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By Kris Vire

Ignition
September 11–November 1
Victory Gardens’ development initiative for young playwrights of color culminates in two overlapping world premieres. In Michael Golamco’s family drama Year Zero, an awkward Cambodian-American teenager copes with his mother’s death and life in Long Beach. And Kristoffer Diaz’s hip-hop-tinged comedy The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity follows a pair of pro wrestlers—one Latino, one Indian—cast by their manager as a terrorist team. Victory Gardens Theater at the Biograph, 2433 N Lincoln Ave (773-871-3000, victorygardens.org). $30–$48.

Kill the Old Torture Their Young
October 1–November 7
In the wake of the crazy amount of buzz generated by David Harrower’s Blackbird at Victory Gardens this summer, Steep Theatre Company nabs the Midwest premiere of the Scottish playwright’s dark comic study of urban alienation. In the 1998 play, a documentary filmmaker returns to the city where he was born and finds its unhappy inhabitants going through the motions of life. Kathryn Walsh directs. Steep Theatre, 1115 W Berwyn Ave (312-458-0722, steeptheatre.com). $18.

The Man Who Was Thursday
October 15–November 21
Policeman-slash-poet Gabriel Syme goes undercover in a council of anarchists in G.K. Chesterton’s 1908 espionage-farce novel, set in a phantasmagorical London. Wait, what kind of anarchists organize a council? Good question. New Leaf’s young artistic director, Jessica Hutchinson, has excelled of late helming intimate dramas (Touch, Six Years, The Dining Room); we’re stoked to see what she and playwright Bilal Dardai of the Neo-Futurists do with this expansive tale. New Leaf Theatre, Lincoln Park Cultural Center, 2045 N Lincoln Park West (773-516-3546, newleaftheatre.org). $12–$18.

Cooperstown
November 16–December 20
It’s 1962 in the New York baseball town. The lives of two African-American siblings are interrupted by the arrival of a minor-league ball player hoping to witness his idol Jackie Robinson’s induction as the Hall of Fame’s first black honoree. This is artistic director Brian Golden’s first full-length play for Theatre Seven, one of the city’s most promising relative newcomers. Theatre Seven of Chicago at Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N Lincoln Ave (773-404-7336, theatreseven.org). $12–$18.

New Cirque du Soleil show

November 19–January 3
Cirque steps out of the big top to put its acrobatic spin on vaudeville-style variety in this new show written and directed by David Shiner, previewing here before its New York debut and subsequent tour next year. Expect a title to be announced when tickets go on sale September 9. Chicago Theatre, 175 N State St (800-745-3000, thechicagotheatre.com). $23–$98.

Check out the other sections in our 2009 Fall Preview: