Items filtered by date: November 2007

Producer Jeffrey Seller and Broadway In Chicago have announced the world-premiere of the new musical THE PRINCESS BRIDE will begin performances in Chicago next summer at the James M. Nederlander Theatre, from July 19-August 22, 2027.

A miraculous blend of sword fights and satire, absurd fun and true romance, THE PRINCESS BRIDE has been both a beloved novel and celebrated film. Now, as you wish, it comes to enchanting life as a Broadway musical.

Like many timeless stories, this one asks the eternal question: Why does life have to be so complicated?

Journey to Florin, where a sweet-natured giant, a six-fingered (well technically 11-fingered) scoundrel, a vengeance-obsessed Spaniard, and an overconfident meanie all conspire to make things incredibly difficult for two young lovers just trying to live happily ever after. Prepare to die laughing and fall in love all at the same time, all over again.

The creative team features a book by Tony Award winner Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone) and Tony-nominated Rick Elice (Jersey Boys), music and lyrics by Oscar-winning composers Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen) and EGOT winner Robert Lopez (Frozen, The Book of Mormon), direction by Tony Award winner Alex Timbers (Moulin Rouge!) and choreography by Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler (Hamilton, In the Heights).

Producer Jeffrey Seller is one of the most successful American producers of our time. He produced the Tony Award–winning musicals Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights, and Hamilton. His shows have garnered twenty-two Tony Awards, including four for Best Musical. Jeffrey is the only producer to have mounted two Pulitzer Prize–winning musicals—Hamilton and Rent. He also revolutionized theater accessibility with the $20 ticket lottery for Rent, making theater affordable for all. 

The Princess Bride is based on the novel and Motion Picture written by William Goldman and the Motion Picture executive produced by Norman Lear and directed by Rob Reiner.

TICKET INFORMATION
THE PRINCESS BRIDE will be part of the next Broadway In Chicago season, on sale next month. Group tickets for 10 or more are on sale now by calling Broadway In Chicago Group Sales at (312) 977-1710 or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Individual tickets will go on sale at a later date. For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

ABOUT BROADWAY IN CHICAGO
Broadway In Chicago was created in July 2000 and over the past 26 years has grown to be one of the largest commercial touring homes in the country. A Nederlander Presentation, Broadway In Chicago lights up the Chicago Theater District entertaining up to 1.7 million people annually in five theatres. Broadway In Chicago presents a full range of entertainment, including musicals and plays, on the stages of five of the finest theatres in Chicago’s Loop including the Cadillac Palace Theatre, CIBC Theatre, James M. Nederlander Theatre, and just off the Magnificent Mile, the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place and presenting Broadway shows at The Auditorium.

For more information and tickets, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.
 

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Marriott Theatre, Chicagoland's longest-running musical theatre, presents its 2027 subscription season featuring five thrilling and memorable musicals: Pippin, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Almost Heaven, Les Misérables and The Wiz. The season also includes three Theatre for Young Audiences productions and an engaging concert lineup. Beginning in 2027, Marriott Theatre will introduce new weekend performance times, with Saturday shows at 2pm and 7:30pm and Sunday performances at 1pm and 6pm.

The 2027 season kicks off with Stephen Schwartz's iconic musical masterpiece, Pippin, directed and choreographed by Jeff Award nominee Amber Mak (Marriott Theatre: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story, Disney's Finding Nemo). With an infectiously unforgettable score from four-time Grammy winner, three-time Oscar winner, Tony winner and musical theatre giant, Stephen Schwartz (Wicked and Godspell), Pippin is the story of one young man's journey to be extraordinary. Packed with iconic songs like "Corner of the Sky," "Magic to Do," "No Time at All" and "Morning Glow." Pippin starts performances January 27. 

Next on stage is A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, the knock-'em-dead, uproarious hit filled with unforgettable music and unending hilarity, directed and choreographed by Katie Spelman (Marriott Theatre: Come From Away, The Music Man). When the charming and penniless Monty Navarro discovers he's ninth in line for an earldom, he figures his chances of outliving his predecessors are slight and sets off to speed up the line of succession by using a great deal of charm... and a dash of murder. Best Musical Winner: Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and Drama League Award. A wickedly witty romp of disguises, dalliances, and delightfully untimely deaths, starring Marriott Theatre favorite Alex Goodrich as the ENTIRE D'Ysquith Family! A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder starts performances April 14.

For summer, celebrate the legendary life and legacy of John Denver with Almost Heaven: Songs of John Denver, directed by James Vásquez (Marriott Theatre: In the Heights, Always Something There..., Damn Yankees). American musical icon John Denver's timeless melodies echo from Rocky Mountain highs to the Green Mountains of Vermont. Set against a backdrop of America in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Almost Heaven celebrates the life and times of this down-to-earth music man with dozens of chart-topping hits including: "Rocky Mountain High," "Sunshine on My Shoulders," "Annie's Song," "Take Me Home, Country Roads," "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "Calypso" and many more. Almost Heaven is a theatrical salute to the music that inspires us to dream of new roads and new destinations. Almost Heaven: Songs of John Denver starts performances June 16.

The epic Les Misérables takes the stage in 2027, directed by Jessica Fisch (Marriott Theatre: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Come from Away, Catch Me If You Can) and choreographed by Marriott Theatre Associate Artistic Director Katie Johannigman (Marriott Theatre: A Little Night Music, The Magic School Bus). Set against the backdrop of 19th century France, Les Misérables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption – a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit. This epic and uplifting story has become one of the most celebrated musicals in theatrical history. The magnificent score of Les Misérables includes the songs "I Dreamed a Dream," "On My Own," "Bring Him Home," "One Day More," "Master of the House" and many more.  Packing an emotional wallop that has thrilled audiences all over the world, its powerful affirmation of the human spirit has made Les Misérables a cherished masterpiece. Les Misérables starts performances August 25.

When the holidays roll around, "ease on down the road" to the beloved Broadway gem, The Wiz, directed and choreographed by Deidre Goodwin (Marriott Theatre: director/choreographer of Heartbreak Hotel and Beehive, choreographer of Catch Me If You Can). Infusing L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with a dazzling mix of rock, gospel and soul music, this timeless tale of Dorothy's adventures through the land of Oz is an effervescent explosion of music, dance, magic, and delight. Winner of seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, The Wiz is a fun, fresh, family-friendly musical. The Wiz starts performances November 10.

Marriott Theatre's commitment to family entertainment continues with a vibrant lineup of Theatre for Young Audiences productions throughout 2027. The season kicks off with the action-packed musical adventure The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, directed by Derek VanBarham and choreographed by Tommy Rivera-Vega, running February 19 through March 27. Young theatergoers will then delight in the heartwarming Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile: The Musical (a pilot production of the Theatre For Young Audiences edition), directed by Christopher Llewyn Ramirez and choreographed by Nich O'Neil, from July 9 through August 8. The final TYA production brings a fresh take on a classic fairy tale with the world premiere of Hansel & Gretel: Off The Grid, written by Johanna McKenzie Miller, Michael Mahler and Steven Strafford, directed by Miller and choreographed by Mandy Modic, running November 27 through January 9.

The 2027 Artists Lounge Live Concert Series will bring to the stage Hello Again: Eric Gutman Sings Neil Diamond on March 15-17, Good Vibrations: Michael Mahler Band Salutes The Beach Boys on September 13-14, Dream Lover: The Music of Bobby Darin and Connie Francis, starring Devin DeSantis and Anastasia Arnold on December 6-7, and Rockin' Down the Clock: 100 Years of Hits! on December 31.

Beginning Wednesday, September 16, audiences can purchase 2027 season subscriptions and single tickets to all upcoming shows and concerts. Current subscribers: your renewal packets will land in your mailbox shortly. Single ticket prices begin at $78 for mainstage productions, and $19.75 for Theatre for Young Audiences (plus tax and handling fees). For more information on Marriott Theatre or to purchase tickets to the current hit musical, Come From Away, please visit MarriottTheatre.com or follow the theatre on social media @marriotttheatre.

ABOUT MARRIOTT THEATRE

Founded in 1975, Marriott Theatre is known for presenting new and classic musicals, often direct from Broadway and has staged more than 260 productions before an estimated 12,000,000 people in its history. Marriott Theatre has received more than 600 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations and has employed more than 6,000 artists. In addition to the presentation of classic American musical theatre, Marriott Theatre has become a driving force in the development of original and re-imagined musicals.

Pippin and A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder are presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).

Almost Heaven is present by arrangement with Aruba Productions.

Les Misérables is presented through special by arrangement with Music Theatre International and Cameron Mackintosh LTD.

The Wiz and The Lightning Thief are presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals.

Kokandy Productions is pleased to conclude its 2026 Season with A Clockwork Orange: A Play with Music, a live adaptation of Anthony Burgess's dystopian novel that brings the cult-classic "horrorshow" to visceral, pulsing, terrifying life. Directed by Producing Artistic Director Derek Van Barham, with music direction and original music by Sean Ellis and choreography by Breon Arzell , A Clockwork Orange will play November 5, 2026 – January 10, 2027 on The Chopin Theatre Mainstage, 1543 W. Division St. in Chicago. Tickets are on sale now at kokandyproductions.com or bit.ly/ClockworkChicago. 

A Clockwork Orange will be led by Reilly Oh as the charismatic yet sadistic Alex DeLarge. Hannah Antman (Pete), Jamille Calixte (Georgie) and Ben Harmon (Dim) will portray Alex's band of Droogs, with Robert Hunter Bry, Colin Callahan, Sydney Genco, Jaiden Lindsey, Tommy Thams and Lizzie Williams creating an "ultra-violent" world of doctors, officers, government officials, inmates, milk bar patrons and more. Stone TeSelle will understudy Alex Delarge, with swings including Jenni Babisch, Jeff Menezes and Skye Steury.

"Having both the beloved book and the cult classic Kubrick film as references gives us even more opportunity to surprise our audience and subvert expectations," says Producing Artistic Director Derek Van Barham. "Immersing the audience in the dystopian decadence of Alex and his droogs resonates differently in 2026, when choice and individual expression are both under attack. At this moment, should we be willing to sacrifice any part of what makes us uniquely ourselves? What first appears to be a story about curing evil in a rebellious teen may also double as a cautionary tale about using fear to create a more socially acceptable kind of monster."

About the Production

A Clockwork Orange lures audiences into a glass-edged, testosterone-filled underworld of a dystopian future. The explosive story of little Alex and his rebellious gang of Droogs is a groundbreaking and twisted tale teeming with sexuality and "a bit of the old ultra-violence." As hauntingly relevant today as when Burgess's book first published in 1962 and when Stanley Kubrick's cult classic film caused a stir in 1971, A Clockwork Orange is an unapologetic celebration of the human condition. And Beethoven.

The production team includes Eric Luchen (Scenic Design), Rachel Sypniewski (Costume Design), G "Max" Maxin IV (Lighting Design), Matt Reich (Sound Design), Syd Genco (Makeup Design), Keith Ryan (Wig Design), Kirsten Baity (Intimacy Director), Shane Roberie (Casting Director), Nicholas Reinhart (Production Manager), Amelia Osborn (Associate Production Manager), Corbin Paulino (Stage Manager), Scot Kokandy (Executive Producer) and Derek Van Barham (Producing Artistic Director).

PRODUCTION DETAILS:

Title: A Clockwork Orange: A Play with Music

Playwright: Anthony Burgess, adapted from his novel

Director: Derek Van Barham

Music Director and Original Music: Sean Ellis

Choreographer: Breon Arzell

Location: Chopin Theatre Mainstage, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago

Dates: Previews: Thursday, November 5 – Friday, November 20, 2026

Regular run: Sunday, November 2, 2026 – Sunday, January 10, 2027

Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7 pm; Sundays at 5 pm. Please note: there will not be a performance on Thursday, November 25 (Thanksgiving); Thursday, December 24 (Christmas Eve), Friday, December 25 (Christmas Day), Thursday, December 31 (New Year's Eve) or Friday, January 1 (New Year's Day); there will be added performances on Wednesday, November 25 at 7 pm; Tuesday, December 22 at 7 pm, Wednesday, December 23 at 7 pm, Tuesday, December 29 at 7 pm and Wednesday, December 30 at 7 pm.

Tickets: Previews $28.52* general admission, $39.19* reserved seating. Regular run $55.20* general admission, $65.87* reserved seating. Students/seniors $44.52*. There will be a limited number of lower-priced tickets (with code ARTIST) available to artists for each performance. Tickets are on sale now at kokandyproductions.com or bit.ly/ClockworkChicago. *Ticket prices include processing fees

About the Artists

Derek Van Barham (Director) is the Producing Artistic Director of Kokandy Productions. Directing credits include Children of Eden in Concert (Broadway In Chicago), Jekyll & Hyde (BIC/Kokandy), Amélie, Into the Woods, Alice by Heart, Sweeney Todd, American Psycho, Head Over Heels (4 Jeff Awards and 3 Jeff nominations, Kokandy); Spring Awakening (Flint Rep); Rock of Ages (Metropolis); The View Upstairs (Circle Theatre); Miracle by Dan Savage, Poseidon (Hell in a Handbag), Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, Carrie, Bat Boy, Merrily We Roll Along (CCPA/Roosevelt University). Choreography credits include Evil Dead (Jeff nomination), Coraline the Musical, Ghost Quartet and Shockheaded Peter (Black Button Eyes). He was previously named one of Windy City Times' 30 Under 30, and one of Newcity Magazine's 50 Players 2024 and 2026. MFA: CCPA/Roosevelt University. IG: @dvbarham

Sean Ellis (Music Director, Original Music) is a Chicago-based multimedia artist working with music, sound, dance, movement, burlesque and acrobatics, and is the second sibling in the Haus of Twirl. Their work aims to engage vulnerability, inspire introspection and generate collective action. Their work has brought them around the world, creating, performing and producing award-winning art. This includes artistic research residencies at Lund University, invitations to present work with the UN of Sweden and the Clinton Foundation Global Initiative Summit, as well as performances at Steppenwolf Theatre, The Hanna Theater, and more. Additionally, Sean's art has been recognized through numerous awards, including selected student composer at the Chicago Electro-Acoustic Music Festival, the Grammy-Award winning Cleveland Chamber Symphony's Emerging Composer Award, the 2017 OperaFEST featured composer and the 2018 Matthew Freeman Social Justice Award through the Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation. Sean holds bachelor's and master's degrees in music composition from Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music and Roosevelt University Chicago College of Performang Arts, respectively.

Breon Arzell (Choreographer) Kokandy: The Wiz, Head Over Heels, American Psycho. Chicago: A Strange Loop (Raven/AboutFace), How We Got On (Definition Theatre), The Color Purple (Goodman), Black Excellence Shows & Main Stage Revue (The Second City), Brothers Size, We ARE Proud... (Steppenwolf), KillMoveParadise (TimeLine Theatre) and more. Regional: Select: Signature Theatre, Cape Fear Regional Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, MUNY, The Kennedy Center, Olney Theatre Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival. International: Italy, A.C.L.E. Theatrino; Germany, White Horse Theatre; Denmark, World Theater Festival; Singapore, LaSalle SIA. Education: DePaul University, Northwestern University, University of Illinois-Chicago. Film/TV: The 4400, SouthSide, Whole + Six Feet Apart, Blacksite. Awards: 5 Jeff Awards (Joseph Jefferson, Chicago), 2 Black Theater Alliance Awards, Helen Hayes Award for Best Choreography.  www.breonarzell.com @breonarzell

About Kokandy Productions

Founded in 2010, Kokandy Productions seeks to leverage the heightened reality of musical theatre to tell complex and challenging stories, with a focus on contributing to the development of Chicago-based musical theatre artists, and raising the profile of Chicago's non-Equity musical theatre community.

The company's artistic staff is comprised of Derek Van Barham (Producing Artistic Director), Scot Kokandy (Executive Producer) and Adrian Abel Azevedo & Leda Hoffman (Artistic Associates). The Board of Directors includes Preston Cropp, Scot Kokandy, Danielle Sparklin and Katie Svaicer. 

For additional information, visit kokandyproductions.com. 

Birds of North America, written by Anna Ouyang Moench, is a story of a father daughter relationship spanning a decade and weathering personal and worldwide conflicts while sharing their love of birdwatching.  Admittedly family relationships can be tricky at best.  Especially as children age into adulthood and make their own life choices and important decisions.  It is difficult for a parent to see them in a new light or role and the default of overly attempting to manage and advise them is not the best fit. 

In this scenario we find ourselves in a backyard of Baltimore, Maryland in a beautifully imagined set design by Morgan Laszlo.  We watch the relationship of John, the father (John Judd) and Caitlyn (Cassidy Slaughter Mason) ebb and flow throughout autumnal days and evenings on a backyard deck.  We can see that John is in the autumn of his years and struggling with an internal conflict if his life’s work has mattered, is significant or made a difference in the world.  Like many men of his generation, he prefers to keep the conflict internal.  And, Caitlyn wants to discuss deeper and more adult topics with her Dad…as long as they are not about her or his opinion of her.  Caitlyn goes through it, as they say, in the ten years of autumns of this piece.  Young love, marriage and many things that follow.  Ups, downs, disappointments, career crisis, what does it all mean?  

In the meantime, she and her Dad continue to communicate through spotting birds, hearing them, listening to their calls and determining what is a significant sighting.  All events we can march through relationships with.  There are scenes when they are hearing each other but not really listening as intently as they do for the elusive birds.  Does that mean they care about the birds more than each other? Or is it easier to tiptoe around landmines of emotion. Our two actors, Judd and Mason forge a believable poignant relationship on stage.  The pain each of them go through is palpable but not overt.  The most beautiful sort of acting that draws in an audience, especially in an intimate space that Red Orchid Theatre has to offer.

The sound design by Ethan Korvne also helps to set the scene and enhance the birding aspect of the show.  If you close your eyes for a second and listen to the bird calls it almost seems as if a fall breeze might pass by.  The pacing of the show and transitions are smooth and make the decade pass by in a credible page-turning manner giving you just enough time for thoughts of where they are headed next. It’s easy to see how this garnered seven Jeff Award nominations.

Whether or not you are a birding enthusiast (and my show companion is and loved it!) this is a piece about families, relationships, communication and remembering to listen without distraction, a tool we can all use in our lives.

BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA, now playing at A Red Orchid Theatre in Chicago through October 4, 2026.

https://www.aredorchidtheatre.org for ticket and performance time information.

Mary Beth Euker is a founding director of Cricket Theatre Company in Lake Zurich, Illinois, has appeared in shows at Devonshire Theatre in Skokie and Woodstock Opera House and directs in Lake Zurich at various schools and for Cricket.

Lynn Nottage is a skilled playwright, and prolific especially considering the high quality of her works: Pulitzer winners Ruined and Sweat. Or the remarkable By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, a kind of All About Eve with the starlet’s Black maid in the Eve role. And then Intimate Apparel, which won wide and very deserved praise. While her scripts vary widely in storyline, they are loaded with very real, authentic characters.

So getting a chance to see an early Nottage work—Gwydion Theatre’s production of Por’ Knockers (1995)—has an especial appeal. It is Nottage’s second play, and it had a turbulent life after premiering Off Broadway in New York at The Vineyard Theatre. Then it went to London. After its London run was cut short, Nottage told The Guardian, “I still remember an audience member ripping up their programme into tiny shreds and throwing it like confetti, saying: ‘I am cancelling my subscription to the theatre!’”

It’s not that the play is bad. In fact it is very good. It was the subject that caused problems: five activists of the imaginary People's Diasporatic Party blow up an FBI building to protest the treatment of African-Americans in the U.S. The play centers on the tension and anxiety within that band of conspirators before and after their destructive venture.

Grayson Kennedy (l-r), Joseph Percy and Dontaye Albert.

Por’ Knockers (the name refers to Guyanese gold panners) was having a successful and well-received run in London until Timothy McVeigh carried out a similar bombing of the FBI building in Oklahoma City. And so the script has been shelved since. Until Gwydion Theatre in Chicago succeeded in mounting this production at Greenhouse Theater.

“This play is so special to us at Gwydion,” says Grayson Kennedy, who is Gwydion Theatre’s Artistic Director. “It was a show that we have wanted to do since our first season.” (Kennedy acts in the show as well.)

Directed for Gwydion Theatre by Makari Robinson-McNeese, Por’ Knockers is widely regarded as a political satire, almost a parody of a “people’s revolutionary army.” But Nottage gives it a level of depth, with five fully-realized characters, each with different backgrounds and motives for the bombing.

In the opening scene of the one act, Nottage establishes the who's who: the mature, grounded Kwami (Kevin Aoussou is astoundingly good); the hyper-kinetic paranoid James (Dontaye Albert is remarkable); a thuggish Ahmed (Joseph Percy); the lone woman in the group, the academic Tamara (Justice Ford); and the lone vacillating white guy, Lewis (Grayson Kennedy is excellent). And then there is this oddly magical entry, Lance (Jimmie Roger III), a machete wielding Guyanese gold prospector visible only to Kwami, whose character happens to be Guyanese-American.

The group’s anxiety is palpable, each expressing it uniquely according to the personalities Nottage has drawn for us. Tempers flare, violence seems to bubble just under the surface as the characters play out their fears. As they leave the apartment for this carefully planned rendezvous with destruction, it is Kwami who exits last, straightening the furniture and quietly telegraphing to the audience a disdain for his fellows.

The passage of time throughout the show is registered by the subtly changing hues of daylight filtering through the window blinds. (Lighting Designer Emma Berry deserves praise for this subtle but important element.)

When they return, hours later, they are filled with excitement over the bombing, and soon enough trepidation builds about what will follow. Tamara offers words of reassurance. “We succeeded,” she says. But only four have returned. That hyper-kinetic paranoid James is nowhere to be seen, further heightening the anxiety in the room. He hasn’t followed the plan. When James does return, having ridden the train to the end of the line and back—“I wanted to make sure I wasn’t followed,” he tells them—he also delivers shocking news: the building was unexpectedly occupied, by children.

A portable radio that was to keep them up to date is malfunctioning because of bad batteries. Lewis delivers a “white man” pronouncement and orders Ahmed to get decent replacement batteries. This doesn’t go down well and violence threatens. Kwami, feeling internal pressure to be the patriarch and the decider on strategy, resists the role, then reluctantly takes it.

Jimmie Roger III

At this point, the play makes a departure. It remains a parody and these activists do seem inept, but they are also caught in an existential quandary. This takes shape in the lone land line on the wall, a 1990s touch tone wall phone, which will be their means to call the FBI and take claim for the bombing, and make a statement of their motives.

Over the remainder of the play, this brigade of the People's Diasporatic Party swings between ruminations on the morality of their action, or attacking each other. Percy’s Ahmed phrases his sense of their predicament, “I ain't afraid of death. I’m afraid of nobody noticing it. I want my death to be a defining event.”

That phone sits on the wall, a mute expression of the culmination of their destructive act: taking credit for it. Between the tense discussion, the five each take a turn at calling in, when the pressure of the moment drives them to the phone. Yet there is one constraint after another that inhibits them from successfully completing the call: first, they don’t have the number; then they are reluctant to pay 75 cents to “the system” to get directory assistance; after they tear the number from the phone book Lewis calls, and realizes he doesn’t know what to say and hangs up. Tamara calls, but becomes mired in voice mails and transfers and gives up. 

Ford’s Tamara seems the most tormented by moral issues of having killed children. Notably, whenever Kwami wants to rally the group, he addresses them as “brothers” then throws in a lagging “and sister,” a low-key running joke for the audience, though not the characters on stage. Eventually the phone call gets through in a resolution of that conceit, which Nottage has used effectively to put each personality on display.

Early works by writers arrive unfettered by reputation and uncontaminated by any self-consciousness with which acclaim may impart. It is my feeling that early writing by authors of any medium allows us a window into that unbridled creative energy.

In Por’ Knockers Nottage inserts that sixth character, the silent, machete wielding Lance, who appears periodically, visible only to Kwami. He prowls the stage front during these brief magical interludes, humming or singing softly.  When the other four see Kwami drifting away, he self-consciously explains he is channeling ancestors.

Nottage’s success has not diminished her work, but only affirmed her remarkability. Two subsequent plays like Ruined (its 2008 world premier was at the Goodman, where it returns as part of the next season) and Sweat both won Pulitzers, a first for a woman playwright. Nottage also wrote the book for two Broadway musicals: MJ and The Secret Life of Bees.

Por’ Knockers, which comes recommended, runs through October 4, 2026 at The Greenhouse Theatre.

In a world of theatrical adaptations, there really are two kinds: some reinvent their source material, becoming their own “new” art, while others understand that the real pleasure they provide is in the audience seeing some beloved thing from the past brought back to life. Dirty Dancing: The Musical falls firmly into the second category. Is it a great musical? Not quite. But that’s not its purpose. As a pop-culture ritual connecting a multigenerational audience over their shared love of a movie (which never tried to be “great” cinema, either), it is undeniably effective. And with Dancing with the Stars returning next week (surely a favorite for this musical’s audience), the timing of this particular Broadway in Chicago production’s exceptional ballroom dancing could not have been better.

With original screenplay and book by Eleanor Bergstein and direction by Lonny Price, the adaptation recreates the film largely through its familiar soundtrack, supplemented by a handful of original songs. It quickly becomes clear that the production was cast with dancing as its first priority. That choice pays off whenever the music takes over: the cast members are remarkably skilled dancers, and the show’s most kinetic sequences capture the sensuality and excitement audiences expect from Dirty Dancing. Much of that impact comes from choreographer Darrell Grand Moultrie, whose work channels the film’s sensuality and athleticism with precision.

That energy largely disappears, though, when the dancing stops. Unfortunately, dialogue is often delivered with a stiffness that makes the performances feel robotic, leaving little sense of genuine connection between the characters. The chemistry missing from Baby and Johnny’s romantic scenes is just as absent from the story’s confrontations, friendships, and family relationships.

Blake Zelesnikar (Johnny Castle) and the DirtyDancing: The Musical Company. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

Almost as noticeably, the ensemble rarely displays the tight-knit community that should exist among Kellerman’s dance staff. These characters live and work together within the same rigid system; their relationships should feel immediate and deeply established. Instead, much of the large cast feels underutilized, when not simply crowded on the stage. The exception is the final number at the end-of-season talent show, when everyone suddenly moves with the same electric energy. It sends the audience out on an undeniable high, while also revealing how much more vibrant the entire production could have felt with that sense of spirit throughout.

Vocally, the cast is professional and polished, with two extraordinary exceptions: Ethan Peterson as Billy Kostecki and Ashley LaLonde as Elizabeth. Their voices are absolutely stunning. Nearly every pin-drop emotional moment in the production comes not from the dramatic plot, but from one of them singing.

Alongside its dancing among the production’s greatest triumphs is its scenic design, which transports us to the 1960s Catskills. The work of scenic designer Brett J. Banakis, costume designer Linda Cho, and lighting designer Japhy Weideman is central to creating that world. The set does not rely on spectacle or theatrical magic but is astonishing because it’s so perfectly planned and constructed to hold every corner of Kellerman’s – from polished guest spaces to humbler staff quarters, indoors and out. Seamless transitions allow locations to shift smoothly without interrupting the story’s momentum. I only wish the choreography had taken greater advantage of that flexibility, using the architecture to create more breakout moments for an ensemble overflowing with talented dancers.

Ultimately, Dirty Dancing: The Musical succeeds at recreating the movie onstage but rarely explores what live theatre could add to it.

But despite any limitations, this production provides exactly what its audience desired: an enjoyable night powered by nostalgia, tremendous dancing, and a finale worth waiting for – even if it never becomes an exceptional musical independent of the film audiences already love.

Dirty Dancing: The Musical runs at the James M. Nederlander Theatre through September 20th. Tickets are available at https://www.broadwayinchicago.com/shows/dirty-dancing-the-musical/.

There are always two sides to every story. The writer or playwright will tell a story offering key details and scenes that move the story forward in the way that leads the audience to a message or conclusion the writer or playwright want to convey. The difficulty of any story writing, in any form, is what to include or what to exclude in your story. That is something that can be controlled. The other difficulty is trying to convey a message or point to your audience, one you want them to walk away with, chew on, think about. This difficulty is completely out of the writer’s control. Attempting to tell two sides of the same story adds a level of complexity for the writer and the audience and it’s not an easy feat to pull it off. The Birth of The Pill takes aims at just this style of storytelling, the world premiere play now playing at Timeline Theatre.

In the mid‑20th century, a radical dream begins to take shape: a simple pill that would give women full control over their reproductive futures. Championing this groundbreaking idea are feminist activist Margaret Sanger, scientist Gregory Pincus, gynecologist John Rock, and philanthropist Katharine McCormick—visionaries working under intense secrecy amid legal, scientific, and religious roadblocks. Meanwhile, in Puerto Rico, clinical trials raise ethical questions, as the lives and bodies of women like Ramona Delgado are exploited in the quest for scientific advancement. Commissioned and developed by TimeLine and based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jonathan Eig (King: A Life), the world premiere of The Birth of The Pill explores the transformative power of vision and invention, alongside the costs of pursuing both by any means necessary.

The Birth of the Pill is not a lift and shift theatre adaptation of the book of the same name. The book was written as a non-fiction historical account of how “The Pill” came to fruition. It is clinical, literal, factual. It recounts the stories of the women (Sanger and McCormick) who spearheaded the campaign to develop The Pill on behalf of women everywhere. But The Birth of The Pill, like many historical accounts, does not discuss the lives of the very real, very lost voices of the very real women whose lives were forever changed and affected by the Trials conducted in Puerto Rico. Those women’s stories was a different story altogether, one the book’s author did not aim to tell. It wasn’t an intentional dismissal of the storyline, but a concurrent one, a differing viewpoint, a second side to the story.

The cast of "The Birth of the Pill" at TimeLine Theatre Company.

The play, written by playwright Jessica Huang and directed by Sandra Marquez, aims to give that second storyline a voice, the story of the Puerto Rican women who were tested and experimented on in pursuit of this revolutionary form of birth control. The key actors in this play include Janet Ulrich Brooks as Margaret Sanger, María Victoria Martínez as Ramona Delgado, Mitchel J. Fain as Goody Pincus, and Mary Beth Fisher as Katharine McCormick. Through the narration of Ramona Delgado we are guided through history alongside Margaret Sanger from her post in the first ever Planned Parenthood in Brooklyn, NY, through the funding, research, and later development of The Pill. While well intentioned, the play takes a considerable detour from its source material at the critical point of human trials to examine that second storyline, namely, the toll and morality of human Trials. There is a poignant moment between the narrator and Sanger wherein a philosophical question is posed: Given everything you know, the impact it had, would you do anything differently? That is where this play should have ended.

The character of Delgado is a valiant attempt to write the women who trialed The Pill into the story of The Birth of the Pill but it’s a completely different perspective and is not given its due. Perhaps that was the intention of the playwright. Throughout the play, the main character, our narrator, is sidelined, dismissed, overlooked, even silenced. It’s a subtle and artistic representation of how the trial participants were treated. At a key point in the play we move away from the historical retelling of The Birth of the Pill, abruptly changing narratives. The light and humorous narration takes a sharp turnaround to become one with a modern viewpoint. It criticized the ethical and moral viewpoints of the main characters, their actions, their decisions, diverging away from the source material. Published in 2014, the book could not have accounted for or discussed the cultural, social, and moral impacts the 2020s had on the story of The Pill. I don’t believe the author was ill-intended by not accounting for the lives of the trial participants, or examining the moral and despicable acts committed in that state. The Birth of The Pill tries to rectify and almost apologize for this unintentional oversight leaving the audience with a hurried and heavy-handed message that leaves you questioning: which story was the play trying to tell? The story of the birth of the pill or that of the women who were tested on? It’s not the same story, it’s the second side to the same story.

Jonathan Eig (Mitchell J. Fain, left) and Ramona Delgado (María Victoria Martínez, right) discuss the complexities of historical narratives.

Not every play can pull off the duality of storytelling, where two differing viewpoints are given the stage. The Birth of the Pill is a story worthy of telling and seeing. It was humorous, moving, challenging, and overall compelling. It can stand on its own, with a simple yet complex ending on a philosophical dilemma. It deserves to be told on its own, without a modern, critical perspective and narrative. Then there is the different viewpoint. Another side to the same story that deserves its own time, its own space, unhurried, told in full, with all the vitriol and venom many of the acts committed on the path to progress deserve. The Birth of the Pill play inadvertently, or possibly intentionally, provided a foundation and springboard for a new story to come to light, one that given its own voice, time, and space, would only add to the power of the original story. There are two sides to every story. This particular story deserves both to be heard, just not at the same time.

The Birth of the Pill Runs through October 4, 2026, at TimeLine Theatre (5035 N. Broadway, Chicago). Set you calendar reminders and be sure to get your tickets at https://timelinetheatre.com/events/birth-pill/.

*Extended through October 11th!

Music Theater Works is proud to announce the cast and creative team for the third production of its 2026 season, Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville, in the North Theatre, at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, October 8 - November 1. Escape to Margaritaville has a book by Greg Garcia and Mike O’Malley, with music and lyrics by Jimmy Buffett. Music Theater Works’ production is directed and choreographed by Brenda Didier with co-director Sarafina Vecchio and co-choreographer Clayton Cross and music directed by Linda Madonia. Escape to Margaritaville includes a preview performance Thursday, Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m. The performance schedule is Saturday, Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 11 at 2 p.m. (Post-show discussion), Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 2 p.m., Friday, Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 17 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 18 at 2 p.m. (Post-show discussion), Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 2 p.m., Friday, Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 24 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (ASL interpreted performance), Sunday, Oct. 25 at 2 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m., Friday, Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct 31 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. Tickets are now on sale from $19.50 to $106 with tickets for guests 25 years old and younger available at half-price at MusicTheaterWorks.com or by calling the Music Theater Works box office at the North Shore Center, 847.673.6300. Memberships for the 2026 season are also available at MusicTheaterWorks.com and group discounts for 10 or more people are available by contacting This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Music Theater Works presents the first professional production of Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville in Chicago since its pre-Broadway run. Set sail for a tropical getaway with this feel-good musical packed with island vibes and beloved Buffett classics. This lighthearted romantic comedy follows Tully, a laid-back island singer, and Rachel, a career-focused tourist, as their worlds collide at a beachfront resort. With a story about adventure, self-discovery and living life to the fullest, Escape to Margaritaville is the ultimate musical vacation for Parrot Heads and newcomers alike.

The cast of Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville includes Brian Acker (he/him, Tully); Kate McQuillan (she/her, Rachel); Khaki Pixley (she/her, Tammy); Chase Grabowski (he/him, Brick); Dee Kimpel (she/her, Marley); Brian James (he/him, J.D.); Matt Frye (he/him, Chadd/ensemble/U/S Brick); Rachel Thomas (she/her, ensemble/U/S Rachel); Mackenzie Furlett (she/her, ensemble/U/S Tammy/dance captain); Andrew Faggion (he/him, Ted/ensemble/U/S Tully); Mikala Curless (she/her, ensemble); Ivan James (he/him, ensemble/U/S J.D./non-equity deputy); Jacob Merschel (he/they, Jamal/ensemble); Kelcy Taylor (she/her, ensemble); Kenny Miller (any with respect, ensemble/swing) and Juliet Lopez-Gutierrez (she/her, ensemble/swing).

Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville’s creative team includes Brenda Didier (she/her, director/choreographer); Sarafina Vecchio (she/her, co-director); Clayton Cross (he/him, co-choreographer); Linda Madonia (she/her, music director); Amber Wuttke (she/her, intimacy and violence choreographer); Kathy Logelin (she/her, dialect coach); Mack Finklea (she/they, stage manager); Ryker Blankenship (he/they, assistant stage manager); Bob Knuth (he/him, scenic designer); Ab Rieve (they/them, props designer); kClare McKellaston (she/her, costume designer); Kristen Brinati (she/her, wardrobe head); Melanie Saso (she/her, hair, wig and makeup designer); Carl Wahlstrom (he/him, sound designer); Kalyssa Montoya (she/her, assistant sound designer); Forrest Gregor (he/him, production sound engineer); Ben Lipinski (any, technical director); Liz Brachman (she/her, assistant technical director); Keely Vasquez (she/her, casting director); Chris Chase (he/him, production manager); Katie Meine (she/her, company manager) and Kyle Dougan-LeBlanc (any with respect, producing artistic director).

Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville’s orchestra includes Linda Madonia (she/her, keyboard/conductor); Cara Strauss (she/her, reed); Greg Strauss (he/him, trumpet); Eric von Holst (he/him, bass); Kyle Paul (he/him, guitar 1); Mike Lockler (he/him, guitar 2); Tina Laughlin (she/her, percussion) and Lindsay Williams (he/him, drums).

Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville Special Events

Post Show Discussions

Behind the Curtain with Thomas M. Shea

Audiences are invited to stay after the 2 p.m. performances on Sunday, Oct. 11 and Sunday, Oct. 18 to join musical theater historian Thomas M. Shea, author of “Broadway’s Most Wanted,” for a post-show talk exploring the behind-the-scenes history of Escape to Margaritaville. Free with ticket, this engaging discussion is perfect for audiences to learn about the production, its history and more.

ASL Interpreted Performance

The Saturday, Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m. performance will be ASL interpreted.

Escape to Margaritaville Partnerships

TicketREACH

Music Theater Works supports more than 25 local nonprofits and community organizations and 18 area public libraries through distribution of a minimum of 600 free tickets for every production. TicketREACH is sponsored by Wintrust Financial and Northbrook Bank and Trust.

Jimmy Buffett’s Foundations

Music Theater Works is pleased to be promoting two of Jimmy Buffett's foundations, Singing for Change and Save The Manatee, through informational exhibits in the inner lobby of the theater during Escape to Margaritaville. Singing for Change "turns good vibes into good deeds" by honoring Jimmy Buffett’s spirit of giving, helping others and having fun along the way by offering grant support to thousands of nonprofits across the United States, including five organizations in Chicagoland. The mission of Save The Manatee is to protect manatees and their aquatic habitats for today and for future generations.

ABOUT BRENDA DIDIER, DIRECTOR and CHOREOGRAPHER

Brenda Didier is thrilled to make her Music Theater Works debut with this fun show! Didier is a freelance director and choreographer based in Chicago. Credits: Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Goodman, Marriott, Paramount, Royal George Theatre, Theatre at the Center, Chicago Theatre, Theatre Wit, Porchlight Music Theatre, Mercury Theater Chicago, Second City, Theo Ubique, City Lit, Six Flags and Busch Gardens theme parks and many others. Tours: The Kenny Rogers Christmas Tour and Cirque Shanghai-Navy Pier’s Skyline Stage with engagements at the Tropicana Resort in Atlantic City, Harrah’s in Las Vegas and The New Victory Theatre in New York’s Broadway District. Didier made her TV choreography debut with T-Mobile’s national commercial “Home for the Holidays”. She is a multiple Jeff Award recipient in both direction and choreography (Equity and Non-Equity wing), Guy Adkins Award recipient and artistic director/founder of the Lincolnshire Academy of Dance, now in its 29th Season. Upcoming: Jekyll and Hyde (Kokandy Productions/Broadway Playhouse), Christmas Carol at Paramount Theatre and Dead Outlaw with Porchlight Music Theater/Theater Wit. 

ABOUT SARAFINA VECCHIO, CO-DIRECTOR

Sarafina Vecchio is thrilled to be making her Music Theater Works debut! She is a director and actor in Chicago, as well as an educator at Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and Acting Studio Chicago. Chicago performing and directing credits include: Chicago Shakespeare, Lakeside Shakespeare, Oak Park Festival Theatre, Metropolis, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, Timeline, Shattered Globe, Drury Lane, Invictus, Janus Theatre, The Other Theatre Company, North Central College, Elgin Community College and CCPA. Film: “Let's Start a Cult,” “Flatchested,” “North of the 10,” “Once Upon A Christmas Wish,” “Finding Hope” and “Coyote.” TV: “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago Justice” and “Toon In With Me.” She is proud to be a member of SAG-AFTRA and is represented by Paonessa Talent. 

ABOUT CLAYTON CROSS, CO-CHOREOGRAPHER

Clayton Cross works nationwide as a choreographer, performer and dance instructor. Cross appeared in the ensemble of White Christmas at Paramount Theatre, as well as ensemble and dance captain of Rock of Ages with Mercury Theater Chicago and with Drury Lane in the ensemble and dance captain in Grease and ensemble in Evita. Cross choreographed West Side Story, Guys and Dolls and Brigadoon at Music Theater Works (MTW) and was last seen on the MTW stage as “Scuttle” in Disney’s The Little Mermaid and in the ensemble of Mamma Mia, and as choreographer for Irving Berlin’s White Christmas and Billy Elliot the Musical. He was choreographer in residence with Music Theater Works under the direction of Rudy Hogenmiller for seven seasons where he choreographed and/or performed in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as “Benjamin;” Hunchback of Notre Dame; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; Into the Woods; Anything Goes as ensemble; Pirates of Penzance as ensemble; Peter Pan as“Nana/Croc;” Gypsy as “Tulsa,” Mame as ensemble; Candide; Guys and Dolls; My Fair Lady; Die Fladermaus; The Fantastiks as “Mute” and Damn Yankees as “Eddie;” and was also in A Chorus Line as “Greg” with Porchlight Music Theatre. Cross also performed at Marriott Theatre in La Cage as “Mercedes.” Cross is an instructor and choreographer for M.A. Dance Nation, a Texas based traveling convention circuit, where he has been choreographing, teaching and judging since 1999. Cross has five times been a consultant and contributed choreography for the Capital One Bowl’s All American Halftime Show. Throughout his 25 year career as a dancer he has worked with Robert Battle, Fernando Bujones, Sherry Zunker, Paul Taylor and Anne Reinking. Cross’s television credits include “Every Dancer Has a Story,” a PBS special on the River North Chicago Dance Company, where he was a company member for 10 seasons and toured nationally and internationally. Cross is originally from Midland, TX where he received his early training from La Petite Dance Co., Coleman Academy and the Midland Community Theatre as a member of the Pickwick Players. Cross holds a double B.F.A. in ballet and modern dance from Texas Christian University.

ABOUT LINDA MADONIA, MUSIC DIRECTOR

Linda Madonia is thrilled to be back at Music Theater Works for Margaritaville where she has previously music directed West Side Story, CATS, Guys and Dolls, Shrek, Mamma Mia and Camelot. Other recent projects include Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages and Sister Act at Mercury Theater Chicago. Anything Goes, Cabaret and A Chorus Line at Porchlight Music Theatre. Madonia also serves as the contractor for the Chicago Federation of Musicians for Porchlight Music Theatre and Music Theater Works. She is the vocal coach for the master’s degree program in Music Theatre Pedagogy at Carthage College and owns American Eagle Productions, which has been at the forefront of Theatre Education in the Chicago area for the past 35 years.

ABOUT MUSIC THEATER WORKS

Music Theater Works is a resident professional not-for-profit music theater founded in

1980. During its 45-year history it has presented more than 150 productions and intimate presentations. Music Theater Works is a professional theater company whose mission is to present works for the musical stage including historic repertoire, revitalizing the Golden Age of Broadway and earlier works, celebrating the Great American Songbook and introducing modern classics. 

Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC), America's original jazz dance company, returns to the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd. at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday Nov. 7. The engagement, part of GDC's 64th season, features the world premiere of "Caravan" by GDC Resident Choreographer Al Blackstone, a rework of his swing style full company work "Dumb Luck!" plus a mix of popular repertoire radiating GDC's signature energy and boundless spirit that has been showcased at North Shore Center since the Center's opening in 1996.

GDC is excited to present a world premiere, "Caravan" a solo work featuring GDC dancer Sasha Lazarus. This is Blackstone's fourth new work created for the company. "I'm so grateful for the push that Nan and Cesar give me to keep on asking how to continue elevating our beautiful art form that is jazz dance," says Blackstone.

The additional works program for the Nov. 6 & 7 engagement are scheduled to be as follows:

• "EXit 4" choreographed by Ronen Koresh (2013). Israeli Koresh's critically acclaimed, edgy, intense and dramatic full company work described by Stage and Cinema as "a fierce-to-ferocious, pile-driving set of four dances."

• "Gravity" choreographed by former GDC company member Lindsey Leduc (2009).This pas de deux provides a fresh look at young love and is described by Dance Magazine as "the portrait of a relationship based on release and submission."

• "Sabroso" (excerpts) choreographed by Del Dominguez & Laura Flores (2011). This sizzling full company ballroom work embraces elements of Cha-cha, Latin Swing and Mambo, and has been hailed as "A fiesta of swirling samba and equally hot social struts, flawlessly performed by the impeccable ensemble" (Stage and Cinema).

• "namuH" choreographed by Jon Rua (2026). This full-company piece fuses jazz and street styles for an urban funk sensibility. The Chicago Tribune says, "there's a rawness and refreshing degree of abstraction I wasn't expecting and, frankly, can't get enough of."

• "commonthread" choreographed by former GDC resident choreographer Autumn Eckman (2009). This work will be performed to an eclectic original music composition and live accompaniment by musician Dan Myers. Dance Magazine calls it "an undulating, lateral world of space and sound."

• "Dumb Luck!" a rework by Al Blackstone. Blackstone's jubilant full company work "Dumb Luck!" which originally debuted in GDC's April 2026 Harris Theater engagement, is in swing style and is infused with a contemporary flair.

Tickets

Tickets for the North Shore Center engagement are $35-$70. Fees apply over the phone and online. No additional fees in person at the box office. For tickets and more information visit northshorecenter.org or call 847.673.6300.

About Giordano Dance Chicago

America's original jazz dance company electrifies into their 64th season with radiance and infinite horizons. Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC) is an iconic cultural institution with deep roots in Chicago and around the globe (28 countries, 47 states, and more than 1,300 cities). From founder Gus Giordano's vision, the company continues to honor the past while pushing the art form forward. Nan Giordano celebrates 42 years as an artistic leader responsible for commissioning innovative choreographic works and mentoring thousands of dancers. Alongside Nan, Associate Artistic Director, Cesar G. Salinas and the magnificent dancers are an integral part of the GDC legacy. Al Blackstone serves as Resident Choreographer, truly a testament that the art form of jazz dance is thriving. The company is one of the few in the world that has a foundational technique, Nan Giordano Certification Program®, with certified teachers in 9 countries and 36 states. GDC is committed to Youth Arts Education at home and on tour through mentorships, scholarships, and our free Chicago Public Schools and park programs. GDC is proud to be one of the longest running dance companies in the world, continuing to enrich lives through dance. For more information visit giordanodance.org.

The Gift Theatre, led by Artistic Directors Brittany Burch and Jennifer Glasse, continues its 25^th Anniversary Season with the world premiere of Hayward by Gift ensemble member Netta Walker, directed by AmBer Montgomery. Presented in Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre, 1700 N Halsted St in Chicago, Hayward runs October 14 – November 15, 2026. The opening is Sunday, October 18, 2026, at 6:00 pm.

Tickets, priced at $45-50, are on sale now through Steppenwolf Theatre Company's box office, http://steppenwolf.org/hayward, and (312) 335-1650. Presenting this production during the Gift's anniversary season in Steppenwolf Theatre's 1700 Theatre feels like a homecoming for the company. Many in the ensemble first met at The School at Steppenwolf, and those experiences shaped how the company thinks about telling stories.

The cast features Gift ensemble members Shanésia Davis and Gregory Fenner and guest artists Ireon Roach, Sydney Charles, Victor Musoni, Watson Swift, and Alfred H. Wilson.

The creative team is AmBer Montgomery (director), Martel Manning  (assistant director), Sydney Lynne (scenic designer), Daniella Brown (sound designer), Saawan Tiwari (costume designer), G. "Max" Maxin (lighting designer), Mariah Bennett (props designer), Maya Vinice Prentiss (violence director), Sarah Luse (stage manager), Dorothy Craven (assistant stage manager), Tom Daniel (technical director and Jennifer Aparicio (production manager). Brittany Burch and Jennifer Glasse are co-artistic directors.

Hayward reimagines Hamlet and Electra through the eyes of Luna, who reveals to her family — on the day of their father's funeral — that his ghost has come to see her. Beneath the haunting, this is a love story: a daughter's love for her father, and the complicated, unresolved feelings he left behind. The story follows a family shaped by the trauma passed down by a father who served in the Navy during the Gulf War. Across grief, they reach for each other, trying, imperfectly, to come back together.

Developed through the Pearl Cleage Writers Workshop with Goodman Theatre and Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, and named a semifinalist for the 2025 Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, Hayward is exactly the kind of bold new work The Gift Theatre was built to tell.

The Gift Theatre Co-Artistic Directors Brittany Burch and Jennifer Glasse comment, "We are so excited to produce this powerful world premiere by Ensemble Member Netta Walker. As one of our newest ensemble members, Netta's history with The Gift goes back 10 years, beginning in 2017 when she understudied The Grapes of Wrath in her first professional play. After last summer's sold-out In the Works reading of Hayward, we are thrilled to bring this beautiful and deeply personal play to the stage."

Fact Sheet | Hayward

Playwright: Gift Theatre Ensemble Member Netta Walker

Director: AmBer Montgomery

Cast:    Gift Theatre Ensemble Members: Shanésia Davis and Gregory Fenner  

Guest Artists: Ireon Roach, Sydney Charles, Victor Musoni, Watson Swift, Alfred H. Wilson

Dates: October 14 – November 15, 2026

Audio description: November 12, 2026

Captioning: November 13, 2026

Location: Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre, 1700 N Halsted St in Chicago

Tickets: $45-50

Box office: http://steppenwolf.org/hayward; (312) 335-1650

If you are a veteran who has served or is currently serving in the United States Armed Forces, we thank you for your service to our country.  Veterans may purchase tickets for $15 with code HAYWARDVET with an Active Duty, Reserve, or Retired Military ID Card.

About the Artists: Link to all artist bios and headshots

Netta Walker | Playwright

Netta Walker is an actor and playwright who began her career onstage in Chicago 10 years ago as the Rose of Sharon understudy at The Gift Theater for "The Grapes of Wrath". Now she is known for starring as Keisha McCalla in "All American: Homecoming" and "All American" on The CW for 3 seasons. In 2019, she won a Jeff Award for "Best Supporting Performance in a Play" ("Yen", Raven Theater) and was quickly named one of the Chicago Tribune's "Hot New Faces" by theater critic Chris Jones.

She studied playwriting at The LIR at Trinity College for a year while simultaneously taking acting classes at RADA. As a writer in the Pearl Cleage writers workshop with the Tony Award winning Goodman Theater and Remy Bumppo Theater Company, she began developing Hayward - which was choosen as a Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference 2025 Semifinalist. Her play keerah was selected as a winner in Definition Theaters' 2024 AMPLIFY New Play Festival, where it is set to be workshopped for two years. keerah has also been performed in scratch nights in London with Irish speaking casts. Her Filipino short film Balik won the Horror/Thriller short script category at Hollywood Just4Shorts Film and Screenplay competition, as well as being selected for London Film Festival International and Edinburgh FFI. This was swiftly followed by her short script Baby Gay being selected for the Chicago Script Awards and as a Cambridge Script Festival finalist (LGBTQ Screenplay). Both shorts were selected for the Best Script Awards screenplay competition in London in the same year. Walker was also chosen to pitch her original feminist dystopian series House of Dixie at the American Cinemtheque's Proof of Concept Film Festival in LA in 2024 - it then went on to be selected as a Quarterfinalist for WeScreenplays' Diverse Voices Lab Spring 2025. She is now adapting it for stage.

Chicago onstage acting credits include: Lion in Winter (Court Theater), How to Defend Yourself (Victory Gardens, original cast); Yen (Raven Theatre, Jeff Award for Best Supporting Actor); Hamlet, Grapes of Wrath (The Gift); No Child (Definition Theatre); Continuity (Goodman); truth and reconciliation (Sideshow Theatre Company); Great Expectations (Silk Road Rising/Remy Bumppo); The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley (Northlight, original cast) and in workshops and reading series with companies like Steppenwolf Theater, Jackalope Theater, and Pride Films and Plays. Regional: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Milwaukee Rep).

Born and raised on the Florida/Georgia line in the Westside of Jacksonville, Florida, her unique background as a child of an immigrant and a Navy Chief influences every decision of storytelling she makes. The blended cultures of Cebuano Filipina and traditional Southern African-American heritage fuel her passion for creating multicultural, multilayered, and nuanced representation of the human condition in the arts.

Special events:

These events happen immediately following the respective Sunday performances of Hayward:

October 25, 2026: Scholar Sunday | African American Literature & Psychology of Trauma Speakers: Tara Betts | Author & Professor in Peace, Conflict Studies and Social Justice at DePaul University & Judith Singleton | Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Dominican University

November 8, 2026: Scholar Sunday| The Role of African-American Soldiers in Literature | Speakers: Names to Follow 

The Gift Theatre's 25^th Anniversary Season continues with:

ANNUAL GHOSTLIT AT GALE STREET INN

Dinner and drinks are available for purchase with specialty cocktails designed for the event.

4914 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60630 - Monday October 26th - Doors at 6:00pm

Tickets $25 online or $30 at the door

Come gather at the inn to warm your bones and chill your blood. Join The Gift Theatre for our annual evening of live ghost stories and haunting songs presented this year at The Gale Street Inn!

25th ANNIVERSARY BENEFÊTE PERFORMANCE

at Copernicus Center — Gateway Theatre 5216 W. Lawrence, Chicago, IL

December 7, 2026

Tickets $75, thegifttheatre.org and (773) 283-7071 | Tickets on sale now: https://thegifttheatre.org/event/homecoming-benefete/

The season will close out with a spectacular, one-night-only celebration honoring a quarter century of The Gift Theatre. This 25th Anniversary Benefête Performance, will be a night featuring our favorite scenes from over the years performed by ensemble members —the artists who have shaped this theatre across generations.

About The Gift Theatre
The Gift Theatre is a storefront nonprofit theater founded in Chicago's Jefferson Park neighborhood, committed to creating accessible, inclusive, and impactful theatrical experiences. 

Our identity is defined by intimacy, collaboration, and a belief that live storytelling can inspire and transform both artist and audience. 

What began as a spatial limitation became a revelation. For nearly 20 years, we performed in a renovated shoe store—Chicago's smallest Equity theatre—where audience members sat just inches from the actors. That intimacy didn't just shape our work; it shaped who we are as artists.

We've learned to lean into the vulnerability and electricity that arise when actor and audience share the same breath, both fully present in mutual emotional exchange.

At the Gift, we are only interested in work that is challenging and transformative —stories that ask big questions and risk discomfort in pursuit of deeper understanding. We delight in the dark humor and unexpected joy that surface in life's messiest moments, reminding us that even pain can carry connection and light. We believe that every story, at its heart, is a love story—rooted in longing and a search for communion. 

Our programming isn't bound by genre but guided by character-driven, emotionally rich storytelling rooted in truth. Whether surreal or starkly naturalistic, each play we share reflects our commitment to creating spaces of deep connection—among artists, between artist and audience, and within our community.

Presenting this show during our anniversary season at Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre feels like coming home — many in the ensemble first met at The School at Steppenwolf, and those experiences shaped how they think about telling stories.

The Gift Theatre Ensemble includes its newest members Jennifer Aparicio, Shanésia Davis, Angela Morris, Jennifer Rumberger, Netta Walker, and Patrick Weber. They join fellow ensemble members Daniel Ahlfeld, Cyd Blakewell, Brittany Burch, Hillary Clemens Harbor, Jenny Connell Davis, John Kelly Connolly (in memoriam), Paul D'Addario, Brendan Donaldson, Will Eno, James D. Farruggio, Gregory Fenner, Ed Flynn, Gabriel Franken, John Gawlik, Maggie Andersen Gawlik, Emjoy Gavino, Jennifer Glasse, Andrew Hinderaker, Chika Ike, Evan Michael Lee, Sarah Luse, Marti Lyons, Alexandra Main, Martel Manning, Laura Marks, Kenny Mihlfried, Benjamin Montague, William Nedved, Darci Nalepa, Keith Neagle, Lynda Newton, Sheldon Patinkin (in memoriam), Maureen Payne-Hahner, David Preis, David  Rabe, Mary Ann Thebus (in memoriam), Michael Patrick Thornton, Hannah Toriumi, Erica Weiss, Jay Worthington, and Kyle Zornes.