Jon Steinhagen

On the eve of his 21st birthday, Dominic Randazzo - the last in a long line of daredevils - is scheduled to take a televised walk a tightwire between two towers over the Chicago River. Much to his elder sister's distress, his attitude is flippant, which might be his way of dealing with the family's load of baggage: absentee, divorced parents who have each gone to join separate "cults," a history of fatal accidents, and the crippling of his older brother, Benedetto, during the Boston marathon. When Benedetto appears for the event, much dirty laundry is aired, until Dominic reveals his true, brash, and senseless intentions during his walk...all for the sake of publicity.

Two men have had a one-night stand. One turns out to be a homeless hustler who uses his charm to occasionally "get in out of the rain." The other turns out to be something other than what he at first appeared to be. A sudden act of violence brings them back together to discover the truths about their situations.

In 1920, financial guru C.W. Barron invites sudden millionaire Charles Ponzi to his office to see if they can amicably iron out their differences that led to a joint lawsuit. Barron proceeds to learn the details of Ponzi's amazing quick-rich-quick scheme involving postal coupons while Ponzi tries to evade any suggestion that he is an opportunist - until his young secretary, invited by Barron, arrives, and the cat-and-mouse game escalates.

In October 1923, members of the late President Warren G. Harding's administration, his mistresses, and his wife decide to stage a lavish musical revue in order to tell the truth behind the rumors coming to light after the president's sudden death while in office; unfortunately, the truths - no matter how tunefully or comically staged - turn out to be worse than the rumors.

The story of lifelong friends Deb and Debra - who, approaching 40, have never left their small hometown - is performed by four women who may be echoes of the original women and how they nearly sacrificed their friendship after joining a social network where they are ignored by a former classmate who has gone on to fame and success.

This mosaic of four years (1927, 1932, 1934, and 1937) in Hollywood blonde bombshell Jean Harlow's life shows many Harlows overlapping as she suffers from the disease that will claim her life.

In 1850, Hippolyta Powell has built an analytical engine along the lines suggested by Charles Babbage and Lady Ada Lovelace (who makes the trip to America to see the machine), but she has used the engine to find herself the perfect mate, a discovery that bewilders the man who loves her and frightens the man the engine has picked.

In 1966, two City of Chicago employees get their hands on Picasso's returned commission check for the sculpture he created for Civic Plaza; when their wives become involved in creating the scam that will net them $100,000, the relationships of these amateur felons shift and change with comic and uncertain results.

An ensemble cast portrays over 100 characters in 50 mini-plays depicting a major city - at the height of a record-breaking heatwave - enduring a 12-hour blackout.

Kenton DeKoven, the latest in a long line of mayors of a major American metropolois, has publicly announced his decision to not run in the next mayoral election, effectively ending a nearly 75-year run of consecutive DeKovens in office, all without telling any of his politically ambitious children. Set during a Labor Day party meant to send off his grandson to college, family squabbles about who should be endorsed as the next mayor escalate until a ridiculous suggestion threatens to rip the family further apart, this time for good.

Four businessmen in 1967 Chicago who also carpool navigate the twists and turns of corporate politics, the tensions of which play out when they foolishly attempt to drive home in the record-breaking blizzard of 1967. When one of the carpool is abandoned, the others face their choice and how it will affect their lives thereafter.