Lisa Loomer's The Waiting Room opens Chicago's Stage Left Theatre's 16th anniversary season Oct. 29. The show runs through Dec. 6.

Similar to the opening of Caryl Churchill's Top Girls, The Waiting Room brings together women from disparate time periods who have come to a 20th Century doctor to seek cures for their problems. Each "problem" was brought on unnecessarily by a societal demand for "beauty" -- the 18th Century Chinese woman has bound feet, the 19th Century Englishwoman has a cinched waist, the 20th Century woman has cosmetic surgery.

This comedy has been produced around the country including at NYC's Vineyard, LA's Mark Taper Forum and Washington, DC's Arena Stage.

Jeff Citation recipient Robin Stanton (The Angels of Lemnos) directs the Stage Left production.

For tickets ($18-$10), call (773) 883-8830. The rest of Stage Left's 1998-99 Season includes Julius Caesar (Feb. 16-March 28, 1999) and the Hardy Boys musical parody, The Secret of the Old Queen (April/May 1999).

-- By Christine Ehren