Steve Leary - Page 14

Join us for a spectacular musical evening honoring Golden Globe Award winner Amanda McBroom and local favorite Frank D'Rone with Lifetime Achievement Awards Special Gold Coast Award honor to Chicago's own Nan Mason

Strawdog Theatre Company kicks off their 21st season with Karel Čapek's science fiction drama 'R.U.R. (Rossum's Universa Robots),' directed by Strawdog Artistic Associate Shade Murray. Set in the 1920s at the island factory of Rossum's Universal Robots, 'R.U.R.' follows a team of scientists who have created the model to factory-produce the world's first robotic workforce. When an idealistic young woman arrives on a quest to free the 'souls' of the robots (and discovers there is no such thing), she manipulates the scientists to biologically remedy that fact. Soon after these 'improved' and extremely humanlike robots have been shipped all over the world, the inevitable robot revolution explodes, leaving questions about the survival of humanity and what actually makes a human.

Fresh off its successful debut at the Laugh Out Loud Theater in Schaumburg, Illuminated Productions proudly presents Hopelessly Devoted, a Catholic-inspired comedy straight out of the Confessional.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical TELL ME ON A SUNDAY, receiving it's Chicago premiere in the Bailiwick Repertory Studio Theater, has been extended to September 26. This one-woman tour de force chronicles the journey of Emma, a free-spirited British hat designer making a new home in New York. Completely sung through, it's a powerful tour-de-force for Chicago actress Harmony France.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is pleased to announce casting for the London engagement of its Pulitzer and Tony Award®-winning American play August: Osage County by ensemble member Tracy Letts (Tony® Award - Best Play), directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro (Tony® Award - Best Director), playing an eight-week engagement at the National Theatre (Lyttelton Theatre) November 21, 2008 - January 21, 2009.

Hip-hop has arrived at Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Eric Rosen kicks off his adventurous first season as the Rep's artistic director with the powerful new hip-hop musical Clay, written and performed by Matt Sax and developed in collaboration with and directed by Rosen. The show contains loud music, adult language and strong content.

Azusa Productions' Artistic Director, Maggie Speer is pleased to announce Chapter 3 in Azusa's Moveable Feast of Words Series, A Horrifying Evening: Short Stories and Poems of H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe. In these concert-style performances, the authors' words are the focus. Chicago actors expertly bring to life the terror and madness in the short stories by each author's ability to provoke horror by virtue of only words and imagination. Don't miss this opportunity to enjoy the Halloween season and be deliciously horrified as you savor the evocative language in these stories made truly terrifying by words and imagination alone.

Writers' Theatre Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma announce William Inge's Picnic directed by David Cromer. The production runs September 16-November 16, 2008, at Writers' Theatre, 325 Tudor Court in Glencoe.

Broadway In Chicago is thrilled to announce the new national tour of Rent, starring original Broadway cast members Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, will play a limited engagement at Chicago's Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre (24 W. Randolph St.) March 31 - April 12, 2009. The Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical Rent is produced by Jeffrey Seller, Kevin McCollum, and Allan S. Gordon.

Hell in a Handbag Productions, Chicago's only theater company dedicated to the exploration and preservation of popular culture is proud to announce that they have been awarded a grant of $4000.00 from The Pauls Foundation towards the production of their upcoming Fall show, HAYWIRE!, a circus horror parody by Kevin Remington and Tim Wilkins with songs and special musical material by Fred Barton, opening at the Bailiwick Arts Center- Studio Theater, Oct. 13.

In honor of National Grandparents Day, all Grandparents attending the hit musical comedy The Boys from Syracuse at Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook, 100 Drury Lane, will receive a complimentary Crème Brulee dessert on Sunday, September 7. The Flight of Crème Brulee features a decadent trio of chocolate, raspberry and vanilla flavors and will be served in the restaurant adjacent to the theater after the 2:00 p.m. performance or before the 6:00 p.m. performance. For reservations, call (630) 530-0111 and mention the code GRANDPARENTS.

Fellowship for the Performing Arts presents the Chicago premiere of the acclaimed hit drama THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS by C.S. Lewis at The Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Avenue. The production, which recently had sold-out runs in New York and Washington, D.C., begins performances on October 2 for a limited engagement. 'The Screwtape Letters' offers a funny and provocative look into C.S. Lewis' brilliant novel that explores the theme of spiritual warfare from a demon's point of view.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company launches its 2008-2009 season, an exploration of the imagination, with the world premiere of Kafka on the Shore, adapted for the stage and directed by ensemble member Frank Galati, based on the book by Haruki Murakami. The production, featuring ensemble members Francis Guinan and Jon Michael Hill with Christine Bunuan, Gerson Dacanay, Mary Ann de la Cruz, Christopher Larkin, Aiko Nakasone, Andrew Pang, David Rhee and Lisa Tejero, runs September 18 - November 16, 2008 in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St.

When nervous groom Benny Bolano decides to ditch the altar on the eve of his big wedding day, his befuddled brother concocts a series of excuses to account for his mysterious delay. But when Benny's Las Vegas hotel suite is raided by their meddling mother, nagging sister, the family priest, an irate bride-to-be, and a couple of well-meaning strippers…

Premiere's unique mission is to present director-driven new plays and original performance. In its first five seasons, PTAP presented eight original pieces and productions based on new translations commissioned for performance by the company.

Trap Door Theatre proudly presents the world premiere of the English translation of No Darkness Round My Stone by French Playwright Fabrice Melquiot. A poet in spirit and practice, Melquiot's work is marked by noted lyricism and unpretentious accessibility. In No Darkness Round my Stone, Melquiot gives us a comedic and empathetic look at the everyday life of grave robbers. Mixing hyper-realism with surrealism, and banality with complexity, No Darkness Round My Stone examines the human desire to be different from what we are and the remarkable buoyancy of hope.

Chicago Folks Operetta brings the charm and humor of the Viennese waltz operetta genre to life in Chicago with its imaginative production of The Girl in the Train at The Athenaeum Theatre. Just in-time for Oktoberfest, this rarely performed operetta has all the trademark Viennese melodies and dances of the waltz operetta genre.

The Chicago company of JERSEY BOYS is thrilled to offer audience members exclusive stage side chats with the cast to kick off the fall season following Tuesday performances in September.

Summer is coming to a close and what better way to get acquainted with this autumn's hot shows than getting a sneak peak at The Greenhouse's Open House! Come preview the fall line-ups of four of Chicago's hottest Off-Loop theater companies and fall back into theater at the Greenhouse Theater, Saturday, September 6 from 4 pm to 6 pm, at The Greenhouse Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is proud to announce its Pulitzer and Tony Award®-winning American play August: Osage County by ensemble member Tracy Letts, directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro, will play an eight-week engagement at London's National Theatre (Lyttelton Theatre) November 21, 2008 - January 21, 2009. For ticket information and performance times, visit www.nationaltheatre.org.uk. Casting will be announced shortly.