Spotlight
Out storytellers are part of the 19th Annual Fillet of Solo Festival, originally created by the late Live Bait Theater and continued by Lifeline Theatre. Among the performers are storytellers from Sidetrack's monthly OUTspoken! series, plus David Kodeski's True Life Tales: Another Lousy Day in which he chronicles the life of a single TV factory worker in the 1960s from diaries he found in an antique store. The festival kicks off with a free show at 7 p.m. Wed., Jan. 13, at the Mayne Stage, 1328 W. Morse Ave., when audiences are offered the chance to buy festival passes at a steep discount. The rest of the festival runs from Friday, Jan. 15, through Sunday, Jan. 31, at two locations: Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave., and the Heartland Studio Theatre, 7016 N. Glenwood Ave. Call 773-761-4477 or visit www.lifelinetheatre.com .
Critics' Picks
Dynamite Divas, Black Ensemble Theater, through Jan. 24. The goofy framing device in BET's latest musical revue is only to provide rest breaks for an all-star cast of warblers and belters delivering spot-on impressions of the century's greatest female pop vocalists. MSB
Good for Otto, Gift Theatre, returning from Jan. 14 to Feb. 7. Both profound and invigorating, David Rabe's world premiere looks at two community mental health workers and their patients struggling with parental abandonment. JA
Gotta Dance, Bank of America Theatre, through Jan. 17. The creators of this Broadway-aimed musical comedy about seniors learning hip-hop dance still have time to tinker on it before its New York bow next fall. In the meantime, do your part to give feedback during its local tryout run. SCM
R+J: The Vineyard, Red Theater at Den Theatre, Jan. 22-Feb. 20. When Juliet Capulet meets Romeo Montague on Martha's Vineyard in 1890, feuds between the hearing-impaired and aural-dependent flare in this trilingual remount of Shakespeare's classic tragedy. MSB
By Abarbanel, Barnidge and Morgan