The League of Chicago Theatres Celebrates Black History Month in Conjunction With Chicago Theatre Week 2025

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

The League of Chicago Theatres shines a spotlight on 

Black History Month 

in conjunction with 

Chicago Theatre Week, February 6-16, 2025, 

and Chicago Theatre Week Continued, February 17-23, 2025.

 

The League of Chicago Theatres presents the first event in its Cultural Conversation Series. Join theatre leaders for a community conversation celebrating Black History Month at 6pm on Monday, February 17 at Definition Theatre, 1160 E 55th St, Chicago.

The League of Chicago Theatres’ Cultural Conversation Series intends to uplift theatres and artistic organizations who have a commitment to their communities and cultures. The program will engage industry leaders in thoughtful discission and showcase opportunities for attendees to get involved in their initiatives. The February Cultural Conversation will be moderated and curated by Definition Theatre Executive Director Neel McNeil. 

The following is a selection of work in Chicago available in February in celebration of Black History Month:

(*Those in red are shows we're reviewing here at ChiIL Live Shows and ChiIL Mama. We'll update with reviews as we see them.)

• First Lady of Song: Alexis J Roston sings Ella Fitzgerald (Metropolis Performing Arts Centre):

• We Always Bounce Black (The Second City)

• Debate: Baldwin v. Buckley (TimeLine) 

Recommended. ★★★ Three out of four stars. B Kenaz-Mara, ChiIL Live Shows

(Unique site specific debate that rings as true today, 60 years later. Truly a treat for architecture geeks, history buffs, and debate nerds alike. Not your typical night of theatre. Spot on for our political times and entirely captivating!)

• Fat Ham (Goodman)

Highly recommended. ★★★★ Four out of four stars. B Kenaz-Mara, ChiIL Live Shows

(This "Juicy" collab's so nice they extended it twice! FAT HAM is Goodman Theatre's co-production with Definition Theatre and an absolute must see. Now playing through March 9, 2025)

• 1619: The Journey of a People (3rd Dimension Performance Group)

• A Raisin in the Sun (Court)

• Policy: Running Numbers A Family Business (Harold Washington Cultural Center)

• The Promotion (MPAACT—Ma’at Production Association of Afrikan Centered Theatre)

• Big Black Comedy (The Den)

• Three Little Birds (Young People’s Theater)

Discounted tickets to many of the productions are available at ChicagoTheatreWeek.com and HotTix.org. Otherwise, tickets may be purchased through the respective theatre companies.  

Chicago Theatre Week (#CTW25), presented by the League of Chicago Theatres in participation with Choose Chicago, is an annual celebration of the rich tradition of theatre-going in Chicago during which visitors and residents can access value-priced tickets. Chicago Theatre Week is February 6-16, 2025. For the third consecutive year, HotTix.org will host Chicago Theatre Week Continued from February 17-23, 2025, which will extend Theatre Week discounts to participating productions for an additional week.

The value-priced CTW tickets will be $30, $15, or less. Tickets are on sale at ChicagoTheatreWeek.com .

Last year’s Chicago Theatre Week saw massive ticket sales with more than 18,000 tickets sold to 81 participating productions for more than 446 performances. 64 theaters participated in CTW 2024, with 29 neighborhoods and suburbs represented. The program continues to bring in new audiences to area theatres with approximately 58% of patrons visiting their chosen theatre for the first time. Chicago Theatre Week also raises the visibility of the theater industry, as evidenced by the 144,689 unique visitors to ChicagoTheatreWeek.com from the ticket onsale through the end of Theatre Week.

Chicago Theatre Week is presented by the League of Chicago Theatres in partnership with Choose Chicago. Subscribe to the Theatre Week email newsletter for updates and announcements. 

The official hashtag for Chicago Theatre Week 2025 is #CTW25.

About Chicago theatre 

Chicago theatre is the leader in the U.S. with more than 250 theatres throughout Chicagoland, comprising a rich and varied community ranging from storefront, non-union theatres to the most renowned resident theatres in the country, including 7 which have been honored with Regional Tony Awards, and the largest touring Broadway organization in the nation. Chicago’s theatres serve 5 million audience members annually and have a combined budget of more than $250 million. Chicago produces and/or presents more world premieres annually than any other city in the nation. Each year Chicago theatres send new work to resident theatres across the country, to Broadway, and around the world. For more information, visit www.chicagoplays.com. #ChiTheatre

The League of Chicago Theatres’ Mission Statement

Theatre is essential to the life of a great city and to its citizens. The League of Chicago Theatres is an alliance of theatres, which leverages its collective strength to support, promote and advocate for Chicago’s theatre industry. Through our work, we ensure that theatre continues to thrive in our city.

About Choose Chicago

Choose Chicago is the official sales and marketing organization responsible for promoting Chicago as a global visitor and meetings destination, leveraging the city’s unmatched assets to ensure the economic vitality of the city and its member business community. 

Follow @choosechicago on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and tag #ChicaGOandKNOW. For more information, visit choosechicago.com. Support the theatre community this fall during Theater Season and explore more than 100 shows happening now through the end of the year at TheaterSeason.com.

The Second City Honors 65 Year Anniversary With $19.59 Tickets in Chicago, Toronto, and New York!

THE SECOND CITY CELEBRATES 65 YEARS OF LAUGHTER

 $19.59 Tickets For Select Shows Across All Three Cities 

Thursday night performances in each city will feature this special $19.59 ticket price through November 20, 2025.

In December 1959, The Second City opened its doors on a snowy Chicago night, igniting a comedic revolution that continues to transform improv and live sketch comedy today. For 65 years, this iconic institution has been the launch pad for countless comedy legends and remains a driving force in nurturing the next generation of comedy creators, leaving an indelible mark on the world of entertainment.

To honor this milestone, The Second City is hosting a yearlong celebration with specially priced $19.59 tickets to select shows in Chicago, Toronto, and New York. This offer pays tribute to its founding year while inviting audiences—old and new—to join in the laughter.

Chief Revenue & Operating Officer Parisa Jalili shared her thoughts on this momentous occasion: “For 65 years, our performers, staff, and audiences have built an unparalleled legacy of comedy and connection. This celebration is for everyone who has ever filled our theaters with laughter, and we look forward to welcoming even more comedy lovers into our community.”

Thursday night performances in each city will feature this special $19.59 ticket price through November 20, 2025. Don’t miss the chance to experience the hilarity of The Second City’s e.t.c. show in Chicago, the Mainstage show in Toronto, and the Mainstage show in New York at this anniversary price.

Celebrate with us and be part of this historic milestone! Tickets are available at each city’s box office or by visiting https://www.secondcity.com/celebrate-65-years-of-comedy.

About The Second City

The Second City opened its doors in 1959 as a small comedy cabaret and has since grown to become the world's most influential name in improvisation and comedy. Celebrating 65 years, The Second City's stages, Touring Companies, and Training Centers across North America have proudly been the launch pad and artistic home for many of the funniest performers, writers, directors, and comedic minds on the planet. 

For more information on The Second City, visit www.secondcity.com and follow The Second City on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

CHICAGO PREMIERE OF the american vicarious’ DEBATE: BALDWIN VS. BUCKLEY

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar 

TIMELINE THEATRE TO PRODUCE A SITE-SPECIFIC 

CHICAGO PREMIERE OF 

the american vicarious’ 

DEBATE: BALDWIN VS. BUCKLEY

ADAPTED AND DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER MCELROEN AND PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE THEATRE SCHOOL AT DEPAUL UNIVERSITY

This imagining of the historic debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr., on the occasion of the event’s 60th anniversary, will run January 29 - March 2, 2025 

at DePaul University’s Cortelyou Commons

Run time is approximately 90 minutes. There is no late seating.

TimeLine Theatre’s Chicago premiere of the american vicarious’ Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley will run January 29-March 2, 2025 at DePaul University’s Cortelyou Commons, in partnership with The Theatre School at DePaul University.  TimeLine Theatre has long been a favorite of ours and I'll be out to review for ChiIL Live Shows on February 1st. 

The production features Teagle F. Bougere (left) as Baldwin and Eric T. Miller as Buckley. Credit: Christopher McElroen

“Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro?”

This was the topic on February 18, 1965, when an overflow crowd packed the Cambridge Union in Cambridge, England, to witness a historic televised debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, Jr. Baldwin was the leading literary voice of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, while Buckley Jr., was a fierce critic and America’s most influential conservative intellectual. Their historic clash revealed the deep roots and lasting legacy of racial conflict that continue to haunt America.

This winter, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of their legendary duel, TimeLine Theatre Company will present the Chicago premiere of the american vicarious’ Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley, adapted and directed by Christopher McElroen, January 29 - March 2, 2025.

Thanks to a unique partnership between TimeLine Theatre and The Theatre School at DePaul University, the Midwest’s leading theatre conservatory and the alma mater of TimeLine’s founders, the internationally acclaimed the american vicarious’ Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley will be uniquely staged, not in a traditional theater, but in an immersive, site-specific production, tailor-made for Chicago and replicating the feeling of being in the Cambridge Union.

 Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley features Teagle F. Bougere as Baldwin.

Credits: left: Ellie Kurttz; right: Valya Korabelnikova

Eric T. Miller plays Buckley in Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley. Credit (both photos): Ellie Kurttz

Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley will be presented at Cortelyou Commons, built in 1929, remodeled in 2006, located at 2324 N. Fremont St. on the DePaul campus in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Credit: DePaul University 

The entire five-week run of Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley will be presented inside Cortelyou Commons, a historic student gathering space built in 1929 on DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus, an academic setting with a beautiful Gothic Collegiate design that replicates Cambridge Union, where the original debate was held. 

Once inside Cortelyou Commons, audiences will witness an epic confrontation that pitted Baldwin’s call for a moral revolution in race relations against Buckley’s unabashed elitism and implicit commitment to the status quo. 

“TimeLine is thrilled to produce this powerful theatrical experience in the immersive setting of the Cortelyou Commons. Partnering with the internationally acclaimed company, the american vicarious, and The Theatre School at DePaul University—alma mater to me and my fellow TimeLine co-founders—is an honor, as TimeLine continues a season of curated collaborations across Chicago while our new home in Uptown is under construction,” said TimeLine Artistic Director PJ Powers. “Following heralded productions in New York and London, we’re creating a unique, Chicago version of Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley that will invite the audience into a space resembling the one in Cambridge where Baldwin and Buckley’s legendary clash of ideas occurred. Presenting this on the 60th anniversary of their debate will illuminate what progress has occurred in our country and what troubling comparisons still can be made with arguments from 1965.”

“The objective of the american vicarious in restaging this historic debate is not to inhabit such monumental figures as James Baldwin or William F. Buckley, their shoes are too large to fill,” said Christopher McElroen, Founding Artistic Director of the american vicarious. “Rather, our objective is to simply place their words, which still resonate 60 years later, within the voice of contemporary artists.”

“With Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley, TimeLine will transform DePaul’s Cortelyou Commons into a unique and immersive space where powerful public discourse can take place,” said Mica Cole, Executive Director of TimeLine Theatre. “Scholars, activists and audiences will be able to experience a historic moment in race relations, then engage in a critical conversation about our present and future.”

Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley features (from left) Teagle F. Bougere as Baldwin, Eric T. Miller as Buckley, with DePaul Theatre BFA students Jack Baust and Quintin Craig alternating as Mr. Jeremy Burford, and Alexander Perez and Aspen Schucker rotating as Mr. David Heycock. 

Original cast members Teagle F. Bougere (Baldwin) and Eric T. Miller (Buckley) will reprise their roles in Chicago, following critically acclaimed runs in New York City, London, and elsewhere.

Underscoring TimeLine’s connection with The Theatre School, the cast also showcases four student performers, all in their final year in DePaul’s BFA Acting program. Alexander Perez and Aspen Schucker will rotate performances as Mr. David Heycock of Pembroke College, the Cambridge University student who introduced Baldwin at the 1965 debate. Jack Baust and Quintin Craig will rotate as Mr. Jeremy Burford of Emmanuel College, who championed Buckley.

The production team includes Sally Dolembo (Co-Costume Designer), TimeLine Company Member Maren Robinson (Dramaturg) and Katrina Herrmann (Stage Manager). Understudies are Kevin Aoussou (Baldwin) and Joseff Stevenson (Buckley).

Not only will this unique, immersive Chicago theater experience honor the 60th anniversary of the historic Baldwin vs. Buckley debate, 2025 also marks the 100th anniversary of The Theatre School at DePaul University.

How fitting is it that, to kick off the school’s centennial, a team of DePaul theatre students will gain real-world professional experience as part of the Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley production team, including Zachary Grasee (Co-Costume Designer), Bruno Díaz Miranda (Assistant Stage Manager), Edward Ambrose (Wardrobe Supervisor), and Ashly Demay, Katherine Schuert and Omari Sloan (Dramaturgs).

“We are so happy to have our current students and faculty work with our alumni on a production that ushers in the beginning of our centennial year of existence and also speaks to the importance of debate in an educational backdrop,” said Martine Kei Green-Rogers, Dean of The Theatre School at DePaul University.  

DEBATE: BALDWIN VS. BUCKLEY PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley will be presented at DePaul University’s Cortelyou Commons, located at 2324 N. Fremont St., in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Previews are Wednesday and Thursday, January 29 and 30 at 7:30 p.m. Press Opening is Friday, January 31 at 7:30 p.m. Regular performances continue through March 2: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sunday at 2 p.m. Exceptions: There is an added performance on Tuesday, February 18 at 7:30 p.m. No show Wednesday, February 19. 

For details regarding free street parking, paid parking, convenient drop off, public transit and accessibility, visit timelinetheatre.com/venues/cortelyou-commons.

BUYING TICKETS

Single tickets to Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley are on sale now, priced $40 - $75. For tickets and information, visit timelinetheatre.com or call the TimeLine Box Office at (773) 281-8463 x6. 

Preview tickets are $40. Single tickets to regular performances are $62 (all evening performances) and $75 (all matinee performances). Student discount is 35% off regular price with valid ID. TimeLine is also a member of TCG’s Blue Star Theatre Program and is offering $25 tickets to U.S. military personnel, veterans, first responders, and their spouses and family.

Ticket buyers ages 18-35 may join TimeLine’s free MyLine program to obtain access to discounted tickets, special events and more. Discounted rates for groups of 10 or more are also available. Visit timelinetheatre.com/discounts for more about available discounts.

Cortelyou Commons is accessible. Although seating for performances is general admission, accessible seats may be requested for patrons who need specific seating due to disability. If you require accessible seating, please let TimeLine know when placing your reservation how we may assist in finding the best seats to fit your needs.

SAVE WITH A TIMELINE THEATRE 2024-25 FLEXPASS

TimeLine Theatre's 2024-25 three-play season launched this fall with Falsettos, music and lyrics by William Finn, book by William Finn and James Lapine, produced in partnership with Court Theatre and directed by TimeLine Associate Artistic Director Nick Bowling. The production was a smash hit critically and at the box office, earned a one-week extension and was named to the Chicago Tribune's list of Top 10 Plays of 2024.

Following Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley, TimeLine’s 2024-25 season concludes with the world premiere of Dhaba on Devon Avenue, a searing Chicago-set story of family, legacy, and survival at all costs by Madhuri Shekar, directed by Chay Yew, produced in partnership with Writers Theatre. Performances are June 19 - July 27 at Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe.

This remarkable season marks the launch of TimeLine’s next era. The company departed its longtime home on Wellington Avenue in Lakeview East this past summer and has moved to temporary administrative offices closer to Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood as it continues the process toward establishing its future home at 5035 N. Broadway Avenue.

Multiple 3-Admission and 2-Admission TimeLine FlexPass options, priced from $64 to $232, are now on sale. For more information and to purchase, call (773) 281-8463 x6 or visit timelinetheatre.com.

ACCESS PERFORMANCES

CAPTIONED PERFORMANCES: Open-captioned performances with a text display of words and sounds heard during performances are Friday, February 21 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, February 22 at 4 p.m. 

AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCE: On Saturday, March 1, the 4 p.m. performance will feature narration about visual elements of the production around the dialogue, available for individual patrons via headphones.

DIRECTIONS AND PARKING

STREET PARKING: Limited street parking is free south of Cortelyou Commons on West Belden Avenue. Since Cortelyou Commons is on a college campus, there may be other events and traffic around the venue. Make sure to plan ahead if you intend on finding free street parking.

PARKING GARAGE: The nearest parking garage is the Sheffield Lot, 2331 N. Sheffield Avenue. The garage is open 24/7 and always has a cashier available to assist patrons as they exit. TimeLine staff will be able to provide a validation voucher to patrons. Please see TimeLine staff at the Cortelyou Commons for a voucher, which you will need to present to the garage’s cashier upon exit.

DROP OFF: If you are driving to Cortelyou Commons and dropping off a passenger, please note that the venue is not accessible from Fullerton Avenue. Instead, drive east along Belden Avenue from Sheffield. Turn left onto North Chalmers Place. Follows signage/one ways to the west to Fremont Street. You should be able to exit on Chalmers Place after drop-off.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Cortelyou Commons is accessible via CTA Red, Brown, and Purple lines via the Fullerton stop. The #74 Fullerton bus is nearby, as well as the #8 Halsted. The #22 Clark bus stops at Clark and Fullerton, about a 15 minute walk away. For more public transit options, please visit TransitChicago.com.

BIOGRAPHIES

Christopher McElroen (Adapter and Director) is the Founding Artistic Director of the american vicarious. Previously, he co-founded the Classical Theatre of Harlem, where from 1999 to 2009, he oversaw 41 productions yielding 18 AUDELCO Awards, six OBIE Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, and a Drama Desk Award. McElroen’s recent projects Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley (2022) and Static Apnea (2020) were both listed as “Highbrow and Brilliant” in New York magazine’s Approval Matrix, and Broadwayworld said “the american vicarious is on my list of must-see theatre companies.” In collaboration with six-time Grammy Award nominee Gerald Clayton, McElroen developed and directed Piedmont Blues: A Search for Salvation, which was presented at Harlem Stage in June 2022. McElroen received a 2013 Helen Hayes Award for his direction of the world premiere stage adaptation of Ralph Ellison’s iconic novel Invisible Man. McElroen had the honor of directing 51st (dream) State, the final work of poet, musician, and activist Sekou Sundiata, which premiered at BAM’s Next Wave Festival. Alongside visual artist Paul Chan, actor Wendell Pierce, and Creative Time, he co-produced and directed Waiting for Godot in New Orleans, a year-long community development through the arts initiative in post-Katrina New Orleans. The archives from the production were acquired into the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). 

Teagle F. Bougere (James Baldwin) Broadway appearances include The Tempest (Caliban) with Patrick Stewart, directed by George C. Wolfe; A Raisin in the Sun (Asagai) with Phylicia Rashad and The Crucible (Judge Hawthorne), directed by Ivo van Hove. Selected television and film include Law and Order S.V.U. a.d.a. Phillip Baptiste (recurring); Queen America (series regular) with Catherine Zeta-Jones; The Blacklist; Bull; The Mist; The Path; Cosby; The Big C; The Job; A Gifted Man; Conviction, What The Deaf Man Heard; eight episodes for the various Law and Order franchises; A Night At The Museum; The Pelican Brief; Two Weeks Notice; and The Imposters. Selected Off-Broadway includes The New Englanders, Manhattan Theater Club (Audelco Award-Outstanding Lead Actor); Beast In The Jungle, Vineyard Theater, directed by Susan Stroman; Is God Is, Soho Rep; A Last Dance For Sybil by Ossie Davis, starring Ruby Dee, and Coriolanus at The New York Shakespeare Festival. Coriolanus was Bougere’s thirteenth appearance with the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater. Past turns at the festival include Plato in Socrates (with Michael Stuhlbarg); Caska in Julius Caesar; Eros in Antony and Cleopatra, directed by and starring Vanessa Redgrave; and Cymbeline, directed by Daniel Sullivan. Regionally Mr. Bougere created the title role in the world premiere stage adaptation of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. The production was directed by Christopher McElroen and played Court Theater in Chicago, Studio Theater in Washington D.C., and Boston’s Huntington Theater.

Eric T. Miller (William F. Buckley Jr.) Theater credits include Mope (Ensemble Studio Theatre), rogerandtom (HERE), Sweet Storm (LAByrinth), (A)Loft Modulation (the american vicarious), Awake and Sing! and Ripcord (Huntington Theatre), Wink (TerraNova), Luft Gangster (Sheen Center), Safe Home (Royal Family Productions), Betrayed (Culture Project) as well as work at the Syracuse Stage, Bard Summerscape, New York Stage and Film, Rattlestick, PS 122, Workshop, and the Flea. Film and Television credits include Mare of Easttown, Separation, Jules, FBI: Most Wanted, Halston, The Good Fight, Blue Bloods, Chicago PD, Blacklist, Person of Interest, Elementary, The Unusuals, Kings, Law & Order, Shame, Reaching Home, The Waiting Room, Home, Tom’s Dilemma, AdFirm, Redemption in Cherry Springs, Josie & Jack, and the Oscar-nominated film Nyad. erictroymiller.com 

ABOUT TIMELINE THEATRE COMPANY

TimeLine Theatre Company, recipient of the prestigious 2016 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, was founded in April 1997 with a mission to present stories inspired by history that connect with today's social and political issues. Currently celebrating its 28th season, TimeLine has presented 92 productions, including 14 world premieres and 42 Chicago premieres, and launched the Living History Education Program and TimeLine South summer arts program, which bring the company's mission to life for students in Chicago Public Schools and beyond. Recipient of the Alford-Axelson Award for Nonprofit Managerial Excellence and the Richard Goodman Strategic Planning Award from the Association for Strategic Planning, TimeLine has received 62 Jeff Awards, including an award for Outstanding Production 11 times.

The company recently departed its longtime home on Wellington Avenue and moved into new administrative offices at 5539 N. Broadway, Ste. B, a few blocks north of the site of its future new home, located at 5035 N. Broadway in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Construction has begun on that site, where plans feature an intimate black box theater seating up to 250 audience members, expanded area for the immersive lobby experiences that are a TimeLine hallmark, new opportunities for education and engagement, room to allow audience members to arrive early and stay late for theatergoing experiences that extend far beyond the stage, and more.

TimeLine is led by Artistic Director PJ Powers, Executive Director Mica Cole, and Board President Thaddeus J. Malik. TimeLine Company members are Tyla Abercrumbie, Will Allan, Nick Bowling, Janet Ulrich Brooks, Behzad Dabu, Charles Andrew Gardner, Lara Goetsch, Juliet Hart, Anish Jethmalani, Mildred Marie Langford, Mechelle Moe, David Parkes, Ron OJ Parson, PJ Powers, and Maren Robinson.

Major corporate, government and foundation donors providing season support via TimeLine’s Annual Fund include Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, Bayless Family Foundation, CIBC U.S., Crown Family Philanthropies, Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation, Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and Van Dam Charitable Foundation. TimeLine also acknowledges the support of a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events and a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

For more information, visit timelinetheatre.com or Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram (@TimeLineTheatre on all platforms). 

ABOUT THE THEATRE SCHOOL AT DEPAUL UNIVERSITY

The Theatre School at DePaul University, founded in 1925 as the Goodman School of Drama, is one of the nation’s oldest conservatory training institutions. With more than 15 undergraduate degree programs across three departments (design/technology, performance, and theatre studies), and two master’s degrees offered in acting and arts leadership, students combine rigorous coursework with continuous production practice to hone their skills. This hands-on approach develops students with practical problem-solving experience, not just in theatre, but in a variety of artistic and business pursuits. 100% of students receive a scholarship to help support artists from a variety of backgrounds and to encourage quality and accessible education to all. 

For more information, to donate, or to join The Theatre School’s mailing list, please visit theatre.depaul.edu or follow @theatreschooldepaul on Instagram.

ABOUT the american vicarious

the american vicarious is a New York City-based nonprofit producing company committed to generating creative content that crosses disciplinary boundaries and reflects on America’s ideals, realities, and the forces that unite and divide its people. Since its founding in 2018, the company has produced a wide variety of critically acclaimed, interdisciplinary works of art, including Fight for America!, a participatory gaming installation exploring the fragility of American democracy (New York City and London, 2025); the stage adaptation Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley, premiering in New York City (2020, 2022) and subsequently in London, Cambridge, and Bristol (2023); two world premiere plays, Shooting Celebrities (2022) and (A)loft Modulation - a play with jazz (2019); the mixed-media jazz concert Piedmont Blues: A Search for Salvation (2020-22); two performance installations, Negative Liberty / Positive Liberty (2021) and Static Apnea (2020, The New York Times Critics Pick); and the documentary feature film Far From the Nile (2022, Best Non-Fiction Film Award, Cairo Film Festival). The programs of the american vicarious are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and generous individual donors. 

For more, visit theamericanvicarious.org.

REVIEW: Yael Rasooly's Edith and Me at 7th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

Edith and Me

Yael Rasooly

Israel

Highly recommended. 

★★★★ Four out of four stars. Bonnie Kenaz-Mara, ChiIL Live Shows

We were blown away by Edith and Me. Yael Rasooly is an incredibly talented singer and puppeteer who mixes her own heart wrenching narrative with the songs and darkest moments of Edith Piaf's life. This account of assault and healing is such a powerful, personal, and entirely relatable journey. 

Even in our current "Me Too" era, victim blaming is still rampant. Instead of holding perpetrators (mostly men) accountable for sexual assault, non-consensual acts, and rape, woman (and some men, too) are stigmatized, traumatized, and silenced in life and then again by police and the court system, if they dare to speak out. This is particularly true if the perp is rich, powerful, and/or famous. This show is sadly all too topical, as we have seen this dynamic playing out with our felon-in-chief and his cadre of rapist apointees. 

The vast majority of women I know have been assaulted, most of them multiple times in ways small and large over the years. And the few who dared to press charges were mostly revictimized by the courts and recieved little to no justice or vindication. We deserve better for our daughters, sisters, friends, and selves! This behavior is a worldwide epidemic that thrives on silence and grows bold in the dark corners of our shame.

 

Edith and Me is an empowering tool for connection and commiseration. Isolation and blame are patriarchy's tools. But we are stronger together. Through art we can heal and reclaim our voices and power after a traumatic experience. This production is a vitally important, archtypal story, and a creative blueprint for healing. Yael Rasooly is a world class talent with the bravery and strength to speak truth to power. This show is one of the most inspiring productions I've ever seen. Stay for the talk-back at the end. It was nothing short of cathartic. 

Don't miss this. Edith and Me is truly phenomenal and an absolute must see!

Bonnie is a Chicago based writer, theatre critic, photographer, artist, and Mama to 2 amazing adults. She owns two websites where she publishes frequently: ChiILLiveShows.com (adult) & ChiILMama.com (family friendly).

The Biograph's Začek-McVay Mainstage, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Lincoln Park

Thursday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 24 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, January 25 at 8 p.m.

60 minutes

15 and up

Tickets: $35-$43

yael-rasooly.com

Based on a true story, Israeli vocalist, actress, puppeteer and director Yael Rasooly brings her virtuosic vocals and puppetry to share the struggle of a singer nearly silenced at the hands of political leaders, immobilized, and perhaps never to perform again. Yet she is not alone – the famous singer icon Edith Piaf is there to drag her out of bed and pull her back into life. 

Edith and Me is a one woman show doubling the power of French cabaret. Revel in the virtuosic talents of two exceptional, classically-trained, wildly entertaining artists: the world-celebrated Rasooly, with the incomparable accordionist, Iliya Magalnyk, originally from Moldova.

Edith and Me is one of more than 120 shows and special events that are part of the 7th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, January 15-26, 2025. The 2025 Chicago Puppet Fest is the largest event of its kind in North America, spanning 12 days and dozens of Chicago venues, presenting  an international pageant of puppet artists in all-ages spectacle shows in landmark theaters, intimate works on smaller stages, and late night puppet cabarets. Last year’s festival attracted nearly 20,000 fans of puppetry, a record, from Chicago and around the world. This year, see puppet artists from Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Norway, Puerto Rico, Poland, Scotland, South Africa, the U.S. and Chicago performing the full range of contemporary and traditional puppetry styles. 

For tickets and information, visit chicagopuppetfest.org, sign up for the festival’s e-news, and follow the festival on Facebook, Instagram or Vimeo, hashtag #ChiPuppetFest. 

REVIEW: Porchlight Theatre's Tony-award winning Fun Home Now Playing Through March 2, 20252025

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

Tony-Award Winning Pulitzer Prize-Nominated Musical

FUN HOME

NOW PLAYING THROUGH MARCH 2, 2025

AT THE RUTH PAGE CENTER FOR THE ARTS

This Moving Story of Seeing One’s Parents Through Adult Eyes is Directed by Stephen Schellhardt and Music Directed by Heidi Joosten.

Members of the cast of FUN HOME from Porchlight Music Theatre, now playing through March 2 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. Credit for all Photos: Liz Lauren 

CONTENT ADVISORY: verbal abuse, depictions of homophobia and a death by suicide as well as allusions to sexual contact between an adult and teenagers.

The running time is 100 minutes with no intermission. 

REVIEW

By Bonnie Kenaz-Mara

Family dynamics are complicated, especially when one or both parents are living a lie. Porchlight's Fun Home is 100 unforgettable minutes of love and loss, with a fabulously flawed family. 

Patrick Byrnes 

This production brings world class talent, a gorgeous set design, and a score that will send shivers up your spine. We adored the way the overarching home is constructed and compartmentalized into individual frames that light up and change by location. Brilliant design work. 

The children bring life and levity to the overarching serious themes of Fun Home, and it's a joy to experience their early years growing up in a family run funeral home. Small Alison and her brothers are all well cast.

(L to R) Tessa Mae Pundsack (SMALL ALISON), Eli Vander Griend and Austin Hartung

(L to R) Lincoln J. Skoien, Hayes McCracken, Meena Sood and Charlie Long 

*NOTE: Because there are two casts of the young actors. We have included both of the casts in the photos 

We love the construct of having three ages of Alisons as queer, female narrators. For opening night we saw Meena Sood in the role of small Alison and she was fantastic, as were Alanna Chavez (ALISON) and Z Mowry (MIDDLE ALISON).

(L to R) Meena Sood (SMALL ALISON), Alanna Chavez (ALISON) 

and Z Mowry (MIDDLE ALISON) 

We adore Porchlight Music Theatre's take on this Tony Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-nominated musical. Fun Home has long been a favorite of ours here at ChiIL Live Shows, and I can attest, this dark yet tender, queer coming of age story is in capable hands with Porchlight. I've had the pleasure of reviewing the Broadway national tour in 2016, Victory Gardens' show in 2017, and Paramount's production in 2022. Porchlight Music Theatre left us impressed, with world class talent across the board.

There's plenty of humor and laughter in this family drama, and the serious, heartbreaking elements are handled with care. The entire cast is stellar, with particular kudos to Neala Barron (Helen Bechdel) whose "Days and Days" brought down the house. The rousing standing ovation at curtain call was well deserved by all. 

(L to R) Neala Barron and Z Mowry

Don't miss this! Highly recommended. ★★★★ Four out of four stars.

Bonnie is a Chicago based writer, theatre critic, photographer, artist, and Mama to 2 amazing adults. She owns two websites where she publishes frequently: ChiILLiveShows.com (adult) & ChiILMama.com (family friendly).

Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to present the Tony Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-nominated musical Fun Home, now playing through March 2, at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St. Fun Home, with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, is based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel and is directed for Porchlight Music Theatre by Stephen Schellhardt with music direction by Heidi Joosten. 

(L to R) Lincoln J. Skoien, Patrick Byrnes and Alanna Chavez 

The performance schedule is Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 3 and 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. with additional performances Thursday, Jan. 23 at 2 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. and Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. Post-show discussions are scheduled for Friday, Jan. 31, Thursday, Feb. 13 and Sunday, Feb. 23 with Open Caption performances Saturday, Feb. 8 at 3 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. The running time is 100 minutes with no intermission. Tickets are $20 - $85 and are on sale now at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org. Group discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. Contact Audience Services Director August Compton at August@PorchlightMusicTheatre.org for more information on group sales.

Alanna Chavez (ALISON) 

Winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and a Pulitzer finalist, Fun Home is a refreshingly honest, emotional and revolutionary musical. Based on Alison Bechdel’s critically acclaimed graphic novel, Fun Home shares how Bechdel unlocks memories, milestones and mysteries of her youth as she begins to write her first graphic novel. With a compassionate score and a brilliant script, Fun Home tells the story of seeing your parents through grown-up eyes.

Tickets are $20 - $85 and are on sale now at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org. Group discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. Contact Audience Services Director August Compton at August@PorchlightMusicTheatre.org for more information on group sales.

 

(L to R) Patrick Byrnes and Meena Sood 

Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St.

Tickets: $20 - $85

Website: PorchlightMusicTheatre.org/fun-home/

Thursday, Jan. 23 at 2p.m. 

Thursday, Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m. - Porchlight Young Professionals Night 

Saturday, Jan. 25 at 3 p.m. 

Saturday, Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. 

 (L to R) Dakota Hughes and Z Mowry

Thursday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 30 at 7:30p.m. 

Friday, Jan 31 at 7:30 p.m. - Post-Show Discussion 

Saturday, Feb. 1 at 3 p.m. 

Saturday, Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 2 at 2 p.m. 

Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m. 

Thursday, Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m.  

Saturday, Feb. 8 at 3 p.m. - Open Caption Performance

Saturday, Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 9 at 2 p.m. 

(L to R) Meena Sood (SMALL ALISON) and Alanna Chavez (ALISON) 

Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. 

Thursday, Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m.  - Post-Show Discussion 

Friday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m. 

Saturday, Feb. 15 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. 

Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 22 at 3 p.m.  - Open Caption Performance

Saturday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 23 at 2 p.m. - Post-Show Discussion 

Meena Sood in FUN HOME

Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 1 at 3 p.m. 

Saturday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 2 at 2 p.m. 

Show dates,  post-show discussions, etc. subject to change. 

Meena Sood and Patrick Byrnes

Tessa Mae Pundsack and Patrick Byrnes

The cast of Fun Home including two children’s casts, in alphabetical order, is Neala Barron (she/her, Helen); Liz Bollar (she/they, Helen U/S, Alison U/S); Patrick Byrnes (he/him, Bruce); Alanna Chavez (she/her, Alison); Eli Vander Griend (he/him, Christian); King Hang (he/him, Roy/Mark/Pete/Bobby/Jeremy U/S); Austin Hartung (he/him, John); Josiah Haugen (he/him, Bruce U/S); Dakota Hughes (they/them, Joan, dance/intimacy captain); Charlie Long (he/him, Christian); Adelina Marinello (she/her, middle Alison U/S, Joan U/S); Hayes McCracken (he/him, John); Z Mowry (they/them, middle Alison); Tessa Pundsack (she/her, small Alison); Elin Joy Seiler (she/her, small Alison) and Lincoln J. Skoien (any with respect, Roy/Mark/Pete/Bobby/Jeremy).

The Fun Home production team includes Stephen Schellhardt (he/him, director); Heidi Joosten (she/her, music director/conductor); Sheryl Williams (she/they, intimacy coordinator); Jonathan Berg-Einhorn (he/him, scenic designer); Marquecia Jordan (she/her, costume designer); Denise Karczewski (she/her, lighting designer); Matthew R. Chase (he/him, lighting designer); Drew Donnelly (he/him, production stage manager, AEA); Carli Shapiro (they/them, assistant stage manager); Olivia Leslie (she/her, assistant stage manager); John McTaggart (he/him, technical director); Danny Carraher (he/him, assistant technical director); Lydia Moss (she/her, scenic charge); Kayne Bowling (he/they, lead carpenter/spot 2); Mark Brown (he/him, deck chief); Bette Schneider (she/her, costume director); Rachel West (she/her, lighting designer); Riley Woods (they/them, assistant lighting supervisor/spot 1 ); Sam Anderson (they/she, lead electrician); Morgan Dudaryk (she/they, audio and video director); Joe Court (he/him, A1); Ali Westendorf (she/they, asst. costume director/wardrobe supervisor ); Amanda May (she/her, hair & makeup director/wardrobe swing); Clare McCullough (she/her, wardrobe assistant); Patrick McGuire (any with respect, properties director); Heather Gervasi (she/her, production manager); Michael Weber (he/him, artistic director); Majel Cuza (she/her, director of production) and Frankie Leo Bennett (he/him, producing artistic associate).

ABOUT JEANINE TESORI, MUSIC

Jeanine Tesori (she/her) has written a diverse catalog for Broadway, opera, film and television. Her Broadway musicals include: Fun Home (2015 Tony Award Winner, Pulitzer finalist); Violet; Caroline, or Change; Shrek the Musical; Thoroughly Modern Millie; Twelfth Night (LCT); John Guare’s A Free Man of Color. Delacorte: Mother Courage (starring Meryl Streep). She has received five Tony nominations, three Obie Awards and three Drama Desk Awards. The hallmarks of her work have been described as "close-to-the-surface emotion, structural rigor and rhythmic drive."

Her operas include: The Lion, the Unicorn and Me and Blizzard on Marblehead Neck (MET/LCT Opera/Theater and Glimmerglass Opera commission); her upcoming collaboration with Tazewell Thompson, Blue, was commissioned for Glimmerglass Opera company and will premiere there next season. She wrote the musical featured in the 2016 revival of “Gilmore Girls” and has also written special material for artists such as The Girl in 14G for Kristin Chenoweth and has been featured in the documentaries “Show Business” and “Theater of War.”

Jeanine Tesori became the founding artistic director of a new concert series at New York City Center called Encores! Off-Center, for which she has helmed seasons joined by artists such as Stephen Sondheim, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Randy Newman, William Finn, Alan Menken, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Sutton Foster and Jonathan Groff. After producing four seasons of Off-Center concerts, she took one of those concerts, Sunday in the Park with George (starring Jake Gyllenhaal) to Broadway where she produced the 2017 revival, with ATG and Riva Marker. She was the recording producer for Sunday as well as the Original Cast Recordings of Violet; Caroline, or Change; Shrek; Twelfth Night; etc.

A lecturer in music at Yale and on faculty at Columbia University, Tesori has spoken and taught at universities and programs all over the country. She is the founding creative director of the non-profit A BroaderWay, an arts empowerment program for young women. She was given the Einhorn Mentorship Award by Primary Stages for her exceptional work with young artists. Her daughter, Siena Rafter, is a sophomore at Brown University.

ABOUT LISA KRON, BOOK AND LYRICS

Lisa Kron (she/her) is a writer and performer whose work has been widely produced in New York, regionally and internationally. Her plays include Well, 2.5 Minute Ride and The Ver**zon Play. She wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Fun Home (with music by composer Jeanine Tesori), winner of five 2015 Tony Awards including Best Musical. Kron and Tesori were the first all-woman team to ever receive a Tony for best score.

As an actor, Kron was most recently seen as “Mrs. Mi-Tzu” and “Mrs. Yang” in the Foundry Theater’s acclaimed production of Good Person of Szechuan (Lortel Award, Outstanding Featured Actress). Honors include a Guggenheim fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artists Award and the Cal Arts/Alpert Award. She is a proud founding member of the OBIE- and Bessie-Award-winning collaborative theater company The Five Lesbian Brothers.

Kron currently serves as secretary of the Dramatists Guild Council and on the boards of the McDowell Colony and the Lilly Awards.

ABOUT STEPHEN SCHELLHARDT, DIRECTOR

Stephen Schellhardt is thrilled to be back at Porchlight and working with this beautiful company of artists. Stephen is a Jeff Award-winning director whose credits include The Play That Goes Wrong, The Wizard of Oz and Footloose (Barter Theatre), A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (Porchlight - Jeff Nomination), Queer Eye: The Musical Parody (Second City), Big Fish (Jeff Award), Urinetown (Jeff Nomination), Dogfight (Jeff Nomination) at BoHo Theatre, Greater Tuna (Timberlake Playhouse), Songs for a New World (Rockford University) and You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown (Northwestern University) Stephen is a proud graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama.

ABOUT HEIDI JOOSTEN, MUSIC DIRECTOR

Heidi Joosten is a Jeff-Award winning music director (Assassins, Theo, 2024), composer and performer who has music directed and conducted more than 150 productions across the country. National conducting/adaptation credits include Avatar: The Last Airbender, Barbie: Live in Concert at The Hollywood Bowl, Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse and Labyrinth in Concert. Other recent Chicago credits include Kokandy Productions (Alice by Heart, American Psycho), Drury Lane Theater (Grease), Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Beauty and the Beast) and The Second City (Don’t Quit Your Daydream). An avid performer, she has released two solo piano albums and continues to innovate in theatre and concert music internationally.

 Z Mowry

ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE

Porchlight Music Theatre, entering its 30th season, is the award-winning center for music theatre in Chicago. Through live performance, youth education and community outreach, we impact thousands of lives each season, bringing the magic of musicals to our theatre home at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts in the Gold Coast and to neighborhoods across the city. Porchlight has built a national reputation for boldly reimagining classic musicals, supporting new works and young performers, and showcasing Chicago’s most notable music theatre artists, all through the intimate and powerful theatrical lens of the “Chicago Style.”

Porchlight's history over nearly three decades includes more than 70 mainstage works with 15 Chicago premieres and five world premieres.

Porchlight's education and outreach programs serve schools, youth of all ages and skill levels and community organizations. Porchlight annually awards dozens of full scholarships and hundreds of free tickets to ensure accessibility and real engagement with this uniquely American art form.

The company’s many honors include 178 Joseph Jefferson Award (Jeff) nominations and 50 Jeff awards, as well as 44 Black Theatre Alliance (BTA) nominations and 15 BTA awards. In 2019, Porchlight graduated to the Large Theatre tier of the Equity Jeff Awards and has been honored with seven awards in this tier to date including Best Ensemble for Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies (2019) and Best Production-Revue for Blues in the Night (2022).

Through the global pandemic, Porchlight emerged as one of Chicago’s leaders in virtual programming, quickly launching a host of free offerings like Sondheim @ 90 Roundtables, Movie Musical Mondays, Porchlight by Request: Command Performances and WPMT: Classic Musicals from the Golden Age of Radio. In 2021, Porchlight launched its annual summer series, Broadway in your Backyard, performing at parks and venues throughout the city.

The 30th Anniversary Season is Sponsored By Elaine Cohen & Arlen Rubin and Brenda & Jim Grusecki.

Porchlight Music Theatre is partially supported by generous contributions from Actors’ Equity Foundation; Allstate; Comcast/Xfinity; Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation; Free for All; Glimpse Vision; James P. and Brenda S. Grusecki Family Foundation; Hearty Boys; the Pritzker Traubert Foundation; Ryan and Spaeth, Inc.; Daniel and Genevieve Ratner Foundation; The Saints; Dr. Scholl Foundation; Service Club of Chicago and The Shubert Foundation.

The season program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency, and by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events. 

Porchlight Music Theatre wishes to thank members of the Matching Gift Corporate Program including Allstate; BDO; Google; Jackson National Life Insurance; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation and The Saints. 

PORCHLIGHT UPCOMING EVENTS ...

NEW FACES SING BROADWAY NOW

Monday, Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m.

Evanston SPACE, 1245 Chicago Ave.

Tickets: $45

Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m.

The Arts Club of Chicago, 201 E. Ontario St.

Tickets: $75 (includes a pre-show wine and cheese reception at 6:30PM)

Directed by Producing Artistic Associate Frankie Leo Bennett

Music Directed by Carolyn Jean Brady

Hosted by Adrian Aguilar

The popular New Faces Sing Broadway series returns in Porchlight’s 30th Anniversary Season. Chicago’s up-and-coming talent join Broadway’s Adrian Aguilar for a 90-minute revue of the hottest shows on Broadway today including Hell’s Kitchen, The Notebook, Death Becomes Her, The Outsiders and others as well as trivia contests with prizes.

FUN HOME

January 16 – March 2, 2025

Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St.

Music by Jeanine Tesori

Book and lyrics by Lisa Kron

Based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel

Directed by Stephen Schellhardt

Music Directed by Heidi Joosten

Winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and a Pulitzer finalist, Fun Home is a refreshingly honest, emotional and revolutionary musical. Based on Alison Bechdel’s critically acclaimed graphic novel, Fun Home shares how Bechdel unlocks memories, milestones and mysteries of her youth as she begins to write her first graphic novel. With a compassionate score and a brilliant script, Fun Home tells the story of seeing your parents through grown-up eyes.

TITANIQUE

Chicago Premiere

Presented in association with Broadway In Chicago

March 25 – May 18, 2025

Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St.

Co-Written by Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli and Tye Blue.

All aboard NYC’s must-sea musical comedy! When the music of Céline Dion makes sweet Canadian love with the eleven-time Oscar®-winning blockbuster film “Titanic,” you get Titanique, off-Broadway’s most award-winning splash hit, which turns one of the greatest love stories of all time into a hysterical musical fantasia. Want to find out what really happened to Jack and Rose on that fateful night? Just leave it to Céline Dion to enchant the audience with her totally wild take, recharting the course of Titanic’s beloved moments and characters with her iconic song catalog. Sailing on fierce powerhouse voices in show-stopping performances of such hits as “My Heart Will Go On,” “All By Myself” and “To Love You More” – backed by the unparalleled energy of a full live band – Titanique is a one-of-a-kind theatrical voyage bursting with nostalgia, heart and campy chaos.

CHICAGO SINGS 30 YEARS OF PORCHLIGHT

Monday, May 12, 2025

House of Blues Chicago, 329 N. Dearborn St.

Tickets: $75 – $175 

The spring fundraising concert fittingly concludes the season with an unforgettable night of live performances commemorating 30 years of Porchlight with performances by Chicago theatre luminaries, the presentation of the 2025 Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre in Chicago and more.

Please note: Performances, actors and dates are subject to change.