Sugar-high sketch-comedy duo the Money Kids, subjects of a Reader story last January, perform their final show as a local act this Friday. At the end of the month they're moving to New York City. Lauren Lapkus says that she and partner Candy Lawrence chose New York based on the growing reputation of its sketch community. "We want to keep our live show going strong."

For their last Chicago show, expect "a mixture of old faves and some soon-to-be new faves, as well as some flaming hot new dance moves." You can also expect an Amy Sedaris-like fancy for wigs and false teeth, and anything-for-a-laugh energy that never gives out. The farewell set is part of the Playground's Grafitti sketch showcase, headlined by male sketch duo Kerpatty. Fri 8/22, 10 PM, Playground Theater, 3209 N. Halsted, $10, BYOB, 773-871-3793 or the-playground.com.

The Goodman Theatre's Latino Theatre Festival 08 starts its final week with professional actors reading winning plays from The 10-Minute Play Competition--a contest for writers aged 12 to 23, working in Spanish or English, that addressed "what it’s like to be both a Latino/a and an American." Mon 8/18, 7:30 PM, free.

The fest continues with performances by two local professional groups: Aguijon Theater Company and Luna Negra Dance Theatre. Aguijon's Hasta los gorriones dejan su nido, written by Raul Dorantes and directed by Marcela Munoz, is a Spanish-language adaptation of Tennessee Williams's The Strangest Kind of Romance. Williams's Depression-era portrait of a transient laborer has been updated to reflect the situation of contemporary undocumented migrant workers. Tue 8/19, 7:30 PM, $15. Luna Negra's Antojito (Sampling of New Works) features a new piece by emerging Mexican choreographer Francisco Avina, Eduardo Vilaro's Deshar Alhat (Leave Sunday), and excerpts from the great Jose Limon's There Is a Time. Wed 8/20, 7:30 PM, $15.

And Barcelona-based dancer/choreographer Marta Carrasco opens the four-day run of J'arrive...!--a sampler of her work over the last ten years. Thu 8/21 and Sun 8/24 7:30 PM, Fri-Sat 8/22-23, 8 PM. $25.

The United States is a nation of immigrants and their descendants, who often challenge and compete with each other along arbitrary ethnic, religious, sexual, and class lines. If that's news to you, Culture Clash in AmeriCCa might be an eye-opener. To me, the show--performed by the California-based Latino trio Culture Clash as part of Goodman Theatre's Latino Theatre Festival 08--smacked of preaching to the converted.

The opening night audience appreciated the ironic humor in this evening of monologues and sketches, but the people whose closed minds might be opened by Culture Clash's wry critique of prejudice probably won't be buying tickets for the production, which runs through this weekend (Fri-Sat 8/15-16 8 PM, Sun 8/17, 7:30 PM, $25-$35). That's too bad, because there's no questioning the accuracy of their vision of America's cultural diversity, and the performances are extraordinary.

Founded in 1984 in San Francisco's Mission District, Culture Clash consists of writer-performers Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Siguenza. Each brilliantly and fully inhabits a wide range of roles, expertly fusing stand-up comedy with nuanced acting. Among the characters: an Arab-American cab driver recounting his friendship with a Jewish deli owner, a Cuban furniture store owner who uses a fake Fidel Castro in his commercials, a Filipino and a Ghanaian sharing the experience of being sworn in as U.S. citizens, a Salvadoran refugee startled by the disconnect between the reality of American life and the image portrayed in 1970s sitcoms, an African-American preacher mocking the stereotype of a blue-eyed Jesus, a transgendered Latina who explains in clinical detail the surgery that will transform her from male to female, and a Boston Irish-American Catholic who finds the real meaning of Christianity by forgiving the priest who molested him as a boy.

The show's been tweaked for its run here, with crowd-pleasing allusions to the Cubs, the Sox, and Bernie Mac--as well as to John Edwards and Barack Obama. Indeed, Culture Clash's take on the foolishness of prejudice is especially timely now, as right wing rumormongers wage war against America's first multiracial presidential candidate by attacking his patriotism and faith. But it's doubtful that Culture Clash in AmeriCCa will reach the audience that most need it. The evening's second half--a reading of Chavez Ravine, the ensemble's new drama about the displacement of Latino families by land developers in 1950s Los Angeles--was underrehearsed on opening night, but it's probably tighter now.

Also this weekend at Latino Fest: Taking Flight, an autobiographical solo performance by Adriana Sevan that won a 2007 San Diego Critics Circle Award (Fri-Sat 8/15-8/16 8 PM, and Sun 8/17 3 PM, $15), plus free staged readings of three plays: Our Dad Is in Atlantis (Sat 8/16 12:30 PM), Walk Into the Sea (Sat 8/16 3 PM), and Little Certainties (Sun 8/17 7:30 PM).

The Victory Gardens Theater board of directors announced today that longtime administrative head Marcelle McVay will leave the organization this fall.

McVay's been with Victory Gardens 34 years. She and her husband, artistic director Dennis Zacek, built it into one of the city's leading theater companies, with a regional Tony under its belt, a new home in the rehabbed Biograph Theater, a $3 million annual budget, and a continuing commitment to produce new work. VG's  been a legendary Ma and Pa operation; it's hard to imagine an opening night without McVay as the welcoming committee.

She's quoted in today's announcement as having "long planned to have a new career 'post  Victory Gardens,'" perhaps in "education, human services or possibly grant making." But no specific new job has been mentioned, and word is that this is, at least in part, fallout from a bitter battle between the board and the administration over the sale of Victory Gardens' previous home and Greenhouse space at 2257 N. Lincoln, last spring.  (Read our story about that here.) A search committee has been formed to find McVay's replacement.

The second week of Goodman Theatre's Latino Theatre Festival 08 features one-nighters by two Chicago troupes and a four-night run by a California company.

The Albany Park Theater Project, a youth ensemble, peforms Aquí Estoy (I Am Here), a company-created work about the immigrant experience in Chicago over the past 150 years. Tue 8/12, 7:30 PM, $15.

Teatro Luna gives a staged reading of Jarred, described as "a Santeria, Brujeria, Hoodoo comedy" by Tanya Saracho. Wed 8/13, 7:30 PM, $15. 

The California-based Chicano/Latino performance troupe Culture Clash presents AmeriCCa, its satirical look at ethnicity, illegal immigration, and gender roles and sexuality in the post-9/11 U.S. 8/14-17: Fri-Sat 8 PM, Thu and Sun 7:30 PM, $25-$35.

All three shows are performed in English.

The Goodman Theatre's Latino Theatre Festival 08 continues next week with a free event: "From the Streets to the Stage," by Chicago's UrbanTheater Company. This Humboldt Park troupe has carved a niche for itself by producing seldom-seen works by Latinos, notably including Nuyorican poet-playwright Miguel Pinero (Short Eyes, The Sun Always Shines for the Cool). Selections from both those plays will be performed Mon 8/11, along with excerpts from Elizabeth Swados's musical "Runaways" and "The King of Cans" by Tato Laviera. The program, which also includes spoken-word performances by members of the youth-run Batey Urbano community center, begins at 7:30 PM in the Goodman lobby.

Here's a previous post with what's going on at the fest this weekend.

Though the local sketch and improv festivals have passed, comedy fans don’t have to wait a whole year for another one. The third annual Milwaukee Sketch & Improv Festival opens tonight at 7:30 PM with a showcase of improv troupes: Track Jacket Review, the Union, and Chicago-based 96D and Size Eight.

There are eight revues with 22 ensembles from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Kentucky. Several Chicago groups are performing, including Money in the Pants, Stir Friday Night!, the Cool Table, and Pimprov. There's also a family-friendly show on Saturday at 4:30 PM. Tickets for all events are $5-$15.