Theater spotlight
Steppenwolf Theatre may be offering an acclaimed take on Stephen Adly Guirgis' Pulitzer Prize-winning 2014 drama Between Riverside and Crazy, but Eclipse Theatre Company has dedicated its entire season to this playwright famed for such works like Jesus Hopped the "A" Train and The Motherfucker with the Hat. The second play of Eclipse's Guirgis season is his 2003 off-Broadway comic drama Our Lady of 121st Street. See how a group of diverse and tough New Yorkers react when the body of a well-respected ( and feared ) nun goes missing from a funeral home. Our Lady of 121st Street continues through Sunday, Aug. 21, at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave. Tickets are $30 and $20 for students with ID; call 773-935-6875 or visit eclipsetheatre.com .
Critics' Picks
Between Riverside and Crazy, Steppenwolf Theatre, through Aug. 21. Cop shootings, economic insecurity and the troubles of marginalized citizens aren't funny in 2016, but at Steppenwolf, playgoers can expect to be entertained as well as enlightened. MSB
Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf, Writers Theatre, Glencoe, through Aug. 14. Tim Ryder and Tim Sniffen's comic mashup of great American theater dramas by the likes of Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee and Thornton Wilder is a laugh riot. SCM
Little Shop of Horrors, American Blues Theater at Greenhouse Theater Center, through July 31. Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's classic campy off-Broadway musical about a killer plant returns in a wonderfully sung and intimate production. SCM
Space Age, Free Street Theater at Pulaski Park Field House, through Aug. 1. Its scantily clad performer/authors may try to cram in too much, but this confessional performance art piece shares some very personal perspectives from a gay Latino and African-American angle. SCM
By Barnidge and Morgan