Spotlight: World premiere 'Layalina' debuts at Goodman, CST's Gaines bids farewell
World premiere
Goodman Theatre premieres "Layalina," a play about Iraqi immigrants by Martin Yousif Zebari developed through the theater's New Stages program. The play opens in 2003 in Baghdad as newlywed Layal and her family prepare to immigrate to a Chicago suburb. Fast forward 17 years and Layal's life looks much different from what she imagined. Sivan Battat directs.
Previews at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 3-4 and 10-11; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, March 5 and 12; and 7:30 p.m. March 8-9, at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. The show opens March 13. $15-$50. Masks recommended. (312) 443-3800 or goodmantheatre.org.
Visit 'Avenue Q'
Music Theater Works begins its 43rd season with a revival of "Avenue Q," the adults-only show that incorporates puppets in the coming-of-age tale about twentysomethings navigating careers and relationships in New York City. Christopher Pazdernik directs and choreographs.
The preview is at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 9, at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. The show opens at 8 p.m. Friday, March 10. Masks recommended. $34-$106. (847) 673-6300 or musictheaterworks.com.
Gaines' final bow
Chicago Shakespeare Theater artistic director Barbara Gaines bids farewell to the company she founded with "The Comedy of Errors," featuring an all-star lineup of CST veterans including Kevin Gudahl, Ora Jones, Ross Lehman, Robert Petkoff, Greg Vinkler and Bruce A. Young, among others. The production revisits the 2008 production in which Gaines collaborated with Second City veteran Ron West. Set during the 1940s, it's about an eccentric group of actors who gather on a film set during the London blitz to film Shakespeare's comedy about Antipholus and his servant Dromio, each of whom is searching for his long-lost, twin. CST's 2008 production received Joseph Jefferson Awards for play, direction, adaptation and costumes.
Previews at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, March 9-11 and March 14-15, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 12, at Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave., Chicago. The show opens March 16. $35-$92. Masks recommended. (312) 595-5600 or chicagoshakes.com.
In other news
Check with venues about their COVID-19 procedures.
• Elgin newcomer Elsinore Players revive Terrence McNally's two-hander "Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune," about two lonely, middle-aged co-workers who have a one-night stand that could turn into something more. Performances run Friday, March 3, through March 18 at Side Street Studio Arts Backspace (second floor), 15½ Ziegler Court, Elgin. See facebook.com/elsinoreplayers.
• "Easter Bunny Bingo: Jesus, Resurrection and Peeps" returns Friday, March 3, to the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. The latest installment of the interactive series created by Vicki Quade (co-creator of "Late Nite Catechism"), finds former nun Mrs. Mary Margaret O'Brien calling bingo and discussing Easter traditions. Quade, Liz Cloud and Nancy Greco alternate in the role. Tickets are $35. (773) 404-7336, greenhousetheater.org or nuns4fun.com.
• The science fiction and fantasy ensemble Otherworld Theatre Company debuts its new improvised musical show "Lost Realms: Improvised Musicals From Beyond" on Friday, March 3, at 3914 N. Clark St., Chicago. The adults-only show runs at 10 p.m. Fridays. Tickets are $20. See otherworldtheatre.org.
• Christopher Kale Jones, a "Jersey Boys" and Under the Streetlamp veteran, brings his show "Beyond the Sea: Christopher Kale Jones Sings Bobby Darin" to the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights. Part of the Artists Lounge Live series, the show takes place at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 8. Tickets are $45, $50. Masks encouraged. (847) 577-2121 or metropolisarts.com.
• Performances begin Thursday, March 9, for Trap Door Theatre's U.S. premiere of "Joan and the Fire," Matei Visniec's timely play about a group of performers doing their take on the story of Joan of Arc who are confronted by the myth herself who fights to tell her story. Performances run through April 15 at 1655 W. Cortland St., Chicago. (773) 384-0494 or trapdoortheatre.com.
• Her Story Theater examines the crisis of missing BIPOC girls and women in the U.S. with "MIA: Where Have All the Young Girls Gone?" a new play by Mary Bonnett, who wrote it in response to the multitudes of women who go missing every year (268,884 in 2020) of which nearly 100,000 are Black women and girls. Previews begin Thursday, March 9, at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. The show, directed by Bonnett, opens March 12. (773) 404-7336, greenhousetheater.com or herstorytheater.org.
• The Physical Theater Festival Chicago holds its Scratch Night, featuring in-progress works of contemporary physical theater, at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 9, at The Newport Theater, 956 W. Newport Ave., Chicago. The performances are a preview of the 10th Physical Theater Festival to be held in Chicago in July. See physicalfestival.com.
• Mercury Theater Chicago has extended its production of "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill," a play with music about a fictionalized performance by jazz great Billie Holiday a few months before her death. Alexis J. Roston stars in the bio-musical, which runs through March 26 at the Venus Cabaret Theater, 3745 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. See mercurytheaterchicago.com.