Bailiwick Repertory’s 13th annual showcase of projects by emerging directors features programs of short plays on double or triple bills. The scripts run the gamut from selections by Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, Sam Shepard, and David Mamet to unfamiliar or untested material, including some by the directors themselves.

The fest runs August 20 through 29

at Bailiwick Repertory, Bailiwick Arts Center, 1229 W. Belmont, 773-883-1090. Following is a schedule of this week’s shows (for a full listing of festival offerings, see our Web site, www.chicagoreader.com). Performance times are Mondays-Wednesdays at 7:30 PM; tickets are $10 per evening.

MONDAY, AUGUST 20

The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Kevin Theis directs this adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s jailhouse classic.

The Root of Chaos

Douglas Soderberg’s study of the destruction of a family in a Pennsylvania mining town is directed by Andrew Whatley.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 21

Gator Paws

The Automotive Theatre Group presents writer-director Geoff Button’s “adaptation of a tape-recorded love letter from an insecure teenage boy to the girl destined to forget him.”

What She Found There

Allen Jeffrey Rein directs John Glore’s portrait of “two individuals on very

different paths who share a few moments of time.”

Tender

Donald Williams Jr. directs his own script about a girl desperate for love.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22

The Most Massive Woman Wins

Rebekah Scallet stages Madeleine George’s play about four women who meet at a liposuction clinic.

The Frog Prince

David Mamet’s ironic reinterpretation of the fairy tale is directed by Rob Schaefer.

Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Rusty Hernandez.