If you’re looking to mix it up this weekend, head over to Theater Wit for the first Chicago Theatre (Anti) Conference, designed in part as a response to June’s TCG conference in Chicago, and in part as a return to the old days of League of Chicago Theatres ’ annual retreat. A host of speakers and panelists from companies large (Martha Lavey of Steppenwolf Theatre , Roche Schulfer of Goodman Theatre ), and small (Don Hall of WNEP ) will hold forth on the challenges and controversies swirling around our two-fisted community of theatermakers. I’ll be on a panel on Saturday at 10 a.m., moderated by Tony Adams of Halcyon Theatre , on theatre festivals. The entire shindig costs $32, including lunch and dinner. More info online or at 773/975-8150.

If outdoors is more your thing this weekend, then the Ninth Annual Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest might fill the bill. The kick-off party is tonight from 6 to 10 p.m., and the festival runs until 9 p.m. Sunday. And it’s free!

More festive goodness: the first-ever Chicago Fringe Festival—except for that one that somebody did in the ’90s—kicks off September 1-5. Eight venues around Pilsen will host 46 performances from 13 states, along with two international productions. “Fringe Central” will be at Racine and 18th Street, with live music, exhibits, and food from Honky Tonk BBQ.

And one of the granddaddies of alternative theatre festivals in Chicago will run nonstop this weekend. Mary Arrchie Theatre celebrates the annual Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sins marathon of madness. The schedule, which is most definitely subject to change (hey, YOU try keeping so many shows on time with no sleep!) is available at http://maryarrchie.com/abbie.html

Greg Hardigan, vet of shows with Dog and Pony Theatre Company , The Hypocrites , and many other companies, takes his original play about a dating agency, All the Happy People, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Bon voyage, and break legs—though hopefully not from running up and down the Royal Mile shoving flyers into people’s hands, which, as I learned on two separate trips to Edinburgh, is a key component of the Fringe experience.

The Bowery Boys, presented by Marriott Theatre in a world premiere in 2008, gets an outing with the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals. Featuring a book and lyrics by David H. Bell, music by Jeremy Cohen, and co-created with Aaron Thielen, the Horatio Alger-inspired show about working-class urchins in 1870s New York gets a 45-minute staged reading in front of the heavy hitters of the musical world—a chance to really pull itself up by the bootstraps, indeed. Bell’s beloved Hot Mikado has also just opened in a new production, directed by Bell, at Drury Lane Oakbrook.

Jen Avery, the interim artistic director for Next Theatre , has announced the revamped 30th anniversary season, which opens on November 4 with Julia Cho’s The Piano Teacher, directed by Lisa Portes. The story of an old ivories instructor reaching out to her former students is followed in January with J.T. Rogers’ Madagascar, directed by Kimberly Senior (the two teamed up for Next’s hit presentation of Rogers’ Rwandan drama, The Overwhelming, in 2009), and the season closes with Adam Rapp’s The Metal Children, staged by Joanie Schultz. In a continuation of the “Dark Night” series inaugurated by former artistic director Jason Southerland, Next will present short runs of original performances as part of “What’s Next?” The first one up is Rohina Malik’s meditation on being a Muslim woman in a post-9/11 world, Unveiled, which was originally produced by 16th Street Theater in Berwyn. That runs, appropriately enough, on September 10. Strawdog Theatre regular James Anthony Zoccoli (or “Jaz” to his friends) remounts Wiggerlover, his solo about growing up with a black stepdad, September 24-October 3. And from October 8-17, there will be performances of 2nd Story, the ongoing storytelling-with-wine-and-music event created by the Serendipity Theatre Collective . Next also gets back to its old “Next Lab” roots from the ’90s with the “What’s Next Lab,” designed to foster new work.

Bohemian Theatre Ensemble opens its new home at Theater Wit with the musical Big River. The company will hang onto its old space in the Heartland Studio for a holiday show, Striking 12. And they’ve made some changes at the top as well: company member Peter Marston Sullivan is the new artistic director, taking over from founding artistic director Steve Genovese. Sullivan has staged many shows for BoHo, including their revival of Ibsen’s Ghosts this summer. New company member Peter Blair takes on the executive director’s job.

Collaboraction also takes on new digs this season. The company announced this week that they will move into the Flat Iron Arts Building in Wicker Park (1579 N. Milwaukee) for at least five years. They’ll open their first show of the season, 1001 (Jason Grote’s fanciful contemporary take on “The Arabian Nights”) at the Chopin Theatre , and will run Sketchbook at the Chopin next spring, but a late-night version of the short-plays festival will be up and running in the new space eventually. They’re open for rentals as well.

In Victory Gardens personnel news, Bill Melamed is the new director of development. He joins VG after spending time as vice president of development for amFAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research) in New York, as well as being partner/owner of Rosenberg Melamed Management/M2 Melamed Management. Melamed is also a founding member of ANGLE – Access Now for Gay and Lesbian Equality.

Elizabeth Schwan-Rosenwald is stepping down as artistic director for 20% Theatre Company Chicago . The company presents its annual Snapshots festival of short new plays by women this weekend at Strawdog Theatre . No announcement yet on who will be taking over at 20%.

Also running this weekend only is “The Black Jew Dialogues,” created by comedians Ron Jones and Larry Jay Tish. This is their fifth season touring this show about race and cultural connections and divisions. It plays at the Greenhouse Theater tonight and tomorrow.

About Face Theatre presents its 4th annual “Flip Flop Cabaret,” a gender-bending evening of warbling folks belting out the best of the ’80s (no, that is NOT an oxymoron, thankyouverymuch!) The show kicks off at Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted, at 6 p.m. on Monday. Participants include Aunt Lola Cabana, Elizabeth Laidlaw, Ryan Lanning, Rob Lindley, Dwight McBride, Christine Mild, Stephen Rader, Benjamin Sprunger, Amy Matheny, and many more. Paul Oakley Stovall hosts, Scott Ferguson and Michael Driscoll stage the mayhem, and Mikhail (Mischa) Fiksel keeps the music swinging. Tix are $40 and can be purchased online.

The House Theatre also hosts a benefit tonight: magician and company member Dennis Watkins presents “The Magic Parlour,” an intimate look at the art of prestidigitation. Tickets are $25, and the show begins at 8 p.m. at the Chopin. More info online or at 773/251-2195.

Some training opportunities for the next generation: Metropolis Performing Arts Centre hosts an open house for its School of the Performing Arts on Wednesday, August 25, 7 p.m. A performance from Fifth House Ensemble, the new ensemble-in-residence at Metropolis, helps inaugurate the new chamber music ensemble program, and prospective students and their parents can mingle and ask questions at a reception.

And Free Street Theater hosts a workshop and interview session for prospective new ensemble members on Tuesday, September 14, 4:30-6:30 p.m. at Pulaski Park field house (1419 W. Blackhawk, 3rd floor). You can reserve a spot by calling 773/772-7248. The company’s focus this coming year is on a piece inspired by Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs.

Jean Gottlieb, former artistic director for now-defunct Footsteps Theatre and the founder of New World Repertory Theatre in Downers Grove, gets a staged reading of her play Descent, based on the Faustus legend, on Tuesday, August 31, 8 p.m., at the Greenhouse Theater .

Jon Steinhagen’s new comedy, Dating Walter Dante, gets a workshop production at Raven Theatre August 23-25. In other Raven news, the company has committed to presenting “Out at Raven” nights for members of the LGBTQ community during their upcoming season. The “Out” night for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is October 22 (and maybe all those out-and-proud folks in the audience will help Brick catch a clue). The Edgewater company also hosts “A Taste of Raven” at the Glenwood, 6962 N. Glenwood, on Monday, August 30 at 6 p.m., where guests can get a sneak peek of Cat.

Remy Bumppo hosts a salon on August 30, 7-9:30 p.m. at the Greenhouse Theater , in conjunction with their production of Tom Stoppard’s Night and Day, directed by outgoing artistic director James Bohnen. Steve Edwards of WBEZ moderates this discussion, focused on the company’s season theme of “Secret Lives, Public Lives.” (A popular one this year: Steppenwolf Theatre ’s season theme is “We Live in Public Space, We Live in Private Space.”) Panelists include war correspondent Storer H. Rowley (Stoppard’s play involves journalists in a war zone), fundraiser Bunky Cushing (who apparently bears the moniker “Chicago’s Social Tugboat”), actor Jeffrey Carlson (who originated the lead role in Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?), and Bohnen. A $10 donation is requested at the door, and reservations can be made online or at 773/244-8119.

Redtwist Theatre extends its production of Equus through September 5. And the Neo-Futurists, in addition to kicking off their season this weekend with Ryan Walters’ Daredevils’ Hamlet, are considering adding 44 to the ensemble. That is, they are currently accepting artist submissions for a portrait of Barack Obama to join the other 43 commanders-in-chief in the “Hall of Presidents,” which first went up as part of the company’s 43 Plays for 43 Presidents. (As far as we know, only one actual president saw that show—Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter came to the production at Dad’s Garage in Atlanta. That’s why some of us think he’s the greatest living ex-president, folks!) If you want to try your hand at capturing “Neo-Obama,” send your entry by 5 p.m. on September 24, along with a $10 entrance fee. The finalists will be on display October 1-24 in the lobby, and you can vote before the weekend performances of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. The winner gets $250 and bragging rights unto perpetuity.

Maybe not quite as impressive, but Sam Shepard has been named the winner of the 2010 Chicago Tribune Literary Prize. He’ll receive the lifetime achievement honor on November 13 during the Chicago Humanities Festival.

And happy news/sad news to end with. Anish Jethmalani, former artistic director for Eclipse Theatre Company and a busy actor around town, and his wife, Michelle Tesdall Jethmalani, welcomed a baby boy, Kieran, last month. Congrats to the whole family!

And we received word from Belinda Bremner that an early stalwart of the off-Loop theatre movement has left us. Sonja Lanzener, who was in the original production of Jeffrey Sweet’s Porch and tons of other shows before moving east, passed away on July 15. We extend condolences to her friends and loved ones.

Send all your theatre and (Anti) theatre news to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it