Opening nights

Double Bill At Court Theatre

March 17, 1995|By Lawrence Bommer.

Offering a dramatic opportunity to compare and contrast, rotating repertory can reveal unexpected ties between seemingly disparate plays; at the same time, stretching their limits, actors can display a range no one play can tap.

Last season, Court Theatre offered audiences an electric duo with concurrent productions of Pierre Marivaux's "The Triumph of Love" and Caryl Churchill's "Cloud Nine," plays that examined the sexual politics of true and false love. On Saturday, artistic director Charles Newell debuts this year's double whammy-Moliere's bitter satire "The Misanthrope" and Tom Stoppard's whimsical time trip "Travesties."

Moliere's masterpiece examines Alceste, a very disillusioned man, and the price he pays for his brutal honesty. Stoppard's 1974 comedy merrily juxtaposes three equally forthright souls, briefly assembled in Zurich in 1917: wordworker James Joyce, agitator Vladimir Lenin; and Tristan Tzara, founder of the subversive Dada movement. Like Moliere's satirical experiment, Stoppard's volatile mix regales us with powerful paradoxes about the grand obsessions of driven geniuses.

Running in rotating repertory, "The Misanthrope" and "Travesties" play through May 14 at 5535 S. Ellis Ave.; 312-753-4472.

Other theater openings to consider:

"The Pirates of Penzance," Friday, Circle Theatre, 7300 W. Madison St., Forest Park; 708-771-7469: Kevin Bellie directs Gilbert and Sullivan's merry spoof of a dutiful pirate and some stupid police.

"A Chocolate Sandwich," Friday, Footsteps Theatre, 6968 N. Clark St.; 312-465-8323: Don't let the distasteful title scare you off. Part of the Women's Write Project, Chicago comedienne Poppy Champlin's one-woman show, directed by Jean Adamak, draws from her life, including surreal and hilarious memories and images from her childhood.

"Birdsend," Sunday, Theater by Design at Victory Gardens Studio, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.; 312-871-3000: A Chicago premiere, Keith Huff's latest work unfolds a romance between a man, a woman and a pigeon. A man named Bird longs for the chance to take flight, only to discover the everyday fulfillment of a loving wife and family. Thomas J. Carroll directs an "original theater adventure" that offers audiences a chance to "see the world as Bird sees it and experience his exhilaration and exasperation with the mysteries of life."

"Pope Joan," Sunday, Bailiwick Repertory, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.; 312-883-1090: Not your usual musical treatment, Christopher ("Son of Fire") Moore's Dark Ages musical contrasts the legend of the only female pope with the institutionalization of the primarily patriarchal Catholic Church. Commenting on the nature of faith and the impact of women in power, the work details her romances with God and with Louis, the powerful and dangerous French king who knows Joan's secret sex. David Zak directs the timely pageant and Kate Fry takes the title role.

"Telethon," Sunday, Live Bait Theatrical Company, 3914 N. Clark St.; 312-871-1212: Billed as a farce on wheels, Susan Nussbaum and William Hammock's satire savages a certain charity Labor Day telethon and its supposedly smarmy condescension to the so-called afflicted.

The comedy takes us behind the scenes and before the cameras as a paraplegic former poster child with a hidden agenda and an acid tongue sabotages a national broadcast. "See her pull wheelies past leggy chorines, half-baked comics and do-gooder minions." Russ Flack plays the Jerry Lewis-like host and Jane Blass is his avenging "child." Judy O'Malley directs the labor of hate.

"The Three Sisters," Monday, Goodman Theatre, 200 S. Columbus Drive; 312-443-3800: Robert Falls stages Anton Chekhov's great tragicomedy from 1901. Seen from all sides and through the prism of time, the title characters take on a universality, despite their plight: They're stuck in a provincial town from which they will never escape to the wonders of Moscow. Playing them are Calista Flockhart, Jenny Bacon and Susan Bruce. In his Goodman Theatre debut, famed Broadway designer Santo Loquasto provides sets and costumes.

"Waltzing Around the Issues," Monday, Stories on Stage at Organic Theater, 3319 N. Clark St.; 312-327-5588: Meryl Friedman directs an evening of non-fiction readings, including thoughtful insights from former columnist Anna Quindlen, irreverence from satirist Molly Ivins and the anecdotal humor of Florence King.

"The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me," Tuesday, Bailiwick Repertory, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.; 312-883-1090: David Coronado assumes the role popularized by playwright David Drake in his off-Broadway hit, a one-man show about a gay man's personal and political coming of age. Kerry Riffle directs this outrageous and often ferocious tour-de-force.

"Harvestide," Wednesday, Shattered Globe Theatre, 2856 N. Halsted St.; 312-404-1273: