Speaking of the Mercury, owner/producer Michael Cullen needs some help from his friends. Cullen, whose many contributions to Chicago theatre include co-founding the now-defunct Travel Light Theater Company, Theatre Building Chicago, the Royal George Theatre, and producing many hits with Cullen, Henaghan, and Platt in the 1980s, suffered a major stroke in January. He doesn’t have insurance and he needs a lot of care as he goes through rehabilitation. A benefit for Cullen will be held at the Royal George on April 19, with a suggested donation of $50, and you can also send some bucks to http://www.michaelcullenrecoveryfund.org/Michael_Cullen_Recovery_Fund/Home.html.

Eclipse Theatre Company honors patron (and TimeLine Theatre Company managing director) Elizabeth K. Auman with their second annual “Eclipse Corona Award” at a benefit this Sunday at noon at Marcello’s, 645 W. North Ave. $80 covers brunch and sneak-peek performances from the company’s upcoming season devoted to Arthur Miller, which kicks off on March 25 with the Chicago premiere of his late play, Resurrection Blues. During her tenure with Victory Gardens , Auman was instrumental in helping the resident companies in what is now the Greenhouse Theater , including Eclipse.

Tympanic Theatre Company hosts a karaoke fundraiser on Wednesday, March 10, 8-10 p.m. at the Spot, 4437 N. Broadway. $20 gets you an open bar and a chance to show off that killer version of “Wind Beneath My Wings” you’ve been warbling in the shower for years. Funds raised help support the company’s upcoming production of Dan Caffrey’s Ozma & Harriet, which opens March 25 at The Side Project . More professional vocalizing will undoubtedly be on hand at “Time and Music: Looking Back, Moving Forward” on Saturday, March 13, which benefits Porchlight Music Theatre . Tickets for the gala, held at the Hilton Chicago’s Boulevard Room, are $125 each and include dinner, dancing, and performances of favorites from the last 15 years of Porchlight shows.

On March 14, Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights roasts village prosecutor Ernie Blomquist in a fundraiser. Tickets range from $50-$70, and the lineup of roasters includes town mayor Arlene J. Mulder.

Hobo Junction invites you to show off your talent—green or otherwise—at the “Patty O’Hobo’s Talent McShowbo” on March 17 (of course). This too is at the Spot, and tickets are $15—unless you want to work your magic for three minutes on stage, in which case you get in free and your jeering/supportive friends will pay to see you.

Trap Door Theatre hosts a rockin’ evening at Phyllis’ Musical Inn, 1800 W. Division, on March 19. The benefit raises money to take last year’s production of A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians to … Romania! Tickets are $10, which covers “live music, talent show, raffle prizes, and general European mayhem.”

After years of struggle to find their own space (much of which was documented in a series of articles for Performink by artistic director Jeremy Wechsler), Theater Wit is ready to open the doors on a home of their own. Located in the old Bailiwick space (before it was Bailiwick Chicago ), the space also provides new homes for Bohemian Theatre Ensemble , Shattered Globe , and Stage Left Theatre . The sign is now up on the venue, and Theater Wit opens with the world premiere of Penny Penniston’s comedy Spin on April 17.

More yuk-yuks on W. Belmont: ComedySportz opens its 7th annual “March Madness” improv tournament. We don’t know if there are improv folks placing side bets (“Gambling? In Chicago? I’m shocked. Shocked!), but you can root for your favorites in each bracket right up until the championship match on Saturday, March 20 at 10 p.m.

Black Ensemble Theater has been known for its tributes to black singers and songwriters, but the company pays homage to a pair of legendary hoofers in My Brother’s Keeper (The Story of the Nicholas Brothers), opening in previews on March 13. Rueben Echoles and RaShawn Thompson step into the tap shoes of Fayard and Harold Nicholas. (And if you’d like to know what a challenge that is, check out this clip of Cab Calloway’s “Jumpin’ Jive” from 1943’s Stormy Weather, which Fred Astaire once called the best dance sequence ever captured on film.)

Other openings of note: this weekend, Theo Ubique unveils a rare revival of Chess, the Cold War-era rock musical by Tim Rice and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson (long before Mamma Mia!) Fred Anzevino and Brenda Didier co-direct, with the latter working her trademark small-space choreographic magic. National Pastime Theatre also tackles a big show in a small space with a revival of Elmer Rice’s monumental Street Scene, previewing March 15. Lifeline Theatre presents a world premiere of Chicago playwright/actor Nambi E. Kelley’s The Blue Shadow, a musical featuring a score by Joe Plummer and based on world folktales, opening on March 14. The book and CD are both available for sale in the lobby and the creators will be on hand to sign copies at the noon opening on the 14th.

Another purveyor of children’s theatre, Adventure Stage Chicago , announces the formation of a new 11-member artistic ensemble. The new ASC regulars are: Tom Arvetis, Brian Bell,  Brandon Campbell, Sarah Rose Graber, Laura Kollar, Jessica Kuehnau, Allison Latta, Scott Letscher, Jana Liles, Merissa Shunk, and Brandon Wardell. The company opens a pirate musical, The Ghosts of Treasure Island, in April. And the kids at Special Gifts Theatre get a treat next weekend, when KayCee Stroh (“Martha” from the Disney High School Musical franchise) rehearses with them in their own production.

No Chicago playwrights are on the finalists’ list this year for the American Theatre Critics Association Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award, but one writer—Michele Lowe—made history by being the first playwright to have two works nominated in the same year. Karen Zacarias, whose play The Sins of Sor Juana will open at the Goodman Theatre in June, made the cut with her play Legacy of Light.

Chicago Writers Bloc announces a new online playwright database featuring work by former Chicago Reader staff writer John Conroy (My Kind of Town), musical theatre writer Joanne Koch (Belle Barth: If I Embarrass You, Tell Your Friends), June Finfer (whose play The Glass House, based on Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House, was profiled in The New Yorker), producer/playwright Charles Grippo, and playwright/novelist Jill Elaine Hughes. Information about nearly 60 plays and their creators is available through the site.

Another Chicago writer has received some attention from New York. Emilie Beck, whose one-man Holocaust piece, Number of People, starring her father, Bernard Beck, opens Monday night at Piven Theatre , received a write-up on Feb. 26 by Jessica Reaves.

More opportunities for Chicago writers—at least the female ones under 40: Achy Obejas, former critic and journalist for the Tribune and the Reader and a successful novelist, and cultural studies scholar Megan Bayles have teamed up to edit Partner Dance Press. The online anthology is now accepting submissions from women writers, composers, performers, and text-based artists about “the breadth of the city in the 21st century.” You can submit via Facebook or e-mail them at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Deadline is June 15.

Submitting your work via Facebook is just one sign of how social media outlets have taken over the arts world. If you’re having trouble negotiating all the hairpin turns on the road of this brave new world, Urban Theater Company can help. The company hosts “Social Media and the Stage” on April 5 at Batey Urbano, 2620 W. Division, from 7-10 p.m. Leah Jones of Natiiv Arts and Media conducts the workshop, which is $100 for early-bird registrants and $130 for late adopters. And yes, of course there is a Facebook page!

If you want to show off your variety-show chops, head over to auditions for Blewt!’s Impress These Apes, which will be held throughout the day on April 11, with a special callback at ComedySportz on May 3rd. To schedule an appointment, e-mail a bio and headshot to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

“A Prairie Home Companion” hosts a Battle of the Bands talent contest (because nothing says “headbanging” like “Garrison Keillor”). Send digital entries by 5 p.m. Central Standard Time Monday, March 8 (yes, that’s this Monday, slackers!), to http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/. Finalists will appear on the April 17 broadcast and will receive round-trip airfare and hotel accommodations in Newark. (A trip to Newark is the prize?)

Steppenwolf Theatre is now accepting applications for its 2010 Professional Leadership Program for those brave souls interested in dipping a toe into the arts-management waters. Info is at http://www.steppenwolf.org/work/internships/index.aspx.

Village Players Theatre welcomes storyteller, actor, and director Megan Wells as a new artistic associate—and their first. Wells’ version of Dracula has become a favorite for the company, and she directed William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker earlier this season.

League of Chicago Theatres hosts the Chicago Producing Intensive Conference March 19-21 at the Goodman Theatre ’s Owen space. League members interested in learning more about commercial producing possibilities and other development and marketing strategies can attend for $275, non-members will have to pony up $350. Panelists and speakers include Goodman executive director Roche Schulfer, Chicago Shakespeare executive director Criss Henderson, Steppenwolf Theatre executive director David Hawkanson, longtime Chicago theatre producer and marketer Eileen LaCario, and Steve Traxler of Jam Theatricals. You can register online at http://www.commercialtheaterinstitute.com/3day-chicago.html.

Redmoon Theatre extends its hit production of The Cabinet through April 4th, and Bailiwick Chicago runs Show Us Your Love on Sundays through March at Mary’s Attic, 5400 N. Clark.

Former Time Out Chicago theatre editor Christopher Piatt has been busy in his post-critical life curating a new (and free) performance/living newspaper series, “Paper Machete,” at Ricochets Tavern, 4644 N. Lincoln. Every Saturday at 3 p.m., you can check out Chicago artists, writers, actors, musicians, and poets as they creatively hold forth on issues of the day. This weekend’s lineup includes Time Out Chicago film writer Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips (who just made an appearance on “Charlie Rose”), and longtime performance poet and “Big Goddess Pow-Wow” co-founder Lisa Buscani, among others.

Finally, we send our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Chicago actor J. David Moeller, who took his own life on Feb. 19 at age 64. A vet of productions with Seanachai Theatre , among others, Moeller was also a frequent commenter at Neil Steinberg’s column for the Sun-Times, and Steinberg wrote about Moeller in a column on Feb. 24. We hope that wherever he is, David has found peace.

Beware the Ides of March, and send items to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it