Coachology, Rooms Productions at the Apollo Studio, through Sat., July 29. It's still a few months 'til Bears' season, but fans should enjoy this interactive comedy's nostalgic look at high school athletics in East Texas, where football IS more popular than Jesus. MSB
Gaudy Night, Lifeline Theatre, through Sun., July 30. Forget Brad and Angelina! Jennifer Tyler and Peter Greenberg keep the chemistry simmering as detectives Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey in a tale of long-hidden secrets at the Women's College of Oxford U. MSB
The Unmentionables, Steppenwolf, through Sun., Aug. 27. Author Bruce Norris takes the plot devices of farce and twists them to the dark side in his bleak comedy about principles falling to expediency, in which all—even the viewers—are implicated. The acting is first-rate. JA
Cirque Shanghai, Navy Pier, through Sun., Sept. 3. Don't try this at home! Thirty-plus performers engage in dazzling, gasp-inducing feats of athletic prowess and fancy displays of ancient Chinese acrobatics. It's a bargain alternative to Cirque de Soleil, but without the lame narration. SM
—By Abarbanel, Barnidge and Scott Morgan