In happier news, Victory Gardens ’ critically acclaimed, knock-your-socks-off production of Kristoffer Diaz’s The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, produced in association with Teatro Vista , is heading to New York’s Second Stage in April. Final word on casting hasn’t been announced, but Edward Torres of Teatro Vista will re-stage the show in its off-Broadway premiere.

And the Chicago cast of Million Dollar Quartet will, as expected, make the move to Broadway in March. The replacement cast for the long-running hit at the Apollo has been announced—Lance Lipinsky (Jerry Lee Lewis), David Lago (Elvis Presley), Gabe Bowling (Carl Perkins), Sean Sullivan (Johnny Cash), Tim Decker (Sam Phillips), and original Chicago cast member Kelly Lamont as Dyanne, Elvis’ girl-of-the-hour. Sullivan and Decker are longtime Chicago theatre vets.

There is high-power wattage on stage in the new Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, starring Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson. But onetime Chicago actor Marco Verna gets his Broadway debut in several smaller parts in the ensemble. Verna won Jeff Awards for best supporting actor in Sharon Evans’ Blind Tasting at Live Bait in 2004 and the same prize in 2001 for his turn in Tennessee Williams’ Not About Nightingales at TimeLine.

New year, new name, new opportunities for Bailiwick Chicago . This weekend and next, the company hosts open-mic fundraisers at Joey’s Brickhouse, across the street from the company’s former longtime home on West Belmont (now the home of Theater Wit ). On Sunday, Jan. 24 and 31, from 8:30 to 11 p.m., you can show off your pipes. A pianist is provided, or you can bring your own back-up. Tickets are $5, and there are drink specials on hand to help ease the nerves. The proceeds benefit the company’s February production of Show Us Your Love at Mary’s Attic.

Also up at Mary’s Attic: BuschFest, a repertory of four early plays by legendary drag theatre artist Charles Busch. In addition to Busch’s well-known Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, the line-up includes more obscure titles, including Sleeping Beauty or Coma, Theodora She-Bitch of Byzantium, and Pardon My Inquisition or Kiss the Blood Off My Castanets. The shows, presented by The Idea Place (a network of artists nationwide, represented locally by Will Rogers—no, not THAT one), run in rotating rep. For information, visit http://www.buschfest.com/.

More open-mic news: The Lakeshore Theatre hosts its first-ever open-mic casting call for stand-up comedians on Saturday, Feb. 6, at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. If you’re interested in trying out your comic chops, e-mail your name and contact info to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . If Lakeshore head honcho Chris Ritter thinks you’re funny enough, you could end up with a slot of your own in the coming months.

If you’ve been told you’re not funny enough, don’t feel bad—you’ve got company. Chemically Imbalanced Comedy is now accepting applications for its annual “SnubFest,” geared for anyone who has ever been left out of a comedy festival. The show goes up in June, and applications are available now at http://www.snubfest.com/. Early deadline (i.e., cheaper application fee) is March 8, and the late applications can be accepted through March 22.

Improv tyros from the college circuit compete this Saturday, Jan. 23, from noon to 4 p.m. in the Third Annual College Improv Tournament—Chicago regional, created by Chicago Improv Festival founder Jonathan Pitts. Six teams from local colleges – Columbia, DePaul, Loyola, Northwestern, University of Illinois-Chicago, and University of Chicago – go mano a mano at pH Productions, with preliminary rounds during the day and the grand finale at 8 P.M.

Charna Halpern and iO celebrate diversity in comedy with Holla, Hola, Heeey, (Oy Vey!) on Friday, Feb. 5. The line-up includes African-American improv/variety troupe Blackout with “token Jew” Seth Weitberg, the Latina sketch duo of Lorena Diaz and Wendy Mateo in “Dominizuelan,” and gay trio “1,2,3…Fag!” Ranjit Souri of the Cupid Players will represent South Asians with a musical number.

Interested in developing solo work? Actors Equity sponsors a free solo performance seminar and workshop on Feb. 27, open to all AEA members. For details, contact Diane Dorsey at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Continuing shows of note: Free Street Theatre extends its production of To Kill a Teenager: Seven Sins of the Juvenile Mind, developed by the ensemble and director Ron Bieganski, through Feb. 27. MPAACT takes on the issue of autism in Aaron Carter’s new play, First Words, running through Feb. 28 under Chuck Smith’s direction at the Greenhouse. (Carter is also the literary manager for Victory Gardens .) British playwright/provocateur Howard Barker is well represented right now, with Minna at Trap Door Theatre through Feb. 13, and The Castle opening this weekend at Oracle Productions and running through March 6. And the first two entries in the sorta-accidental Athol Fugard Festival—TimeLine’s Master Harold . . . and the Boys and The Island at Remy Bumppo open this week as well. (You’ll have to wait until May for Court’s production of Sizwe Banzi is Dead.) Steep produces the U.S. premiere of Simon Stephens’ Harper Regan through Feb. 27.  Stephens’ On the Shore of the Wide World was a hit in fall 2008 for Griffin Theatre Company.

Some public relations changes: Chelsea Keenan steps down from her post as publicist for Next Theatre . She won’t be going into another full-time position for a while, but she will be handling the publicity for the Building Stage ’s ambitious staging of The Ring Cycle. Dalyn A. Miller will take over PR duties for Next until a replacement is hired. And longtime Silverman Group Chicago associate Farrah Malik is taking over fulltime PR duties for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. We wish both of them much good fortune in their new endeavors.

Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre has added the “cabaret” to its name to better reflect its emphasis on intimate musicals (though we’re sure lots of people will still stumble over the pronunciation). Two new board members—Lorraine Dostal of Northwestern University and Richard Moran, a Rogers Park-based CPA, join current board members 49th ward alderman Joe Moore and artistic director Fred Anzevino as the company, which performs at Rogers Park’s No Exit Café, ramps up its long-term growth plans.

As discussions about “Outrageous Fortune” and the future of American playwriting continue to heat up the theatrical blogosphere, the Dramatists Guild extends its writer’s intensive program to Chicago. Five playwrights and five musical theatre writers will participate in the four-day program on Northwestern’s campus this coming September, under the tutelage of Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, Janet Neipris, Susan Miller, Andrea Lepcio, Laura Schellhardt (head of the MFA playwriting program at Northwestern), and Rebecca Gilman (the only Chicago-based member of the DG Council). Writers from the Midwest region will be nominated by local theatres and theatre educators, and those selected will receive presentations of works-in-progress, critiques, and writing assignments. This is the first time this program, now in its 10th year, has reached beyond New York to nurture new writing.

Finally, our personal condolences to the many friends of Effie Mihopoulos, whose death from cancer on Jan. 14 has punched a hole in the heart of the poetry and performance community. (Among many other accomplishments, Mihopoulos was one of the founders of the Bucktown Arts Fest, when that neighborhood was still struggling for recognition as an artistic vortex.) I didn’t know Effie well at all, but I never ran into her at a show without being struck by her energy and commitment and unflagging love of the great variety of work produced by fringe artists in Chicago. She will be missed tremendously.