Theater spotlight
Sean Graney directs and adapts a modern take on Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus for The Hypocrites called Johanna Faustus. The hour-long piece deploys six actors who also serve as the design team in this morality play questioning how a woman trades away her soul for success and power. Johanna Faustus continues at the Den Theatre's Heath Main Stage, 1329 N. Milwaukee Ave. Remaining performances are at 8 p.m. Friday, May 27, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, May 28, and 3 p.m. Sunday, May 29. Tickets are $36 and $15 for students; visit The-hypocrites.com for more information.
Critics' Picks
Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf, Writers Theatre, Glencoe, through July 31. Tim Ryder and Tim Sniffen's comic mashup of great U.S. theater dramas by the likes of Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee and Thornton Wilder is a laugh riot. SCM
Once in a Lifetime, Strawdog Theatre Company, through June 4. What could be more appropriate for a final farewell to this venerable loft theater than a screwball comedy about rolling with the changes and moving on? MSB
The Producers, Mercury Theater Chicago, through June 26. Go and laugh your head off at director L. Walter Sterns' masterful stage reduction of Mel Brooks' mammoth 2001 Broadway musical hit. SCM
Sender, A Red Orchid, extended through June 4. In Ike Holter's new comedy, four millennials must decide whether to be adults or fall under a charming slacker's spell. It's a little short on substance but the characters are sharply-drawn and Holter's comic riffs are potent. Superbly played and directed ( Shade Murray ). JA
By Abarbanel, Barnidge and Morgan