Bailiwick gets my vote as the most eclectic theater in the city. Its three stages showcase works both dramatic and light-hearted, some produced by Bailiwick, others by smaller, scrappier start-up troupes. Each year, the theater produces a main-stage series of classics and musicals, the Director's Festival of one-act plays by fresh local talents (in June), and gay- and lesbian-oriented shows during the Pride Performance series, which generally runs over 20 weeks from mid-May to early October. This is also one of the few companies to stage performances for deaf audiences, performing new spins on classics such as Thornton Wilder's Our Town with casts of hearing and hearing-impaired actors. The company's children's theater program produces an original musical for kids each spring.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Chicago 2008, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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