Candles to the Sun 
It took 70 years, but Tennessee Williams’s buried treasure about Alabama miners fighting to unionize finally débuts in Chicago. Eclipse Theatre at Victory Gardens.

Carter’s Way
Eric Simonson’s jazz-era bio-drama features an original score by Grammy winner Darrell Leonard. At Steppenwolf Theatre.

Brontë
The lit sisters are ceaseless fodder for psychosexual examination; here, Polly Teale has a field day with the dramatic coupling of Victorian spinsterhood and bodice-ripping fiction. Remy Bumppo at Victory Gardens.

Carousel 
Rodgers and Hammerstein paved musical theatre ground with this rough-and-tumble tearjerker. Now daring local choreographer Randy Duncan adds bold new movement. At Court Theatre.

The Lastmaker 
In its final performance, the esoteric Goat Island collective uncovers the rich and tragic history of Istanbul’s basilica-cum-mosque-cum-museum, the Hagia Sophia. At the Museum of Contemporary Art.