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More than 25 years have passed since a young University of Chicago graduate named Greg Kotis, having encountered pay-to-pee toilets while traveling in France, hit upon a whacky idea for a musical: What if some nefarious corporate entity managed to ban in-home facilities in a drought-stricken city and figured out how to control the populace by owning their need to answer nature’s call?

He had quite the title in mind: “Urinetown.”

Kotis was at the time a member of the Chicago theater company called The Neo-Futurists, a highly innovative troupe that explored self-aware theater (meaning shows that knew they were shows) long before the practice became more mainstream. He collaborated with his composer friend Mark Hollmann, a fellow Chicagoan who h

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