Theo Ubique, Cultural Events unveil schedules

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Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre in Rogers Park, which will open “Some Enchanted Evening: The Songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein” tonight, also is announcing its plans for the 2011-12 season.

The company, which in recent seasons has staged such memorable productions as “Evita,” “Cats” and revues of the songs of Jacques Brel and Harold Arlen, has four shows up its sleeve:

“Starting Here, Starting Now” (running Sept. 25-Nov. 6), featuring the mostly romantic (and fractured romantic) story songs of Richard Maltby and David Shire.

“Pump Boys and Dinettes” (Nov. 27-Jan. 1), the popular country-rock musical about four guys who work at a filling station and the two women who wait tables at the adjacent Double Cupp Diner.

“Light in the Piazza” (March 11-April 29, 2012), the Adam Guettel-Craig Lucas musical about an American mother and daughter in Italy.

“Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” (June 10-July 22, 2012), featuring a story that serves as the frame for hit songs by Neil Sedaka from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.

Call (773) 347-1109 or visit www.theoubique.org.

DCA EXPERIMENTS: The city’s Cultural Affairs Department, which operates two theaters in the Loop (the Storefront at 66 E. Randolph and the Studio Theater in the Cultural Center at 78 E. Washington), is a fine showcase for all sorts of experimental work, and its newly announced fall 2011 season serves as evidence.

Presentations at the Storefront will include:

“Corazon de Manzana” (Aug. 23-Sept. 25), a world premiere by Dana Lynn Formby, presented by Mortar Theatre Company and directed by Ann Filmer, which deals with three mothers and daughters, all in some way connected to the terrible acts of “femicide” that have occurred in Juarez, Mexico in recent years.

“The Spirit Play” (Oct. 5-Nov. 6), a world premiere play by Emily Schwartz (“The Strange Case of Dr. Crippen”), presented by Strange Tree Group and dealing with the fascination with seances and spirit mediums in Victorian era America.

“Peer Gynt” (Nov. 15-Dec. 18), a rare production of Ibsen’s epic play, presented by Polarity Ensemble Theatre and directed by Jeremy Wechsler.

At the Cultural Center, three “incubator showcases” will include:

“The North/South Plays, a Bailiwick Chicago and Teatro Luna collaboration focusing on the notion of borders in the modern world.

“The Americans,” an incubator showcase by Halcyon Theatre of Coya Paz’s play about how various people define being American during a time of national crisis.

“Homefront,” a Project 891 Theatre Company project that looks at a family in rural America in which one son has recently been deployed to Afghanistan.

For further information, visit www.ExploreChicago.org.