The new year brings a fresh round of theater openings. Besides annual events, such as the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival (see next week’s story) and Pegasus Theatre Chicago’s 39th Annual Young Playwrights Festival, there are world premieres, innovative revivals, Broadway tours, exciting one-night stands and all sorts of surprises to enjoy in January and February.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here are some of the openings we’re most excited about, starting in Hyde Park. Be sure to call ahead for details. And remember to snap up bargain-priced tickets offered for Chicago Theatre Week Feb. 5-15. They go on sale Jan. 6 at HotTix.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMiss Julie\u201d<\/strong> at Court Theatre<\/p>\n Feb. 6-March 8, courttheatre.org<\/a><\/p>\n Court continues its exploration of sexual politics undertaken in \u201cThe Taming of the Shrew\u201d last fall with August Strindberg’s \u201cMiss Julie.\u201d Senior Artistic Producer Gabrielle Randle-Bent directs the fatal dance of domination and submission between the title aristocrat who wants to escape the constraints that trap her and her less-than-sympathetic social-climbing servant. Mi Kang plays Miss Julie with Kelvin Roston Jr. as the opportunistic Jean and Rebecca Spence as Christine.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBlack Cypress Bayou\u201d<\/strong> at Definition Theatre<\/p>\n Feb. 13-March 15, definitiontheatre.org<\/a><\/p>\n Ericka Ratcliff directs the Chicago premiere of Kristen Adele Calhoun’s \u201cBlack Cypress Bayou,\u201d a pandemic-set combination mystery, family drama and historical reckoning that had its world premiere in Los Angeles in 2024. On a sweltering Texas night, matriarch Vernita Manifold summons home her very different daughters, LadyBird and RaeMeka, because an extremely wealthy white man has turned up dead\u00a0 on their property under suspicious circumstances, and there’s evidence to be dealt with. When the mysterious Taysha arrives, buried truths rise from the swamp, according to the press materials.<\/p>\n \u201cEureka Day\u201d<\/strong> at TimeLine Theatre Company in the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place\u00a0<\/p>\n Jan. 13-Feb. 22, timelinetheatre.com<\/a><\/p>\n TimeLine teams up with Broadway in Chicago for the fourth time to present the Chicago premiere of Jonathan Spector’s \u201cEureka Day,\u201d directed by Lili-Anne Brown. Called \u201cas sharp a biopsy of wokeness and obtuseness as you could want,\u201d by Jesse Green in the New York Times,the satire, which won the 2024 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play (the world premiere was in 2018 in Berkeley, California) dissects what happens when a mumps outbreak hits the ultra-progressive Eureka Day School, where everything is decided by consensus. Not surprisingly, the carefully cultivated culture of inclusiveness spirals into chaos, as parents and board members clash over vaccines, personal freedoms, and viral misinformation. In Chicago, the principal trying to hold things together is played by PJ Powers, TimeLine’s artistic director.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cStereophonic\u201d<\/strong> \u200aat the CIBC Theatre<\/p>\n Jan. 27-Feb. 8, broadwayinchicago.com<\/a><\/p>\n Hailed for its \u201cfly-on-the-wall hyperrealism,\u201d David Adjmi’s \u201cStereophonic,\u201d with original songs by Will Butler, formerly of Arcade Fire, won the most Tony Awards (5) for the 2024 season and now is on its U.S. National Tour. Set in a California recording studio in 1976 and 1977, the play zooms in on a soon-to-be-famous band not unlike Fleetwood Mac in the throes of creating an album not unlike \u201cRumours\u201d that could be their breakthrough \u2014 or cause their breakup.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Outsiders\u201d<\/strong> at the Cadillac Palace Theatre<\/p>\n Feb. 10-22, broadwayinchicago.com<\/a><\/p>\n Winner of four 2024 Tony Awards including Best Musical, \u201cThe Outsiders\u201d is based on S. E. Hinton’s novel, penned when she was 16, and\u00a0 Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film about rival gangs\u2014the working-class Greasers and preppy Socs\u2014in Tulsa, OK.\u00a0 Set in 1967, the book for the coming-of-age crime story centering on Ponyboy Curtis and his Greaser family is by Adam Rapp and Justin Levine. The roots\/country score is by the Austin, Texas-based Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance) and Levine, and Danya Taymor directed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHoliday\u201d<\/strong> in the Goodman Albert Theatre<\/p>\n Jan. 31-March 1, goodmantheatre.org<\/a><\/p>\n Goodman Theatre continues its centennial season with the world premiere of\u00a0 Richard Greenberg’s contemporary adaptation of Philip Barry’s 1928 \u201cHoliday,\u201d which inspired George Cukor’s beloved 1938 film starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn (who understudied the role of Linda Seton in the original stage production). Recently retired Goodman artistic director Robert Falls, fresh from directing \u201cAmadeus\u201d at Steppenwolf, returns to direct what promises to be a delightful take on issues of class, privilege and personal fulfillment.<\/p>\n New Stages Festival in the Goodman Owen Theatre<\/strong><\/p>\n Jan. 11-18<\/p>\n The 21st annual installment of this showcase for risky new drama features script-in-hand readings of works-in-progress by Ike Holter, Hansol Jung, and three other playwrights. See the hits of tomorrow for free \u2014 though reservations are required.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao\u201d<\/strong> in the Goodman Owen Theatre<\/p>\n Feb. 21 \u2013 April 5<\/p>\n Marco Antonio Rodriguez’s world premiere English stage adaptation of Junot D\u00edaz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel\u00a0 focuses on Oscar, a nerdy Dominican college freshman who, with the encouragement of his new roommate, sets out from New Jersey to Santo Domingo to give romance another chance and shake the dark \u201cfuk\u00fa\u201d (curse) that has haunted his family for generations.<\/p>\n Short Shakespeare \u201cHamlet\u201d<\/strong> in the Chicago Shakespeare Courtyard Theater\u00a0<\/p>\n Jan. 31-Feb. 28, chicagoshakes.com<\/a><\/p>\n Artistic director Edward Hall stages CST\u2019s first-ever 75-minute adaptation of\u00a0 \u201cHamlet.\u201d In addition to weekday matinees for some 20,000 students, there will be public performances on Saturdays. Plus, every performance includes a post-show conversation with the cast to give you an insider\u2019s perspective on bringing the story to the stage.<\/p>\n \u201cHamnet\u201d<\/strong> in The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare\u00a0<\/p>\n Feb. 10-March 8<\/p>\n The UK’s Royal Shakespeare Company returns to Chicago (after last year’s success with \u201cPericles\u201d) with the U.S. premiere of Lolita Chakrabarti\u2019s\u00a0 adaptation of Maggie O\u2019Farrell\u2019s novel \u201cHamnet.\u201d In case you haven’t seen the movie, which came out last fall, the play looks at Shakespeare through the eyes of his wife, here named Agnes, and three children, including the son who gives the story its title, whose death at age 11 profoundly affected both parents. A press release calls it \u201ca love letter to passion, birth, grief, and the magic of nature.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking of Shakespeare, CST has scheduled two very special benefits in The Yard this January. On Jan. 16 and 17, Suzy Eddie Izzard, whose one-person \u201cHamlet\u201d was a palpable hit, \u201cTalks Shakespeare N\u2019Stuff [Forsooth]\u201d \u2014 and answers all your burning questions \u2014 in a program moderated by CST’s artistic director Hall. And on Jan. 30, Sir Ian McKellen bows in with \u201cOne Knight Only!,\u201d his look at his 60-year career with reprises from some of his most iconic roles (think Gandalf and Shakespeare).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Dance of Death\u201d<\/strong> in Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theater<\/p>\n Jan. 29-March 22, steppenwolf.org<\/a><\/p>\n Steppenwolf continues its 50th anniversary season with August Strindberg’s \u201cThe Dance of Death\u201d in Conor McPherson’s adaptation directed by Yasen Peyankov.\u00a0 Ensemble members Kathryn Erbe and Jeff Perry play Alice and Edgar, who are approaching their 25th anniversary in this \u201cmaster class in marital warfare.\u201d When Alice’s cousin Kurt (Cliff Chamberlain) visits, the love-hate triangle spins out of control. The play may not be as famous as \u201cMiss Julie\u201d (at Court Theatre), but it is certainly as fraught.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBernadette, The Musical<\/strong>\u201d<\/strong> at the Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture\u00a0<\/p>\n Feb. 12-March 15, athenaeumcenter.org<\/a><\/p>\n The story of Bernadette Soubirous, the teenager whose 18 Marian visions in Lourdes sparked the town’s religious industry and earned her a sainthood, is undoubtedly known by every French schoolchild and has spawned many films, novels, and other versions, but the involvement of actor Kelsey Grammer as a producer should give \u201cBernadette, The Musical\u201d a boost here. Based on official accounts, historical documentation, and firsthand testimonies, and adapted from French into English by Barry Blue, the show features music by Gr\u00e9goire with lyrics by Lionel Florence and Patrice Guirao. The director is Serge Denoncourt, and Eyma, who originated the title role for the 2019 premiere in France, reprises it here.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHedda Gabler\u201d<\/strong> at Remy Bumppo Theatre Company<\/p>\n Feb. 5-March 8, remybumppo.org<\/a><\/p>\n Remy Bumppo’s artistic director Marti Lyons tackles Ibsen’s \u201cHedda Gabler,\u201d adapted by Christopher Shinn, based on the literal translation by Anne-Charlotte Hanes Harvey. It will be interesting to see how her take on a woman who is desperate to escape her boring, loveless existence and doesn’t care who she destroys compares with her feminist interpretation of \u201cThe Taming of the Shrew\u201d at Court. Aurora Real de Asua stars as Hedda, while Travis Knight is the betrayed Ejlert L\u00f8vborg.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMorning, Noon and Night\u201d<\/strong> at Shattered Globe Theatre<\/p>\n Feb. 13-March 28, sgtheatre.org<\/a><\/p>\n AmBer Montgomery directs Kirsten Greenidge’s \u201cMorning, Noon, and Night,\u201d which explores the overwhelming pressures faced by a mother and office worker returning to a post-pandemic world and coping with a teenage daughter who is obsessed with climate change and the internet. Both want everything to be perfect for the birthday of the teenager’s older sister, but a glitch ruins that in this dark comedy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Irish\u2026 and How They Got That Way\u201d<\/strong> at Porchlight Music Theatre in the Ruth Page Center for the Arts<\/p>\n Jan. 31-March 15, porchlightmusictheatre.org<\/a><\/p>\n Frank McCourt’s \u201cThe Irish\u2026 and How They Got That Way\u201d takes a witty, irreverent look at 100-plus tumultuous years of Irish musical history using the likes of\u00a0 \u201cDanny Boy,\u201d \u201cGalway Bay,\u201d \u201cToo-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra,\u201d U2\u2019s \u201cI Still Haven\u2019t Found What I Am Looking For\u201d and many more. Porchlight brings Rusty McGee’s original arrangements to life under the direction of David Girolmo with music direction by David Fiorello.<\/p>\n \u201cBirds of North America\u201d<\/strong> at A Red Orchid Theatre<\/p>\n Jan. 15-Feb. 22,\u00a0 aredorchidtheatre.org<\/a><\/p>\n John Judd and Cassidy Slaughter-Mason star as father and daughter birders in the Chicago premiere of Anna Ouyang Moench’s \u201cBirds of North America\u201d directed by artistic director Kirsten Fitzgerald.\u00a0 As they scan the skies over their backyard in suburban Maryland looking for elusive birds during the course of a decade, we home in on their relationship and struggle to understand each other and the changing world around them.<\/p>\n \u201cPivot\u201d<\/strong> at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble\u00a0<\/p>\n Feb. 8 \u2013 March 22, rivendelltheatre.org<\/a><\/p>\n Ensemble member Hallie Gordon directs the world premiere of Chicago-based playwright Alex Lubischer’s \u201cPivot.\u201d Dubbed \u201ca dark comedy about getting your way, making a scene, and father-daughter dances to the Chicks,\u201d it revolves around Kara (Ashley Neal) who apparently just wants \u201ca giant wedding reception and a solid three-year crop rotation plan for the farm.\u201d But when that plan blows up, \u201cshe’s prepared to upend the entire town of Milton, Nebraska to fight for the future that should have been hers.\u201d The cast also includes Keith Kupferer, Glenn Obrero, and Tara Mallen, Rivendell’s artistic director.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTop Girls\u201d<\/strong> at Raven Theatre<\/p>\n Feb. 12-March 22, raventheatre.com<\/a><\/p>\n Lucky Stiff directs \u201cTop Girls,\u201d Caryl Churchill’s 1982 tour de force on feminism, class and politics that explores women’s aspirations through time in a patriarchal society. It has been called one of the best British plays of the 20th century.<\/p>\n Adding to the intrigue, Raven’s resident company, The Story Theatre, is planning to produce \u201cPot Girls,\u201d ensemble member Paul Michael Thomson’s take on Churchill’s play, at about the same time. In it, Caryl’s friends \u2014 an assortment of feminist writers from throughout space and time \u2014 come to her London flat to party in 1982. ( storytheatre.org<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u201cCome Back, Little Sheba\u201d<\/strong> at American Blues Theater<\/p>\n Feb. 6-March 22, americanbluestheater.com<\/a><\/p>\n ABT artistic director Gwendolyn Whiteside and ensemble member Philip Earl Johnson star as former beauty queen Lola and recovering alcoholic \u201cDoc\u201d Delaney in this intimate reimagining of \u201cCome Back, Little Sheba,\u201d William Inge’s 1950 classic about a couple whose regret-filled life is upended when a young college student (Maya Lou Hlava) becomes their boarder. Extra points if you remember who \u201clittle Sheba\u201d is. Just kidding.<\/p>\n \u201cMy Life as a Cowboy\u201d<\/strong> at Open Space Arts<\/p>\n Jan. 23-Feb. 8, openspacearts.org<\/a><\/p>\n OSA continues its mission of championing playwrights who celebrate the\u00a0<\/p>\n complexity of queer identity with the American premiere of London-based Hugo Timbrell’s \u201cMy Life as a Cowboy.\u201d The coming-of-age comedy focuses on 17-year-old Conor, who craves something bigger than his life so far and impulsively decides to enter a country-and-western dance competition. Two unlikely allies join him, and what starts as a half-joke becomes a joyful journey of reinvention.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTrial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till\u201d<\/strong> Collaboraction Theatre Company at the Kimball Arts Center\u00a0<\/p>\n Feb. 1-March 1, collaboraction.org<\/a><\/p>\n If you missed it at the DuSable Museum, Collaboraction inaugurates its new \u201cHouse of Belonging\u201d space with a reprise of \u201cTrial in the Delta,\u201d its immersive docudrama about the trial of the men accused of killing Till. The ensemble includes veterans of the moving show and newcomers. A short \u201cCrucial Conversation\u201d follows every performance.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMary Jane\u201d<\/strong> at Northlight Theatre in Skokie<\/p>\n Jan. 22-Feb. 22, nborthlight.org<\/a><\/p>\n Georgette Verdin directs Amy Herzog’s\u00a0 heart-breaking \u201cMary Jane\u201d about the struggles of a young mother trying to care for her chronically ill toddler. The story is told through her encounters with eight other women. Lucy Carapetyan plays the title character, a role originated in 2017 in New York by Carrie Coon.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo Sisters and a Piano\u201d<\/strong> at Writers Theatre in Glencoe<\/p>\nA few in the suburbs<\/h3>\n