If you’re a budding filmmaker, you should certainly know about the Midwest Independent Film Festival by now. You have a shot at seeing your work onscreen with the festival’s Second Annual Advertising Community Shorts Festival this fall, presented with the Association of Independent Commercial Producers. The submission deadline is July 31, and information is on the website.

InFusion Theatre Company has been fiddling around with video in its productions for some time. The company’s world-premiere production of Randall Colburn’s Ghostbox opens its season in October, just in time for Halloween, and promises to incorporate creepy film effects in this otherworldly love story. Colburn’s Hesperia is running through August 14 with the Right Brain Project , which is dedicating its entire season to his plays. The InFusion season also includes Qui Nguyen’s Soul Samurai, a martial-arts, hip-hop, and multimedia-heavy tale of a female samurai fighting for survival on the post-apocalyptic mean streets of New York. Nguyen’s love of twisted superhero lore was also on display a few seasons ago in the Theater Wit production of his play Men of Steel.

Profiles Theatre also knows all about ass-kicking. Now that they’ve finally closed their long-running revival of Tracy Letts’ Killer Joe, the company is focusing on next season. Their fruitful association with Neil LaBute continues with the Midwest premiere of Reasons to be Pretty, directed by Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member Rick Snyder (who also did the honors for Killer Joe). LaBute will also pop up for one-evening talkback and reading in January, where perhaps his penchant for responding to critics online will come up for discussion. Or not. The other shows in Profiles’ eclectic season include the return of Will Kern with the world premiere of Kid Sister. Kern’s Hellcab was one of the longest running shows in Chicago history. Michael Weller’s Fifty Words gets its Midwest premiere, and the Midwest premiere of Deidre O’Connor’s Jailbait (developed with the help of Weller) opens the season in September.

Links Hall announces its 2010-11 lineup of artistic associates. Dexter Bullard and the teams of Abra Johnson and Meidra McNeal and Marty McConnell and Robbie Q. Telfer will work to create new interdisciplinary pieces out of an intensive R and D process. Bullard’s piece, The Dialogues, is based on “a series of improvised intimate phone calls between two well-known Chicago performers, who are unknown to each other.” The audience listens in on headphones. The aural voyeurism (if that’s not a contradiction in terms) will run for nine Mondays this fall, beginning September 13. (If Bullard ropes Blago into this, it will truly be a coup!)

In dance news, the Joffrey Ballet has announced a change in its 2010-11 season. Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow, a Midwest premiere, replaces the previously announced production of John Cranko’s The Taming of the Shrew. (Perhaps Neil LaBute wanted too much money to write a framing device for the latter. What? Why yes, that is a dead horse you say—what of it?) In addition to the seasonal presentation of The Nutcracker, the Joffrey will also offer a program of classic work by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Christopher Wheeldon in the fall, and new work by Edward Liang and Yuri Possokhov and a Joffrey premiere by Julia Adam in the spring.

If you prefer your dance al fresco (or at least close to it), the Dance in the Parks series is for you. It kicks off on Tuesday, July 27, at Indian Boundary Park in West Rogers Park, and continues on Thursday, July 29 at the South Shore Cultural Center, Tuesday, August 3 at the Douglas Park Flower Garden Pavilion in North Lawndale, and Thursday, August 5 at the Humboldt Park Boat House. All shows begin at 6:30pm, with pre-show work by young dancers in the communities, and admission is free. More information at http://www.danceintheparks.org/.

If you find yourself in Elgin and want to stretch your feet and your mind, take in the third annual “Walkabout: Theater on Your Feet” event. Several Elgin companies, including Janus Theatre, Nothing Special Productions, Vex Theatre, Envision Theatre, and the Great American Artistic Consortium, will present original short plays in different environmental settings scattered around downtown Elgin. Tickets are $15 and tours leave every 20 minutes from 1 p.m. to 2:20 p.m. on July 31, August 7, and August 14. Find out more at http://www.elginwalkabout.blogspot.com/ or at 847/841-1713. Reservations are “absolutely essential.”

A Chicago favorite returns July 29. Live Bait Theater gave up its longtime Wrigleyville home to The Artistic Home a couple of years ago, but their signature event, the Fillet of Solo Festival, will run through August 21 in association with Lifeline Theatre . In addition to the beloved all-female monologue collective The Sweat Girls (which includes Lifeline artistic director Dorothy Milne among its membership), the festival line-up offers work-in-progress from Nicole Hollander of “Sylvia” fame; a revised version of Wiggerlover by James Anthony Zoccoli, in which the Strawdog Theatre associate recounts his life as the stepson of a black man; and “The Best of Tekki Lomnicki.” Lomnicki, the founder of Tellin' Tales Theatre , also receives the James Grigsby Award for Excellence in the Art of Solo Performance at a special ceremony at Theater Wit on Saturday, August 21, at 7 p.m. Tickets for that event are $50 VIP, $35 regular admission.

In other Lifeline news, the company has added Chris Hainsworth and Christopher M. Walsh to its artistic ensemble. Both were most recently seen in the company’s lauded (and much-extended) adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. Lifeline also joins forces with Raven Theatre , The Side Project , and Theo Ubique for the Rogers Park flex pass program. The $50, four-show pass will be on sale for $45 during the Glenwood Avenue Arts Festival, August 21-22. Otherwise, you can purchase it at each theatre’s box office or through http://www.rogersparkflexpass.com. Dining discounts are also part of the plan.

If you’re looking to pick up some cheap second-hand goods for someone moving into student housing—or just for yourself in these budget-conscious times—head over to the Caffeine Theatre Yard Sale this Saturday, July 24, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at 7048 N. Paulina. If that doesn’t exhaust you, you can also help Citadel Theatre raise money with “Casino Royale” on Saturday night, 7-11 p.m. at 1250 Longmeadow Lane in Lake Forest. Tickets are $100 and include dinner, a drink coupon, and $25 in chips, along with entertainment. RSVP at the website or call 847/735-8554.

Season of Concern hosts a benefit on Sunday, August 8, at the Village Theatre Guild, on Park Boulevard and Butterfield Road in Glen Ellyn. The music of the Gershwins and Elton John gets a hearing at two performances, 3 and 7 p.m.. It’s $20 suggested donation and you can reserve tickets at 708/660-9054.

In keeping with the First Lady’s initiative to incorporate healthy eating habits for kids, Democracy Burlesque hosts “Eat Me,” an evening of sketch comedy examining the politics of food, running Tuesdays, 7:30 p.m. at Mary’s Attic in Andersonville, 5400 N. Clark, July 27-August 10. $15 general admission, which includes “1 drink of choice,” or $10 for “teetotalers and under 21.” Proceeds benefit the Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble Kids Project, dedicated to teaching local kids about the importance of nutrition.

American Theater Company partners with Black Box Acting Studio (http://blackboxacting.com/) in Unplugged, a repertory of three new plays in rotating rep, performed by the Meisner-based students at Black Box. The pieces are Goldstar, Ohio by Michael Tisdale; Hot Georgia Sunday by Catherine Trieschmann; and We Three by Mary Hamilton. Performances are July 26 at 6 p.m. and July 28 at 9 p.m.

Angela McMahon, founder and executive producer for Chemically Imbalanced Comedy , is stepping down from that post. Sarah Borer, who has been with CIC since 2003, will serve as interim managing director. McMahon is expecting her second child and beginning the directing program at Second City , as well as running a management company, Radar Talent (not to be confused with the site that unleashed the Mel Gibson tapes upon the world). McMahon will continue with CIC as a company member and as the marketing director.

Goodman Theatre resident artistic associate Henry Godinez has been named by Governor Patrick Quinn to the Illinois Arts Council . He will serve a four-year term. Godinez’s many accomplishments, in addition to being a co-founder of Teatro Vista , include curating the biennial Latino Theatre Festival at the Goodman. This year’s installment ends Sunday.

A few extension notices: Annoyance Theatre ’s “uncensored” sketch show, Swear Jar, directed by Mick Napier, now goes through September 4, and the Lizzie Borden comedy, 40 Whacks, will keep slaying them through October 1. David Cromer’s staging of Cherrywood for Mary Arrchie Theatre has added a few performances and will now close on August 8, and Lookingglass Theatre keeps Lookingglass Alice up in the air through August 29.

Silk Road Theatre Project ’s Al Kasida staged reading series offers an intriguing piece next month. Michael Najjar’s Talib, based on the late Wendy Wasserstein’s last play Third (which was also the last play ever produced at Apple Tree Theatre), takes place on a university campus following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. A professor of Near Eastern Studies accuses a young reserve soldier in her class of plagiarism. The readings take place on Saturday, August 14 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, August 15, at 2 p.m. Tickets are free, but reservations recommended at 312/857-1234, ext. 201, or by e-mailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . A Q and A with Najjar and SRTP artistic director Jamil Khoury follows.

Hobo Junction seeks submissions for the 2nd Annual Hobo-Robo New Comedic Works Festival, to be held October 11-13. Submissions of original 10-minute pieces (7-10 pages) are due Friday, August 6, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Directors and actors can also submit resumes and headshots at the same address, which is also where you should shoot any queries about the festival.

September 1 is the deadline for paper proposals for next spring’s “Chicago—Theatre Capital of America” symposium at Columbia College. E-mail proposals and questions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

You can’t get a man with a gun, but Patti LuPone proves why she’s one of the most decorated veterans of the stage in the Ravinia Festival production of Annie Get Your Gun on August 13. She’s also appearing at Ravinia with Michael Cerveris, George Hearn, and Audra McDonald on July 31 in a salute to Stephen Sondheim in his 80th year. On August 9, LuPone takes home the Sarah Siddons Award in a ceremony at the Ritz Carlton. Mary Beth Fisher gets a nod as “Chicago’s Leading Lady” at the same ceremony in recognition of her performance in Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking at Court Theatre , and Dominic Missimi of Northwestern University will receive a special tribute from his musical theatre students in recognition of his many years as a teacher and director. The proceeds of the black-tie gala benefit the Sarah Siddons Society’s scholarship fund.

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