Plucky primordial sea creatures singing and dancing up from the ooze versus surly post-apocalyptic Ph.D. candidates groping and bickering their way to extinction: The former star in Yeast Nation, a musical spin on the earth’s genesis from the creators of Urinetown; the latter are the antiheroes of Boom, a comedic look at Armageddon. Turns out the beginning and the end of the world have a lot in common—onstage, at least.
| YEAST NATION |
vs.
|
BOOM |
| A sea fungus rebels. The world sloshes toward evolution. |
Water, Water Everywhere
|
A meteor hits the sea. The world becomes terminally sloshy. |
| The play’s leading men and women are all fungi named Jan: Jan the Elder, Jan the Famished, and so on. |
The Power of J
|
The universe’s last best hopes are named Jules and Jo. |
| Humanity’s forerunners ponder the nutrition of sea sludge when salt supplies run low. |
Global Food Crisis
|
Humanity’s survivors ponder the nutrition of cannibalism when food supplies run low. |
| The titular one-celled critters struggle to rise from the sea’s depths to experience the joy of self-division. |
Let’s Talk About Sex
|
A gay grad student struggles to rise to the occasion and repopulate a dying world. |
GO: Yeast Nation: Previews Sep 10-16; $30, or pay what you can at the door. Regular run Sep 18–Oct 18; $35-$40. American Theater Company, 1909 W Byron. atcweb.org. Boom: Sep 11–Oct 11. $25-$40. Next Theatre, 927 Noyes St, Evanston. nexttheatre.org