Stage Top 5: January 2019

Chaon Cross, “Photograph 51″/Photo: Joe Mazza at Brave Lux

1
I Call My Brothers
(Interrobang Theatre Project)
Balancing paranoia and humor, Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s nuanced account dares us to question our perceptions and prejudices while offering a singular and harrowing take on the labyrinth of global identity politics.
Opens January 7

2
Cardboard Piano
(TimeLine Theatre Company)
The Chicago premiere of the breakout hit of 2016’s Humana Festival of New American Plays, Hansol Jung’s powerful story of faith, love and the human capacity for forgiveness is set amidst violent conflict in northern Uganda.
Opens January 16

3
Red Rex
(Steep Theatre)
The second of three world premieres from Ike Holter scheduled for the 2018-19 season follows an ambitious theater company whose attempts at breaking big are challenged when the ensemble realizes the source material of their explosive new play might not be as original as they had assumed.
Opens January 24

4
In the Blood
(Red Tape Theatre)
Suzan-Lori Parks’ provocative riff on “The Scarlet Letter” is an unflinching look at how we judge each other, how we separate from each other and how we determine what is “otherness.”
Opens January 25

5
Photograph 51
(Court Theatre)
The work of British chemist Rosalind Franklin, who provided the key to the DNA double helix discovery, is the subject of Anna Ziegler’s complex story of an ambitious female scientist in a world of men, her pursuit of the secret of life and her forgotten accomplishments. 
Opens January 26