Welcome to the Tribune’s new weekly theater news column, beginning this week.
Shattered Globe has announced that Ian Frank will be its new producing artistic director. The long-lived Chicago theater company, currently in residence at Theater Wit, had been searching for a successor to longtime artistic director Sandy Shiner. Frank has directed at numerous small Chicago theater companies and has most recently been working at Evanston’s much-loved Mudlark Theater Company, a youth theater group.
About Face Theater will produce the Chicago premiere of Michael R. Jackson’s intense and unusual Broadway musical “A Strange Loop” in the fall. With direction by Mikael Burke, the show is billed as a co-production with Raven Theatre and is slated for an October opening at Raven, 6157 N. Clark St. About Face is also readying the Midwest premiere of “i never asked for a gofundme” by Jayne Deely. That one is slated for March of next year, also at Raven.
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Several Chicago actors will make their Broadway debuts in “Paranormal Activity,” set to open in New York this fall. It’s a reminder of how important it is for local artists for shows to begin here, as did Levi Holloway’s creepy thriller at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Cher Álvarez will reprise her role as Lou and Travis A. Knight will play James. Even the understudies, Caron Buinis, Caroline Hendricks and Michael Holding, are going to Broadway, too.
TimeLine Theatre is enjoying both its new building and a big hit with its production of “An Enemy of the People,” which is now extended through June 27. The theater says no further extension is possible. Up next at TimeLine is Jessica Huang’s “The Birth of the Pill,” based on the book by Jonathan Eig, but that’s not until September. Surely it would have made sense to keep “An Enemy of the People” going into July. Lots of people have yet to experience the building.
Writers Theatre Chicago has extended “Leopoldstadt” even before it opens. It’s now playing through Aug. 9; it may yet go longer. “Job” is sticking around, too. That edgy thriller now plays through July 5. Meanwhile, Raven Theatre has extended “Octet,” a huge hit for them, through June 28. But shows are mostly sold out already. The Goodman Theatre has also added two weeks to the upcoming summer run of “Iceboy!” That attraction now closes on Aug. 9. For now. Star Nick Offerman is slated to do the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley Field on Wednesday night.
Gift Theatre has announced a show for the summer: “Marble” by Marina Carr, a play about two married couples that will be directed by Kay Martinovich. Performances will begin Aug. 2 at the Copernicus Center, 5216 W. Lawrence Ave. The cast includes Brittany Burch, Cyd Blakewell, Paul D’Addario and John Gawlik.
Northlight Theatre has raised a vertical marquee on its new Evanston home, located at 1012 Church St. in Evanston, while Black Ensemble Theater is completing construction on its long-awaited new studio theater in its home at 4450 N. Clark St. for a projected September opening. The next show on the mainstage there is a reprise of “Men of Soul,” opening June 28.
Two memorials for major figures in Chicago theater have been scheduled. The late William Pullinsi, founder of the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, will be celebrated June 29 at 6:30 p.m. at the Broadway Playhouse, 175 E. Chestnut St., while the actor Matt DeCaro will be remembered in an event at the Goodman Theatre on June 15 at 5:30 p.m.
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“Theater of the Mind” in an open run by the Goodman at the Reid Murdoch Building; “Going Bacharach: The Songs of an Icon” through July 19 at the Apollo Theater; “Job” through July 5 at Writers Theatre; “Octet” through June 28 at Raven Theatre; “Pandemonium, Please Hold” in an open run on the Second City Mainstage; “An Enemy of the People” through June 27 at TimeLine Theatre; “South Pacific” through June 14 at the Paramount Theatre; “Damn Yankees
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” through July 5 at Theo Ubique Theatre.Chris Jones is a Tribune critic