Seldom scene

There are certain canonical playwrights you can count on to show up every season: Missed last year’s Macbeth at Chicago Shakes? Catch this year’s edition, currently running at City Lit. Didn’t get enough Uncle Vanya from TUTA in 2008 and 2009? Strawdog stages its own revival of the Chekhov classic starting February 19.

In this economy, you might expect even more of the usual suspects from theaters leaning on familiar properties. But Anton, Willie and Arthur Miller aren’t the only names appearing on multiple marquees this season. In coming months, you can also see productions from such stalwart but less-ubiquitous writers as Athol Fugard and María Irene Fornés; even better, thanks to some ambitious programming and a dash of serendipity, you can see more than one of their works. Here are some of the playwrights who have us seeing double (or more).

Who Howard Barker
What Brit provocateur Barker has been pushing buttons with his self-described “Theatre of Catastrophe” for the last four decades. Trap Door has the U.S. premiere of 1993’s Minna, his nonlinear take on war and sex based (very) loosely on the Enlightenment-era German romcom Minna von Barnhelm. And Oracle tackles The Castle, Barker’s raunchy 1985 comedy about, um, war and sex, in which knights returning from the Crusades try to reassert their feudal dominance over their village’s newly self-sufficient women.
Where and when Minna, Trap Door Theatre (through February 13); The Castle, Oracle Theatre (Saturday 23–March 6)

Who Bertolt Brecht
What The Europhiles at TUTA devote the first half of 2010 to the staggeringly influential German dramatist’s early works. The Wedding, a Bavarian folk comedy heavy on slapstick, just opened. Next up is a musical adaptation of Baal, Brecht’s tale of a nihilist poet, with a score by Adding Machine’s Josh Schmidt.
Where and when The Wedding (through February 14); Baal (May 20–June 20), both at Chopin Theatre

Who Charles Busch
What The Idea Place mounts two double bills of camp icon Busch’s early drag comedies (each debuted between 1984 and 1986) in a cabaret setting: Vampire Lesbians of Sodom and Sleeping Beauty or Coma alternate with Theodora, She-Bitch of Byzantium and Pardon My Inquisition or Kiss the Blood Off My Castanets. Directors include the New Colony’s Andrew Hobgood and Bare Boned Theatre’s Jeffrey Bouthiette.
Where and when Mary’s Attic (through February 20)

Who Athol Fugard
What Court, Remy Bumppo and TimeLine weren’t planning a festival when each slotted the prolific South African playwright into their seasons. But the companies made the best of a happy accident by teaming up to market the trio, with tickets to all three available as a package deal at fugardchicago2010.org.
Where and when ‘Master Harold’…and the Boys, TimeLine Theatre Company (through March 21); The Island, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company (Wednesday 27–March 7); Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, Court Theatre (May 13–June 13)

Who María Irene Fornés
What Halcyon Theatre devotes its 2010 Alcyone Festival to the celebrated Cuban-American writer; a pivotal figure who’s cited as an inspiration by playwrights from Caryl Churchill to Tony Kushner, she’s been awarded 13 Obies. The five Fornés works rotating in Halcyon’s repertory span from 1984’s Sarita to 2000’s Letters from Cuba.
Where and when Lincoln Square Theatre (Thursday 21–February 27)

• More Theater articles