Jordan Harris, Elle Walker, Spencer Meeks (back row) and Sarah Giovannetti and Isa Arciniegas (front row) in a promotional image for “We’re Gonna Die” at Haven Theatre/Photo: Joe Mazza at Brave Lux

1
Paradise Blue
(TimeLine Theatre Company)
The music of Orbet Davis underscores Dominque Morisseau’s jazz-infused drama about a gifted but troubled trumpeter in Detroit’s Black Bottom neighborhood
Opens May 3

2
We’re Gonna Die
(Haven Theatre)
A singer takes the stage, backed by her rock-band compatriots, to share Young Jean Lee’s life-affirming show about the one thing we all have in common: death
Opens May 7

3
Chicago Home Theater Festival
(Various Locations)
The city-wide festival invites strangers into each other’s homes to share a communal meal, experience transformative art and build intentional community across lines of difference
Begins May 14

4
The River Bride
(Halcyon Theatre)
Three days before a wedding, a mysterious stranger is pulled out of the river—a man with no past who offers two sisters an alluring, possibly dangerous future
Opens May 18

5
Great Expectations
(Remy Bumppo Theatre Company & Silk Road Rising)
This bold reimagining of Dickens’ classic is set in nineteenth-century Calcutta during the British Raj
Opens May 20