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
