The fall theater season is packed with new shows both off-Loop and downtown; the list below charts a sampling of openings over the next three months, beginning September 14. What it doesn’t include are productions that are already under way–from the Rhinoceros Theater Festival (a sprawling showcase of fringe performance up through early November) to such long-running hits as Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, Blue Man Group, Late Nite Catechism, Shear Madness, Wicked, and Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit. Many companies offer discounted season subscriptions, and most theaters offer cheap seats via the League of Chicago Theatres’ “Hot Tix” program; see hottix.org.
Dog & Pony Theatre Company premieres Paul Oakley Stovall’s play about a teenage boy obsessed with elephants, aliens, and his own body. | Through 10/14 | dogandponychicago.org
Playwright-filmmaker Neil LaBute’s comedy, about a man’s odyssey across America to “right some wrongs” with five ex-girlfriends, opens Profiles’ season of LaBute scripts. | Through 10/28 | profilestheatre.org
The Magnificents | Viaduct Theater
Suddenly, Last Summer |
Next Theatre Company
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Shishir Kurup’s reworking of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice employs Bollywood-style musical numbers while addressing Hindu-Muslim tensions in Los Angeles. | Through 11/4 | srtp.org
