Chicago News Desk - Page 5

Hell in a Handbag Productions is proud to present one twisted take on two classic tales. Silent Night of the Lambs mixes one part thriller (The Silence of the Lambs) and one part holiday TV special (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer) to create a twisted recipe that only Hell in a Handbag would dare to cook up for Chicago audiences.

A special signed performance of the holiday musical A Wonderful Life, sponsored by Munster High School's American Sign Language Club, will be hosted on December 5 at 8 p.m. at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Road. Tickets for the interpretive section of the theatre are available by contacting Lynn Schumacher at lcschumacher@munster.k12.in.us by November 12. All other tickets can be purchased through the Box Office at 219.836.3255 or Tickets.com at 800.511.1552.

Victory Gardens Theater is offering two chances to go behind-the-scenes of The Snow Queen, the company?s smash hit holiday musical, sledding back into town for her third go-around as Chicago's #1 alternative to traditional holiday fare.

THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS, the hit drama presented by Fellowship for the Performing Arts at The Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Avenue, will feature special Wednesday night talk-backs with Max McLean (co-creator and star) and Jeffrey Fiske (co-creator and director) from November 5 through December 10 (there is no show on November 26.) The production, which had sold-out runs in New York and Washington, D.C., recently made its Chicago premiere and runs through January 4. During the talk-backs, McLean and Fiske will foster audience discussions about the show?s provocative themes and answer questions about how they adapted C.S. Lewis? classic novel into a hit stage production. The talk-backs schedule may be subject to change.

'Lillian Hellmania!',a festival celebrating the playwrights' work, will run in Chicago at Eclipse ('The Autumn Garden'), Shattered Globe ('The Little Foxes,' 1/8-3/8/09), and City Lit ('Scoundrel Time,' 1/30-3/8/09).

American Theater Company (ATC) continues its 2008-09 season with the sixth annual production of It's a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play adapted from Frank Capra's classic film and directed by Damon Kiely. The production will run December 4 -December 28, 2008, at American Theater Company, 1909 W Byron St, Chicago, IL. Press opening is Monday, December 8, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.

In just one night, learn the Sparkle Sisters secrets to keeping their curves! From Sondheim to Berlin, this hilarious musical evening will inspire you to find your own inner sparkle through a cabaret revue of story songs. 7 Secrets of Highly Effective Chicks will make audiences laugh, cry and go home happy.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company continues its 2008-2009 season, an exploration of the imagination, with The Seafarer by Conor McPherson, directed by ensemble member Randall Arney. The production, featuring ensemble members Francis Guinan, Tom Irwin, John Mahoney and Alan Wilder, runs December 4, 2008 ? February 8, 2009 in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. Additional casting will be announced shortly. Single tickets for The Seafarer go on sale Thursday, September 25 at 11 a.m.

Theatre at the Center's Theatre for Young Audiences, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana, will present The Christmas That Almost Wasn't, the 'behind the scenes' story of Christmas written for children, by children performed by Child's Play Touring Theatre. The Christmas That Almost Wasn't will run December 1 through December 15.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company continues its 2008-2009 season, an exploration of the imagination, with The Seafarer by Conor McPherson, directed by ensemble member Randall Arney. The production, featuring ensemble members Francis Guinan, Tom Irwin, John Mahoney and Alan Wilder with Randall Newsome, runs December 4, 2008 - February 8, 2009 in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. The press performance is Saturday, December 13 at 3 p.m.

Set in the present-day DRC, Ruined is the captivating story of Mama Nadi (Ekulona), the owner of a canteen who serves up everything from a cold beer and a warm meal-to the company of a woman. Through the eyes of this savvy businesswoman who both protects and profits from the women whose bodies have become battlegrounds, Nottage captures the constantly shifting allegiances and tragic absurdity that marks the civil war in the DRC. Ruined, rendered with Nottage's trademark humanity, clarity and surprising humor, gives a glimpse of a country that has suffered immeasurable losses since the beginning of this war that has raged for more than a decade.

New Millennium Theatre Company (NMTC) presents The David Bowie Hepzikat Funky Velvet Flarney Solstice Spectacular, Live... From Space! (David Bowie's Christmas Special 1977)

Writers' Theatre Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma announce Jean Genet's The Maids directed by Jimmy McDermott. The production runs November 18, 2008- April 5, 2009, at Writers' Theatre, 664 Vernon Avenue, Glencoe. The official press performances are December 3 and 4, 2008, at 7:30 p.m.

At Large! is a brand new one-woman show that tackles weight issues head on. Playwright and actress Keri Marcouillier interviewed many plus-size woman, as well as drawing on her own experiences, to write this show in the style of 'The Vagina Monologues'.

TimeLine Theatre Company announces the 2008-09 season of its TimePieces Play Reading Series, a series of one-night-only readings designed to offer Chicago audiences a chance to hear new and rarely produced plays and to extend TimeLine's mission of presenting stories inspired by history that connect to today's social and political issues.

Mary-Arrchie Theatre Co. will present the US Premiere of Our Bad Magnet at Angel Island, 735 W. Sheridan. It will open Monday, November 17, 2008 at 8 p.m. and run Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. Tickets are $18 on Thursday and Sunday, $20 on Friday, and $22 on Saturday. There will be previews on November 13-16 at 8 p.m. Tickets for previews are $10. Performance closes on Sunday, December 21, 2008. There is parking available in the Mobil Gas Station across from the theater at a fee determined by Mobil Gas. For more information and reservations call (773) 871-0442.

Every December, the residents of Deer Run Lane, a tiny cul de sac in Elk Woods Village, get together for their annual holiday party. The games, refreshments, and carols are all the same but this year the neighborhood party goes awry.

Queen Elizabeth's Dwarf, a unique solo performance by Chicago actress and little person Kathyrn Jones exploring the personal relationship dwarves and other people with disabilities played in the queen's court and during the Renaissance, is the kick-off presentation for the Victory Gardens Access Project 2008-2009 Crip Slam series.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE'S WORLD'S STAGE SERIES PRESENTS MULTILINGUAL 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' Director Tim Supple's Adaptation-a Vivid Dream from India featuring Acrobats, Dancers, Martial Artists and Musicians. November 25 through December 7, 2008

Signal Ensemble Theatre continues its sixth season with John Guare's 'Six Degrees of Separation,' directed by co-artistic director Ronan Marra. Ouisa Kittredge read somewhere that 'everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people.' When Paul, a young victim of a knife attack, seeks assistance at her family's upper-class New York home, she discovers how true that statement really is.