From established historical theater classics to recent Chicago hits from this past decade, there are plenty of revivals on tap to let you catch up on shows you might have missed before ( and those that you'll want to see again and again ) .
—Unveiled, 16th Street Theater at Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater, now through April 4. This hit production from Berwyn comes into the city to share Rohina's examination of modern Muslim women and their many life experiences.
—The Crucible, Infamous Commonwealth Theatre at Raven Theatre, now through April 25. Arthur Miller's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 fits into this company's current season examining redemption.
—Ragtime, Drury Lane Oak Brook, Oakbrook Terrace, now through May 23. Rachel Rockwell directs a cast of 33 in this epic 1998 musical based upon E.L. Doctorow's historical-fiction novel that looks at three U.S. families in the early years of the 20th century.
—Street Scene, Clock Productions and National Pastime Theater, now through April 18. Elmer Rice's sprawling 1929 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a day in the life of an immigrant-filled New York tenement gets remounted in this famed former speakeasy
—A Life, Northlight Theatre, Skokie, now through April 25. Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member John Mahoney stars in Hugh Leonard's Irish drama about the evolution of friendships in a small town as an elderly man reflects on his life.
—Mud, Village Players Theatre, Oak Park, March 25-April 25. This free-flowing play about a farming woman who comes to the realization that men are holding her back is by influential Latina playwright Maria Irene Fornes.
—Endgame, Steppenwolf Theatre, April 1-June 6. This revival of Samuel Beckett's bleak and possibly post-apocalyptic comedy features a wealth of Steppenwolf Ensemble talent: Frank Galati directs and Ian Barford, Francis Guinan, Martha Lavey and William Petersen all star in the production.
—Our Lady of the Underpass, 16th Street Theater at Berwyn Cultural Center, April 1-May 1. Tanya Saracho's recent docudrama makes a quick return to the Chicago area. It's all about the 2005 true story of a Chicago woman who thought she saw the image of the Virgin Mary on a discolored wall of the Fullerton Avenue underpass.
—Cougars! The Musical, Fireworx Productions at Greenhouse Theater Center, April 3-May 22. A quick revival of the hit Annoyance Theater show about three hot grannies on the prowl for fresh young male meat.
—Hephaestus: A Greek Mythology Circus Tale, Lookingglass Theatre Company at the Goodman Theatre, April 7-May 23. Tony Hernandez and Heidi Stillman's hit circus-inspired Greek myth returns with even more daring stunts. Find out about the outcast god who encounters adventures on earth before becoming the master metal-worker who falls for the goddess of love.
—The Taming of the Shrew, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, April 7-June 6. Bush Theatre artistic director Josie Rourke got none other than playwright Neil LaBute to write a new prologue to Shakespeare's controversial romantic comedy about a boastful fortune hunter who attempts to break the will of a headstrong woman.
—Into the Woods, Porchlight Music Theatre at Theatre Building Chicago, April 9-May 30. Celebrate the 80th birthday of composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim by seeing one of his most accessible ( and heartfelt ) Broadway musicals that shows what happens after "happily ever after" in a number of intertwined fairy tales.
—Curse of the Starving Class, New Leaf Theatre at Lincoln Park Cultural Center, April 15-May 22. Expect plenty of tension in this revival of Sam Shepard's drama about four lone wolves trying to break free from their squalid surroundings.
—The Good Soul of Szechuan, Strawdog Theatre, April 22-May 29. An angelically rewarded prostitute gets taken advantage of in David Harrower's adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's drama.
—I Do! I Do! Theatre at the Center, Munster, Ind., April 22-May 23. A heterosexual couple weathers the ups and downs of married life in this 1960s musical by The Fantasticks creative duo Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. Chicago regulars Bernie Yvon and Heidi Kettenring star.
—The Man Who Saved New Orleans, eta Creative Arts Foundation, April 22 through June 13. An 85-year-old blind man is uprooted from the Crescent City as he tries to save his grandson from the dangers of the streets.
—The Drowsy Chaperone, Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire, April 28-June 27. It will be interesting to see how this five-time Tony Award-winning 2006 musical about an obsessive musical theater fan who describes his favorite obscure 1920s Broadway show comes to live in the Marriott's famed-in-the-round stage.
—The Love of the Nightingale, Red Tape Theatre at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, April 29-May 29. Timberlake Wertenbaker's adaptation of the Greek myth of Philomele's delves into ugly ( yet very dramatically juicy ) issues of rape, revenge and even cannibalism.
—The Ghost Sonata, Oracle Productions, May 7-June 19. This is August Strindberg's drama of two families bound to their ugly legacy of greed, duplicity and manipulation.
—A Streetcar Named Desire, Writers' Theatre, Glencoe, May 4-July 11. Critically acclaimed director David Cromer returns back to Glencoe to stage Tennessee Williams' landmark drama about a fading and desperate Southern belle who is forced to move in with her sister and brutish brother-in-law in steamy New Orleans.
—Baal, TUTA Theatre Chicago at Chopin Theatre, May 18-June 20. After presenting Brecht's The Wedding earlier this season, TUTA offers more of the famed German playwright in this parable about an approaching mythological god of fertility. But what is really interesting is the new score by Joshua Schmidt, who garnered much acclaim for his Next Theatre score to Adding Machine.
—Tobacco Road, American Blues Theater at Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater, May 21-June 20. Once deemed obscene in Chicago back in the 1930s, Jack Kirkland's stage adaptation of Erskine Caldwell's novel about a Georgia farmer's family during the Great Depression returns in a new production to celebrate the American Blues ensemble's 25th anniversary. Tobacco Road is also the second longest-running non-musical play in Broadway history ( after Life with Father ) .
