Displaying items by tag: Theatre Chicago

Lake Forest's Citadel Theatre has announced its 2026-27 mainstage season, which will include two favorites and two acclaimed recent pieces that may be new to north shore audiences. The season will commence with the satirical comedy EUREKA DAY, which examines the frequently contradictory practices of a fictional, highly progressive private school located in Berkeley, California. The play, which premiered in Berkeley in 2018, deals with topical subjects like vaccinations, privilege, and communication, utilizing sharp wit, farce, and intense dialogue to create laughter  It was produced on Broadway in the 2024-25 season and won the 2025 Tony Award for Best Revival of Play. Scott Westerman, the director of such Citadel hits as MISERY, A JUKEBOX FOR THE ALGONQUIN, THE MOUSETRAP, and SEX WITH STRANGERS, will direct. EUREKA DAY will open Friday, September 11 at 7:30 pm, following a preview on September 9, and play through October 11.
 
In November and December, Citadel will be visited by Clarence the Angel and the beleaguered George Bailey when the company presents IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: THE LIVE RADIO PLAY, based on the perennial favorite holiday film that starred James Stewart and Donna Reed. When the film premiered in 1946, before the television era, it was a common practice for popular films to be performed as live radio plays, and IT'S WONDERFUL LIFE was performed live on THE LUX RADIO THEATRE with Stewart recreating his role as George Bailey on December 23, 1947. This radio play adaptation by playwright Joe Landry not only brings the film's beloved story to the stage, but it also recreates the magic of the heyday of radio dramas. Landry has added original pastiches of commercial jingles that run throughout the play and created characters of the radio actors who are playing the characters of the film. Jack Hickey, the former Artistic Director of Oak Park Festival Theatre, who directed Citadel's THE COTTAGE in 2024, will return to Citadel to direct. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY will open on Friday, November 13 after previews on November 11 and 12, and play through December 13.
 
Citadel will follow IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE with another story from the 1940's that has never faded in popularity: Tennessee Williams' THE GLASS MENAGERIE. In depression-era St. Louis, Amanda Wingfield dreams of her past as an attractive, sought-after southern belle and wants to believe her painfully shy daughter can enjoy the same sort of popularity. Amanda's adult son Tom spends his days working in a shoe warehouse and his nights at the movies, dreaming of a way to find a more exciting life. THE GLASS MENAGERIE premiered in Chicago on December 26, 1944, and was an instant sensation, establishing Williams as a major American playwright. This poetic and emotional work exploring the tension between reality and illusion, will be directed by Scott Shallenbarger, who helmed Citadel's I AND YOU and MIRACLE ON SOUTH DIVISION STREET. Citadel co-founder Ellen Phelps will take on the iconic role of Amanda Wingfield. THE GLASS MENAGERIE will open on Friday, February 12, following previews on February 10 and 11 and play through March 14.
 
Closing Citadel's 2026-27 season will be ORDINARY DAYS, a musical about four young New Yorkers whose lives intersect as they search for fulfillment, happiness, love and cabs. This sung-through musical featuring 21 songs has been an international hit since it premiered in 2008 in a production at Penn State University. Over the next ten years, it was produced in London (six times), Paris, Barcelona, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and Wellington, New Zealand before finally making its off-Broadway premiere in 2018. It has enjoyed continued popularity around the world since then, and its ballad, "I'll Be Here" has been recorded by such artists as Audra McDonald and Liz Callaway. ORDINARY DAYS will be directed for Citadel by Christina Ramirez, who directed RUTHLESS! THE MUSICAL for Citadel Theatre in April and May 2026. ORDINARY DAYS will open to the press on Friday, April 16, following previews on April 14 and 15, and play through May 16.
 
Season subscriptions are available for the full four-show season at $140.00, or as flex passes that can be used for the patron's choice of either three shows for $115.00 or two shows for $80.00. Preview flex passes are also available for $45 (two shows), $55 (three shows), or $65 (four shows). Subscriptions and single tickets priced at $50 (plus ticketing. Fees) are now on sale at www.citadeltheatre.org. 
 
Citadel Theatre is in residence in the West Campus of the Lake Forest School District at 300 S. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest. Further information and ticketing is available on the company's website at www.citadeltheatre.org. 

A show somewhere between a play, standup act, memoir, and PowerPoint presentation. A show so chaotic you think it could never work. A show only Brendan Hunt could so perfectly pull off. Hunt’s solo performance is as hilarious as it is unexpectedly emotional, striking a balance between humor and trauma that only a child of divorce could pull off.

Hunt begins in 2022 with the story of the impromptu opportunity he had to meet Paul McCartney. Despite getting the opportunity by virtue of being a celebrity himself, Hunt – a lifelong, second-generation Beatles fan – was starstruck and wanted to tell Paul everything. He refrained, however, and thus The Movement You Need was born: a show where, instead, Hunt tells you everything he wanted to tell Paul. What unfolds is less a traditional narrative and more a kind of extended, often chaotic, and retrospective confession that uses that near-miss encounter as a framing device. It’s a clever but risky structure that gives the show both direction and elasticity, allowing Hunt to bounce between stories, timelines, and emotional registers (as well as lean into his personal neuroticism) without ever letting us forget that he’s fangirling to Sir Paul McCartney.

Loosely structured like a memoir, the show traces Hunt’s life from his earliest memories through adulthood and into fatherhood. Along the way, he paints a picture of growing up as a child of divorce and the son of an addict, filtering those experiences through humor that feels both self-aware and disarmingly honest. The performance leans into its rough edges in a way that works in its favor – featuring remarkably bad impressions, authentically cringey home videos, and stories that range from deeply processed to intentionally brushed past. Often, the line between curated and embarrassing is difficult to walk well (and such is the risk of making art) but as both a writer and performer, under the incredible direction of Ashley Rodbro, Hunt does so perfectly.

The evening, however, actually included more than one Brendan: Brendan Hunt, an avid Beatles fan, and an audience member who we will refer to as Brendan #2 – the lone, brave audience member who admitted to not being a Beatles fan at all. Centering a play around a fandom, even one of the largest of all time, is a premise that, on paper, might seem limiting. And yet, while Hunt’s love for the Beatles is the backbone of the piece, it’s not the barrier to entry you might expect. The show ultimately isn’t about encyclopedic knowledge of the band; it’s about memory, identity, and the stories we carry with us, as well as the way that we use something – anything – to form connections with those around us, even in the hardest of circumstances.

Technically, the production is just as thoroughly considered as the writing. The set strikes a careful balance between cozy realism and subtle nostalgia, creating a space that feels lived-in without becoming cluttered. Design elements – from Meredith Ries’s scenic work to Nick Solyom’s lighting, Kate Marvin’s sound, and Stefania Bulbarella’s projections – support the storytelling without overpowering it. Under the direction of Ashley Rodbro, everything feels intentional, giving Hunt the space to carry the show while ensuring the world around him remains fully realized and reflects his theatrical background, but never overpowering his performance.

Brendan Hunt’s one-man play-comedy-memoir hybrid is, from its writing to acting to production, one of the most cohesive and well-executed pieces of art I have seen in a long time. One big creative risk, the result is a show that feels less like something you watched and more like something you experienced alongside him. It’s funny, yes, and often wildly so – but it’s the emotional honesty underneath that gives it weight, turning what could have been a niche concept into something far more universal.

The Movement You Need: An Evening with Brendan Hunt is running at Steppenwolf Theatre through May 10th. More information and tickets are available at https://www.steppenwolf.org/tickets--events/seasons-/2025-26/the-movement-you-need/.

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

Steppenwolf's LookOut Series is proud to unveil its lineup for Summer 2026, marking ten years of steadfast dedication to Chicago performing artists and companies across form and discipline.

Since launching in 2016, the LookOut Series has hosted 1,043 performances of 365 unique engagements spanning dance, drag, music, comedy, puppetry, storytelling, experimental work and theatre. Over 69,000 patrons have come through the doors of the 1700 Theater to witness the work of more than 3,200 local artists. And the series has injected nearly one million dollars directly into the wallets of the artists and companies that it bolsters.

From June through August, LookOut is throwing a summer-long party to celebrate! Of the 18 unique engagements announced, highlights include many returning acts, including: the homecoming of the cult-classic variety show Erik and Jessie and Everyone You Know (hosted by Erik Hellman and Jessie Fisher), an experimental blending of sound and myth from the indescribable artist collective Mocrep (returning to Steppenwolf for the first time since 2019), the 11th Steppenwolf-hosted iteration of the endlessly popular storytelling showcase You're Being Ridiculous and the triumphant return of local drag icon Bambi Banks with a two week run of an all new drag parody show.

But the summer wouldn't be complete without newcomers to the LookOut Series performing at Steppenwolf for the first time. First time performers include: the comedy show Women Off-Colour, complete with sketches, musical numbers and more, The Lizzie McGuire Movie: The Play fresh off a sold out run at Color Club, award-winning "Comic-To-Watch" in the Chicago standup scene Deanna Ortiz and the Chicago premiere of Forgottonia, a music and storytelling show about West Central Illinois.

Steppenwolf Creative Producer and Co-Founder of the LookOut Series Patrick Zakem comments, "As Steppenwolf nears the end of its 50th Anniversary Season, we're excited to mark another institutional milestone: ten years of the endlessly eclectic LookOut Series. When we launched this program in May 2016, we didn't really imagine that we would still be going ten years later. But over the last decade, LookOut's programming has grown to be a vital resource for Chicago artists of all stripes, from dance and drag to comedy and music. We can't wait to celebrate with old friends and new – see you in the 1700 Theater!"

All LookOut performances take place in Steppenwolf's 1700 Theater, an intimate and flexible venue nestled behind Front Bar, 1700 N. Halsted St. in Chicago. Tickets, which range in price from $13 – $50*, are now on sale by visiting steppenwolf.org/lookout or by calling the Box Office at (312) 335-1650. *Pricing includes a $3 fee

The full Lookout Summer 2026 Season (in chronological order):

You're Being Ridiculous: Plot Twist 
Dates: Thursday, June 4 – Saturday, June 6 at 7:30 pm; Saturday, June 6 at 3 pm 
Ticket Price: $30
Description: At You're Being Ridiculous, real people tell true stories about their lives. Each performance is linked by rotating themes, and by the desire to make you laugh... and, once in a while, cry. Our motto: Good stories are better than good times. We laugh at ourselves and laugh with each other. Everyone has a story to tell. What's yours? 

Softie 
by Tim Felton
Dates: Friday, June 12 & Saturday, June 13 at 7:30 pm
Ticket Price: $20
Description: Sometimes a dad is also a daddy. And sometimes that daddy is also a Softie. Chicago-based comedian, Tim Felton (picture the lovechild of Mr. Rogers Pee-wee Herman and Buster Bluth), invites you along in his journey as he figures out how to connect with people as he gets older... and softer.  

Jillian Ebanks: 
Who All Gone Be There? 
Directed by Kiley Fitzgerald 
Dates: Thursday, June 18 at 7:30 pm 
Ticket Price: $23
Description: Life for Jillian in her 30s has been one big, weird party, and all she has wanted to know is Who All Gone Be There? Come join Jillian for this live taping of new material as she explores the guest list of her life through comedy. 

Funny Slut 
A solo show by Deanna Ortiz
Dates: Saturday, June 20 & Sunday, June 21 at 7:30 pm
Ticket Price: $25
Description: Deanna Ortiz used to think her job was just posting thirst traps for porn stars. Turns out, it was also therapy... with a 401(k). In Funny Slut, Deanna tells the hilarious and unexpectedly heartfelt story of working in social media for the adult entertainment industry where she learned to embrace chaos, confidence and her inner hot girl. 

Mocrep Presents: 
I Live Every Day
Dates: Thursday, June 25 – Saturday, June 27 at 7:30 pm
Ticket Price: $13 – $53
Description: The "mostly performance, arguably music" Chicago-based collective Mocrep returns to the LookOut Series. I Live Every Day is a noisy yet mellifluous riff on twang, repetition, feedback and kitchen appliances simultaneously inspired by the myth of Narcissus and the music of Tammy Wynette. 

Women Off-Colour 
Featuring Anelga Hajjar, Alondra Rios and Mantra
Dates: Wednesday, July 1 – Friday, July 3 at 7:30 pm
Ticket Price: $23
Description: Ethnicities we've dated, ethnicities who've wronged us, dads (alive and not), older sister trauma, ethnic moms, cycles we want to break and growing up with curves. These are some of the topics Mantra, Alondra and Anelga muse on in Women Off-Colour. Featuring musical numbers, sketches and monologues, this show invites women to be offensive, wrong and unapologetic.  

Erik and Jessie and Everyone You Know: 
Past and Future
Dates: Monday, July 6 & Tuesday, July 7 at 7:30 pm
Ticket Price: $43
Description: Ten years ago, Erik Hellman and Jessie Fischer brought everyone they knew to celebrate the opening of the 1700 Theater. Now EVERYONE will return for two nights, TWO DIFFERENT SHOWS! Monday: we visit the PAST. Tuesday: we visit the FUTURE. Join us for either or both. 

Derek Begrudgingly Presents: 
The Lizzie McGuire Movie: The Play
Dates: Friday, July 10 & Saturday, July 11 at 7:30 pm; Saturday, July 11 at 3 pm
Ticket Price: $28 
Description: After two sold out runs at Color Club and winning runner up in Chicago Reader's Best New Play category, The Lizzie McGuire Movie: The Play is back to show you what dreams are really made of. Through dance, drag, a live band, over-the-top acting and giant DIY cardboard props, this parody production reimagines Lizzie McGuire's iconic trip to Rome in a way Disney would never allow and finally answers the question, "what the hell happened to Miranda??" 

Nervous Breakdown in G Minor 
by Lewis Rawlinson 
Dates: Friday, July 17 & Saturday, July 18 at 7:30 pm; Sunday, July 19 at 3 pm 
Ticket Price: $30
Description: How do you pursue an art form you love when you no longer feel you belong? In this solo show with live music, Lewis Rawlinson traces his journey through queerness, addiction and mental health. Nervous Breakdown in G Minor is a lyrical autobiography about growing up Mormon in Montana, training as a classical cellist and confronting the realities of pursuing a life in music.  

Dream Devis: The Death and Life Of 
Created by Abhijeet & Leha Salam
Dates: Thursday, July 23 – Saturday, July 25 at 7:30 pm; Sunday, July 26 at 3 pm 
Ticket Price: $33
Description: Dream Devis, Chicago's trans femme South Asian collective, return to Steppenwolf after their sold-out eponymous show last year. Join our Devis for an existentialist romp through time, history, mythology and pop culture through song, dance and comedy. 

The Real Time – Live! 
With Briana Bower, Ian Paul Custer, Kelan M Smith, Jack Morsovillo & Lior Shragg
Dates: Thursday, July 30 at 7:30 pm
Ticket Price: $23
Description: The Real Time is a Chicago-based female-fronted five-piece band specializing in unique original music. Their music blends multiple eras and genres resulting in their pop-rock-funk sound. They'll be sure to get you movin' and groovin' with their upbeat jams and four-part harmonies. Come rock out with them! 

Michiganderish 
Written and performed by Julie Ganey
Music by Mike Przygoda, Directed by Ann Filmer 
Dates: Saturday, August 1 at 7:30 pm; Sunday, August 2 at 3 pm 
Ticket Price: $15 – $50
Description: Julie Ganey finds a little place for her family to get away from it all in the Great Lakes State and discovers it's not that simple. Cue chainsaws, chipmunks, menacing deer and eco-heroes! Michiganderish is a solo show about apocalyptic nature, reaping what we sow and an examination of what it means to truly belong to a place. 

The Not That Late Show
Dates: Thursday, August 6 at 7:30 pm
Ticket Price: $23
Description: Blending news-driven comedy with late-night-style interviews, The Not That Late Show is a Chicago-based variety show that aims to create space for people to live, laugh, learn... and leave at a reasonable hour. A show for Chicago, by Chicago. 

Chris Vallillo Presents:
Forgottonia
Dates: Saturday, August 8 at 7:30 pm; Sunday, August 9 at 3 pm
Ticket Price: $25
Description: Forgottonia is a musical journey through the evolution of the people and places in rural Midwestern America as seen through the eyes of songwriter Chris Vallillo. Vallillo combines storytelling and live music with the images of award-winning rural photographer Tim Schroll to create an audio-visual love letter to the region's past, present and future. 

Dionna Griffin-Irons:
This is My Moment 
Directed by Anthony Irons with music by Alexander Burke
Dates: Thursday, August 13 – Saturday, August 15 at 7:30 pm
Ticket Price: $38
Description: Blending "theatricalized" essays, satirical songs and poetic prose, This is My Moment features the real life story of a woman who has experienced the best life has to offer – a kingpin lover from the past, a jail adventure that tests her faith and a comedy career that teaches the gift of saying "Yes." 

Carl Chadek: You're Not Right for That!
Dates: Wednesday, August 19 at 7:30 pm
Ticket Price: $38
Description: Carl Chadek: You're Not Right for That! is an old-school style cabaret with music from Broadway, the great American songbook, classic pop and just maybe a little comedy. Think dinner jackets, evening gowns and martinis. Nobody is right for everything, and auditioning can be, well, interesting.  

Claire Lochmueller:
CRACKS
A one-trans-woman dark comedy memoir 
Dates: Friday, August 21 & Saturday, August 22 at 7:30 pm
Ticket Price: $15 – $30
Description: Through a hybrid of storytelling, stand-up comedy and theatre, this one-trans-woman dark comedy memoir by Claire Lochmueller details a journey from a childhood in the Catholic Church/JROTC military school to a career as a multi-award-winning trans theatre-maker. CRACKS navigates topics of gender identity, substance abuse and finding joy in a story about how two lives, through laughter and tears, became one trans identity. 

Bambi Banks Presents: 
Clue University: A Drag Parody
By Neutral Gena 
Dates: Thursday, August 27 – Sunday, September 6; Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 3 pm
Ticket Price: $33
Description: Bambi Banks returns to the LookOut Series with Clue University, a slasher parody play that combines all the fun and whimsy of the game of Clue with the complicated world of a collegiate rush week. In this thrilling murder mystery, six Sorority Sisters must unmask a killer living amongst them, testing their bonds of sisterhood and bringing to light the question: is blood thicker than power? 

Accessibility:

Steppenwolf's 1700 Theater is equipped with an induction hearing loop and assistive listening devices (ALDs) are available upon request. Our building features wheelchair-accessible seating and restrooms, push-button entrances, a courtesy wheelchair, and all-gender restrooms, with accessible counter and table spaces at our bars. For additional information regarding accessibility, visit steppenwolf.org/plan-your-visit/accessibility or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Sponsor Information: 

The LookOut Series is supported in part by the Walder Foundation. United Airlines is the Official and Exclusive Airline of Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf is also grateful for the significant season support from lead sponsors Allstate Insurance Company, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Crown Family Philanthropies, Caroline and Keating Crown, Julius Frankel Foundation, Lefkofsky Family Foundation, Northern Trust, Anne and Don Phillips, John Hart and Carol Prins, Shubert Foundation, Inc, Walder Foundation, and Zell Family Foundation. Steppenwolf also acknowledges generous support from premier sponsors Anonymous, Andrew and Amy Bluhm, Michael and Cathy Brennan, Ann and Richard Carr, Chicago Community Trust, Conagra Brands Foundation, Rich and Margery Feitler, FROST CHICAGO, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Orlebeke Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, Sacks Family Foundation, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Thoma Bravo, and Bryan Traubert and Penny Pritzker. Steppenwolf also acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. uncil and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. 

About Steppenwolf Theatre Company:

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is the nation's premier Ensemble Theater with 50 members who are among the top actors, playwrights and directors in the field. Thrilling, powerful, groundbreaking productions have made this theatre legendary. From the 1980 phenomenon of Balm in Gilead, to The Grapes of Wrath, August: Osage County, Downstate, The Brother/Sister Plays, and now, the 2025 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Purpose, Steppenwolf Theatre has had a long-running and undeniable impact on American Theatre and Chicago's cultural landscape. Founded in 1975 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry and Gary Sinise, Steppenwolf started as a group of young people in their teens and early 20s performing in the basement of a church. Today, the company's artistic force remains rooted in the original vision of its founders: an artist-driven theatre, whose vitality is defined by its appetite for bold and innovative work. Every aspect of Steppenwolf is rooted in its Ensemble ethos, from the intergenerational artistic programming to the multi-genre performance series LookOut, to the nationally recognized work of Steppenwolf Education and Engagement which serves nearly 15,000 teens annually. While grounded in the Chicago community, more than 40 original Steppenwolf productions have enjoyed success nationally and internationally, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, London, Sydney, Galway and Dublin. Steppenwolf also holds accolades that include the National Medal of Arts, 14 Tony Awards, two Pulitzer Prize-winning commissions and more. Led by Artistic Directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis, Executive Director E. Brooke Flanagan and Board of Trustees Chair Keating Crown — Steppenwolf continually redefines the boundaries of live theater and pushes the limits of acting and performance.

Steppenwolf's Mission: Steppenwolf strives to create thrilling, courageous and provocative art in a thoughtful and inclusive environment. We succeed when we disrupt your routine with experiences that spark curiosity, empathy and joy. We invite you to join our ensemble as we navigate, together, our complex world. steppenwolf.org, facebook.com/steppenwolftheatre, twitter.com/steppenwolfthtr and instagram.com/steppenwolfthtr.

Shakespeare’s comedies share a familiar architecture: mistaken identity, disguises, intersecting plotlines, a generous helping of prose, and language that delights in wordplay and double entendre. They are also, crucially, driven by sharp, intelligent women who often see more clearly than the men around them. With that foundation in mind, Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s production of The Merry Wives of Windsor leans confidently into these conventions - and then accelerates them - resulting in a delightfully mischievous evening.

Directed with precision and pace by Phillip Breen, the production wastes no time settling in. It moves briskly, almost breathlessly at times. Breen understands that comedy, especially Shakespearean comedy, thrives on rhythm. Doors must slam at just the right moment, disguises must be revealed a beat too late, and jokes must land before the audience has time to anticipate them. Here, the timing is razor-sharp, aided immeasurably by a cast of 22 actors who navigate the text with clarity and ease.

Max Jones’ set design cleverly situates Windsor in a contemporary world of affluence and quiet excess. This is a town where privilege is not just visible - it is assumed. Children attend private school, men play rugby, and women occupy a social sphere of lunches and shopping that doubles as a kind of informal power network. The Garter Inn, rendered as a dimly lit bar with a billiards table anchoring the space, becomes a playground for Falstaff’s schemes. In contrast, Dr. Caius’ sterile office reception area offers a clinical absurdity, while the Ford household gleams with white carpeting, glass, and sweeping staircases - its opulence undercut by the chaos unfolding within. A particularly fluid set change transforms the space with near-magic, reinforcing the play’s obsession with illusion and transformation. The final forest scene, textured with dirt mounds and trees, grounds the production just enough before it tips fully into theatrical fantasy.

What emerges most clearly in this production is the idea that Windsor is a world turned slightly askew. No one is quite what they claim to be. The knight, Sir John Falstaff, is anything but noble - he is vain, opportunistic, and gloriously ridiculous. The doctor, Caius, is less healer than hot-headed rival, perpetually threatening violence. The clergyman’s thick accent renders him a subject of humor rather than authority. Even the Justice of the Peace seems more eager for confrontation than civility. It is a community in which status is worn like a costume—and just as easily discarded.

Photo by Kyle Flubacker.

At the center of it all are the “merry wives,” who prove themselves to be the most grounded and perceptive figures on stage. Ora Jones’ Mistress Page and Issy Van Randwyck’s Mistress Ford  anchor the production with wit and composure. They are never merely reactive; they orchestrate the action, turning Falstaff’s attempted manipulation into a series of escalating humiliations. Their intelligence drives the comedy, ensuring that the laughter always has a point of view.

The supporting cast is equally strong. Chike Johnson’s Master Page exudes an easy confidence, while Timothy Edward Kane’s Master Ford leans fully into the character’s jealousy, finding both humor and unease in his suspicion. Nate Burger’s Dr. Caius is a comic standout, his bluster and indignation landing with delightful force. Nancy Voigts brings a bustling energy to Mistress Quickly, threading together the play’s many schemes, while Paul Oakley Stovall’s Justice Shallow captures the absurdity of self-importance.

And then there is Jason Simon’s Falstaff - a performance that embraces the character’s excess without apology. Legend has it that Queen Elizabeth I so adored Falstaff that she demanded to see him in love. Here, however, Falstaff is in love with nothing so much as himself. Simon leans into that vanity, crafting a figure who is both despicable and irresistibly watchable. His repeated downfalls never diminish him; instead, they reveal the elasticity of his ego.

Ultimately, this production succeeds because it trusts the mechanics of Shakespearean comedy while fully committing to its world. Disguises are embraced, identities are blurred, and language sparkles with innuendo. Yet beneath the laughter lies a sharper observation: that power, status, and even identity itself are often performances. In Windsor, everyone is playing a role - some just play it better than others.

Highly Recommended

When:   Through May 3

Where:  Chicago Shakespeare Theater 800 East Grand Avenue in Chicago

Tickets:  $60 - $120

Box Office: 312-595-5600

Info: www.chicagoshakes.com

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

As I entered the black box studio at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, I’ll admit - I wasn’t in the best frame of mind. Before leaving home, I’d watched the news: the endless cycle of violence, bombings, and that tired “us versus them” narrative that seems to define our moment. My spirit felt worn down. On top of that, I had spent the day finishing a review from earlier in the week, so I arrived more drained than inspired. Theatre, on this night, felt like an obligation.

Then Mrs. Krishnan’s Party happened - and everything shifted.

Instead of the usual routine of being guided to my seat by The Saints, I was greeted at the door by James (Justin Rogers), dressed in an outfit that immediately caught my attention. He asked my name. We talked. It wasn’t forced or performative - it was genuinely human. By the time he led me to my seat, the invisible barrier between audience and performer had already begun to dissolve. He introduced me to the people around me: to my left, a well-traveled gentleman from Ohio by way of India; to my right, a mother and daughter who helped identify James’s attire as a South Indian costume, rich with cultural specificity. Already, I wasn’t just watching a show - I was part of a group.

That’s when I realized we were not simply audience members, but guests of James, who was hosting a surprise party for his landlady. The occasion is Onam - a vibrant harvest celebration rooted in the southern Indian state of Kerala. What unfolds is not just theatre, but an act of radical hospitality. Music pulses. Conversations bloom. Strangers become co-conspirators in joy. This show is more than immersive - it is enveloping, dissolving the line between performer and audience until you’re no longer watching a story, you’re living inside it.

This approach is the hallmark of Indian Ink Theatre Company, the New Zealand-based ensemble behind the production. Founded by Justin Lewis and Jacob Rajan in the late 1990s, the company has earned an international reputation for creating intimate, actor-driven works that blend South Asian storytelling traditions with contemporary theatre. Their work explores identity, migration, and cultural hybridity through a deeply human - and often humorous - lens. More than anything, they prioritize connection: their productions don’t just tell stories; they build shared experiences.

And that’s what undid me.

Photo courtesy of Indian Ink Theatre Company.

When Mrs. Krishnan (Kalyani Nagarajan) finally arrives, she is startled to find the back of her small shop filled with strangers. There’s hesitation - this wasn’t her plan - and beneath it, something heavier lingers. As the evening unfolds, we begin to feel the weight she carries: the loss of her husband, the quiet ache of a son - an architect - now gone. These moments settle into the space with a tender gravity, reminding us that her warmth is hard-earned.

And yet, just as the story begins to lean into that sorrow, the play grabs and lifts us again. Laughter breaks through, balloons appear. Music returns. The room brightens. What begins as disruption transforms into delight as she embraces the gathering and, in a gesture both intimate and communal, decides to cook daal for all of us. In that moment, grief and joy exist side by side—each making space for the other.

Somewhere between the laughter, the dancing, and the smell of daal, the heaviness I carried into the theatre dissolved. Not in a naïve or escapist way, but in a way that felt necessary. Soundly directed by Justin Lewis, the show doesn’t ignore the fractured world outside; it quietly insists on another possibility within it: community, warmth, shared humanity.

By the end of the evening, I realized I hadn’t just watched a play - I had been in community with people different than me, yet deeply the same. In a time when division dominates the headlines, Mrs. Krishnan’s Party offers something deceptively simple and profoundly radical: a room full of strangers choosing, for a moment, to be together.

And that, right now, feels like everything.

Recommended

When: Through May 3rd
Where: Chicago Shakespeare Theatre 800 East Grand Avenue in Chicago.
Tickets: $74 - $90

Box Office: 312.595.5600
Info:  www.chicagoshakespeare.com

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

Depending on the source, Bat Out of Hell ranks among the top‑selling albums of all time, so its eventual leap to the stage in 2017 felt almost inevitable. Written by Jim Steinman and performed by Meat Loaf, the album’s grandiose ‘70s sound hardly suggests a post‑apocalyptic narrative, yet that’s the unexpected framing audiences encounter here. Meat Loaf’s music has always thrived on high‑energy rock‑opera theatrics  - a powerhouse voice wrapped in oversized emotion and unapologetic melodrama -  so while this storyline wouldn’t have been my first guess for a theatrical adaptation, it surprisingly fits. What works especially well is the way the show taps into the romantic rebellion that defined his performances, echoing the presence of an artist who approached each number as a miniature piece of theatre.

For its one‑night‑only performance at the Auditorium Theatre, Bat Out of Hell - The Musical opens with a confident burst of energy, pairing Steinman’s masterful songbook with a theatrical approach that’s more measured than its reputation suggests. Rather than presenting Meat Loaf’s iconic album as a straightforward rock spectacle, the creative team leans into the material’s operatic sweep and dystopian romance, shaping it into a visually engaging and musically cohesive piece of rock theatre. In the Auditorium’s spacious setting, the cinematic staging and amplified aesthetic settle in comfortably, allowing the show’s size to register without overwhelming the story at its center.

Set in the neon‑lit sprawl of post-doomsday Obsidian, Bat Out of Hell - The Musical centers on the charged relationship between Strat (Conor Crowley) - the eternally young leader of a band of renegade teens known as The Lost - and Raven (Carly Burns), the sheltered daughter of the city’s iron‑fisted ruler, Falco (Travis Cloer). Strat moves through a world shaped by rebellion and restless freedom, while Raven has grown up behind barricades built as much from fear as from concrete. Caught between them is Sloane (Tori Kocher), Falco’s long‑suffering wife, whose presence adds a more human counterpoint to the household’s rigid control. Their intersecting tensions spark a collision between desire and authority, youth and power, with Steinman’s sweeping rock anthems amplifying every emotional turn.

As Strat and Raven navigate the risks of their forbidden bond, the story widens to reveal the fractures within Falco and Sloane’s marriage - a counterpoint that exposes the weight of time, compromise, and regret. Meanwhile, The Lost struggle to hold onto their identity in a city determined to contain them. The narrative unfolds less as a traditional plot than as an atmospheric journey, laced with youthful rebellion and driven by Steinman’s music, which propels the characters through a world where love becomes both an act of defiance and a means of survival.

The show’s design builds around Steinman’s biggest showstoppers, threading them through the narrative with the kind of theatrical sweep that has long defined his work. Signature numbers such as “Bat Out of Hell,” “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” and “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” delivered with standout vocals and sizzle from Travis Cloer and Tori Kocher, form the musical backbone of the evening, each landing with the scale and intensity fans expect. Rather than serving as simple nostalgia cues, these songs shape the emotional architecture of the production, driving its crescendos and giving the story much of its momentum. Their presence underscores just how enduring - and theatrically adaptable - Steinman’s catalog remains.

As the production’s central pair, Conor Crowley and Carly Burns offer grounded, complementary performances as Strat and Raven. Crowley brings a clear vocal presence and an easy confidence to the role, while Burns provides a calm, steady counterpoint that helps shape the emotional arc of their scenes together. Their dynamic feels natural and unforced, giving the story a solid center without overpowering the production’s broader stylistic choices.

Production phot of Bat Out of Hell - The Musical by Chris Davis Studio 2

The ensemble moves with an easy rhythmic cohesion, offering strong vocal moments that add texture and dimension to Jay Scheib’s vision. Their presence helps fill out the world of Obsidian, giving the production momentum even when the staging remains intentionally spare. Scheib’s use of a live onstage cameraman adds another layer, capturing close‑up details that are projected onto two large overhead screens and lending the performance a subtle filmic quality. The choice works on both a practical and stylistic level, allowing the show to shift between the intimacy of the camera lens and the broader sweep of the stage. What initially feels like a distraction quickly becomes part of the visual language of the production, blending in so seamlessly that the cameraman all but disappears from notice.

The physical world of Bat Out of Hell - The Musical unfolds across a vast industrial landscape that captures the fractured, glow‑soaked atmosphere of Obsidian. The set itself is relatively simple, but the production makes sharp use of dynamic lighting to build atmosphere, scale, and momentum. A towering network of platforms, staircases, and metal scaffolding creates a vertical playground where the cast can vault between levels and stage the show’s most high‑energy moments. One of these platforms houses the live band, led by Greg Paladino, whose presence adds both immediacy and a welcome sense of rock‑concert authenticity.

Bat Out of Hell threads its spectacle with clear symbolic beats: The Lost, frozen in age, embody youth suspended between rebellion and stagnation, while Obsidian’s crumbling, fluorescent‑hazed skyline reflects a society shaped by fear and control. Strat and Raven’s romance becomes a tug‑of‑war between liberation and confinement, and Falco’s fortress stands in for every system determined to hold change at bay. Even the production’s constant motion suggests a world enthralled by spectacle yet uneasy with evolution.

It’s gratifying to see that the legacy of Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf continues to reach new audiences, while also resonating with longtime fans - some of whom sing along to every word of certain songs throughout the performance. The material’s larger‑than‑life sound remains a recognizable cultural marker, and this musical now holds a distinct place for many who appreciate the intersection of rock and musical theatre.

In the end, Bat Out of Hell - The Musical isn’t aiming for subtlety, but that’s part of its charm. It delivers an energetic surge powered by Steinman and Meat Loaf’s expansive songbook and a cast that commits fully to every moment. The storyline undoubtedly edges into corniness here and there, yet it matters little when the production is this unabashedly fun - and the sheer force of the music makes the ride worthwhile on its own.

The bat may well fly back again someday, but for now, Bat Out of Hell - The Musical arrived as a one‑night‑only event. For more information, visit https://batoutofhellmusical.com/.

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

Goodman Theatre’s production of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom arrives with the weight of expectation - and under the dual direction of Chuck Smith and Harry Lennix, it does not merely meet that weight, it reshapes it. This is not a revival of August Wilson’s searing text; it is a precise, muscular excavation of its tensions, its music, and its truths.

From the outset, the production leans into what makes Ma Rainey distinct within Wilson’s canon: its compression. There is no sprawling Hill District, no generational sweep - only a room, a day, and a reckoning. Smith and Lennix understand this pressure-cooker structure and allows it to simmer deliberately. The pacing is patient but never indulgent, each pause and eruption calibrated to expose the fractures between the woman, the men and the system that contains them.

At the center stands E. Faye Butler’s Ma Rainey, and “center” is not metaphorical - it is gravitational. Butler embodies what makes Ma singular among Wilson’s women: she is not surviving the system, she is making the system bend to her will. Where characters like Rose in Fences or Bertha in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone endure with moral resilience, Ma operates with economic and performative authority. Butler’s Ma is unapologetically self-possessed, openly sensual in her relationship with Dussie Mae, and fiercely aware of her value. Every demand - a Coca-Cola, a delay, a correction - is less eccentricity than strategy. She dictates the terms, and the room adjusts.

Surrounding her is a cast that functions both as ensemble and as volatile elements in a dramatic equation. Al’Jaleel McGhee’s Levee is electric, restless, and dangerously unmoored. He captures the tragic duality of the character: brilliance tethered to illusion. His performance builds like a slow burn until it detonates, revealing the unresolved trauma and misplaced faith in a system that will never reward him. In contrast, David Alan Anderson’s Cutler is grounded, pragmatic, a man who has learned the cost of survival. Kelvin Roston, Jr.’s Toledo brings intellectual weight, his reflections on Black identity landing with quiet force, while Cedric Young’s Slow Drag occupies the margins with understated authenticity.

The white power structure—embodied by Matt DeCaro’s Sturdyvant and Marc Grapey’s Irvin - is rendered with chilling subtlety. There is no overt villainy here, only the smooth machinery of exploitation. Irvin’s politeness is the point; it is the veneer that makes the system function.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Goodman Theatre. (L-R) Jabari Khaliq, E. Faye Butler, Kelvin Roston Jr.

Visually, the production is nothing short of exquisite. Linda Buchanan’s set design transforms the stage into a 1920s Chicago recording studio that feels both expansive and suffocating. The inclusion of distinct spaces - the recording area, control room, rehearsal room, even a suggestion of the street - creates a dynamic environment while maintaining the play’s essential confinement. This is a world built for observation and control.

Jared Gooding’s lighting design elevates this world into something almost cinematic. The suggestion of the Chicago Loop’s overhead train is particularly striking, its presence looming like an industrial heartbeat. Gooding uses light not just for visibility but for composition - creating tableaus, isolating tensions, and guiding the audience’s eye with precision.

And then there are Evelyn M. Danner’s costumes, which operate as visual dramaturgy. The color palette tells its own story: Irvin and Sturdyvant in stark black and white, embodiments of rigid power; the band in various shades of brown, signaling labor, reliability, and earthbound existence; and Ma Rainey in a commanding money-green dress, a walking declaration of her worth. Dussie Mae’s yellow flapper dress, accented with green, subtly marks her proximity to that wealth and power. Even Sylvester’s patterned brown attire hints at his connection to Ma’s orbit. Every choice is intentional, every color a statement.

What ultimately distinguishes this production is its understanding of language - not just Wilson’s text, but the music within it. The scenes among the band members crackle with rhythm and lyricism, their banter and arguments forming a kind of blues composition. It is beautiful, but volatile - a powder keg of masculinity, frustration, and deferred dreams.

What Chuck Smith and Harry Lennix achieve is extraordinary. They do not merely stage Ma Rainey's Black Bottom; they orchestrate it, allowing every performance, every design element, every silence to resonate with intention. Nowhere is that more evident than in Levee’s arc, where Al’Jaleel McGhee delivers a performance that simmers with ambition and barely contained rage, his volatility carefully shaped into a slow, inevitable unraveling.

This is direction of the highest order - precise, unflinching, and deeply attuned to the rhythms of Wilson’s language and the weight of his themes. What emerges is not just unforgettable theatre, but necessary theatre: a production that insists we listen more closely, look more deeply, and reckon more honestly with the truths it lays before us.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

When: Through May 3

Where: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.

Tickets: $44-$84

Info: www.goodmantheatre.org

Box Office: 312-443-3800

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

I’m going to start with a bit of backstory.  In high school we all read (more or less voluntarily) The Iliad, Homer’s poetic exploration of a war that occurred during the Bronze Age yet continues to resonate with twenty-first century significance. Homer focuses (naturally!) on the guys:  heroic Greek Achilles and his lover Patroclus; Hector, prince and hero of Troy; Greek King Menelaus vs. Paris, Prince of Troy. The women are pretty much either pawns or plunder. The Iliad begins with Hector’s baby bro Paris swiping Helen, wife of Menelaus. Menelaus and Paris duel, intending Helen to be the prize, but when Paris is defeated, Aphrodite delivers him to Helen’s bed before Menelaus has a chance to kill him – a good example of the ambivalent outcomes when the gods and goddesses mix it up with mortals. THE TROJAN WOMEN actually begins with an introduction by Poseidon (Brian Weddington), god of the sea, and Rachel Sledd as Athena, goddess of war.

THE TROJAN WOMEN analyzes the costs of war through the trauma and grief of the Trojan women after their city has been sacked, their husbands killed, and their remaining families taken away as slaves. It’s set in a present-day hospital maternity ward that’s serving as confinement for troublesome females. The Chorus (Morgan Lavenstein), that hallmark of ancient Greek drama who provides insight into events both on- and offstage, appears as a woman vastly pregnant and chained to the bed.  She’s not best pleased at any of this, and no more tickled about rooming with Hecuba (Ashway Lawver), queen of vanquished Troy and vehemently unreconciled to its overthrow.

Ben Page is Talthybius, a Greek herald who pops in and out with news bulletins, each more hideous than the last. His is the task to reveal to the women their destinies: Hecuba will be given to the Greek king Odysseus, the widowed princess Andromache (Jazmine Mazique) is to be the concubine of Achilles’ son, and Cassandra (Liliana Mastroianni) is destined to become the conquering king Agamemnon’s doxy. Cassandra is clairvoyant, which one might assume to be an asset, but her mother has always dismissed her revelations as hysterical attention-seeking, especially as in such grievous times the future may not be something you really want to hear about.  Andromache, Princess of Troy, has just borne a son to her ex-husband ex-Prince Hector, and Talthybius must also break the news that her baby must die, as the Greeks fear he will grow up to avenge his father Hector. And Helen (Morgan Burkey), whose beauty launched a thousand playwrights, ends up back with her husband Menelaus (Marcus Castillo). There’s lots of babies around – we’re in a maternity ward, remember? – and babies are a natural outcome of the unbridled rape that is ubiquitous in wartime; in fact, it appears that the primary position of women in conquered Troy is prone. Plus, ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

OK, are you more or less caught up on characters and setting? cos I need to tell you about Eos Theatre Company. Their stated mission is ‘to shine light into the darkness of the human condition and to amplify women’s voices and stories’, and they’ve chosen THE TROJAN WOMEN as their inaugural presentation because it does both brilliantly. The four co-founders of Eos united at the first table read of The Trojan Women in February 2025. That production was not only fabulous but propagative as well: the four decided to remount the show and simultaneously create a brand-new, all-woman company, named EOS in honor of the Greek Goddess of the dawn who flies her chariot across the sky, pulling back the curtain of night to usher in the light of the sun.

Rachel Sledd is a born-and-bred Chicagoan who lived and acted between New York and Los Angeles until 2006, when she returned to her hometown. Ashway Lawver grew up in Los Angeles. Her passion for the art and study of Acting led her to Chicago to attend The School at Steppenwolf and she found in Chicago her true theatrical home. Morgan Lavenstein began acting in Baltimore at the ripe old age of 8. She attended The School at Steppenwolf and Chicago became her forever home. Morgan Burkey is originally from Texas. In 2017 she was accepted into School at Steppenwolf, where she met fellow co-founders Morgan Lavenstein and Ashway Lawver. Amazing, innit, how extraordinary people from far-flung origins are drawn together? Call it destiny, fate, or kismet, in this case it’s providential.

The production team was as superb as the cast. Co-founder Rachel Sledd was Director and Michael Lesko Stage Manager. Shayna Patel’s Set Design portrayed the ambience before the actors took the stage.  The story was encompassed by Mason Absher’s Sound; his choices of music interlocked perfectly and toward the end the impassioned sound pulled the storyline together, as did Garrett Bell’s breathtaking lighting effects.

Seeing THE TROJAN WOMEN was thrilling not only for the splendid play itself, but for the chance to witness the emergence of Eos, a feminist company whose development is sure to beguile and invigorate Chicago for years to come.

Running through April 18^th at Bramble Arts Loft

RECOMMENDED

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

Under the leadership of Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director Avery Willis Hoffman and Executive Director Angel Ysaguirre, Court Theatre is proud to announce its 72nd season. As America marks 250 years of nationhood, Court Theatre, as Chicago's premier stage for classic work, responds with a season that examines our shared pursuit of Life and Liberty.

The 2026/27 season will feature the American premiere of Winsome Pinnock's Tituba, set in colonial Salem against the backdrop of the infamous witch trials, directed by Associate Artistic Director Gabrielle Randle-Bent, with dramaturgy by Avery Willis Hoffman, performed at the University of Chicago's iconic Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. Following Tituba, we move to twentieth-century Pittsburgh one last time as Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson directs August Wilson's masterwork, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, bringing his staging of the August Wilson American Century Cycle at Court Theatre to a triumphant conclusion. We then proudly feature Luis Alfaro's Mojada, a blistering reimagining of the Greek classic Medea, as a testament to twenty-first century immigrant life in Chicago, produced in partnership with Teatro Vista Productions and directed by Wendy Mateo and Denise Yvette Serna. The season concludes with safronia, an epic new opera that highlights a family's fight for justice across generations, created by inaugural Chicago Poet Laureate avery r. young and directed by Timothy Douglas.

Court Theatre's 72nd season is an exploration of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit. America is at an undeniable inflection point. We, as a set of complex communities, are reexamining our systems and very ways of being, challenging long-held beliefs, and asking urgent questions. Theatre—which we believe to be a foundational pillar of civic discourse—helps us to find new pathways through complicated times. The 2026/27 season peers deep into the heart of distinctly American stories—with all their nuance, contradictions, and beauty—and reaffirms the crucial resilience of the classics.

Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director Avery Willis Hoffman shares, "As our country passes a historic milestone, Court's 2026/27 season works towards demonstrating theatre's place at the center of civic life. Our art form has historically offered fresh perspectives, inspired spirited discourse, and created unique and shared experiences that help us better understand each other and ourselves. In this moment of intense reflection, we are re-committing to this complicated, but basic, mission, all of which feels increasingly urgent, and getting to the heart of how theatre can make a real impact. In my first full season as the new Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director, I am proud that Court is leading these conversations."

Executive Director Angel Ysaguirre adds, "The 2026/27 season affirms that American stories are varied, complex, and beautiful, and it has something for everyone. From Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson's historic completion of the August Wilson Century Cycle, to a new opera, to a national premiere, to a Chicago-specific adaptation, this season stretches our expectations and expands the boundaries of our art form. This is exciting for us, our audiences, and the artists we're working with—some of whom we're thrilled to welcome to Court's stage for the first time. We can't wait to present a season that is as varied, complex, and beautiful as the America outside our doors."

The first production in Court Theatre's 2026/27 season begins in December 2026, markedly later than years past, and will take place offsite at the University of Chicago's Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. Court's Abelson Auditorium will be dark for the summer and fall of 2026 as we modernize our lighting equipment and implement a new fall protection system. These changes will create a safer working environment for theatre technicians, and provide necessary and exciting updates to our intimate house.

The 2026/27 Court Theatre Season Up Close:

AMERICAN PREMIERE

TITUBA

By Winsome Pinnock

Directed by Associate Artistic Director Gabrielle Randle-Bent

Dramaturgy by Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director Avery Willis Hoffman

Limited Engagement at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

December 2026, dates to be announced

Performed in the hallowed halls of the University of Chicago's Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, the 2026/27 season opens with the American premiere of Tituba—a theatrical experience that offers a new lens on pre-Revolutionary War America through spiritually charged language, music, and dance.

In this solo performance, Tituba—the real-life person accused in the Salem witch trials of 1692 and featured in Arthur Miller's classic The Crucible—invites the audience to journey through her mystical world to hear her side of the story. With care and wry humor, she details her history with the girls in Salem Village, her beloved mother and husband, Reverend Parris's rage, the violence of enslavement, and her unspoken indigenous name, building to a scathing climax and the ignition of historic mass hysteria.

Set against the backdrop of the institution that accused Tituba centuries ago, Associate Artistic Director Gabrielle Randle-Bent directs, with dramaturgy by Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director Avery Willis Hoffman. Together, they bring Tituba's life story to light in a sacred place, uplifting her voice and showcasing the transformational power of storytelling.

JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE

By August Wilson

Directed by Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson

January 8 - February 7, 2027

More than twenty years in the making, Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson completes a defining chapter of his artistic legacy. With Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Parson completes August Wilson's American Century Cycle and joins an elite circle of directors who have staged all ten plays at the same theatre.

It is 1911, and Harold Loomis and his daughter, Zonia, have been on the road for years, searching for Zonia's mother and, unbeknownst to Harold, chasing his forgotten song. Their journey leads them to Seth Holly's boardinghouse, where they meet Holly, his wife, and fellow boarders who, like them, are in relentless pursuit of love, identity, freedom, and purpose.

Wilson's iconic, evocative prose and vivid characters shine in this portrayal of a nation haunted by slavery, with spirits around every corner and no escape in sight.

Ron OJ Parson's residency is made possible by The Joyce Foundation.

MOJADA

By Luis Alfaro

Directed by Wendy Mateo and Denise Yvette Serna

Presented In Partnership with Teatro Vista Productions

March 12 - April 11, 2027

An adaptation of an ancient classic tale of revenge, sacrifice, and the high price of pursuing freedom, Mojada renders Euripides's Medea myth urgently and achingly alive in the city of Chicago.

Medea survived a treacherous journey from Mexico to the United States in search of a better life, but the promise of the American Dream is quickly unravelling. She sews exquisite garments in her backyard, suffocated by fear. Her son sheds tradition as fast as he can, trading huaraches for Vans. And her husband grows distant, seduced by ambition and proximity to power. Trapped between who she was and who America demands she become, Medea finds herself in a standoff with the very dream she risked everything to reach. 

Co-directed by Teatro Vista Productions' Artistic Director Wendy Mateo and Artistic Collective member Denise Yvette Serna, Mojada confronts the contradictions at the center of American identity: opportunity and erasure, belonging and betrayal. Both a love letter and a searing indictment, this electrifying production asks: What are we willing to sacrifice in the pursuit of liberty?

safronia

Written, composed, and scored by avery r. young

Directed by Timothy Douglas

May 14 - June 13, 2027

An extraordinary new opera from inaugural Chicago Poet Laureate avery r. young, safronia blends gospel, blues, funk, folklore, poetry, and history to tell a tale of triumph and trauma, ownership and loss. Banished from their land, the Booker family is deadset on reclaiming what's theirs and granting their patriarch's last wish. But one final reckoning remains: safronia must avenge her father's death.

safronia is an epic poem told through the vibrant music of the hundreds of thousands who journeyed to Chicago during the Great Migration—and a revelatory conclusion to the 2026/27 season. It celebrates the sonic legacy of artists like Curtis Mayfield, Nina Simone, and Oscar Brown Jr., and completely reimagines the scope of the American classical music landscape.

After mounting a concert-style performance at Lyric Opera, composer avery r. young and director Timothy Douglas bring a fully realized production to Court's intimate venue, promising an evening that shimmers, soars, and binds us in a communal American history.

safronia was workshopped and commissioned by Lyric Opera of Chicago, with its world premiere concert-style production at Lyric Opera House on April 17-18, 2026.

Subscription Information

Three and four-play subscriptions to Court's 2026/27 season range from $120 to $300 and are on sale now. Please note, seating at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel is general admission; subscribers will receive access to the preferred section. To purchase a subscription or to receive more information, call the Court Theatre Box Office at (773) 753-4472, or visit Court's website at CourtTheatre.org. Individual tickets for Tituba will go on sale September 1st. Individual tickets for all other productions will go on sale October 1st.

About the Artists

WINSOME PINNOCK (Tituba Playwright) is a recipient of the 2022 Windham-Campbell Prize. She was born in Islington, North London, and is an award-winning playwright and dramaturg. Her work has been produced on the British stage and internationally since 1985. She was the first black British female writer to have a play produced by the Royal National Theatre. Winsome was Associate Professor in Drama at Kingston University from 2005 to 2019, and was Senior Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University. She has worked as a dramaturg with the Royal National Theatre's New Views scheme as well as with the Royal Court's International Department. The prizes awarded to her work include the George Devine Award, The Pearson Plays on Stage Award and the Unity Theatre Trust Award.

GABRIELLE RANDLE-BENT (Tituba Director, Associate Artistic Director) is a mother, director, dramaturg, and scholar. Her directorial highlights include A Raisin in the Sun; Antigone; The Island; and The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice (co-directed with Charles Newell) at Court Theatre; 1919 (Steppenwolf); and The Year of Magical Thinking (Remy Bumppo). She is a co-founder of the Civic Actor Studio, a leadership program of the University of Chicago's Office of Civic Engagement. She has a BA in Drama from Stanford University, an MA in Performance as Public Practice from the University of Texas at Austin, and a PhD from Northwestern University.

DR. AVERY WILLIS HOFFMAN (Tituba Dramaturg, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director) is proud to join Court Theatre. Avery recently served as inaugural Artistic Director, Brown Arts Institute and Professor of the Practice of Arts and Classics at Brown University. Over the last two decades, she has curated multidisciplinary projects as inaugural Program Director at Park Avenue Armory, led content development for the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History, managed Avery Productions, and produced multiple artistic collaborations with director Peter Sellars. A Marshall Scholar, Avery earned a DPhil and MSt in Classical Languages and Literature from Oxford, and a BA in Classics and English from Stanford.

AUGUST WILSON (Joe Turner's Come and Gone Playwright) authored Radio Golf, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Gem of the Ocean. Mr. Wilson's works garnered many awards, including Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1987) and for The Piano Lesson (1990); a Tony Award for Fences; Great Britain's Olivier Award for Jitney; as well as seven New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars, Jitney, and Radio Golf. He was an alumnus of New Dramatists, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 1995 inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and on October 16, 2005, Broadway renamed the theatre located at 245 West 52nd Street, The August Wilson Theatre. Mr. Wilson was born and raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was posthumously inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2007.

RON OJ PARSON (Joe Turner's Come and Gone Director, Resident Artist) is Resident Artist at the Tony Award-winning Court Theatre. Credits include East Texas Hot Links, The Lion in Winter, Arsenic and Old Lace, and Two Trains Running at Court Theatre; HYMN (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Twisted Melodies (Northlight Theatre); Toni Stone (Goodman); Trouble in Mind (TimeLine Theatre); Relentless (TimeLine and Goodman); and The Reclamation of Madison Hemings (Indiana Repertory Theatre). Ron received a 3Arts Make a Wave grant in 2021, the 2022 Zelda Fichandler Award, a University of Chicago Diversity Award, many Jeff Awards and Black Theatre Alliance Awards, the LA NAACP Award for Jitney; he is a Joyce Foundation grantee, and was named Chicagoan of the Year for Theater by the Chicago Tribune. Ron is a proud member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and SDC. www.ronojparson.net. 

LUIS ALFARO (Mojada Playwright) is a Chicano playwright, poet, and performance artist born and raised in downtown Los Angeles. He is the 2024 World Theatre Artist for Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and the recipient of the 2024 award in literature from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. He was the Associate Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group at the Music Center of Los Angeles County (2021-2022, 1995-2005), home of the Mark Taper Forum, and the Ahmanson and Kirk Douglas Theaters, where he produced over one hundred and fifty new play commissions, productions, workshops, and readings. His plays include Aztlan, Earlimart, The Travelers, Electricidad, Oedipus El Rey, Mojada, Delano, Body of Faith, Alleluia the Road, Black Butterfly, Bruja, and Straight as a Line. He was a student of the playwright Maria Irene Fornes, performance artist Scott Kelman, and a product of the Inner-City Cultural Center in downtown Los Angeles.

WENDY MATEO (Mojada Co-Director) is the Artistic Director of Teatro Vista Productions, and an actor, writer, director, and filmmaker. Mateo has been seen on stages throughout Chicago, including at Lookingglass Theatre, where she is an ensemble member. Mateo's directing credits include the play Not for Sale 2.0 by Guadalis del Carmen at UrbanTheater Company, ¡Bernarda! By Emilio Williams at Teatro Vista Productions and the upcoming world premiere of The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao at Goodman Theatre. On television and film, Mateo can be seen on Chicago Med, as Ronnie in Station Eleven, and in Steve McQueen's Widows. As a filmmaker, Wendy has written and produced three short films including the latest, Hair, written and directed by Lorena Diaz and Wendy Mateo.

DENISE YVETTE SERNA (Mojada Co-Director) is an award-winning theatre practitioner in Chicago, Illinois. Credits include productions and new play development with Teatro Vista Productions, Lyric Opera of Chicago, MCA Chicago, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Neo-Futurists, Paramount Theatre, Bramble Theatre Company, Strawdog Theatre Company, Prop Thtr, and Global Hive Laboratories. Denise has facilitated international workshops, productions, readings, fundraisers, panels, and festivals to promote activism for racial equity, accessibility, climate justice, gender based violence, immigration, literacy, community collaboration, and collective joy. deniseyvetteserna.com.

avery r. young (safronia Playwright, Composer, and Librettist) is Chicago's inaugural Poet Laureate, American Poet Laureate Fellow, interdisciplinary artist, and a co-director of The Floating Museum. His art practice spans from the co-curation of The Chicago Architecture Biennial 5, This Is A Rehearsal, to written and performance works featured in national and international exhibitions, theater, festivals, and anthologies.  He has scored Lise Haller Baggeson's Hatorgrade Retrograde: The Musical, scoring Red Clay Dance's Rest.Restore.Nourinsh.Move.Heal, and produced two albums, booker t soltreyne: a race rekkid and tubman. The latter is the soundtrack to his volume of poetry titled, neckbone: visual verses [Northwestern].

TIMOTHY DOUGLAS's (safronia Director) credits include The Color Purple (Signature Theatre, Helen Hayes Award), She Who Dared (Chicago Opera Theater), Champion (Boston Lyric Opera), Blue (New Orleans Opera), the premiere of Something Happened in Our Town (Children's Theatre Company), Frankenstein (Classic Stage Company), and the Great Theatre of China production/tour of Disgraced. He has made productions for Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Playhouse, Denver Center, Downstage New Zealand, Folger Shakespeare, Guthrie Theater, Juilliard, Kennedy Center, Mark Taper Forum, Milwaukee Rep, National Theatret Norway, Portland Center Stage, Red Bull, and Steppenwolf, among many others, including Yale Rep's world premiere of August Wilson's Radio Golf. timothydouglas.org.

About Court Theatre

Winner of the 2022 Regional Theatre Tony Award, Court Theatre reimagines classic theatre to illuminate our current times. In residence at the University of Chicago and on Chicago's historic South Side, we engage our audiences with intimate and provocative experiences that inspire deeper exploration of the enduring questions that confront humanity and connect us as people.