Theater Spotlight
Following the 1998 brutal murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming, playwright/director Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project interviewed dozens of townspeople to get their real-life reactions for the seminal docu-drama theater piece The Laramie Project. This oft-produced 2000 off-Broadway drama returns in a suburban Chicago production courtesy of Village Theater Guild in Glen Ellyn. The Laramie Project plays from Friday, March 24, through Saturday, April 15, at the Village Theatre Guild, 2S720 Park Blvd., Glen Ellyn. Tickets are $18; call 630-469-8230 or visit VillageTheatreGuild.org .
Critics' Picks
A Disappearing Number, TimeLine Theatre, through April 9. It's the final days for this play about the most influential person you don't know, Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan ( 1887-1920 ). The play is intelligent if not quite fulfilling, but the production is beautifully rendered. JA
Destiny of Desire, Goodman Theatre, through April 16. The sentimental yarns of Charles Dickens were integral in bringing reforms to his society, and so the melodramatic telenovela's claim to to being a force capable of changing their world isn't so far-fetched as it may seem. MSB
The Kid Thing, Nothing Without a Company at Berger Park Cultural Center, through April 15. Marvel at all the powerful, up-close performances in director Jake Fruend's very intimate revival of Sarah Gubbins' 2011 lesbian drama of mismatched biological clocks. SCM
The Scullery Maid, Idle Muse Theatre Company at the Edge, through April 9. Joseph Zettelmaier's tale of royal intrigue and upstart rebellion pays homage to those brainy historical dramas that the English do so well, while exploring how suicide-seeking assassins are created. MSB
By Abarbanel, Barnidge and Morgan