Displaying items by tag: on stage

Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s production of The Winter’s Tale delivers a compelling evening of theater, showcasing an exceptional company of actors working at the top of their craft. Under the direction of Artistic Director Edward Hall, this staging marks an exciting experiment for the theater as the troupe performs in repertoire, set to follow this production with A Midsummer Night’s Dream in November. Though The Winter’s Tale remains one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known plays, Hall breathes fresh vitality into the work, framing it like a classic fairy tale. Playing a child, Felicia Oduh begins the show opening a picture book in view of a toy ship and a teddy bear, foreshadowing what is to come.

The piece opens with a joyous celebration as King Leontes tries to convince his childhood best friend, King Polixenes, to remain a little longer in his company. But the homesick royal denies every plea, until the beautiful Queen Hermione persuades him to stay. At her success, Leontes is suddenly possessed by jealousy, wondering why her efforts worked. His wild imagination corrodes his sanity quickly, and in no time, he’s envisioned a forbidden affair between his pregnant wife and his most loyal friend. His nobles fail to reel him in, and his madness drives him to forsake everything, even banishing his newborn daughter, only to discover his accusations had no merit. His only hope now rests in a prophecy and the hope that he’ll be reunited with his child one day.

This production thrives as a true ensemble piece, with the majority of the cast adeptly tackling dual roles. Demetrios Troy plays the maddened Leontes with fierce conviction, delivering an inspired portrayal of a ruler’s terrifying mental unraveling. Opposite him, Jessica Dean Turner brings raw emotion to Queen Hermione, grounding her betrayal in a profound, heartbreaking depth. Issy van Randwyck is a force to be reckoned with as Paulina. She commands the stage with a presence capable of calling down fire from heaven or piercing with her witty remarks dipped in uncompromising truth. Providing comedic relief, Kevin Gudahl and Dan Haller share delightful chemistry as the simple-minded shepherd and his son. Later, Sean Fortunato’s turn as the rogue Autolycus provides an absolute audience treat, creating a larger-than-life, hilarious scoundrel infused with a playful rock edge. His playful French accent was especially hilarious.

While the cast excels, the production’s main hurdles stem from the disjointed nature of Shakespeare's text. Act One functions as a powerful, high-stakes drama, illustrating how a poisoned mind can devastate love and life. Act Two, however, pivots sharply, opening with upbeat musical numbers, including a sequence featuring the cast as “baahing” sheep (one even relieves himself on stage). The second half feels in many ways like an extended tangent from the primary plot, as we’re promised a return to Leontes’ court. Still, while it’s a diversion, it is an entertaining one.

Also, no production of The Winter’s Tale would be complete without addressing the play's most famous stage direction, "Exit, pursued by a bear," and Chicago Shakespeare’s iteration does not disappoint. They unleash a creature that is truly the stuff of nightmares.

Despite the script's structural awkwardness, Hall has crafted an enjoyable and emotionally resonant piece of theater powered by artists who elevate every moment. The ensemble brings richness and warmth to these complex characters, capturing the audience’s heart while delivering laughter throughout.

Overall, this presentation stands as another triumph for Chicago Shakespeare Theater, proving that even Shakespeare's lesser-known works can shine brilliantly in the hands of a gifted company.

The Winter's Tale runs until December 12.

https://www.chicagoshakes.com/productions/2627-winters-tale/

The world premiere of The Hanukkah Humbug brings ghosts, history, tradition, and a whole lot of family fun to the Greenhouse Theater Center just in time for the holidays, Melanie Ann Apel promises a lively, family-friendly experience with this new play co-written by Melanie Ann Apel and Hayden Seth Apel.

A Joe & Melanie Thing Theatre Company is proud to announce its production of The Hanukkah Humbug, on stage at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, 60614, December 3rd to December 6th. Tickets are on sale at www.greenhousetheater.org.  

This production of The Hanukkah Humbug is directed by Melanie Ann Apel and features a cast of Chicago area actors. Set in modern-day Chicago, the kids in Ms. Ben’s class are tired of the same old Christmas stories; they want to hear a story about Hanukkah! Alas, Ms. Ben doesn’t have a Hanukkah story to read to her class. "That's ok," says Rusty, "we can make up our own story, but Jewish!" And so begins a classic tale with a Hanukkah twist.

“We have created a delightful retelling of a classic, featuring the ghosts of Hanukkah past, present, and future; a brief history of the Jewish people; the traditions of Hanukkah; and a healthy dose of Yiddish,” says Director Apel. “We want to share the joyful traditions of Hanukkah with everyone, not just with Jewish families.”

Performance Schedule:

Wednesday, December 2 – 6:30 P.M. – Dress Rehearsal/Press Night

Thursday, December 3 – 6:30 P.M. – Opening Night (December 3)

Friday, December 4 – 6:30 P.M

Saturday, December 5 – 2:30 P.M. & 6:30 P.M.

Sunday, December 6 – 2:30 P.M Tickets: General Admission – $21

About A Joe & Melanie Thing Theatre Company:

We are Chicago-based artists who seek to bring original works to the stage. We are overly dramatic types who cannot resist the call of Muses. Since 2024 we have produced works of satire (Accidental Election of an Anarchist, 2024, and Vulcan Sleeping, 2025), familyfriendly fare (Hanukkah, Shmanukkah! 2025) and drama (Marbled, 2026).

Remy Bumppo opens its 30th anniversary season with Mud Row, a play by Tony Award nominee and MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient Dominique Morisseau. Expertly directed by Malkia Stampley, this production is a sublime examination of family, inheritance, and the difficult choices that determine what we pass on to the next generation.

Set in Mud Row, a historically Black neighborhood in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the play moves between the early 1960s, during the Civil Rights era, and the contemporary period. The earlier scenes follow sisters Elsie (Alexis Janae) and Frances (Toccara Castleman) as they navigate young adulthood, unaware that the decisions they make will reverberate through generations. In the present-day scenes, granddaughters, Regine (Ayanna Bria Bakari) and Toshi (Tiffany Renee Johnson), must confront the family legacy they have inherited.

Stampley has created a living family album, particularly in the scenes set in the 1960s. We watch Elsie and Frances move through their lives with the innocence of people who cannot yet see the long shadow their choices will cast. They are carrying wounds of their own, shaped by the circumstances in which they grew up. Without necessarily recognizing it, they risk passing that trauma to Elsie's unborn child and, eventually, to their grandchildren.

Morisseau's central question is both intimate and universal: What do we do with the past? Do we escape it, hoping that distance will free us from its burdens, or do we reclaim it, confront its painful truths, and find a way to transform what it means?

The family home becomes the physical embodiment of that question. Scenic designer Sydney Lynne creates a house that seems to possess a life of its own. In the 1960s scenes, it feels inhabited, furnished with the details of a home where people live, argue, dream, and make plans to change the future. In the contemporary scenes, the same space can appear abandoned, almost as if the house itself is yearning for someone to return and breathe life into it.

Yet even when the house is occupied, it never feels entirely free of its ghosts. Stampley makes those unseen presences palpable through breathtaking scene changes. The transitions are more than technical accomplishments; they reinforce the sense that the past is never entirely gone. It lingers in the rooms, in the silences, and in the relationships of those who remain.

The uniformly excellent cast gives Morisseau's dialogue its necessary emotional grounding. Her writing can, in less assured hands, occasionally sound like a discussion panel, with characters articulating ideas about history, race, and family rather than simply living through their circumstances. That is not the case here. These actors make the emotional intensity feel organic. Their conflicts emerge from recognizable human needs: the desire to belong, the longing to escape, the fear of repeating a parent's mistakes, and the hope that life might offer another chance.

Jabari Khaliq as Tyriek and Jamaque Thomas as Davin contribute to the ensemble, while the performances of Janae, Castleman, Johnson, and Bakari give the family history its emotional continuity. The younger women are not simply repeating the lives of those who came before them; they are struggling to determine what their inheritance means and whether they must remain bound by it. The emotional weight of that struggle comes into sharp focus in a second-act scene between Toshi and Regine that brought me to tears.

Levi Wilkins' lighting design deepens the atmosphere, while Evelyn Danner's costumes establish the distinct periods without distracting from the characters. Christopher Kriz's original musical composition and sound design help sustain the production's sense of memory, place, and time.

Morisseau examines two generations separated by decades but connected by patterns of family behavior, unspoken pain, and the consequences of choices made long before the next generation was born. The earlier generation belongs to the Silent Generation; the contemporary characters reflect a different set of expectations and possibilities. The contrast underscores how the world changes while certain family wounds remain stubbornly familiar.

But Mud Row is not simply a lament about the persistence of trauma. Its deeper concern is whether that inheritance can be interrupted. History may explain the circumstances in which people find themselves, but it does not have to dictate every choice they make. Somewhere in the cycle, a child—or an adult who finally recognizes the pattern—must be willing to say that things can be different.

That possibility gives the play its emotional force. The past cannot be erased, and neither can the damage it leaves behind. But understanding where the pain began may be the first step toward refusing to pass it along.

With this production, Remy Bumppo offers more than a beautifully staged family drama. Mud Row becomes a house of memories, inhabited by the living and haunted by the choices of the dead. Stampley's sensitive direction and the cast's compelling performances make those ghosts feel immediate, reminding us that every family inherits a history—but no family is necessarily doomed to repeat it.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

When: Through Nov. 15

Where: Theater Wit 1229 W. Belmont Avenue

Tickets: $38 - $54

https://www.remybumppo.org

Five years is an important milestone for any arts organization, but for a contemporary dance company it also marks an artistic coming of age. Identity Performing Arts celebrated its fifth anniversary at the Edlis Neeson Theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art with a program of three works - Enliven, Muted, and the premiere of Untitled Identity - that reflected both how far the Chicago-based company has come and where it is headed.

Founded as an organization dedicated to dance education, Identity Performing Arts transitioned into a full-season contemporary dance company in 2021, presenting its inaugural live concert that fall. This anniversary gala demonstrated how that evolution has expanded into a confident repertory of original work.

I had the privilege of sitting with Rehearsal Director Mollyanne Nunn during the performance, and her insights helped me better understand what I was seeing. Contemporary dance often communicates through gesture rather than narrative, and Nunn's perspective revealed how intention, relationships, and emotional shifts were woven into the choreography.

The afternoon opened with Enliven, choreographed by Founder and Artistic Director Ginny Ching-Yin Lo, a vibrant celebration of energy in motion that blends Eastern and Western artistic influences. Performed by a nine-member ensemble, the piece moved effortlessly through an eclectic musical landscape, from delicate instrumental passages to expansive contemporary compositions.

What stood out was the company's sense of connection. Rather than presenting individual showcases, the dancers created a shared momentum, with movement passing organically from one performer to another. It was easy to see why this work earned a place at the 2024 Seattle International Dance Festival.

Identity Performing Arts in Muted. Photo by Peter Hinsdale.

The mood shifted dramatically with Muted, Lo's deeply personal exploration of silence and communication. The work examines what it means to be muted, to silence another person, and to experience connections that exist beyond words.

The seven dancers gave physical form to emotions that are difficult to articulate. Gestures of distance, hesitation, and reconciliation suggested that our most significant conversations often happen without speech. The score, culminating in a reimagining of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, reinforced the work's emotional weight without overwhelming it.

The evening concluded with Untitled Identity, the program's premiere and its most ambitious work. Featuring a twelve-member cast, the piece explores how identity continually shifts between our inner understanding of ourselves, and the perceptions imposed by others.

The expanded ensemble created striking visual patterns, while cinematography by Cem Koc, visual effects by Simon Parfrement, and Hannah Wien's expressive lighting design gave the performance an added theatrical dimension. The varied musical score carried the dancers through moments of tension, release, and transformation, suggesting that identity is never static but always evolving.

Seen together, the three works formed a thoughtful progression - from celebration to introspection to self-discovery. Lo's choreography provided a consistent artistic voice while allowing each piece to inhabit its own emotional landscape.

Anniversary galas often look backward, celebrating past accomplishments. Identity Performing Arts chose instead to use the occasion to look forward. By pairing established works with a compelling premiere, the company demonstrated that its greatest strength is not simply what it has already created, but its continued willingness to explore new ideas through movement.

Five years after becoming a full-season contemporary dance company, Identity Performing Arts has found a distinctive voice. This gala made one thing clear: like the identities it explores, the company remains beautifully in motion.

www.identityperformingarts.org/about

This holiday season, Overshadowed Theatrical Productions is thrilled to present the timeless holiday classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, live on stage. As Frank Capra’s legendary film celebrates its 80th anniversary, this stage adaptation offers the perfect way for families and the community to celebrate the Christmas season together.

Adapted by Jason LeBlanc from the film by Frank Capra—which was based on Philip Van Doren Stern’s short story The Greatest Gift—this stage version stands as the most faithful adaptation of the iconic movie. Audiences can expect the very same humor, warmth, and emotion that have made the story a beloved holiday tradition for generations.

"I'm so excited to put this story on stage in a time that you might need hope or you might like to give hope. It'll be a wonderful reminder of the Christmas season," said Reba Hervas, Director and Artistic Director of Overshadowed Theatrical Productions.

Performance Schedule:

• Opening Night: Friday, November 27
• Performance Days & Times:
  • Thursdays: 7:30 PM
  • Fridays: 7:30 PM
  • Saturdays: 2:00 PM (Matinee) and 7:30 PM
• Special Event: Friday evening performances will feature an exclusive post-show talk-back session with the cast and crew, giving audience members a behind-the-scenes look into the production.

Cast:

Angelo Campos ... George Bailey

Danielle Spence ... Mary Hatch Bailey

Mike Larsen ... Mr. Potter

Brad Holloman ... Clarence Oddbody

Jerry Wiel ... Uncle Billy

Mimi Sagadin ... Ma Bailey

Rob Valentine ... Ernie/Pa Bailey

Pete Aylward ... Bert

Jessica Means ... Violet Bick

Jacob Starr ... Harry Bailey

Emily Starr ... Ruth Dakin Bailey

Betsy Thompson ... Jo

Rex Nyquist ... Gabriel

Vincent Prisco ... Mr. Gower

Aiden Cox ... Sam Wainwright

Kelly Zea ... Jane Wainwright

Madelyn Jones ... Cousin Tilly

Ryan Marrano ... Cousin Eustace

Sharon Lindemann ... Annie/Mrs. Davis/Ensemble

Tina Wiethege ... Mrs. Hatch

Steven Dexheimer ... Mr. Martini

Anneri Burgos ... Mrs. Maria Martini/Ensemble

Wesley White ... Marty Hatch/Mr. Welch

Nick Koss ... Mr. Carter/Bouncer/Ed

Steven Mantel ... Tom Schult/Dr. Campbell/Nick

Steve Bond ... Board Director/Driver/Randall

Jim Falcone ... Grumpy Old Man/Board Director

Jordan Reed ... Mickey Dunwood/Board Member/Joe Hepner

James Thompson ... Freddie/Tollkeeper/Board Director/Bank Teller

Declan White ... Young George

Bella Lee ... Young Mary

Brooke Means ... Young Violet

Zeke White ... Young Harry

Annika Rosas ... Janie Bailey

Clementine Milburn ... Zuzu Bailey

Molly Versosky ... Zuzu Bailey

Spencer Schillinger ... Pete Bailey

Oliver Schillinger ... Tommy

Ethily Hancock ... Ensemble

Sarah Kwan ... Ensemble

Lauren Szymkowicz ... Ensemble

Christy White ... Ensemble

Hannah Voss ... Martini Child

Leah Voss ... Martini Child

Maeve Burns ... Martini Child

Josephine Milburn ... Martini Child

Willow Milburn ... Martini Child

About Overshadowed Theatrical Productions Overshadowed Theatrical Productions has provided quality, family-friendly drama that entertains, inspires, and promotes a biblical message for over 20 years. Along with providing a positive community experience, Overshadowed has also sought to train and encourage the next generation of theater performers and crew.

Projecting a vibe that felt more homecoming party than ballet presentation, Dance Theatre of Harlem returned to Chicago on October 17^th after a 10-year absence. The Auditorium Theatre audience took a while to assemble itself largely because people were having so much fun. DTH devotees and newbies, ballet connoisseurs and dabblers, parents and children, lithe young dancers and cane-wielding seniors all came to celebrate.

Executive Director Anna Glass, followed by Artistic Director Robert Garland, greeted the crowd. They gave shoutouts to folks in the audience with various connections to DTH and, at the same time, warmly drew everyone else into the ballet company’s extended family.  

Garland went on to discuss DTH’s origins, a reminder for some, an introduction for others. When Arthur Mitchell, the first African American to achieve principal dancer status with a major company, retired from the New York City Ballet, he headed to Brazil to establish a new company. But upon learning of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, he pivoted to Harlem, launching the troupe in 1969 to showcase African Americans as gifted exponents of classical ballet.

Dance Theatre of Harlem. Photo by Jose Calvo.

Case in point is the program’s first piece, Return, blending classicism and contemporary black culture. Choreographed by Garland and set to music by James Brown, Aretha Franklin and others, Return brings toe-shoe funk to a series of what could best be described as sketches. Twelve dancers go from bit to bit, snaky in movement and cheeky in attitude, setting the tone with Franklin’s Baby, Baby, Baby and hitting a high with Brown’s Superbad. A little hodgepodge-y overall, the work nonetheless sparked audible laughter and gasps with each virtuoso move from the dancers.

Next came Donizetti Variations, a Balanchine work premiered 66 years ago by New York City Ballet and recently mounted by DTH. The performance was a fitting, if not remarkable, interlude between Return and Firebird. As Garland noted earlier, George Balanchine discovered, trained and developed roles for Arthur Mitchell. The choreography’s exacting structure and Donizetti’s lively Romantic score demonstrate Balanchine’s 20^th century fusion of European tradition with American swiftness and minimalism.  

Closing the program was Firebird, composed by Igor Stravinsky for Michel Fokine’s 1910 work for the Ballets Russes. In 1982, John Taras choreographed a version for Dance Theatre of Harlem. Based on a Russian folk legend, Taras set the story in the Caribbean with lush sets and costumes by Geoffrey Holder.

DTH principals Alexandra Hutchinson in the titular role and Derek Brockington as the Young Man brought both technical and psychological precision to their initial pas de deux. The Firebird captivates and instructs rather than seduces, making her gift of a protective red feather a noble gesture. Romance comes later when the Young Man falls for the Princess of Unreal Beauty, danced by Kamala Saara, and uses the feather to vanquish Jhaelin McQuay’s Prince of Evil. Masterful soloists and an equally skilled ensemble built the legend gradually into a triumphant finish that brought the audience to its feet.

More information on the company can be found at Dance Theatre of Harlem.

A musical, but it’s just the voices in your head. Sounds just crazy enough to win the 2020 Pulitzer for Drama. “A Strange Loop” by Michael R. Jackson finally makes its Chicago premiere at Raven Theatre in a co-production with About Face Theatre. Mikael Burke directs a fantastic production with a knock-out cast.

Not many musicals are awarded a Pulitzer for Drama. Only 10 in fact. So, when one is selected (before it plays Broadway), there’s a lot of curiosity. “A Strange Loop” is the best kind of new musical—in that it’s hard to explain. In the era of an abundance of movie-turned-musical adaptations, it’s refreshing to see something entirely unique.

In this seven-person, one-man show, Usher (Eddie Weaver) is working as an usher at a Broadway theater while writing a musical about an usher who works at a Broadway theater. In a series of songs spurned on by his intrusive thoughts, (played by a delightful cast of six) Usher’s creative process is laid bare, and we see the playwright struggling with his identity as a black gay man.  

Ever at odds with his “Internal white girl”, Usher spends his life stuck ruminating on his relationship with his parents, his sexuality, his gender, his race and his place in the world. In cleverly written, but firmly R-rated songs, we learn about his troubled relationship with his unintentionally cruel parents and his discomfort in his own skin.

John-Payne, Michael Turrentine, Eddie Weaver, Mattheus Barbee and Christopher Wayland. Photo by Joe Mazza / Brave Lux.

Weaver’s voice and sheer vulnerability as a performer make this 95 minute show a highly concentrated emotional experience. Usher’s internal monologue is brought to life by a wildly talented ensemble of six with character names like “Thought 1” and “Though 2” played by Micah Mixon, Matheus Barbee, Christopher Wayland, Michael Turrentine, John-Payne and Naphtali Curry.

“A Strange Loop” is a show that plays against the norms of traditional musical theatre in almost every aspect, yet it borrows so effortlessly from a lot of what likely inspired Michael R. Johnson. Instead of being driven by plot, Johnson goes full meta with a concept musical like “Company” meets “for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf” but with the playfulness of “Rent”. Each song is an exploration of a life that files down to a heartbreaking raw nerve.

This show never wallows in sadness though. As is often the case, comedians mask a great deal of pain. Johnson plays up the surreal absurdity of Usher’s life. In one song alone the audience is clapping along to a church choir beautifully belting “AIDS is God’s punishment!” all the while Usher is grappling with the trauma of being raised in a strict religion that his parents still belong to. This show is dark comedy about a man finding acceptance with himself, which is highly relatable for those who chronically overthink.

There’s something really special happening in this production. This cast fills the theater to the rafters with soaring vocals and brings the house down with roaring laughter. Michael Turrentine plays Usher’s mother in a way that anybody with a mother can chuckle at. His performance taps into a near constant sense of energy that make “A Strange Loop” highly satisfying to watch and listen to. You’ll be singing some of the unsettling lyrics right out the door.

Now through November 22 at Raven Theatre. 6157 N. Clark Street. 773-338-2177.

https://www.raventheatre.com/stage/astrangeloop/

From a "Kung Fu rom-com" to a witchy new musical, The Goodman's popular New Stages Festival in its 22^nd year continues to offer a first glimpse at the latest works by a handful of the hottest contemporary playwrights. This year's four-play line-up includes Bruceploitation by Qui Nguyen (Vietgone); House Gyalz by Abigail C. Onwunali (Blood Be Sweet); Shook by Mike Lew (A Beat of Our Own) with music and lyrics by Zoe Sarnak (Galileo) and Wonderland by Will Eno (Thom Pain). Under Walter Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Director of New Works Kat Zukaitis, this annual offering showcases works-in-progress in the intimate 400-seat Owen Theatre. Theater industry professionals are invited to Professionals Weekend (December 11-13), which includes special events and opportunities for networking. This year, Professionals Weekend includes readings of new works by The Goodman's 2026 New Stages Residency playwrights: Black-Eyed Peas & Collard Greens by Lachrisa Grandberry and The Last Time We Saw Them by William Glick. New Stages appears December 5-13; tickets are free and available starting October 30 at 10am at the Box Office (170 N. Dearborn), at 312.443.3800 or online at GoodmanTheatre.org/NewStages. Theater professionals interested in Professionals Weekend should RSVP by November 30 at GoodmanTheatre.org/Professionals. The Goodman is grateful for the support of The Joyce Foundation (Major Support for Diverse Artistic and Professional Development).

22^nd NEW STAGES FESTIVAL LINE-UP | Owen Theatre

Bruceploitation  
By Qui Nguyen  
Directed by May Adrales  
Readings: December 5 at 7pm and December 12 at 7:30pm

After Bruce Lee's death, a struggling Asian American actor gets his big Hollywood break... by replacing the legend... despite not knowing a lick of kung fu. Sparks fly when he meets the badass Black stuntwoman hired to train him, who's tired of making everyone else look like a hero while she stays out of frame. Turns out learning to throw a punch is way easier than keeping their hands off each other. A Kung Fu rom-com. 

Qui Nguyen is an Emmy-Award winning tv writer, filmmaker, playwright, and co-founder of the pioneering geek theatre company, Vampire Cowboys. Notable plays include Vietgone, Poor Yella Rednecks, Bike Wreck, and the acclaimed Vampire Cowboys productions of She Kills Monsters (recently awarded a 2024 Kennedy Center College Theatre Festival Gold Medallion Award), Revenge Song, Soul Samurai, The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G, Alice in Slasherland, Fight Girl Battle World, and Living Dead in Denmark. For TV/Film, he's written for Marvel Studios, Netflix, AMC, SYFY, PBS. He most recently penned Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon (nominated for a 2022 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature) and co-directed and wrote Disney's Strange World. Qui is a proud member of the WGA and a board member of New Dramatists. 

House Gyalz 
By Abigail C. Onwunali 
Directed by Lili-Anne Brown 
Readings: December 8 at 7pm and December 13 at 11am

House Gyalz follows two Nigerian housemaids as they spiral into dangerous roleplay, examining class, power, and womanhood. When unexpected news raises the stakes of their games, they will pull out all the stops to survive. Blending sharp satire with explosive theatricality, Abigail C. Onwunali's dark comedy is a contemporary take on Jean Genet's classic The Maids.    

Abigail C. Onwunali is a Nigerian-American storyteller working across playwriting, performance, and poetry. Her plays have been developed with New York Theatre Workshop, Red Bull Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Liberation Theater Company, Fault Line Theatre, and Yale Cabaret. Her play Blood Be Sweet will be part of New York Theatre Workshop's 2026–27 season. She is a 2025 New Harmony Project Fellow and recipient of the 2025 Irons in the Fire Residency, 2026 La MaMa Experiments in Playwriting Fellowship, 2026 Page 73 Writers Group, and 2025–26 NYTW 2050 Artistic Fellowship. She is a member of EST's Obie Award-winning Youngblood collective.

Shook 
Book by Mike Lew 
Music and Lyrics by Zoe Sarnak    
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel 
Reading: December 11 at 7:30pm 

Something is rotten at Camp Avon, the prestigious Shakespeare summer camp for teens. Is it the star-crossed lovers facing a stage kiss? The stage management intern who wants a chance to perform so badly that she disguises herself as a camper? Or the fact that there are actual witches in the woods? All the woods a stage and all the campers merely players in this angsty musical ode to the eternal power of theatre.  

Mike Lew's plays include tiny father (Geffen, Barrington/Chautauqua, Audible); Teenage Dick (Donmar Warehouse, Ma-Yi/Public, Wooly Mammoth, Huntington, Artists Rep); Tiger Style! (TheatreWorks, SCR, Olney, Huntington, La Jolla, Alliance); Bike America (Ma-Yi, Alliance); microcrisis (Ma-Yi, InterAct); Alpha Asians; and How To Manong. His plays are currently in rep at Profile Theater. Musicals: A Beat of Our Own with Sam Willmott and Rehana Mirza (McCarter, La Jolla, Birmingham Rep); Shook with Zoe Sarnak (Northern Stage/Goodman commission); and Love Somebody with Betty Who and Rehana Mirza. Awards/Fellowships: Guggenheim, Mellon, PEN, Dramatists Guild Council/Tony Voter, New Dramatists, EST, Venturous, NYFA, MAP, Richard Rodgers, Kleban, Lanford Wilson, Helen Merrill, Weissberger, Kendeda, Heideman. Education: Juilliard, Yale.  

Zoe Sarnak is a Drama Desk–nominated and Larson Award–winning composer, lyricist, writer and orchestrator, as well as a finalist for the Ebb and Kleban Awards. Upcoming and recent works include: Galileo (with Danny Strong and Michael Weiner) opening on Broadway in 2026; NY Times Critic's Pick The Lonely Few (with Rachel Bonds) at MCC and Geffen Playhouse; Empire Records (with Carol Heikkinen) at McCarter Theatre; Particle Fever (with David Henry Hwang and Bear McCreary) premiering at La Jolla Playhouse in February 2027; A Beautiful Mind (with Sarah Treem); The Invisible Line (with Christopher Oscar Peña and Mark St. Germain) and others soon to be announced. Her work has been developed and produced at Second Stage, The Public, Roundabout Theatre Company, New York Theatre Workshop, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Geffen Playhouse, and MCC, among others. Her music has been featured by NY Times Live and the Guggenheim. 

Wonderland 
By Will Eno 
Directed by Susan V. Booth 
Reading: December 12 at 2pm

After a punishing decade-long exile in Europe, Orson Welles returns to Hollywood for a one-night only reading of Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland. The borders between fiction and real life—and between his outward wants and inner demons—begin to break down, as Alice's journey becomes hopelessly entangled with Orson's past, and the evening takes a wild turn into the present. From Obie-Award winning playwright Will Eno, Wonderland paints a hopeful, tender, and at times surreal portrait of humanity and reality in the modern age.

Will Eno lives in Brooklyn and is a Pulitzer Finalist in Drama and winner of the Obie, Lortel, and Drama Desk awards. He wrote the book for the massively successful Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical, which won 7 Golden Lion awards at Cannes and 9 Clio Awards. Will teaches playwriting, most recently at Princeton University, and he mentors students at Columbia and elsewhere. His daughter Albertine acted in a workshop of her dad's new play The Green Room at the Gate Theatre in Dublin in 2025. Will was thrilled and honored to work for several years with the late and much-missed documentary film director Frederick Wiseman, who oversaw the French translation of his play The Realistic Joneses and was preparing to direct its premiere on the Paris stage in 2026. In addition to plays, Will also writes for television and film.

PROFESSIONALS WEEKEND READINGS | Alice Center for Education and Engagement

Black-Eyed Peas & Collard Greens 

By Lachrisa Grandberry 
Directed by J. Nicole Brooks 
Reading: December 11 at 3pm

In a West Side Chicago apartment building, three families prepare to welcome the New Year with the beliefs, strategies, and secrets they've relied upon for generations. But what happens when our traditions no longer align with our reality? Black-Eyed Peas & Collard Greens is a multi-generational ensemble dramedy about inheritance and what happens when those inherited truths stop serving us. Funny, heartfelt, and deeply human, Lachrisa Grandberry's newest play explores how tradition comforts us, when it confines us, and what remains when we're finally brave enough to choose something new.

Lachrisa Grandberry is a Milwaukee-born, Chicago-based playwright, lyricist and poet whose work holds space for healing, liberation and joy. Her stories are a tapestry woven from the voices and experiences of many—especially black women and girls navigating the weight of inherited patterns and unspoken truths. A 2024 Dramatists Guild Foundation National Musical Theater Fellow, she also serves as Director of NOVA Programming at Northern Sky Theater, where she curates safe spaces for writers to explore and amplify their voices. In 2022, she was named one of Wisconsin's 52 Most Influential Black Leaders. Whether through her published poetry (Shredding Rugs) or her theatrical works, Lachrisa believes that storytelling is a way to learn, unlearn, release and heal. "I know that my stories are not my own," she writes. "They belong to all of us." More at lachrisagrandberry.com

The Last Time We Saw Them 
By William Glick 
Directed by Jessica Fisch 
Reading: December 12 at 10am

In 1983, Tess, Sasha, and Amelia are young writers hoping to make their marks on Ronald Reagan's Washington.  As the years pass, their lives—and the Conservative Movement that brought them to power—are made unrecognizable by wars abroad and division at home. Spanning four turbulent decades, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the beginning of the second Trump administration, The Last Time We Saw Them tells the story of three exceptional women whose ideals, rivalries and love of country and each other help forge the America of the 2020s.

William Glick is a Chicago-based playwright who was born and raised in Pompano Beach, Florida. His plays include The Last Time We Saw Them, Felt (Clubbed Thumb Emerging Writers Group), The Bigot (UT New Theatre), Kin Folk (World Premiere, The New Colony), the libretto for the children's opera Cry Wolf (Crane Prize for Performing Arts), and The Winter Farm (House Theatre Performance Lab).  His work has been a finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and the Heideman Award and shortlisted for the Relentless Award, the Ojai Playwriting Conference, and PlayPenn. He received his BA in Political Science from the University of Chicago and his MFA in Writing from the Michener Center at the University of Texas-Austin.

ABOUT THE GOODMAN

Since 1925, The Goodman has been a theatrical home for artists and a gathering space for Chicagoland, where bold stories spark connection, conversation and change. Now, as it enters its second century, The Goodman builds on that legacy with an eye toward the future. Under the leadership of Walter Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Executive Director John Collins, the theater continues to champion new work—following hundreds of plays developed and a national reputation for commissioning and premiering original stories by living writers—while reimagining classics and produce large-scale musicals.

But The Goodman's reach today extends beyond its home in the heart of the Loop. From the intimate magic of The Magic Parlour, now in its third year, to the boundary-pushing world of Theater of the Mind—an immersive experience that blurs the lines between science, storytelling and sensation—and from citywide initiatives like 100 Free Acts of Theater to partnerships with artists and companies across Chicago and around the world, The Goodman is expanding what theater can be, and where it can live.

At its core, The Goodman is driven by a belief that a more empathetic, more connected city is built one story at a time. Generation-spanning productions and programs offer theater for a lifetime—from babies and young children to teens, adults and seniors—including Theater for the Very Young (ages 0–5) and the beloved annual A Christmas Carol, which has welcomed audiences for five decades. Education and Engagement programs, led by Clifford Director Jared Bellot and based in the Alice Rapoport Center, use the tools of theater to spark imagination, reflection and belonging—reaching thousands each year, the majority from underserved communities.

With nearly 200 world or American premieres, two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards and nearly 200 Joseph Jefferson Awards, The Goodman remains a defining force in American theater—and the first to produce all 10 plays of August Wilson's American Century Cycle. The theater also frequently serves as a production partner—from national and international companies to Chicago's Off-Loop theaters—to help amplify a wide range of theatrical voices.

Founded by William O. Goodman and his family in memory of playwright Kenneth Sawyer Goodman, the theater carries forward a legacy of artistic ambition and civic generosity. With the help of Mr. Goodman's descendants—Albert Ivar Goodman and his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton—that spirit continues to shape its future as The Goodman expands its impact across Chicago and beyond. Marsha Cruzan is Chair of the Goodman Theatre Board of Trustees; Diane Landgren is Women's Board President; and Christopher Way is president of the Scenemakers Board for Young Professionals.

The Goodman stands on the unceded homelands of the Council of the Three Fires—the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations—and acknowledges the many other Nations for whom this land now called Chicago has long been home, including the Myaamia, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea, Kickapoo, and Mascouten. The Goodman is proud to partner with the Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum (Gichigamiin-Museum.org) and the Center for Native Futures (CenterForNativeFutures.org)—organizations devoted to honoring Indigenous stories, preserving cultural memory, and deepening public understanding.

 Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble (CDE) is pleased to announce its 2026 - 2027 season. CDE will open this artistic season with Copestic Vibrations: A Music Festival, Friday, Nov. 13 and Saturday, Nov. 14, followed by a fully staged production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, Feburary 26 - March 13, 2027 and the season concludes with the return of the "Full Circle Festival," May 7 - 23, 2027. The 2026 - 2027 programming season includes "Passages," an intergenerational arts cohort, Sunday, Oct. 25; "Day of Healing," Sunday, Dec. 6 and the Playwrights Cohort & New Stage Play Development, led by Timothy David Rey, monthly from November 2026 through February 2027.

All performances and special events take place at Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble, 1650 W. Foster Ave. For additional information on this upcoming season and to purchase tickets, visit DanzTheatre.org.

"As Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble enters its 25th year of building commUNITY through the arts, our programming is centered around our slogan of 'one story, one voice, one person.' For Colored Girls will be reinvisioned for a new generation, our femme-focused playwrights cohort and Full Circle Festival will develop new performance works, while Copestic Vibrations will showcase the best of new talent. CDE really is the home of multidisciplinary performances and we hope that audiences will come and explore all that we offer and support our renters and their performances," shared CDE Founder and Artistic Director Ellyzabeth Adler.

The 2026 - 2027 Artistic Season Includes: 

Copasetic Vibrations: A Music Festival

Friday, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 14 at 5 p.m.

Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble Auditorium, 1650 W. Foster Ave.

Tickets: $30 single-day pass | $50 Weekend pass

A music festival highlighting up-and-coming Chicagoland musicians:

GO79MAN, Bonatto, Kacie Brown & The Vision, Pisano, Shamik, Poor Thing,

Jamie Demeny's 4-Player Game, Pablo alto, Andy's Critical Hits!, Lakewaves Trio,

dicot, Bardware, Electric Mothership, and Sonic Healing

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf

Directed by Aja Singletary

February 26 - March 13, 2027

Performance Schedule: Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.

Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble Auditorium, 1650 W. Foster Ave.

Tickets: $35-50

Capturing the brutal, tender and dramatic lives of contemporary Black women, For Colored Girls... offers a transformative, riveting evening of provocative dance, music and poetry.

About the Director

Aja Singletary is a director, choreographer, and actor originally from Philly. Her directing credits include: Primary Occupant by Ashley Neal (Bramble's Festival of Unfinished Works), Short Changed by Jordan Gleaves (Redtwist Playfest), White by James Ijames (Walk Up), Evil Perfect by Spencer Huffman (AD, Bramble), Remembrance by Ben F. Locke (Bramble's FOUW), The Whole Sheamus Thing by L.C Bernadine and Ben Auxier (Bramble's FOUW), and On the Greenbelt (AD, Strawdog).She has also worked at various theaters including Lyric Opera, Goodman, Writers, Steppenwolf and Timeline. Offstage, you'll catch Aja quoting Spongebob, singing Disney songs, taking a boxing class and liking food videos! She thanks CDE and the For Colored Girls team for their warm welcome and for the opportunity to direct a full length production! Training: Fordham College at Lincoln Center. Representation: Gray Talent Group  

A Quote from the Director

"Shange's words carry lineage and power. They take you on a rollcoaster. I'm excited for the cast and myself to hear the music within Shange's play." Aja Singletary

Full Circle Festival

May 7 - 23, 2027

Performance Schedule: Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m., 8 p.m., 9 p.m. Sundays at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble Auditorium, 1650 W. Foster Ave.

Tickets: $15-25

Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble has reimagined its annual Full Circle Festival, featuring physical, fringe and dance theater works between 30 and 60 minutes in length. For eight years, CDE had produced this eclectic festival for works under 15 minutes. Since reopening four years ago after being closed due to the pandemic, they have responded to the needs of the performance community even more and have found that there is a need to present longer works.

The 2026 - 2027 season special programming and events include:

Passages

Sunday, October 25 from 2 - 4 p.m.

Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble Auditorium, 1650 W Foster Ave

Tickets:

"Passages" is an intergenerational multidisciplinary arts cohort that has been working together during the summer months to build relationships between 20-25 and 65+ generations. Starting with the question of what is a rite of passage and how we grow as people, each pair has created a performance. 

Day of Healing

Sunday, December 6 at 5 p.m.

Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble Auditorium, 1650 W Foster Ave

Tickets: suggested donation

How does one heal or move forward? This Day of Healing comes on the 30th anniversary of our founder's suicide attempt. For many years, she kept silent, ashamed of her choice and the domestic abuse relationship that brought her here.  She healed in silence and only 10 years ago began talking about her journey. Now 30 years later, breaking the silence to help others know they are not alone, we will have a day of storytelling, meditation and music.  Like-minded nonprofits and resources will be on display at the event.

Playwrights Cohort & New Stage Play Development

November 2026 - February 2027

Applications Due September 20

Staged Reading: March 7  2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble Auditorium, 1650 W Foster Ave

Tickets: free

Led by Timothy David Rey, this year's cohort celebrates the bold, powerful voices of femme playwrights. Inspired by and connected to our production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf, the cohort will explore storytelling, identity, and the transformative power of femme-centered narratives.

ABOUT CHICAGO DANZTHEATRE ENSEMBLE

Founded in 2001, Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble (CDE) is Chicago's only multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to social justice and socially conscious work that builds community through the arts "one voice, one story, one person at a time." CDE's mission is to engage, inspire, and challenge the community, both onstage and in the classroom, through innovative and collaborative multidisciplinary storytelling to illuminate aspects of social issues. We do this in the genre of Tanztheatre, "which unites all art media to achieve an all-embracing, radical change in humankind." Through our school-based art and performance programs, CDE helps students in Chicago schools explore their own creativity, supporting their social and emotional learning. CDE provides a physical and emotional space where community conversation and cultural change can happen.

For our performance series, CDE is dedicated to creating performances that blend together dance, theatre and visual art to tell stories about the human condition. We give an artistic voice to those who are not always heard.

• Dedicated since our founding to diverse casting of age, body type and ethnicity
• Consistently listed as a "Top Theater and Dance Performance to See" by New City and Chicago Reader
• Unique collaborations with the Veterans Art Museum, Poetry Center Chicago, Cantigny Museum, Neighborhood Writing Alliance, Voice of the City and numerous dance and theater companies

• MacArthur Award Grantee for International Collaborations.  

Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble (CDE) is pleased to announce its 2026 - 2027 season. CDE will open this artistic season with Copestic Vibrations: A Music Festival, Friday, Nov. 13 and Saturday, Nov. 14, followed by a fully staged production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, Feburary 26 - March 13, 2027 and the season concludes with the return of the "Full Circle Festival," May 7 - 23, 2027. The 2026 - 2027 programming season includes "Passages," an intergenerational arts cohort, Sunday, Oct. 25; "Day of Healing," Sunday, Dec. 6 and the Playwrights Cohort & New Stage Play Development, led by Timothy David Rey, monthly from November 2026 through February 2027.

Eos Theatre Company is pleased to announce their second production with Lucas Hnath's horror play The Thin Place, directed by JC Clementz (Steppenwolf's Director of Casting and Artistic Operations), playing February 5 - 28, 2027 in Bramble Arts Loft's Beatrice Theater, 5545 N Clark Street in Chicago. Tickets go on sale October 13th at www.eostheatre.org.

The Thin Place will feature Eos Theatre Company co-Artistic Directors Ashway Lawver and Rachel Sledd, with additional casting to be announced shortly.

About the Production:
The "thin place" is a place where the line between this world and another one is very thin; where the living and the dead can reconnect. Ever since she was a very little girl, Hilda tried to make contact with that "other place" by listening very carefully, not with her ears but with the space just behind and a little above her eyes. She was never all that sure that the things she could hear were real, until she met Linda, a professional psychic, who can talk to the dead. That's what Hilda wants to do, and so she befriends Linda. But as their friendship deepens, Linda unveils some uncomfortable truths. The Thin Place is a horror story about what's really going on in the space just behind and a little above your eyes.

The Production Team includes Eric Watkins (Lighting Design), Rachel Sledd (Costume Design), Ashway Lawver (Costume Design), Christopher Kriz (Sound Design), William Hughes (Set Design), Morgan Burkey (Assistant Director), and Michael Lesko (Stage Manager).

Production Details:
The Thin Place by Lucas Hnath
Directed by JC Clementz
Presented by Eos Theatre Company

Cast: Ashway Lawver (Hilda), Rachel Sledd (Slyvia). Additional casting to be announced.

Location: Bramble Arts Loft, 5545 N Clark Street, 2nd Floor, Chicago

The Thin Place Poster

Dates:
Preview: February 5, 2027, at 7:30pm
Press opening: February 6, 2027, at 7:30pm
February 11, 12, 13 15, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 2027, at 7:30pm
February 7, 14, 21, 28, 2027, at 2:00pm

Ticket Prices:
General Admission: $45
Student: $15
Industry: $20
Group (10 or more): $30
Thursday performances: pay what you can

Artist Biographies:
Lucas Hnath's most recent play, Dana H., was at the Vineyard Theatre in New York. Lucas received a 2017 Tony Award nomination for Best Play with A Doll's House, Part 2. Hnath's other plays include Hillary and Clinton, The Thin Place, Red Speedo, The Christians, A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney, Isaac's Eye and Death Tax. He has been produced on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre and Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, Playwrights Horizons, Soho Rep and Ensemble Studio Theatre. His plays have also premiered at the Humana Festival of New Plays, Victory Gardens and South Coast Repertory. He is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect, a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre and an alumnus of New Dramatists. Awards: Whiting Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Kesselring Prize, Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Play, Obie Award for Playwriting, Steinberg Playwright Award and the Windham-Campbell Literary Prize. 

JC Clementz is the Director of Casting and Artistic Operations at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Over the past decade, he has cast productions out of Chicago and New York including the Pulitzer- and Tony-winning Best Play Purpose by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Other Broadway credits include Little Bear Ridge Road starring Laurie Metcalf, Bug starring Carrie Coon, Linda Vista, Pass Over, and The Minutes. As a director, his credits include the Associate Director for the pre-Broadway tryout of The Devil Wears Prada: A New Musical (Broadway in Chicago), director of The Nerd, The All Night Strut!, Murder for Two, and many other productions at Milwaukee Rep, Waiting: A Song Cycle (Cherry Lane, NYC), and Murder for Two (Merrimack Rep). Proud member of SDC and the Casting Society.

Ashway Lawver is co-Founder and co-Artistic Director of Eos Theatre Company; she played Hecuba in the company's inaugural production of The Trojan Women at Bramble Arts Loft, April 2026. Recent theatre credits: The Pavilion, Sweat (The Loop Players); Murder on the Orient Express (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre); Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Lindiwe (Steppenwolf). Ashway started her stage career in NYC; highlights include performing Off-Broadway, at Radio City Music Hall and in National/International tours. She can be seen in several national commercials and feature/independent films; including Long Division (Roku, Tubi) and Promises (Amazon Prime). A transplant from Los Angeles, Ashway has her BA in Theatre/Dance (Wheaton College, MA) and is a graduate of the School at Steppenwolf. Ashway is a member of SAG and is represented by Talent X Alexander. IMdb.me/AshwayLawver

Rachel Sledd is a co-Founder and co-Artistic Director of Eos Theatre Company; she directed the company's inaugural production of The Trojan Women at Bramble Arts Loft, April 2026. Recent theatre credits include Highway Patrol (Goodman Theatre) and Junk (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre). TV/Film credits include NBC's Chicago Med, Chicago PD, the pilot's Burn and You've Got Gail, and Bride of Frankie, which has screened at over 100 film festivals internationally and for which Rachel won Best Actress in a Short at the Sydney Indie Film Festival. Rachel earned an M.F.A. from the University of Washington's Professional Actor Training Program in Seattle and teaches theatre at Harold Washington College. She is represented by DDO Artists Chicago.  

Eos Theatre Company Mission Statement:
Eos Theatre Company is a vibrant new women-led theatre company based in Chicago, dedicated to shining light into the darkness of the human experience through transformative storytelling. We strive to amplify female voices and narratives, producing bold, diverse, and thought-provoking works that challenge and inspire audiences. We believe that live theatre fosters connection, community, empathy, and understanding; we are committed to increasing access to live theatre for young people and marginalized communities. Eos is building an inclusive artistic community that promotes equity, excellence and dialogue. Through performance, education, and community partnerships, we harness the power of storytelling to inspire change and empower future generations of women in American Theatre. Created by a collective of women theatre artists with extensive experience in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and beyond, Eos aims to deliver Chicago storefront theatre of the highest caliber.