Spotlight: Solo show 'The Princess Strikes Back' puts Han on a pedestal

Posted August 10, 2023 6:00 am

Han Solo: dream man

Actress/improviser Victoria Montalbano returns to the suburbs with her solo show "The Princess Strikes Back: One Woman's Search for the Space Cowboy of Her Dreams," about how none of her boyfriends ever measured up to her 13-year-old's ideal man, Han Solo. Theatergoers need not be "Star Wars" fans to enjoy the show, Montalbano said in a prepared statement. "At its heart, 'The Princess Strikes Back' is not just about romance, but about the maturing process and finding one's own sense of empowerment and place in the world."

7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 11 and 18, at the Skokie Theatre, 7924 Lincoln Ave., Skokie. $25. Masks recommended. (847) 677-7761 or skokietheatre.com.

Mini-fests

• Stage Left Theatre hosts LeapFest, its annual new works showcase featuring plays by Deana Velandra, Kimberly Dixon-Mays and Stephanie Murphy, developed in cooperation with the theater.

7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 11-12 and 18-19, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 13 and 20, at Chicago Dramatists, 798 N. Aberdeen St., Chicago. $10. Masks recommended. (773) 883-8830 or stagelefttheatre.com.

• Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristoffer Diaz ("The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity") is among the playwrights featured during American Blues Theatre's annual Blue Ink Festival, consisting of staged readings by Blue Ink Award winner Diaz ("Things With Friends"), Audrey Cefaly ("Trouble (at the Vista View Mobile Home Estates)"), Victor Lesniewski ("Cold Spring") and Gloria Majule ("Uhuru").

1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 12-13, at 4809 N. Ravenswood, Suite #221, Chicago. $20 per day, $25 all-access pass. Reservations recommended. Masks optional. (773) 654-3103 or americanbluestheater.com.

Jennifer Reeves Wilson, left, plays Solange and Julie Bayer plays her sister Claire in Janus Theatre's production of "The Maids" by French absurdist playwright Jean Genet. Courtesy of Heidi Swarthout

True crime tale

Janus Theatre continues its 25th anniversary season with a revival of Jean Genet's "The Maids," a 1947 play inspired by a 1933 case involving live-in maids and sisters Christine and Léa Papin, who were convicted of murdering their employer's wife and daughter. Jesse Hicks directs Genet's drama in which the young women, resentful of their inferior social position, take their revenge by destroying their employer's wife.

8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Aug. 17-19 and 24-26, at the Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division St., Elgin. $20. Masks optional. janusplays.com.

Apocalyptic play

Theatre L'Acadie presents the site-specific premiere of "Today Tonight Soon," Melanie Coffey's apocalyptic drama about a group of women living on a remote island at the end of the world who are awaiting the arrival of the last man on earth known as The Rowboat Man. However, two of the women have other plans.

7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 17-20, and through Sept. 3 at Loyola Beach, 1120 W. Lunt Ave., Chicago. Tickets start at $10. Patrons are encouraged to bring their own chairs. theatrelacadie.com.

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