Quest Theatre Ensemble hosts a fundraiser tonight for their upcoming production of Evolution/Creation. It’s at The Call, 1547 N. Bryn Mawr, 7:30-10:30 p.m. $5 suggested donation gets you drink specials and music from the show and SheBoom Chicago, an all-female drum troupe.

If all-female wrestling is more your style (really, isn’t that everybody’s style?), then check out Sideshow Theatre Company ’s “Chicago League of Lady Arm Wrestlers” on Feb. 19 at the Mystic Celt, 3443 N. Southport, 9 p.m.-midnight. The benefit for Rock for Kids, a nonprofit that provides music education to underserved youth, features the intense arm-wrestling rivalries of CLLAW, raffle prizes, and an open bar for $25 (for $5, you get a cash bar with drink specials). Make reservations online.

Another benefit for the young’uns, but with less arm-twisting: cabaret singer Rob Dorn performs his one-man show, I Got Gershwin, at Skokie Theatre on Feb. 7 (this Sunday) at 2 p.m. The proceeds will help provide scholarships for a new summer youth program at the venue. Call 847/677-7761 for more info.

Metropolis Performing Arts Centre also provides some cabaret goodness on Feb. 15, 7:30 p.m., in A Night of All-Star Cabaret. Performers from many past Metropolis shows warble numbers from Cabaret, Damn Yankees, Baby, and many more. Proceeds go to the Metropolis Outreach program, which helps make arts programs free or nearly free to children and adults. Tix are $25 (stage tables $35), and can be reserved at 847/577-2121 or online.

No, it doesn’t describe Rush Limbaugh’s antics at the Miss America Pageant: Wildclaw Theatre , purveyors of fine onstage horror, offer “Dance of the Demented” on Feb. 20, which benefits the company’s next trip to the dark side, William Peter Blatty’s Legion (based on the sequel to Blatty’s The Exorcist), which opens on March 15. The “horror, madness, and art” unfolds at the Viaduct, 3111 N. Western, from 9 p.m. to midnight, and in addition to DJs, costumes, and special makeup sessions (I said MAKEUP, you pervs), you can also watch illustrators create scary images right in front of your eyes. There will also be burlesque for those of you who prefer something lighter. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door and can be reserved online. Oh, and the company promises a priest will be at the bar to help with any unforeseen demonic possessions.

What’s more warming than a good hearty bowl of chili? In addition to encouraging all of you to check out Soup and Bread—the brainchild of former Reader editor Martha Bayne (who is also a company member of the Magpies and a frequent designer for Theater Oobleck )—every Wednesday night at the Hideout (proceeds benefit various food pantries), you can also enjoy some hearty Tex-Mex grub, courtesy of Bruised Orange Theatre Company. The company’s fourth annual chili cook-off takes off Feb. 27 at Montrose Saloon, 2933 W. Montrose. $10 for all-you-can-eat, $5 if you bring your own pot of spicy goodness, which puts you in a raffle for Blackhawks tickets. Proceeds benefit the company, but a canned food drive happening at the same time goes to the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Bruised Orange also has added new company members, welcoming Wes Clark, Katy Peterson, and Garrett Prejean as artistic associates, Steve Fluet as an intern in business development, and Alison Connelly as a member of the “creative ensemble.”

Remy Bumppo Theatre Company will give ’em the ooh-la-la on Feb. 28, noon-3 p.m, at the Cathedral Room of the University Club of Chicago, 76 E. Monroe. The benefit, “Une Celebration de Nos Amis,” has a French theme in keeping with the company’s upcoming presentation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. $200 per person or $250 per couple includes a French brunch and a sneak preview of the plays in the 2010-11 season. Call 773/244-8119 for reservations or go online.

Finally, if you want to get a jump on spring cleaning and help out a new theatre company at the same time, Clockwise Theatre , which is planting its flag in Waukegan, would love to hear from you. Any time in February, drop off the stuff you don’t want any more at Net Sells It at the corner of Washington and Riverside in Gurnee between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m Monday through Friday or 10 a.m. to 5 p.m Saturday. (Hey, you can fill the newly empty spots in your closet with a trip to Gurnee Mills!) Tell them it’s for Clockwise, they’ll sell it on eBay, Clockwise gets the cash, and you get a donation receipt for next year’s taxes. If you don’t think you can make the trip, contact Madelyn Sergel at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and she’ll see if she can get you on a pick-up at home on Feb. 13 or Feb. 27.

Extensions! If you’ve been dragging your heels, you can still try to get into some of these fine shows. First, Writers’ Theatre will run its glorious production of Oh Coward! through April 18. Brandon Dahlquist has replaced John Sanders in the cast, joining Kate Fry, Rob Lindley, and the indefatigable Doug Peck at the ivories. Rivendell Theatre Ensemble extends its production of Stephen Massicotte’s World War I drama, Mary’s Wedding, through March 6 at the Raven. Steep Theatre ’s acclaimed production of Simon Stephens’ Harper Regan now goes through March 28. And Redtwist Theatre announces yet another extension for its blistering production of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman, directed by Kimberly Senior—it now runs through March 14.

Silk Road Theatre Project has a fascinating new show on the boards in March—The DNA Trail: A Genealogy of Short Plays about Ancestry, Identity, and Utter Confusion. What’s behind that long beguiling title is a series of one-acts written by playwrights from the Silk Road Diaspora—Philip Kan Gotanda, Velina Hasu Houston, David Henry Hwang, Jamil Khoury (also Silk Road’s artistic director), Shishir Kurup, Lina Patel, and Elizabeth Wong. All of them took a genealogical DNA test to find just who they are, and what it means for their sense of ethnic identity. You can get a sneak peak on Feb. 12, 1 p.m, at Columbia College Chicago, Television Studio A, 600 S. Michigan, Rm. 1501. Tickets are free, but reservations are suggested at the website.

The New Colony opens 11:11, their Jesus Camp extravaganza penned by Tara Sissom and Evan Linder, this Monday, Feb. 8, at the Victory Gardens Biograph Studio (soon to be the Richard Christiansen Theatre). New Colony also scored $25,000 in the first round of that Chase Bank contest that everybody on your Facebook page was bugging you about for weeks—Sideshow was the other local theatre recipient of the Round One social networking cash bonanza.

Onetime Chicago writer Jamie Pachino, who is now based in L.A. with her peripatetic sound designer husband, Lindsay Jones (a member of the American Blues Theater ensemble) snagged the 2009 Primus Prize from the American Theatre Critics Association. Pachino’s play Splitting Infinity, about an astrophysicist who tries to prove the existence of God through science, earned her the $10,000 purse—it was originally commissioned by Steppenwolf and has been presented at Geva Theatre, San Jose Rep, Florida Stage, and elsewhere. The deadline for the 2010 Primus Prize (named in honor of Francesca Primus, a writer and dramaturg) is Feb. 28—information is available at http://www.americantheatrecritics.org/PrimusAward_Info.pdf.

In Steppenwolf news, ensemble member Joan Allen will be the inaugural honoree at “Steppenwolf Salutes Women in the Arts” on Tuesday, Feb. 23, noon, at the Chicago Cultural Center. Artistic director Martha Lavey will interview Allen at the luncheon program, which benefits the company’s Professional Leadership Program for arts administration. Call 312/654-5632 for information about ticket prices or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Joyce Foundation honored Steppenwolf and The Old Town School of Folk Music in its 2010 Joyce Awards. Old Town’s grant will go for a commission to African American string band, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, to create a new multimedia performance piece about black performers in vaudeville called Kingdom Coming, while Steppenwolf’s goes toward playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney (whose The Brother/Sister Plays are currently tearing it up in the upstairs theatre) to develop a new play based on the biblical book of Job.

Theatre in Chicago expands its franchise to L.A. with—what else?—“Theatre in L.A.” Site editor/proprietor Mark Meyer recognized how many Chicagoans make the trek westward and figured that what works here might be a good addition to the virtual media and arts scene in Hollywood.

Finally, playwright and lyricist Cheri Coons gave us our laugh for the week with this anecdote. While waiting in line for the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at the Walter Kerr Theatre (the show starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury, if you hadn’t heard), Coons overheard the following from a couple behind her and another female patron.

WIFE (To WOMAN behind her): Who are you coming for?

WOMAN: I don’t understand.

WIFE: Who are you coming to the show for? I’m coming for Angela. (Indicating her husband.) He’s coming for Catherine.

HUSBAND: No, dear. I’m coming for you.

As Cheri notes, “That covers pretty much everything you need to know about marketing a Broadway musical these days.”

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