theatre Scorched
Silk Road scores a major coup snagging the Chicago premiere of this Sophoclean tragedy by the Lebanon-born playwright Wajdi Mouawad. Set in an unnamed Middle Eastern country where violence is so entrenched that nobody remembers the origins of the conflict, Scorched is part war story, part epic quest, part thriller, and part domestic drama. It’s also your only chance this season to hear from a gifted writer whose star is on the rise. Plus, find ten more don’t-miss plays in our fall theatre preview.
GO: Previews Oct 6–9; $24. Run continues through Nov 7; $34. Silk Road Theatre Project at the Chicago Temple, 77 W Washington. srtp.org

ALSO THIS WEEK: Victory Gardens pairs Edward Albee’s career-making one act, The Zoo Story, with a prequel, Homelife, that just might explain the former’s shocking last scene. Previews of At Home at the Zoo run through Oct 10; performances continue through Oct 31.

dance Emily Johnson/Catalyst
Maybe it’s our insatiable appetite for Deadliest Catch, but choreographer/dancer Johnson’s ode to Alaska, The Thank-you Bar—inspired in part by her grandmother’s last-frontier watering hole—sounds right in our wheelhouse. For each performance, Johnson invites an intimate audience of 40 onstage, straps fish to her arms, and unspools a multisensory experience (think fish, y’all) like nothing else you’ll see this year. A set by Johnson’s backing band, Blackfish, follows the Oct 9 show ($15, or free with a ticket to The Thank-you Bar).
GO: Oct 7–8 sold out; tickets available for Oct 9 at 7, Oct 10 at 3 and 5. $26–$30. Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S Michigan. colum.edu/dancecenter

film Chicago International Film Festival
You can hear the Oscar drumbeat all the way from Naperville, but seats are still available for this year’s opening-night flick, Stone, starring Edward Norton, Robert De Niro, and Milla Jovovich, with Norton and the film’s director, John Curran, scheduled to attend. If you’re not one to cough up cash just to share celebrity airspace, don’t fret. CIFF is thinking of you, too, with promising films from both near (Go For It! a gotta-dance story about a Chicago teen) and far (the UK’s Tamara Drewe, starring Quantum of Solace Bond girl Gemma Arterton and directed by Stephen Frears, of High Fidelity and The Queen fame).
GO: Stone: Oct 7 at 7. $30–$40. Harris Theater, 205 E Randolph. Go For It! Oct 9 at 12:30, Oct 14 at 6:30, Oct 16 at 9, with director Carmen Marron and cast members in attendance. $10–$13. Tamara Drewe: Oct 8 at 7. $12–$15. Following opening night, all films screen at AMC River East 21, 322 E Illinois. chicagofilmfestival.com

film Kings of Pastry
And over at the Siskel: a flick with sweet-home Chicago ties—and by sweet, we mean one heaping cup plus one extra tablespoon of confectioner’s sugar. The documentary Kings of Pastry follows the cutthroat competition for the world’s top pastry chef—focusing on the featured contestant and cofounder of Chicago’s French Pastry School, Jacquy Pfeiffer—as named every four years by the president of France. At presstime, tickets were still available for Thursday’s 8 p.m. screening, with Pfeiffer in attendance. No word on whether he’s bringing snacks.
GO: Screenings through Oct 7; see website for times. $7–$10. Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N State. siskelfilmcenter.org

ALSO THIS WEEK: And also at the Siskel: Scrappers, a documentary on Chicago’s alley-cat metal collectors, with the directors hosting postfilm Q & A’s Oct 8 and 14.

concerts JP, Chrissie & the Fairground Boys
Chrissie Hynde’s first band outside of the Pretenders is a partnership with the gruff-voiced Welshman JP Jones detailing the pair’s thwarted May-September romance. The rootsy music is filled with urgency, and Hynde’s voice has never sounded more soulful.
GO: Oct 10 at 8. $25. Park West, 322 W Armitage. jamusa.com

ALSO THIS WEEK: The Lolla mainstager X Japan continues its barnstorming of America. Hear the band Oct 6 at the Riviera.