The Delicate Tears of the Waning Moon, Water People Theatre at Steppenwolf, through Oct. 13Playwright/actor Rebeca Aleman combines a moving, fragile human story with potent politics in her timely tale of a journalist recovering from traumatic brain injuries. JA
Be Here Now, Shattered Globe Theatre at Theater Wit, through Oct. 19. By rejecting romcom clichés, Deborah Zoe Laufer's mostly comedy leads to a smarter, quirkier and even MORE romantic happy ending in this well staged production. MSB
Something Rotten! Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire, through Oct. 20Musicals and Shakespeare blend in this unashamedly derivative, anachronistic and irreverent comedy, in which Shakespeare's rivals try gaming the system by acting on predictions from a relative of Nostradamus. SCM
The Great Leap, Steppenwolf, through Oct. 20A 5'5" Chinese-American basketball star, Tiananmen Square, international politics and rival coaches shape Lauren Yee's imaginative, impossible creation myth about Tank Man. Gregg Obrero dazzles as the b'ball prodigy. JA
By Jonathan Abarbanel, Mary Shen Barnidge and Scott C. Morgan