What makes a play a 'classic?' Well, it helps to have been written more than a hundred years ago—though some plays become classics sooner, if authored by a playwright of sufficiently enduring reputation. ( This status is vulnerable to changing fashions, which is why Sam Shepard's every scribble is nowadays lauded as a 'classic,' while Dion Boucicault's once-popular dramas have long since fallen by the wayside. )
Generous young artists often extend this accolade to any play encountered in the course of their studies, inclusion in classroom curriculum conferring gravitas befitting such artifacts. ( By this definition, Harold Pinter's The Homecoming is a 'classic,' but Arthur Laurents' Home Of The Brave is just 'no longer relevant.' ) And then there is the seldom-acknowledged other side of the age bias, summarized as 'If we can remember the brouhaha when it premiered, it's not old enough yet to be a classic!'.
Make up your own mind about whether these spring season offerings meet the definition:
Currently running to April 29: She Stoops To Conquer, Northlight Theatre at the North Shore Center For The Performing Arts in Skokie. The locale for Oliver Goldsmith's romantic romp has been shifted from rural England in 1773 to the American Wild West, with a score of original incidental music by Andrew Hansen, Doug Frew and Patty McKenny. For further information, phone 847-673-6300.
Currently running to May 6: The Seagull, Raven Theatre. Former avant-garde playwright Jean-Claude Van Itallie translated the text for this production of Anton Chekhov's venerable hankie-wringer about two young fin-de-siécle Russian artists searching for their identity. For further information, phone 773-338-2177.
April 7-May 6. Angel Street, First Folio Theatre in Oak Brook. More widely known today as the film entitled Gaslight, starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer, a production staged in a neo-Tudor mansion on the grounds of the historic Peabody Estate can only enhance Patrick Hamilton's 1941 thriller about a wife whose husband may be, literally, driving her crazy. For further information, phone 630-986-8067
April 12-May 20: Sueño, Greasy Joan & Co. at the Athenaeum. The title of José Rivera's characteristically surreal play may translate as Dream, but don't let that fool you—it's an adaptation of Pedro Calderón de la Barca's likewise mystical 1635 fable of lost princes and cruel stepfathers, La Vida Es Sueño ( Life Is a Dream ) . For further information, phone 773-935-6860.
April 13-June 24: Troilus And Cressida, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre at Navy Pier. Helen and Paris may have got the tabloid coverage, but they weren't the only star-crossed lovers undone by the Trojan wars. And it's Shakespeare—can you get more classic than that? For further information, phone 312-595-5600.
April 14-May 13: The Seagull, GroundUp Theatre at Angel Island. Wait! Isn't this playing at Raven? Not exactly—Julie Levinson's adaptation transports Chekhov's unhappy boho-waifs to Martha's Vineyard during the late '70s and early '80s, where they struggle to find meaning amid the excesses of the 'me' generation and the advent of a mysterious 'gay' disease. For further information, phone 773-218-3226.
April 14-May 7: Caesar And Cleopatra, ShawChicago at the Cultural Center. George Bernard Shaw's wry observations on the vagaries of colonial governments have never lost their timeliness, and the vocally nimble chamber-readers of ShawChicago, unrestrained by 19th-century tech F/X, are sure to make his words dance merrily. For further information, phone 312-409-5605.
April 19-May 26: Hamlet, Signal Ensemble at the Chopin. No, you're not suffering from déjà vu—devoted Shakespeare buffs may recall Christopher Prentice playing the melancholy Dane in this space a few seasons ago. But this production is the work of the Signal Ensemble, a company quickly forging a reputation for elevating everything it touches. For further information, phone 773-347-1350.
May 19-June 17. The Lady From Dubuque, Infamous Commonwealth Theatre at the Raven WestStage. Is Edward Albee gray enough now for his later plays to wear the 'classic' label? Does a theme hearkening back to Medieval allegory lurk beneath the surface realism of this quirky 1980 drama? YOU decide. For further information, phone 312-458-9780.
May 22-July 15: Othello, Writers Theatre in Glencoe. James Vincent Meredith and John Judd could generate excitement with a reading of a grocer's inventory, so imagine the electricity when they take on the roles of Shakespeare's army officer stationed far from home and the envious subordinate who schemes to destroy him. For further information, phone 847-242-6000.
Don't forget A Streetcar Named Desire at the Metropolis Arts Center in Arlington Heights ( currently running to April 29. For further information, phone 847-577-2121 ) , Widowers House at Timeline Theatre ( May 5-June 17. For further information, phone 312-409-8463 ) , or Arcadia at Court Theatre ( May 12-June 3. For further information, phone 773-753-4472 ) .
You've been growing cobwebs in front of your television set and/or DVD player all winter, but you can't use the weather as an excuse any more. See you in the lobby!