Chicago Spotlight: January 2006

The Holidays continue at least through the Super Bowl (go Bears, rah!), but the time of theatrical sugarplums and treacle is over at last, and only three of my teeth rotted away from all the sweetness and sentimental syrup. Now January’s wintry blast will return us to some real theater with a guaranteed minimum of 40 new shows.

Three shows, arguably, are more highly anticipated than others, as they represent the work of several celebrated playwrights and directors. First up, Tony Award winning director Mary Zimmerman returns to her Chicago home base, the Goodman Theatre, to stage Shakespeare’s late romantic fantasy, Pericles (Jan. 17-Feb. 12), in a production already seen at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington. Next, Court Theatre offers its first-ever encounter with the late, great August Wilson, presenting Fences (Jan. 21-Feb. 12), his 1950’s tale of an aging Negro League baseball star who couldn’t hang on long enough until the Major Leagues integrated. The same day, Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents the world premiere of Richard Greenberg’s The Well-Appointed Room, directed by Steppenwolf co-founder Terry Kinney (Jan. 21-March 12).

A fourth show, Valentine Victorious, also will earn a great deal of attention for the House Theatre of Chicago, performing at The Viaduct (Jan. 14-March 11). Simply put, the four-year old House Theatre is the hottest young, small Off-Loop troupe in town, drawing huge crowds of twenty-somethings to its high-energy productions and strong stories. Valentine Victorious, a world premiere, is the final part of a trilogy — one episode each year — that’s helped put the House on the map.

Among other big shows in January: Bailiwick Repertory mounts Kiss of the Spider Woman (Jan. 16-Feb. 19, but will extend if a hit); a new (but ambitious and obviously well-heeled) troupe, the Chicago Children’s Theatre, debuts with the regional premiere of A Year with Frog and Toad, in the Goodman Theatre’s small (400 seats!) space (Jan. 20-March 5); and Maureen McGovern headlines the Broadway touring company of Little Women at Cadillac Palace Theatre (Jan. 25-Feb. 5).

The classics are given their due Off-Loop with Moliere’s The Misanthrope, presented by Bruised Orange Theatre Company at Prop Thtr (Jan. 5-Feb. 5); also Shaw’s Don Juan in Hell play-within-a-play from Man and Superman, presented by ShawChicago at a new location, the Ruth Page Auditorium (Jan. 14-March 6); and finally Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, an ensemble troupe, weighs in with Moliere’s Tartuffe, presented at Victory Gardens Theater (Jan. 22-March 5), and utilizing the new Ranjit Bolt translation rather than the familiar (but still wonderful) Richard Wilbur text.

Modern European and American classics (which seem to mean any play that can qualify as literature vs. mere popular drama) are high on the agenda in January, centered on the launch of the Samuel Beckett centennial year by the Museum of Contemporary Art and Curious Theatre Branch. The Curious folks are curating an evening of six Beckett one-act plays, No Danger of the Spiritual Thing: 100 Years of Beckett, each presented by a different theater company that runs Jan. 13-15 at the Museum, and then moves intact to Prop Thtr (Jan. 20-Feb. 5).

Continuing in this category, Chopin Theatre, long an alternative theater venue offering diverse fair, presents a rare staging of Slawomir Mrozek’s Tango (Jan. 7-29), in English translation. Several times a year, Chopin offers productions in Polish (usually by visiting troupes from the Mother Country). Also at Chopin (in the complex’s second space) is Edward Albee’s Seascape, presented by Signal Theatre Ensemble (Jan. 15-March 18).

Other modern classics include John Guare’s The House of Blue Leaves, which opens the season for the highly-regarded Shattered Globe Theatre Company at PLACE (Jan. 8-March 5); David Rabe’s Hurlyburly, presented by the newer Gift Theatre Company in its own little space (Jan. 9-Feb. 18); and William Inge’s Bus Stop at the estimable Writers’ Theatre in North Suburban Glencoe (Jan. 31-March 26).

Contemporary serious drama cuts a swath through the month, too, much of it ripped from the headlines (as they say). Bailiwick Repertory offers a world premiere docudrama, Katrina: A State of Emergency (Jan.8-29). Then, Lee Blessing’s Thief River receives its local premiere at the side project in their new, little North Side venue (Jan. 19-Feb. 19). Also, Victory Gardens Theater continues its final mainstage series in its old space (it moves to handsome, larger new quarters next fall) with I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda, by British dramatist Sonja Linden, about the life of a survivor of genocide and torture (Jan. 30-March 5). Finally, Next Theatre Company presents Caryl Churchill’s controversial mini-drama (it runs only 55 minutes) about human cloning, A Number (Jan. 30-Feb. 26).

Other shows: Larry Shue’s funny comedy The Nerd, staged by Rogue Theatre Company at City Lit Theatre (Jan.6-29); the avant-garde Theatre Oobleck reinventing Edgar Allen Poe with Letter Purloined at Live Bait Theatre (Jan. 12-Feb. 11); the short stories of Chicago author Stuart Dybeck receiving a stage treatment, The Coast of Chicago, from Walkabout Theatre at the Lookingglass Theatre Company venue (Jan. 15-Feb. 19); and the neglected Jerry Herman musical, Dear World, based on The Madwoman of Chaillot, getting another look at Circle Theatre in West Suburban Forest Park (Jan. 25-March 5).

If you have kids in tow, you might want to check out the daytime matinees of Short Shakespeare at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre on Navy Pier, the creative energy of That’s Weird, Grandma presented by Barrel of Monkeys Theatre Company, or the Sunday morning shows for kids at The Second City. Be sure to ask about the age group for which show is suitable. Some are for the wee ones, while others are for pre-teens and adolescents.