Columbia College Chicago Theatre alumnus Behzad Dabu (pictured, center) won glowing reviews for his performance in Samsara, now receiving its world premiere at Chicago’s acclaimed Victory Gardens Theater. The comedy by Lauren Yee concerns a white American couple who are having a baby with a surrogate from India; Dabu plays the unborn child, who engages in conversation with his birth mother.

“Dabu, with his athletic grace, boyish impulsiveness and brilliant comic instincts, easily steals the show as the playwright’s most wondrous and precocious character,” says Chicago Sun-Times critic Hedy Weiss. The Chicago Tribune’s Chris Jones calls Dabu “a charming and engaging fetus.” And TimeOut Chicago‘s Kris Vire writes that “amid moving work all around, it’s Dabu’s quick-witted, magnetic performance as the still-cooking kid that dazzles most: Alternately searching and taunting, petulant and passionate, this baby’s a doll.”

Samsara runs at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln, Chicago, through March 8. The performance on Thursday, February 26, is a “college night” — tickets are only $10 for students, and the admission price includes a pre-performance pizza party at 6:30 PM, a 7:30 PM performance, and post-performance discussion. Students should use the code SAMCOL for $10 tickets on February 26. Student tickets for all other performances are $15; use code SAMSTUDENT. (Regular ticket prices are $30-$60.) For tickets, click here or call 773-871-3000.