Theater spotlight
For its first season benefit, Chicago Theatre Workshop is going big with Broadway talent by featuring Tony-wining star LaChanze in her solo Windy City debut. Not only is LaChanze famous for originating the role of Ti Moune in Once on this Island, but she also won her Tony Award for creating the role of Celie in The Color Purple ( 10 years before Cynthia Erivo would win the Tony for the same role ). LaChanze's other Broadway credits include the 1995 revival of Company and starring in the original run of Ragtime. Following her performance, LaChanze is set to meet and mingle with the audience. There's also a cocktail reception and a live auction with the featured prize of premium house seat ticket packages to the Chicago production of Hamilton. LaChanze performs at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 20, at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway. Tickets are $100, $125 or $150; visit ChicagoTheatreWorkshop.org .
Tony Award-winner LaChanze performs for Chicago Theatre Workshop's season benefit on Saturday, Aug. 20. Photo courtesy of Chicago Theatre Workshop
Critics' Picks
Between Riverside and Crazy, Steppenwolf Theatre, through Aug. 21. Time is running out to catch the critically acclaimed Chicago premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis' painfully relevant 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. SCM
Byhalia, Mississippi, Definition Theater & The New Colony at Steppenwolf 1700, through Aug. 21. Don't call them "white trash"these are the people who could elect our next president, these humble citizens struggling to better themselves in a changing world, and their efforts deserve our respect. MSB
Direct From Death Row: The Scottsboro Boys, Raven Theatre, through Aug. 27. If you missed this jolly high-stepping song-and-dance account of an outrageous event in our nation's history last season, come see why its ensemble won a Jeff. MSB
Now. Here. This., Brown Paper Box Co. at Rivendell Theatre, through Aug. 21. FThis scrappy and intimate production fits the ethos of its writers who are capable of making something significant out of nothing. SCM
By Barnidge and Morgan