The Five

Don’t-miss picks for Wednesday, March 9 through March 15, 2016

1 Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Theater Mary Beth Fisher plays the morphine-addled matriarch Mary Tyrone in Eugene O’Neill’s opus. The swoon-worthy cast also features Harris Yulin as Mary’s husband and Dan Waller as the couple’s tubercular son.
3/10–4/10. $38–$68. Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis. courttheatre.org

2 The Dance Colective

Dance Margi Cole celebrates 20 years as artistic director of the Dance Colective with a cast of company alumni. She’ll also perform a solo by legendary San Francisco choreographer Margaret Jenkins.
3/11–13, 3/18–20. $15–$20. Links Hall, 3111 N. Western. linkshall.org

3 Northwestern University

Classical There’s some scary music out there, but In Vain, a 21st-century work by the Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas, tops them all. The atonal large-ensemble piece plunges audiences into pitch darkness while the musicians play on, blinding them to, say, the percussionist preparing a sudden fortissimo.
3/10 at 7:30. $5–$8. Shirley Welsh Ryan Opera Theater, 70 Arts Circle, Evanston. music.northwestern.edu

4 Experience Hendrix

Music The decades-old toast to the king of six strings returns to Chicago, this time featuring covers by Buddy Guy, Ozzy Osbourne’s former guitarist Zakk Wylde, Dweezil Zappa, Hendrix bassist Billy Cox, and half a dozen rock demigods.
3/12 at 7:30. $38–$98. Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State. ticketmaster.com

5 Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison: Precipice

Art If you could photograph your own dreams, they might look like an image by the ParkeHarrisons. Their new body of work, wrapped with digital layering and a dash of humor, toys with being on the edge—of sanity, fear, and humanity.
3/11–4/30. Free. 300 W. Superior. edelmangallery.com

What I’m Doing This Weekend

Up next in our series of weekend plans from notable, in-the-know locals: David Auburn, who’s back in his hometown directing A Long Day’s Journey Into Night, which begins previews at Court Theatre this Thursday.

“The part of the city that I know and love best is Hyde Park. I haven’t lived here for 25 years, but so much of the stuff in that neighborhood is still here. Realistically, I’m going to be stuck in the theater most of the weekend, but if I weren’t, a great day would start with breakfast at Valois on 53rd—they do fantastic breakfast. I’d also like to see what I can find at Powell’s and Seminary Co-Op. Hyde Park is one of the best bookstore neighborhoods in the world. Then there are a few hypotheticals: If my kids were with me, I’d want to go to the Museum of Science and Industry, and if it were warm, I’d go for a long, dangerous swim off Promontory Point. I used to do that all the time. And then I’d hit a bar on the way back home—maybe The Cove on 55th.

“Past that, we’ll be rehearsing three or four hours every day then doing previews at night. Then we have previews Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, plus a matinee Sunday. It’s a three and a half hour play, so you’re at the theater very late. Usually after rehearsal I’m too wired to go right to bed, so I’ll go to Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap [at 1172 E. 55th]. It’s right on my way home from the Court Theatre, near the apartment I’m staying in while I’m here. I do have my mornings free, so if it’s warm I’ll go for a run on the lakefront.

“If I weren’t working, I’d probably leave Hyde Park and hear some music at the Green Mill—I used to do that a lot. And I’ve always sort of liked just walking LaSalle in that old Loop area of Chicago. I imagine I’m in that Front Page era of Chicago, among the Louis Sullivan buildings. It’s what I imagine the Loops was like in the 1920s and teens.

“As for old haunts, whenever I’m in town I always go to the Parthenon restaurant in Greektown. I was born in Chicago and lived here the first two years of my life, and I was told i was taken there as a baby, which I don’t remember, of course. But I do remember taking my then-girlfriend, now-wife there on a very early date in the ’90s. It’s another place that seems completely frozen, hasn’t changed at all. It’s probably some of the same waiters in there. And of course, I always try and go to the theater when I’m here—to Goodman, Steppenwolf. I’ve already seen 2666. That was a tremendous experience.” —As told to Matt Pollock

Freebie of the Week

St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Parades Drum corps, dancers, bagpipers, and a throng of green-sporting die-hards strut down Columbus Drive for the city’s yearly parade.
3/12 at noon. Free. Balbo and Columbus. chicagostpatsparade.com