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Theater events: Skokie Theatre puts up “Torch, Sass and Swing!”

• Actress, cabaret singer and American Blues Theater ensemble member Suzanne Petri shares tales about great Chicago nightclubs such as Mr. Kelly's and The London House in her cabaret show "Torch, Sass and Swing!" Petri's husband Robert Breuler, a longtime Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member, joins her on Friday, July 20, at the Skokie Theatre, 7924 Lincoln Ave., Skokie. Tickets are $25. (847) 677-7761 or skokietheatre.org.

• The Arc Theatre and the Ridgeville Park District present the 9th season of Shakespeare on Ridge. This year's production is William Shakespeare's comedy, "The Merry Wives of Windsor," about Falstaff's attempts to seduce two prominent women and their efforts to punish the raunchy knight. The preview is Friday, July 20, at Ridgeville Park, 908 Seward St., Evanston. The free performances begin Saturday, July 21. See arctheatrechicago.org.

• Previews begin Saturday, July 21, for Promethean Theatre Ensemble's rolling premiere of Jami Brandli's "Bliss (Or Emily Post is Dead)." According to a prepared statement, the show "recasts heroines of Greek tragedy as 1960s New Jersey housewives." Anna Bahow directs the comedy which centers around the trials and tribulations of pill-addicted housewives and their teenage neighbor whose lives are upended with the arrival of Cassandra, whose prophecies no one believes. The show opens July 28, at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. (773) 935-6875 or prometheantheatre.org or athenaeumtheatre.org.

• The Chicago League of Lady Arm Wrestlers and Sideshow Theatre present CLLAW XXX: Dirty Thirty Throwdown on Saturday, July 21, at the Logan Square Auditorium, 2539 N. Kedzie Ave., Chicago. In addition to arm wrestling, the evening includes live music and a cash bar. Doors open at 9 p.m. for the adults-only event. Tickets are $25. Proceeds benefit the theater and GirlForward, an organization that assists female refugees. See cllaw.org.

• Idle Muse Theatre Company hosts the premiere of the radio play "A Scandal in Bohemia, Part One," adapted and directed by Tristan Brandon from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story in which Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson try to recover an important photograph for the King of Bohemia. The benefit performance takes place at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 22, at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway St., Chicago. (773) 340-9438 or idlemuse.org.

• Barrel of Monkeys' next installment of "That's Weird" begins Monday, July 23, at 5153 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago. "That's Weird, Grandma: Stories About Food" consists of food-related sketches adapted from stories by Chicago elementary school students. Performances run at 8 p.m. Mondays through Aug. 27. (773) 506-7140 or barrelofmonkeys.org.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater tours its abridged production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" to 18 Chicago parks this summer. Courtesy of Daniel Ribar

• Barbara Gaines' 75-minute, abridged production of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" begins its tour of 18 Chicago parks Wednesday, July 25. The free performances are part of the annual collaboration between the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and the city of Chicago. See chicagoshakes.com/parks for a complete schedule.

• Stories about vacationing in Cuba during the revolution and a marriage proposal are among the true tales featured during the next Short Story Theatre installment on Thursday, July 26, at Miramar Bistro, 301 Waukegan Ave., Highwood. Tickets are $10 at the door. Dinner reservations available at (847) 433-1078.

• The friendship between a Holocaust survivor and a former prisoner of a U.S. Japanese internment camp is tested when family and health issues arise in "Scenes for a Green World," a new drama by Mike Brayndick. On the Spot Theatre Company's world premiere begins performances Thursday, July 26, at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. "The two women in the story represent what it means to be American in the way they look out for each other and in their determination to live full and vital lives despite their pasts," said Brayndick in a prepared statement. (773) 404-7336 or greenhouse theater.org or onthespottheatrecompany.weebly.com.

• Performances continue through Aug. 18 for 16th Street Theater's production of Aline Lathrop's "The Hero's Wife," about the spouse of a retired Navy SEAL coping with his night terrors. Performances take place at 6420 16th St., Berwyn. (708) 795-6704 or 16thstreettheater.org.

• "Superhuman," featuring an all-female improv team, continues at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Annoyance Theatre, 851 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Also at the Annoyance, puppeteer/comedian/mandolin player Sam Locke puts an optimistic spin on the apocalypse in his all original show "Wasteland: A Night of Mandolin, Happiness and Others," running at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 23. Additionally, the variety show "Ratas de Dos Patas," headlined by four Latina improvisers and sketch comedy performers, has been extended through the end of the month. It runs at 8 p.m. Tuesdays. Also extended is "The Customer is Always Right?" The improv show about customer service workers' experiences runs at 7 p.m. Fridays through Aug. 31. (773) 697-9693 or theannoyance.com.

• The immersive, sci-fi musical comedy sendup "Wild Women of Planet Wongo," about Amazonian warriors who encounter a pair of bumbling astronauts who've crashed onto their planet, has been extended. Performances run through July 28 at the Chopin Theater, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago. See planetwongo.com.

Kaci Antkiwicz, Jamie Bragg, Kellen Robinson, Alice Wu and Jared Dennis star in Promethean Theatre's rolling premiere of "Bliss (or Emily Post is Dead!)," which imagines Greek tragedy heroines as 1960s housewives. Courtesy of Promethean Theatre Ensemble

• The Artistic Home has extended its production of Jean Genet's "The Maids," featuring drag artists playing two maids who fantasize about killing their mistress. The play was inspired by a real-life murder of a woman and her daughter committed by two sisters who worked as their maids. Performances run through Saturday, July 21, at 1376 W. Grand Ave., Chicago. (866) 811-4111 or theartistichome.org.

• Producer/director Ilesa Duncan ("Neverwhere," "Shakin' the Mess out of Misery") will take over as artistic director of Lifeline Theatre in January. She replaces longtime artistic director Dorothy Milne, who leaves the position after nearly 20 years but remains with the ensemble. "After working with Ilesa as a guest artist in the past, we are delighted to welcome her to the ensemble and to the artistic director position at Lifeline," said managing director Allison Cain in a prepared statement in which she praised Duncan's "longtime engagement with new work" and passion for youth programming.

• Shattered Globe Theatre announced its 2018-2019 season will begin Sept. 6 with Chris Hannan's new adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's psychological thriller "Crime and Punishment" about an impoverished former law student whose life unravels after he seemingly commits the perfect murder. That's followed by the Chicago area premiere of Will Eno's "The Realistic Joneses" (Jan. 11-March 9, 2019), a meditation on mortality that unfolds during an impromptu get-together between neighbors who share the same last name. The season concludes with Kate Fodor's "Hannah and Martin" (April 11-May 25, 2019), about the love affair between political theorist Hannah Arendt and philosopher Martin Heidegger. Performances take place at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Season memberships are $100 and are available at shatteredglobe.org. Single tickets are available online or by phone at (773) 975-8150.

• About Face Theatre's 2018-2019 season includes two Chicago premieres and a world premiere. The season begins Nov. 1 with Harrison David Rivers' "This Bitter Earth," an examination of race and relationships that centers on Jesse, an African-American playwright, and his Caucasian boyfriend Neil, a Black Lives Matter activist whose romance is threatened by Jesse's apparent political apathy. Next up is "Dada Woof Papa Hot" (Jan. 10-Feb. 16, 2019), Peter Parnell's comedy about gay couples "venturing into the world of modern day parenting." The season concludes in summer 2019 with a Youth Theatre Ensemble world premiere to be named. Performances take place at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Yearlong memberships are available for $120 and include one ticket to all three main stage productions and one ticket to each play reading. They're available online at aboutfacetheatre.com. Single tickets go on sale at a later date.

• Citadel Theatre presents a play by Chicago area actor/director Ross Lehman as part of its 2018-2019 season, which begins with a revival of Lillian Hellman's tale of greed and corruption "The Little Foxes" (Sept. 28-Oct. 28). It's about three siblings in 1900 Alabama scheming to enrich themselves at the expense of their loved ones. That's followed by "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" (Nov. 16-Dec. 23), the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical about the trials and triumphs of Jacob's favorite son. The production scheduled from Feb. 1 to March 3, 2019, is to be announced. Following that is Lehman's "Sentimental Journey: A Story of Love and War" (April 23-May 26, 2019), a semi-autobiographical tale about his parents' courtship and marriage set against the backdrop of World War II. Citadel Theatre's family-friendly production is the musical "Elephant and Piggie's We are in a Play!" about the friendship between an elephant and a pig. It runs Sept. 29 through Oct. 7 at the Gorton Community Center, 400 E. Illinois Road, Lake Forest. Mainstage productions take place at 300 S. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest. Season subscriptions are $120. Three-show flex passes are $95. Two-show flex passes are $65. (847) 735-8554, ext. 1 or citadeltheatre.org.

- Barbara Vitello

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