlight Theatre |
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| The comedic and musical true story of Florence Foster-Jenkins: a New York socialite whose tin ear couldn't keep her off the stage at Carnegie Hall. Seen through the eyes of her beloved accompanist, Souvenir is a touching and comic tribute to Ms. Jenkins' sincerity, ambition, deep love of music and complete lack of talent, all of which brought a very unique joy to thousands. |
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| The Mystery of Irma Vep Nov 12 - Dec 13, 2009 |
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Court Theatre |
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| Two actors take on innumerable dramatis personae in Ludlum's high-camp quick-change act. Vep satirizes all that is ridiculous in Gothic horror, Victorian melodrama, classic film, and conventional theater--and it's also a contender for the funniest American play of the last quarter-century. |
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| Stars in the Morning Sky Nov 12 - Nov 22, 2009 |
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UIC Theatre |
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| This retelling of Maxim Gorky's "The Lower Depths" has been adapted by Peter Christensen and Yasen Peyankov, head of UIC's acting program. It begins on the eve of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, when police herd prostitutes to the city's ramshackle outskirts. Four of them are left in a dilapidated barracks that once served as a mental hospital. Under the control of a jailer, her police-officer son and a brutal fifth prostitute, they tell their stories of family betrayals and class divisions in a communist society. |
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| Becoming Ingrid Nov 12 - Dec 5, 2009 |
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Rubicon Theatre Project at
Stage Left Theatre |
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| Set in the dank gray moors of Scotland, this fantastical excursion follows a loveable American woman named Christine and her obsessive quest to be close to her favorite author, Ingrid. While narrating with the fervor of an aspiring writer, the humorously skittish Christine attempts to appropriate Ingrid’s character, and in the process is unwittingly forced to deconstruct her own illusions of love and happiness, unpredictably affirming the age-old proverb that you can’t judge a book by its cover. |
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| The Christmas Schooner Nov 12 - Dec 20, 2009 |
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Theatre At The Center |
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| The Christmas Schooner has quickly become a beloved Chicago holiday classic, a wonderful look at families and traditions. This holiday classic tells the story of Peter and Alma Stossel, whose pioneering spirit is full of the energy and dreams of America in the 19th century. With the help of Peter's young son Karl, and the companionship of his father, Gus, from the old country, Peter decides to take Christmas Trees from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan across the icy waters to post-fire Chicago. |
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| All the Fame of Lofty Deeds Nov 12 - Dec 20, 2009 |
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The House Theatre of Chicago at
Chopin Theatre |
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| While all his contemporaries died tragic, early deaths in the mid century, fictional country music legend Lofty Deeds is alive and bewildered in the present, unsure what to make of the modern-day cartoonish exploitation of his past and his own obsolescence. Sadly reflective and yet hilariously surreal, All the Fame of Lofty Deeds mixes rock biography, live music, puppetry, and stunning visual effects to create a portrait of the demise of country and western’s golden age and the exploitation of its greatest heroes. |
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| Posthumorous Nov 12 - Nov 22, 2009 |
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Village Players Performing Arts Center |
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Dexter Twain has planned a funeral of discovery for his friends in rural Minnesota. His death has left a lot of questions that need to be answered, and many answers left in fortune cookies. As Dexter meets up with his parents and other friends in the afterlife, it turns out he has a lot to discover himself as his funeral approaches. This comedy, with its hilarious twists and turns, will be sure to keep audience members laughing. |
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| The Addams Family Nov 13 - Jan 10, 2010 |
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Ford Oriental Theatre |
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| In a prolific career spanning six decades, Charles Addams created several thousand cartoons, sketches and drawings, many of which were famously published in The New Yorker. But it was his creation of characters that came to be known as The Addams Family that brought Addams his greatest acclaim. Now The Addams Family comes to life in a new musical which will make it's world premiere in Chicago in November 2009. |
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| Beethoven, As I Knew Him Nov 13 - Dec 5, 2009 |
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Drury Lane- Water Tower Place |
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| Hershey Felder's Beethoven, As I Knew Him is a dramatization of a little known true story as told in 1870, forty-three years after Beethoven's passing, by the person who spent a good part of the maestro's last two years by his side. With a narrative spanning several generations, Hershey Felder combines his acting, piano and musical analytical skills to bring to life the character of Ludwig van Beethoven as he existed through the eyes of one who knew him well. Featuring some of the composer's most famous works, including The Moonlight Sonata, The Pathetique Sonata, selections from Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 5 and 9, the Grosse Fugue, as well as a movement of Beethoven's great Emperor Concerto, Beethoven, As I Knew Him is a journey through time that will bring audiences closer to the genius of the maestro Ludwig van Beethoven himself. |
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| My Three Angels Nov 13 - Dec 20, 2009 |
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Attic Playhouse |
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| Set in French Guiana, a region where on Christmas Eve the temperature has graciously dropped to 104 degrees, three amiable convicts are employed as roofers above the Ducotel's general store. The roof winds up being the least of the family's troubles. On the way from France is Henri - an evil-minded cousin and owner of the flailing store, and his nephew Paul - who recently jilted the Ducotel's fanciful young daughter. The three warm-hearted convicts are passionate believers in true justice, and decide it's their job to take the visitors on as they plot to set matters right. A captivating and comedic holiday treasure also known as "We're No Angels." |
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| Dr. Harlon's Keys To Better Living Nov 13 - Dec 13, 2009 |
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ComedyChicago Productions at
Royal George Theatre |
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| In a series of monologues, interspersed with video segments that illuminate those “Keys to Better Living,” the audience is introduced first to Dr. Harlon Stewart, and then to ten people who subscribe to the image-conscious behavior that he's espousing - people like Greg Woodside, a father determined to get the perfect Christmas card picture of his infant son; Irving Cloyd, an elderly booking agent fighting obsolescence; Trey Oliver, a socialite and international traveler; Bobby Velour, a take-no-prisoners nightclub entertainer; and Ken Liederman, a down-on-his-luck mattress salesman. |
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