Pictured
1. Northlight; Studs Terkel's The Good War; May 12-June 20; Northlight Center for the Performing Arts, Skokie
Why it's Hot: Studs Terkel's ground-breaking, Pulitzer Prize-winning oral history The Good War is brought to life in this World Premiere musical adaptation. The play promises to be an exciting new look at World War II through stories and song, featuring popular music of the era.
2. Organic; Relatively Speaking; May—June (dates to be determined); Kathleen Cudahy Memorial Auditorium
Why it's Hot: The playwright who brought us House, Garden, and Absurd Person Singular gets the Organic treatment in this comic story about a young couple, fidelity, jealousy, and suspicion. A Chicago premiere.
3. Chicago Shakespeare Theater; the Second City's Romeo and Juliet Musical:
The People Vs. Friar Laurance, the Man Who Killed Romeo and Juliet; May 14–Aug. 15; Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Why It's Hot: After sending Shakespeare spinning in his grave for two sidesplitting summers with Hamlet! The Musical, Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Second City Theatricals reunite to present a hilarious spoof of Shakespeare's most famous love story starring Keegan-Michael Key and Nicole Parker of Fox's MAD TV.
4. Court Theatre; Cyrano; May 20-June 27; Museum of Contemporary Art;
Why it's Hot: Through masks and puppets, broad physical performance, and the startling beauty of the play's lyrical language, Redmoon Theater and Court Theatre tell the romantic, heart-warming, and often funny story of the swordsman and poet, Cyrano de Bergerac. In the hands of these widely acclaimed collaborators, Cyrano comes to life in a wholly original way.
5. Hell in a Handbag Productions; How Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Happened; May 23—June 26; Theater Building
Why it's Hot: From the folks who brought you POSEIDON! An Upside Down Musical and Rudolph, the Red-Hosed Reindeer, here's an irreverent behind-the-scenes look at how one of the great modern camp classics was created. Taking place on the movie set where What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? was filmed, this new play by David Cerda combines parody, backstage gossip, imaginative conjecture and high melodrama, as well as a sober look at the passing of an era for two once-major, now-fading stars of the silver screen.
6. Strawdog; Fuddy Mears; June 13—July 31; Strawdog Theatre
Why it's Hot: This hilarious, hellz-a-poppin' comedy by David Lindsay-Abbaire, author of Wonder of the World concerns Claire, who wakes up every morning to a husband she doesn't even know, a 17-year-old eighth-grader who says he's her son, and on this special morning, a limping, lisping escaped-convict is trying to kidnap her. Will Claire escape this mangled maniac and his lewd puppeteer friend? And will she ever remember how she got into this mess in the first place?
7. Goodman; Electricidad; June 19-July 25; Goodman's Albert Theatre
Why it's Hot: Luis Alfaro's play is subtitled 'a Chicano take on Sophocles' Electra,' Electricidad crackles with intensity, and transforms a 2000-year-old text into a vibrant, vital and thoroughly unforgettable myth for the modern age.
8. Steppenwolf; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; July 9-Aug. 29; Steppenwolf main stage
Why it's Hot: Terence's McNally's poignant portrait takes place in a cramped walkup on Manhattan's West Side. Frankie, a waitress, and Johnny, a short order cook, have fallen into bed together at the end of their first date. In this timeless love story, two unlikely lovers discover that sparks can fly when they come together. A great script and Laurie Metcalf… it can't miss.
9. Eclipse Theatre; Brutality of Fact; July 21-Sept. 5; Victory Gardens
Why it's Hot: A season devoted to playwright Keith Reddin continues with this look at the ups and downs between two eccentric sisters and their matriarch Mother in this hilarious, yet dark, portrait of family dysfunction.
10. About Face Youth Theatre; Our City, Our Stories; Aug. 5-16; Goodman's Owen Theatre
Why It's Hot: For this season's sixth anniversary production, presented in association with Chicago's Tony Award-winning Goodman Theatre, About Face invited young Chicagoans from neighborhoods across the city to sit together and share their stories: stories that reveal wisdom, that connect shared histories, and that envision a safer future for all Chicagoans.
Bonus! About Face Theatre; Winesburg, Ohio; June 17-July 18; Steppenwolf
Why it's hot: Originally commissioned for Steppenwolf Theatre's Arts Exchange Program, the original version produced in 2002 met with tremendous critical acclaim. Through two years of development sponsored by Steppenwolf and About Face, the collaborators have crafted a new journey through Anderson's world, with new characters and stories that better reflect the epic canvas of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio.