It’s always an occasion when a new theater space opens with a proven show. On Sunday there’s a consecration of the house as the new Mercury Theatre, located two doors from the Music Box film palace, begins its stage life with “Pope Joan,” the musical that won a 1995 Joseph Jefferson Award for best new work in its inaugural production at Bailiwick Repertory.
The 300-seat Mercury Theatre (and adjoining bar) is the creation of Michael Cullen, partner in the former Cullen, Henaghan and Platt production team and artistic director of Travel Light Productions.
Produced by Michael Butler (film and stage impresario of “Hair”) and directed by composer Christopher Moore, “Pope Joan” exuberantly chronicles the imagined rise and fall of the only female pontiff. A spiritual maiden who adopted a Joan of Arc-like fervor and male attire, Joan becomes a populist reformer, admonishing the current pope to live by Christ’s words and to give the Church’s possessions to the poor.
Despite the territorial ambitions of her lover, the King of France, and the intrigues of greedy cardinals, Joan is appointed cardinal bishop of the poor, then pope, only to be brutally exposed in a church procession. In an act of violence the Church “preserves itself as an inviolate masculine power.”
Inevitably, the legend resonates with today’s national and sexual politics. You can comment on the issues by contacting “Pope Joan” on the Internet at its award-winning web site: http://www.orlok.com.
Dan Stetzel, who worked with Moore on Bailiwick Repertory’s “Son of Fire,” provides the musical direction.
“Pope Joan” has an open run at the Mercury Theatre, 3745 N. Sheffield Ave.; 312-325-1700.
Other theater openings to anticipate:
“Jar the Floor,” Friday, Illinois Theatre Center, 400A Lakewood Blvd., Park Forest; 708-481-3510: Appropriately for a play “in a tasteful ranch-style home in Park Forest,” the center, that southern suburb’s theater troupe, revives Cheryl West’s family drama (first produced in Chicago by Northlight Theatre in 1992).
A blend of raucous comedy and intense drama, this portrait of four generations of African-American women salutes the wisdom of age, the maturity of motherhood and the challenge of a rebellious youth. Steve S. Billig and Ta-Tanisha Payne direct.
“Beast on the Moon,” Friday, Apple Tree Theatre, 595 Elm Pl., Suite 210, Highland Park; 847-432-4335: An entrant in the American Theatre Critics Association’s best new play competition, Richard Kalinoski’s compelling play tells the story of Aram and Seta Tomasian, Armenian immigrants orphaned by the Turkish slaughter of 1915 and “unsettled” in Milwaukee. Tracing their lives from 1921 to 1933, the detailed drama traces the Tomasians’ struggle to exorcise a horrifying past and create a new family. Gary Griffin directs Mervon Mehta and Albena Dodeva (a Bulgarian actress making her U.S. acting debut) as the anguished couple.
“Electra,” Friday, European Repertory Company at Baird Hall Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave.; 312-248-0577: One good adaptation deserves another. Running in repertory with the theater’s long-running production of Steven Berkoff’s resetting of “Agamemnon,” Jean Giraudoux’s “Electra” is another modern-day version of a Greek tragedy. Written in 1937, this lyrically vivid and unashamedly theatrical work interrupts speeches and violates linearity in order to convey the title character, a complex and troubled child disturbed by her family’s dark crime. Dale Goulding directs a cast of nine.
“J.B.,” Saturday, Retro Theatre Company at National Pastime Theater, 4139 N. Broadway; 312-271-2190: Here’s another modern version of an ancient tale. The first professional staging in more than 20 years of Archibald MacLeish’s verse play, Retro’s revival is a retelling of the cautionary biblical story of Job. Here a successful businessman finds his faith in God tested when confronted with terrible and seemingly meaningless afflictions. According to director Blake Cadkin, “J.B.’s story serves as a testament to humankind’s struggle against ignorance, despair and tragedy.”
“Fixin’ To Die: A Visit to the Mind of Lee Atwater,” Tuesday, Pegasus Players at O’Rourke Center, 1145 W. Wilson Ave.; 312-271-2638: After Oliver Stone’s “Nixon,” this play somehow seems much less improbable. Robert Myers offers a dramatic treatment of the life of the former Republican national chairman, who died of cancer in 1991. Crafty at the game of dirty campaigning, Atwater was a political strategist who mastered (or, some would say, perpetrated) attack ads like the Willie Horton commercial that helped to defeat Michael Dukakis in 1988. As is attributed to him, “The most important thing is honesty — once you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” Atwater was at least sincere about his love for country-western music.
Gary Griffin directs Brian Stepanek in this one-man confessional.
“Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years,” Wednesday, Briar Street Theatre, 3133 N. Halsted St.; 312-348-4000: Longevity is more than mere endurance. Adaptor Emily (“The Execution of Justice”) Mann’s critically praised Broadway play celebrates the lives and memories of centenarian sisters Sadie and Bessie Delany, women who watched America change over five generations. Inviting us into their home, these indomitable survivors share their stories of the past, secrets of the present and hope for the future. Frances Foster repeats her Broadway performance as Sadie, and Lizan Mitchell, a standby in that production, is Bessie.
“Carousel,” Wednesday, Rosemont Theatre, 5400 N. River Rd., Rosemont; 312-902-1500: Acclaimed for its gorgeous expressionistic sets and fresh and faithful preservation of an American musical classic, the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1945 masterwork opens a one-week engagement. The musical won five Tony Awards and four Olivier Awards.
Based on Ferenc Molnar’s whimsical drama “Liliom,” the play straddles heaven and earth to unfold the star-crossed romance between Billy, a carnival barker with an unbridled lust for life, and Julie, a poor mill worker who almost gives up on love and then discovers that she’ll “never walk alone.” Nicholas Hytner, who staged “Miss Saigon” and both the theater and film version of “The Madness of King George,” directs this touring production.
“Field Trips,” Thursday, Performing Arts Chicago at Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave.; 312-722-5463: For one night only this collage of America’s hottest performance artists from New York’s Performance Space 122 features storytelling and characterizations by Danny Hoch (whose smash “Some People” played the Organic mainstage last season), comedy by Reno, modern dance by Molissa Fenley and a melange of blues, scats, ditties and African drum rhythms by Tiye Giraud.
In conjunction with the premiere, The Arts Club of Chicago and Performing Arts Chicago will co-host a free public lecture, “Dialogue on the Art of Monologue,” with Danny Hoch and baiduhai chief critic Richard Christiansen from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday in the Arts Club of Chicago, 222 W. Superior St.; for reservations call 312-787-3997.