Theater Spotlight
The touchy issue of depression and the stigmas attached to seeking help color the lives of a standup comedian, an ad executive and a young girl preparing to do a presentation on astronomy in Ronan Marra and Elsa Hiltner's world-premiere drama The Mars Assignment, for Collaboraction Theatre Company. Panelists from the National Alliance on Mental Issues will participate in post-show talkbacks, while a special post-show comedy night is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 12. The Mars Assignment continues through Sunday, Nov. 20, at Collaboraction's Pentagon Theatre in the Flat Iron Arts Building, 1579 N. Milwaukee Ave. Tickets are $20-$30 and $10-$15 students; for more information, call 312-226-9633 or visit Collaboraction.org .
Caption: Joe McCauley plays Eric and Justin Wade Wilson is Jeff in the world premiere of Collaboraction's The Mars Assignment. Photo by Joel Maisonet
Critics' Picks
Life Sucks, Lookingglass Theatre, through Nov. 6. Is too much love a good thing? What do you see without rose-colored glasses? The spirit is warm, autumnal and hilariously sad in this Americanized, modernized take on Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. It's Chekhov-lite, but lovingly written and brilliantly played in rich comic style. JA
Merge, The New Colony at Den Theatre, through Nov. 13. Spenser Davis' theatrical take on the rise and fall of Atari is a frenetic nostalgia trip for audiences in their 40s. It's back-stabbing creative and corporate tale filled with lots of sound and fury. SCM
The Room, A Red Orchid Theatre, through Nov. 13. In Pinter's world, what you don't know might not kill you, but since we all have secrets, it can still get pretty damn scary and nobody does silent menace better than Red Orchid. MSB
Starting Over, MPAACT at Greenhouse Theater Center, through Nov. 11. When Shakespeare extolled true love's constancy despite obstacles engendered by changes in circumstance, he never anticipated gender fluidity becoming one of them. MSB
By Abarbanel, Barnidge and Morgan