A brilliant psychiatrist and an outspoken astronomer join forces to explore “SPACE,” a world premiere written and directed by Tina Landau and opening Sunday at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Landau, who staged the theater’s “Time to Burn,” a depiction of underclass survivors, turns to the mystery of the night sky to probe the prospects of making contact in both outer and inner space. Tom Irwin and Amy Morton play the inquirers.
“Space” runs through Jan. 24 at 1650 N. Halsted St.; 312-335-1650.
Other pre-Christmas theater openings, most revivals or new musicals, in a busy week:
“The Arabian Nights,” Lookingglass Theatre Company at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 1650 N. Halsted St.; 312-335-1650: Master theater artist Mary Zimmerman reinvents her much-praised, gorgeously mounted adaptation of “1,00l Nights,” drawn from the 1,100-year-old collection of Indian, Persian and Arabian stories. Opening Friday, this version of Scheherazade’s tales unfolds like a set of Chinese boxes, one narrative generating the next until, sadly, they must end.
“After the Fair,” Apple Tree Theatre, 595 Elm Pl., Highland Park; 847-432-4335: Sunday’s opening brings to the North Shore the Midwest premiere of a 1997 chamber musical set in Victorian England and based on a tale by Thomas Hardy. The four-character work tells what happens when a married woman writes love letters for her illiterate maid to a handsome barrister. Travis Stockley directs the discoveries.
“The Glass House,” Northlight Theatre, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 N. Skokie Blvd., Skokie; 847-673-6300: Opening Wednesday, this new musical created by and featuring Ellen Gould (author of Northlight’s 1995 hit “Bubbe Meises”) revisits the legend of Isa Kremer, the Jewish cabaret chanteuse known as the “Queen of Odessa,” who defended Yiddish folk music in the face of the Nazi regime. Russell Vandenbroucke directs and David Studwell plays Avram, the Jewish scholar whom Isa befriends.
“Mrs. Scrooge,” Stage Three Theatre at Athenaeum Theatre Center, 2936 N. Southport Ave.; 312-902-1500:
Reversing genders, this new musical, which opens Friday, provides a feminine, if not feminist, slant to Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic. Set in New York at the turn of the century, it tells how mean widow Eliza Tupper learns charity from her recently orphaned niece and four busy ghosts.
“The Roar of the Greasepaint! (The Smell of the Crowd!),” Illinois Theatre Center, 400A Lakewood Blvd., Park Forest; 708-481-3510: In Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse’s musical, two hobos explore society from top to bottom as they play a metaphorical game of life. The revival opens Friday in a staging by Pete Thelen.
“The Crumple Zone,” Bailiwick Repertory, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.; 773-883-1090: In a world premiere, Buddy Thomas’ comedy, which opens Sunday in a staging by David Zak, looks at five Staten Island gay guys who get “grinched” on Christmas Eve when an unexpected homecoming turns a holiday party into a brawl.
“The Professor of Comedy,” Donny’s Skybox Studio Theater, 4th floor, Piper’s Alley, 1608 N. Wells St.; 312-337-3992: Opening Friday, David Spark’s 60-minute simulated lecture is delivered by a standup comic who provides slides and real-life examples of the perils of humor.
“Two Gentlemen of Verona,” O Bar & Cafe, 3343 N. Clark St.; 773-761-8621: Starting Friday, Frank Farrell and Rick Redondo revive the Tony-winning 1972 musical by John Guare and Galt MacDermot that’s based on Shakespeare’s early, crack-brained comedy.
“Chekhov in Yalta,” Seanachai Theatre Company at Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St.; 773-878-3727: On Saturday night, director Kim Rubenstein reprises John Driver and Jeffrey Haddow’s look at the private life of Anton Chekhov, a script first performed by the Victory Gardens Theater in 1988. Tom Kelly plays the great playwright, Karen Tarjan is his actress-mistress Olga Knipper and John Dunleavy portrays the great director Konstantin Stanislavsky, co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre.
“The Scarlet Letter,” Footsteps Theatre, 5230 N. Clark St.; 773-878-4840: Fortunately, Demi Moore has nothing to do with Dale Heinen’s staging of British playwright Phyllis Nagy’s adaptation of the tell-all novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Except that, yes, this version also alters the ending, drastically. Find out how when it opens on Wednesday.
NOTE: In last week’s column, the names of the principal actors in Writers’ Theatre of Chicago’s “Private Lives” were inadvertently omitted. They are Chicago favorites Shannon Cochran and William Brown.
