Theater spotlight
If you missed The New Colony and Definition Theatre's January co-production of Byhalia, Mississippi, Evan Linder's critically acclaimed and Jeff Award-winning drama is back with its entire original cast in a much-anticipated revival. Thanks to Steppenwolf Theatre's Visiting Company Initiative, Linder's astute and cutting drama returns to make audiences question modern-day race relations. It all kicks off when the wife in a proudly trashy couple unexpectedly gives birth to an African-American baby in a northern Mississippi town. Definition Theatre and The New Colony's revival of Byhalia, Mississippi plays from Friday, July 22, through Sunday, Aug. 21, at Steppenwolf Theatre's 1700 Theatre, 1700 N. Halsted St. Tickets are $30-$35; call 312-335-1650 or visit Steppenwolf.org .
Critics' Picks
Chimerica, TimeLine Theatre, through July 31. Nick Bowling directs an incisive take on Lucy Kirkwood's Olivier Award-winning drama questioning what might happen if a determined U.S. photojournalist tried to uncover the identity of the famed "Tank Man" in the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing. SCM
Company, Writers Theatre, Glencoe, extended through Aug. 7. It's Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's groundbreaking 1970 Broadway musical about a New York bachelor weighing the pros and cons of marriage. SCM
GhostBustier: The Story of the Real Ghostbusy, Gorilla Tango Theatre, through July 23. Those naughty burly-girls of Bucktown who brought you Game of Thongs and A Nude Hope are at it again. MSB
The Grapes of Wrath, Gift Theatre, through Aug. 14. Frank Galati's Tony-winning adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic American novel is ingeniously flat-packed into Gift Theatre's very intimate space with an enormous ensemble that is insightful and shockingly relevant in its non-traditional casting. SCM
By Barnidge and Morgan