LINCOLNSHIRE MARRIOTT RESORT CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY WITH 5 SHOW THEMED POP-UP EXPERIENCES AT THREE EMBERS RESTAURANT

 LINCOLNSHIRE MARRIOTT RESORT KICKS OFF 50TH ANNIVERSARY, LAUNCHES ROTATING POP-UP EXPERIENCE IN THREE EMBERS RESTAURANT

Celebrating 50 years of Live Theatre, Fine Dining, and Hospitality Excellence in Chicago’s Lake County Since 1975

Three Embers Restaurant will become the site of 5 creative popup experiences themed to each stage production, with specialty crafted cocktails and menus

Marriott Theatre’s design team will create a magical themed environment Starting With Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Feb. 5

I'll be out on February 26th, to experience Joseph’s Dream Grill Presented by Three Embers Restaurant, and then review Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for ChiIL Mama and ChiIL Live Shows. We adore a good show tie-in and can't wait to celebrate Lincolnshire Marriott Resort's 50th anniversary.

Lincolnshire Marriott Resort, Lake County’s most luxurious resort, officially kicks of its 50th anniversary by debuting an all new, rotating pop-up experience at its signature upscale dining destination, Three Embers Restaurant. This initiative will coincide with the 50th anniversary season at its award-winning Marriott Theatre. Each pop up will be an extension of the current stage production at the theatre, transporting guests to another realm while enjoying a themed food and beverage menu led by the culinary team at Three Embers Restaurant. The pop-up experience will kick off with Joseph’s Dream Grill Presented by Three Embers Restaurant to mirror Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Marriott Theatre, running February 5 through March 30. 

“Ever since March 26th,1975, the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort has been honored to host over 4 million guests, over 3,000 weddings, and play over 1 million games of golf on Crane’s Landing golf course, while the Marriott Theatre has presented over 250 mainstage productions and 100 Theatre for Young Audience productions. We continue to innovate and are elated to share this exciting new popup experience at Three Embers,” said General Manager Brad Lajoie. “This will allow not only our theatre guests to fully immerse themselves in this one-of-a-kind dining experience, but our hotel and local guests from the Lincolnshire area can also enjoy a unique and transformed space.”

Carefully crafted with the help of Marriott Theatre’s set design team alongside events company Ravenswood, Milo Bue Scenic Designs, and designer Anthony Churchill, the new popup experience titled Joseph’s Dream Grill will replicate the world of Joseph with stunning aesthetics bringing the restaurant to amazing technicolor life. Dreamy lanterns and a starlit framed screen will play immersive visuals for guests to dine back in time, with a special photo op for diners to commemorate their experience. Palm trees and brightly adorned fabrics will fill the restaurant, where guests can indulge in a specialty themed menu. Led by Chef de Cuisine Jonathon Silver, featured pre-fixe menu items will include the Nile Red Lentil Soup, with herb oil and micro cilantro; Joseph’s Beef Schwarma, with Roz Bel Shareya, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and tahini; along with a specialty “Fit for a King” raisin cake dessert. The pre-fixe menu will be served alongside Three Ember’s Main Menu that also has Joseph-themed dishes such as the Pharoah’s Memphis Style BBQ pizza and the Wood Fired Shrimp Creole.

The first of 5 popups to take shape this year, Joseph’s Dream Grill will be open five days a week, Tuesday through Saturday, from 5pm-9pm throughout the run of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. To book your reservation at Joseph’s Dream Grill today, please visit www.threeembersrestaurant.com or call 847-634-0100. Follow Lincolnshire Marriott Resort @lshiremarriott on Instagram and @MarriottLincolnshireResort on Facebook to stay on top of all updates.

About Three Embers

Three Embers, the resort’s signature restaurant, celebrates proudly Midwest cuisine with simple, locally grown and sourced, farm-fresh ingredients, while integrating influential flavors from various regions throughout southern Europe. Local diners, hotel guests, and theater-goers can anticipate being welcomed by an intimate and innovative dining atmosphere headlined by a dramatic wood-burning grill placed prominently in the lakeside dining space. Outdoor seating is also available seasonally, on the Lakeside Plaza, with tranquil views overlooking the resort lake. Lead by Executive Chef Everardo Fajardo, Three Embers dishes are driven by passion, authenticity, heritage, and creativity, accompanied by local familiarity and lively flavor profiles to intrigue diners taste buds. And when available, many of Three Embers’ ingredients will be sourced from the resort’s on- site farm, greenhouse and apiary, as well as from local produce, livestock and dairy farms.

About the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort

Lincolnshire Marriott Resort is a welcoming resort in Illinois’ Lake County area for business retreats, family vacations, and romantic weekends. Just a short drive from downtown Chicago and O’Hare International Airport, the hotel features 390 guest rooms and suites as well as two unique restaurants – Three Embers and Wright’s Brew and Bistro, along with The Brew Lobby Bar and Starbucks, as well as a luxurious day spa, Life Salon and Spa. In addition to its 40,000 square feet of meeting and event space, the resort is also home to the highly acclaimed Marriott Theatre, which has been performing some of the region’s best live musical theatre for 50 years. Guests seeking recreation options have access to the resort’s public Ralph-Fazio designed PGA golf course Crane’s Landing, tennis center, and two pools. In addition, the Des Plaines River Trail runs alongside the resort, extending 37 miles to Wisconsin, making it an ideal setting for hiking, biking, and horseback riding.

Broadway Star Leslie Odom, Jr. to Headline Goodman Theatre Centennial Gala May 17, 2025

TONY AND GRAMMY AWARD-WINNER LESLIE ODOM, JR. 

TO HEADLINE GOODMAN THEATRE’S CENTENNIAL GALA

 

CO-CHAIRED BY JILL JAVORS, SWATI MEHTA, JACKIE ROBINSON AND LEADERSHIP CHAIR JOAN E. CLIFFORD, AT THE FAIRMONT CHICAGO ON SATURDAY, MAY 17

**PROCEEDS BENEFIT EDUCATION AND ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMMING, INCLUDING “THEATER FOR THE VERY YOUNG” (THE LIZARD Y EL SOL, THRU FEB. 2); A MODERNIZING SHAKESPEARE WORKSHOP FOR TEENS (FEB. 15); THE “ALICE ACTIVATION” SERIES; AND MORE**

Goodman Theatre announces that Tony and Grammy Award-winning performer Leslie Odom, Jr., known for his portrayal of Aaron Burr in the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Hamilton, will headline the Goodman Theatre Centennial Gala, performing a set of favorites from his wide-ranging and critically acclaimed stage and recording career. Celebrating 100 years, the black-tie event begins with a cocktail reception, followed by the performance and an elegant three-course dinner, and concludes with dancing to the sounds of The Gentlemen of Leisure. Gala Co-Chairs are Jill Javors, Swati Mehta and Jackie Robinson; Lester N. Coney and David Fox, Jr. are Gala Trustee Co-Chairs; the Benefits Events Leadership Chair is Joan E. Clifford, Board of Trustees Past Chair and Life Trustee.The 2025 Goodman Theatre Centennial Gala starring Leslie Odom, Jr., takes place on Saturday, May 17 at The Fairmont Chicago (200 N. Columbus); tickets start at $1,000; call 312.443.3811 ext. 220 or visit GoodmanTheatre.org. All proceeds benefit Goodman’s Education and Engagement programs. Goodman Theatre is grateful for the support of the Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust. 

Leslie Odom, Jr. is a multifaceted Tony and Grammy Award-winning, three-time Emmy and two-time Academy Award-nominated vocalist, songwriter, actor, and New York Times bestselling author. With a career that spans all performance genres, Odom has received recognition for his excellence and achievements in Broadway, television, film, and music. Most recently, Odom made his long-awaited return to Broadway starring in, and co-producing, the six-time Tony-nominated Broadway production of the classic American comedy Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by the legendary Ossie Davis, which opened in September 2023 to widespread critical acclaim and earned Odom a Tony nomination for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play.” In January 2024, PBS recorded the play live at the Music Box Theatre, and Great Performances: Purlie Victorious premiered on PBS stations nationally on May 24. Additionally, Odom recently starred in the highly anticipated sequel to the original iconic film The Exorcist for Blumhouse and Universal Pictures in October 2023, as well as in Rian Johnson’s 2022 Knives Out sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which broke records for Netflix. In 2020, he starred as legendary singer Sam Cooke in the award-winning Amazon film adaptation of One Night in Miami…, directed by Regina King. His critically acclaimed and highly lauded portrayal of the soul icon and musical performance of original song “Speak Now” earned him multiple awards and nominations. He also starred in The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to David Chase’s award-winning HBO series The Sopranos, released in October 2021. Well known for his breakout role as ‘Aaron Burr’ in the smash hit Broadway musical Hamilton, Odom hosted “The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!” on CBS in September 2021 (2022 Emmy nomination). Additional film and television credits include Apple TV+’s Central Park (2020 Emmy nomination), Hamilton on Disney+ (2021 Emmy nomination), Abbott Elementary, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, Love in the Time of Corona, Harriet, and many more. Co-written with Nicolette Robinson, Odom’s first children’s book, I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know, was published by Feiwel & Friends on March 28, 2023. The book debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at #7 in its first week. Odom is a BMG recording artist and has released five full-length albums. Released in November 2023, Odom’s fifth full-length album and his first of all-new original music since 2019, When A Crooner Dies, features a collection of 10 newly penned, original tracks that mark his most personal body of music to date.

Proceeds from this major fundraiser benefit Goodman Theatre’s Education and Engagement programming, led by Clifford Director of Education and Engagement Jared Bellot and offered year-round for participants from birth through life. Upcoming opportunities for audiences to engage at the Goodman beyond the stage include:

· The Lizard Y El Sol (appears through February 2) After drawing more than 2,800 to Chicago Parks this summer, the family-friendly musical event returns to the Loop. This 60-minute play about a lizard in search of the sun is the Goodman’s second “Theater for the Very Young” production, programming developed for audiences aged 0-5 and their adult friends and family. Visit GoodmanTheatre.org/Lizard

· All The World’s A Stage: Finding Your Voice in Shakespeare (February 15; FREE) Chicagoland teens join Fat Ham director and founding Artistic Director of Definition Theatre Tyrone Phillips for an immersive exploration of what it means to perform Shakespeare and classical texts in the modern day. Participants learn how to make Shakespeare’s words their own and discover their unique voice within the story.

· Alice ACTivation Series (8-week classes offered twice a year) Lifelong learners can experience a series of curated workshop intensives at the Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement. Participants can unlock their creative potential and experience the transformative power of theater through art. Visit GoodmanTheatre.org/Activation

ABOUT GOODMAN THEATRE

Chicago’s theater since 1925, Goodman Theatre is a not-for-profit arts and community organization in the heart of the Loop, distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and community engagement. Led by Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Executive Director John Collins, the theater’s artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics. Artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards and more than 160 Jeff Awards, among other accolades.

The Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle.” Its longtime annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, now in its fifth decade, has created a new generation of theatergoers in Chicago. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production and program partner with national and international companies and Chicago’s Off-Loop theaters.

Using the tools of theatrical practice, the Goodman’s Education and Engagement programs aim to develop generations of citizens who understand and empathize with cultures and stories of diverse voices. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of these programs, which are offered for Chicago youth—85% of whom come from underserved communities—schools and life-long learners.

Goodman Theatre was built on the unceded homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi Nations. We recognize that many other Nations consider the area we now call Chicago as their traditional homeland—including the Myaamia, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea, Kickapoo and Mascouten and remains home to many Native peoples today. The Goodman is proud to have a relationship with Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum. Located in Evanston, the Museum honors the survival and perseverance of Indigenous communities and promotes a greater understanding of Indigenous peoples: gichigamiin-museum.org.

Goodman Theatre was founded by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth, an important figure in Chicago’s cultural renaissance in the early 1900s. The Goodman family’s legacy lives on through the continued work and dedication of Kenneth’s family, including Albert Ivar Goodman, who with his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton, contributed the necessary funds for the creation on the new Goodman center in 2000.

Julie Danis is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Lorrayne Weiss is Women’s Board President and Kelli Garcia is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.

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.