When Wicked closes eight months from now—Broadway in Chicago announced this morning that the flying monkeys will vacate the Oriental Theatre on January 25, after nearly four years—it’ll leave behind it scores of newly-minted theatergoers.

By the time the final curtain rings down in January, Wicked’s producers say 3 million people will have seen it. (Some of them may even live here.) It’s no secret that the show’s success is fueled in large part by its draw on teenage girls—the girl-power take on the witches of Oz has garnered legions of teenage fans who may not have experienced theater before. I imagine there are some repeat Wicked viewers out there who can’t imagine life beyond “Defying Gravity.” Well, chin up, young ladies: catch the witches again while you can, but there’s a vast theater scene out there beyond the Loop. Here are a few homegrown suggestions for “Popular” girls.

Before you journey back to Oz, head to North Center, where Speech and Debate is playing at the American Theater Company for just two more weekends. Stephen Karam’s play about three dweebs blackmailing one another into friendship is a hilariously honest depiction of modern teenage concerns—teens bringing parents should consider how comfortable you are with giving the folks a peek into real life.

Collaboraction’s Sketchbook festival presents super-short plays (10 minutes or less) in a rock & roll environment—live DJs, club lights. Go for Program B, which includes Dated: A Cautionary Tale for Facebook Users, playwright Ira Gamerman’s dead-on dissection of dating in an online world, and Emily Schwartz’s Cowboy Birthday Party, which is exactly what it sounds like and so much more.

Schwartz has a full-length play coming up soon with her sweetly wacky company the Strange Tree Group. The Mysterious Elephant, and the Terrible Tragedy of the Addington Twins* (*Who Kill Him) promises orphans, puppets, songs and absurd laughs; it opens at the Chopin Theatre June 19.

For an Elphaba-style feminist heroine who kicks ass a little more ferociously, try BackStage Theatre Company’s upcoming Bloody Bess: A Tale of Piracy and Revenge. The tale of a swashbuckling female pirate, a revival of a Chicago-born classic, opens at the Storefront Theater June 13.

In July, Lookingglass brings back its signature show, Lookingglass Alice (at right). This acrobatic version of Lewis Carroll’s books stars high-flying aerialist Lauren Hirte as Alice, turning scenes with the Cheshire Cat, the Red Queen and the rest into awe-inspiring circus acts.

And in the fall, check out Court Theatre’s Chicago premiere of Caroline, or Change. It’s a rock & roll musical about the friendship between a Jewish boy and his family’s black maid in 1960s Louisiana. Sounds like unlikely material for a musical, you say? No more so than the story of a green witch who loves a scarecrow.