Midwest Regional Premiere of Waitress To Play Paramount Theatre February 12-March 30, 2025

 ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

A slice of heaven: Paramount Theatre’s Midwest Regional Premiere of 

Broadway’s hit musical Waitress 

runs February 12-March 30, 2025

 

Paramount Theatre’s Midwest Regional premiere of Waitress, directed by (top, from left) Katie Spelman, features Michelle Lauto in her Paramount debut as as Jenna, with (bottom, from left) Teressa LaGamba as Becky, Kelly Felthous as Dawn, David Moreland as Dr. Pomatter, Ian Paul Custer as Earl, Ron E. Rains as Joe, Jonah D. Winston as Cal, Jackson Evans as Ogie (through March 16), and Nik Kmiecik as Ogie (March 19-30). I'll be out for the press opening February 21, reviewing for ChiIL Live Shows.

What’s more American than Apple Pie? A small-town waitress with a dream and the recipe for success. Catch that sweet smell of success at the largest subscription theater in the U.S., Aurora’s Paramount Theatre, when it greets 2025 with the Midwest Regional Premiere of Waitress. Music and lyrics are by Grammy Award winner and Tony nominee Sara Bareilles, with a book by Jessie Nelson.

Director Katie Spelman returns to Paramount to stage the first Chicago-area production of the hit Broadway musical, with Michelle Lauto making her Paramount debut as Jenna. Performances are February 12-March 30, 2025. 

Sugar, butter and flour aren’t the only ingredients Jenna, a waitress and expert pie maker, uses to make her famous pies. Stuck in a small town, a loveless marriage, and a surprise pregnancy, Jenna hopes to bake her way out of trouble. Jenna puts her heart and soul into her delicious pies, winning over anyone who tastes them. But battling expectations and low self-esteem, Jenna’s pies reflect her state of mind with names like “I Hate My Husband Pie,” “Pregnant, Miserable, Self-Pitying Loser Pie” and “Baby Screaming it’s Head Off in the Middle of the Night and Ruining My Life Pie.

Full of romance and the joy of an uninhibited fling, Waitress challenges the stereotype of a pregnant woman trapped in a small town between the life she’s living and the life she wants. Her customers, co-workers, and the town’s handsome new doctor may all offer conflicting recipes for happiness, but only Jenna can do the soul-searching to decide what the right ingredients are for her own happiness. 

Want to know her secret recipe? Come get a taste of Paramount’s delicious new production of Waitress, nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Original Score, and serving up terrific songs like “What’s Inside” “What Baking Can Do,” “Club Knocked Up” with a side of romantic tunes including “It Only Takes a Taste” and “When He Sees Me.”

Seeing Waitress at Paramount Theatre is easy as pie. Performance are February 12 through March 30, 2025: Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Thursday at 7 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Tickets are just $28-$85, a fraction of the cost to see a show in downtown Chicago. Plus Aurora’s live downtown theater district boasts easy, cheaper parking and an influx of great new restaurant options opening all around.

Paramount Theatre is located at 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora. For tickets and information, visit ParamountAurora.com, call (630) 896-6666, or stop by the Paramount box office Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and until show time on show days. For group discounts, contact Melissa Striedl, melissas@paramountarts.com or (630) 723-2461. 

Note: Paramount will offer two Pay What You Can previews on Thursday, February 13 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, February 15 at 3 p.m. See ParamountAurora.com/Pay-What-You-Can for details. 

Access Services

Paramount will offer open captioning on Wednesday, March 26 at 1:30 p.m. and American Sign Language interpretation on Friday, March 28 at 8 p.m. 

Paramount always offers assistive listening devices free of charge at all performances. Check in at the coat room before the show to borrow a listening device. If you require wheelchair or special seating or other assistance, please contact the box office at (630) 896-6666 or boxoffice@paramountarts.com in advance.

Baked from the heart: Behind the scenes of Paramount’s Waitress

Katie Spelman

Katie Spelman (director and choreographer) is a Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based choreographer, director, and intimacy director who creates work with an emphasis on story, the feminine and collaboration. Her hometown directing credits include acclaimed productions of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 at Writers Theatre, multi-Jeff-nominated productions of Once at Writers Theatre and The Music Man at Marriott Theatre, and Paramount’s Cabaret in 2018, also Jeff-nominated for best production. She made her Broadway choreographic debut in 2024 with The Notebook. Spelman was also associate choreographer on Moulin Rouge for the Boston, Broadway and Australian companies, a dance consultant on the West End and first U.S. national touring productions, and an associate on Amelie, American Psycho and Once on Broadway. She has received a Helen Hayes Award, the Agnes de Mille Commission from SDCF, and appeared on the Broadway Women's Fund Women to Watch List and the inaugural list of Theatrely’s 31. katiespelman.com

Michelle Lauto

Michelle Lauto, an award-winning New York-based actor, singer, director, and educator, makes her Paramount debut as Jenna. Lauto grew up in the Jersey suburbs before moving to Chicago in 2012 to study her love of comedy. She is a 2014 graduate of The Second City Training Center's Conservatory program. Since graduating, she has starred in more than a dozen musicals all over Chicagoland, won a 2017 Jeff Award for Best Actress in a Revue in the original Chicago cast of Spamilton: An American Parody, and has worked at several prominent regional theaters.

The principal cast also features Teressa LaGamba as Becky, Kelly Felthous as Dawn, David Moreland; Ian Paul Custer as Earl; Ron E. Rains as Joe, Jonah D. Winston as Cal, Jackson Evans as Ogie (through March 16), and Nik Kmiecik as Ogie (March 19-30). The ensemble includes Marta Bady, Logan Becker, Andrés Enriquez, Sophie Grimm, Devon Hayakawa, Laura Savage, Emma Ogea, David Stobbe and Anakin Jace White. Youth actors Julianna Velez 

and Reese Bella alternate performances as Lulu.

Paramount’s design and production team includes Katie Spelman, director and choreographer; Kory Danielson, music supervisor; Celia Villacres, music director and conductor; Scott Davis, scenic designer; Mieka van der Ploeg, costume designer; Eric Southern, lighting designer; Adam Rosenthal, sound designer; Katie Cordts, wig, hair and makeup designer; Ivy Thomas, properties designer; Ethan Deppe, electronic music designer; Alyssa Vera Ramos, intimacy director; Susan Gosdick, dialect coach; Emily Ann Brooks, associate director and associate choreographer; Kailey Rockwell, associate music director and associate conductor; Bailey O’Neil, young performer supervisor; Jinni Pike, stage manager; and Lina Benich and Emma Franklin, assistant stage managers.

Waitress the musical is based on the hit 2007 indie film written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, starring Keri Russell as Jenna. After a 2015 tryout at American Repertory Theater, Waitress premiered at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway in 2016, directed by Diane Paulus, starring Chicago’s own Jessie Mueller as Jenna, and earning four Tony nominations including Best Musical and Best Original Score. Following a London production, national and international tours, Waitress returned in 2021 to Broadway for a limited engagement starring Sara Bareilles as Jenna, resulting in the live stage recording of the show released in 2023.

Aurora Bank & Trust is the official show sponsor of Waitress. Paramount Theatre Broadway Season sponsors are the Dunham Foundation, BMO, ComEd, Illinois Arts Council and the City of Aurora. Waitress is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI.

Also playing in 2025 on Paramount’s three stages in downtown Aurora

Paramount has had a smash hit on its hands since last summer with its new, immersive production of Million Dollar Quartet, now extended all the way  through June 29, 2025 at Paramount’s new Stolp Island Theatre.

Right across the street from Paramount, in the sleek new Copley Theatre, study up for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, part of Paramount’s BOLD Series, March 12-April 27, 2025.

A stunning revival of Cats wraps Paramount’s 13th Broadway Series at Paramount Theatre, April 30-June 15, 2025. For tickets, information and the latest updates, visit ParamountAurora.com.

About Paramount Theatre

Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., is the center for performing arts in Aurora, the second largest city in Illinois. The beautiful, 1,843-seat theater, graced with a strong 1930s Art Deco influence and original Venetian décor, nationally known for its high-quality productions, superb acoustics and historic grandeur, has been downtown Aurora’s anchor attraction since 1931.

Since launching its own Broadway Series in 2011, Paramount has amassed more than 37,000 subscribers, making it the largest subscription house in the U.S.

For over 50 years, the Joseph Jefferson Awards has recognized excellence in Chicago area theater. Paramount has been honored to earn 124 Jeff nominations and 29 wins over the last eight years of eligibility, including six Jeff Awards in 2022 for Kinky Boots, including Best Musical-Large, Paramount’s fourth win in that category following Sweeney Todd (2017), West Side Story (2016) and Les Misérables (2015). 

Paramount Theatre is one of five live performance venues overseen by the Aurora Civic Center Authority (ACCA) in downtown Aurora. ACCA also programs and manages the 165-seat Copley Theatre, home to Paramount’s BOLD Series, at 8 E. Galena in the North Island Center; Stolp Island Theatre, now open at 5 E. Downer Place, Suite G, with a critically acclaimed immersive production of Million Dollar Quartet, extended through June 2025; RiverEdge Park, downtown Aurora’s outdoor summer concert venue at 360 N. Broadway; and the Paramount School of the Arts.

Paramount Theatre continues to expand its artistic and institutional boundaries under the guidance of Tim Rater, President and CEO, Aurora Civic Center Authority; Jim Corti, Artistic Director, Paramount Theatre; a dedicated Board of Trustees and a devoted staff of live theater and music professionals.

For the latest updates, visit ParamountAurora.com or follow @paramountaurora on Facebook and Instagram, and Paramount Theatre on LinkedIn.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater Presents Avaaz January 21 – February 9, 2025 in the Upstairs Studio

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar 

Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents

Avaaz

Written and performed by Emmy Award nominee Michael Shayan

Celebrating the Iranian-Jewish immigrant experience in a heartfelt and hilarious tribute to the playwright’s mother 

January 21 – February 9 in the Upstairs Studio

Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents Olney Theatre Center’s production of Avaaz, a “powerful, defiant, celebratory” (Washington Post) exploration of family and the immigrant experience. The production is written and performed by Emmy Award nominee and Out Magazine OUT 100 honoree Michael Shayan and directed by Tony Award nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel, and runs January 21– February 9, 2025 in the Carl and Marilynn Thoma Upstairs Studio.

In Avaaz, Michael Shayan—playing the role of his own larger-than-life Iranian-Jewish mother, Roya—welcomes audiences into her home to celebrate Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. She’s preparing a feast, but the main attraction is the story of her great American journey from Tehran to “Tehran-geles,” California. What follows is a hilarious and touching tribute, exuberantly portrayed by the person who knows her best—her son. Hailed as “ingenious” and “masterful” by BroadwayWorld and DC Theater Arts, this radiantly queer celebration of resilience, rebirth, and joy is at once deeply personal and universal.

“It’s an honor to take Avaaz across the country with Moritz and this incredible team, particularly at a time of overwhelming anti-immigrant sentiment,” says Shayan. “Avaaz offers a different narrative and grapples with complex truths in a fabulous, decadent, larger-than life party on stage. I can’t wait to share the magic of ‘Tehrangeles’ with audiences in Chicago and beyond!”

“Michael’s story is enlightening, entertaining, and will fill even the darkest winter evening with light,” said CST’s artistic director Edward Hall. “It’s a unique perspective on the immigrant experience from a hugely talented performer and artist. I’m so happy to be sharing this with Chicago audiences and inviting you all to a thought-provoking celebration that discusses such complex issues with imagination and joy.”

Michael Shayan is a queer Iranian-American writer and performer from Los Angeles who was recently recognized by Out Magazine on the OUT100 list of the most "impactful and influential LGBTQ+ people." He was nominated for an Emmy Award for the Discovery+ series The Book of Queer and also worked on the Emmy Award-winning HBO series We're Here. A fellow with the Sundance Institute, Shayan is writing a new play commission for Audible, and his work has been seen and developed at theaters including La MaMa, New York Stage and Film, Rattlestick, The Lark, Project Y, Dixon Place and Art House, among others. He was a Lambda Literary LGBTQ Voices Fellow in Playwriting, and his work has been featured in The Advocate Magazine.

One of the most in-demand directors nationwide, Moritz von Stuelpnagel returns to Chicago Shakespeare after last season’s Judgment Day. His other credits include the Broadway productions Bernhardt/Hamlet, Present Laughter, Hand to God, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Director, and most recently, I Need That starring Danny DeVito. Off-Broadway credits include Seared, The Thanksgiving Play, Teenage Dick, Important Hats of the 20th Century, and Verité.

The design team for Avaaz includes scenic designer Beowulf Boritt, a two-time Tony Award winner (Act One, New York, New York) who returns to CST after Judgment Day; costume designer Joshua “Domino” Schwartz, a two-time Emmy Award winner for HBO’s We’re Here; lighting designer Amith Chandrashaker, a Tony Award nominee for Prayer for the French Republic who returns to CST after Judgment Day; and sound design by UptownWorks (Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill at Baltimore Center Stage). They are joined on the creative team by associate director Aria Velz, tour manager Jerid Fox, and stage managers Allison Ann Bailey and Phillip Snider.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER (CST)

A Regional Tony Award recipient, Chicago Shakespeare Theater produces a bold and innovative year-round season that includes Shakespeare, original plays, musicals, family programming, and international theatrical events. CST is committed to serving as a cultural center across its three stages—the 700+ seat Yard, 500 seat Jentes Family Courtyard Theater, and the 200 seat Carl and Marilynn Thoma Theater Upstairs as well as in classrooms, neighborhoods, and venues around the world. CST has a deep commitment to education and lifelong learning with robust programming for students, teachers, and lifelong learners, and engagement with communities across the city. Onstage, in classrooms and neighborhoods across the city, and in venues around the world, Chicago Shakespeare is a multifaceted theater—inviting audiences, artists, and community members to share powerful stories that illuminate the complexities, ambiguities, and wonders of our world. www.chicagoshakes.com

Chicago Shakespeare Theater Presents the Midwest Premiere ofJaja's African Hair Braiding January 14–February 2, 2025

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar 

Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents

the Midwest Premiere of

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding

Direct from a Tony Award-winning Broadway run

A vibrant comedy about West African immigrant women who find community in a Harlem salon

Written by Jocelyn Bioh and directed by Chicago native Whitney White

January 14–February 2 in The Yard

Straight from a twice-extended Broadway run, Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) presents the Midwest premiere of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Hailed as “wickedly entertaining” by The Washington Post and nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Play, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding was written by award-winning, Ghanaian-American playwright Jocelyn Bioh (School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, Nollywood Dreams) and is directed by Chicago native, Tony Award nominee, and Obie Award winner Whitney White (Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, What to Send Up When It Goes Down). The production runs January 14–February 2, 2025 in The Yard. 

The cast includes Melanie Brezill, Leovina Charles, Victoire Charles, Yao Dogbe, Mia Ellis, Tiffany Renee Johnson, Jordan Rice, Awa Sal Secka, Aisha Sougou, and Bisserat Tseggai.

This vibrant comedic gem offers a glimpse into the lives of a group of West African immigrant women who find community in a bustling Harlem hair salon. Over the course of a sweltering summer day, love ignites, dreams soar, and secrets unravel. Uncertainty simmers below the surface, and when it boils over, this tight-knit community is forced to confront what it means to be an outsider on the edge of the place they call home. With humor as rich as its characters, this play weaves hilarious moments with profound insights to create “an overwhelmingly affectionate portrait of Black female joy” (TheaterMania). 

Jaja's African Hair Braiding is a co-production with Arena Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theater, and La Jolla Playhouse and is presented in association with Madison Wells Live and LaChanze. The play had its world premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club.

"It's such a joy to be able to give the gift of this whip smart, funny, and original comedy to Chicago audiences,” shared Artistic Director Edward Hall. “Like all great comedies, there is plenty to laugh about and reflect on as Whitney White has orchestrated Jocelyn Bioh's play with the kind of dramatic perfection that is as rare as it is supremely enjoyable.”

"I am thrilled and honored that audiences beyond Broadway will get to come to 'the shop' and meet the vibrant women of Jaja's African Hair Braiding,” says Playwright Jocelyn Bioh. “This play means so much to me as both a native New Yorker and as a first-generation Ghanaian American as it speaks to the heart of what makes our country so beautifully unique: its rich diversity of people and culture. There is a real universality to these women's experiences, and I can't wait for audiences to connect and fall in love with each of them." 

The cast features three performers returning to the Chicago Shakespeare stage: Melanie Brezill, whose CST credits include As You Like It and The Comedy of Errors, along with Broadway and National Tour credits in The Book of Mormon, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and Mamma Mia!; Yao Dogbe, returning to CST after appearing in Richard III, Twelfth Night, and Short Shakespeare! Macbeth; and Tiffany Renee Johnson, who appeared in CST’s Red Velvet and whose other Chicago credits include Blues for an Alabama Sky at Remy Bumppo Theatre, School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play at Goodman Theatre, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Writers Theatre. 

Making CST debuts are Leovina Charles (The Lion King on Broadway, Lempicka at La Jolla Playhouse), Victoire Charles (Golden Age and Ruined at Manhattan Theatre Club), Mia Ellis (The Amen Corner at Shakespeare Theatre Company), Jordan Rice (Ava DuVernay’s film Selma), Awa Sal Secka (After Midnight at Paper Mill Playhouse, Goddess at Berkeley Repertory Theater), Aisha Sougou (Beehive and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Marriott Theatre), and Bisserat Tseggai (The Jungle at St. Ann’s Warehouse, For All The Women Who Thought They Were Mad at Soho Repertory Theater).

Playwright Jocelyn Bioh is a Tony Award-nominated, Ghanian-American writer and performer from New York City. Her other work includes Merry Wives, which won the 2022 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Adaptation, Nollywood Dreams, Broadway-bound musical Goddess, and the multi-award-winning School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, which has been produced more than 65 times regionally and in the UK. She was a Tow Playwriting Fellow and has won several playwriting awards including the Drama Guild’s Hull-Warriner Prize, Steinberg Playwright Award, Lortel Award, and Drama Desk Award. Bioh has also written for TV series including Russian Doll, Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It, Tiny Beautiful Things, and The Acolyte, and is also writing the upcoming film adaptation of the Broadway musical Once on This Island for Disney.

Director Whitney White is an Obie Award and Lilly Award-winning, as well as a Tony Award-nominated, director, writer, and musician from Chicago. Jaja’s African Hair Braiding marks her CST debut, but it is also a homecoming; she fondly remembers field trips to CST productions as a high school student and credits a Shakespeare workshop at CST as an impactful early-career experience. Her Chicago credits include directing The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington at Steppenwolf Theatre, and other directing credits include the upcoming Broadway production of The Last Five Years starring Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren, What To Send Up When It Goes Down (NYT Critic’s Pick) and Jordans at The Public Theater, The Secret Life of Bees at The Almeida in the UK, and Soft at MCC Theatre (NYT Critic’s Pick). Original works include Semblance (New York Theatre Workshop), Definition (Bushwick Starr), and Macbeth in Stride (American Repertory Theater, Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theater), for which she won an Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical Performance. Her four-part cycle deconstructing Shakespeare’s women is currently in development with American Repertory Theater and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

White is joined by the creative team from the Broadway production, including three-time Tony-winning scenic designer David Zinn (Stereophonic, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical, The Humans), returning to CST after designing the set for The Notebook; costume designer Dede Ayite, the first Black woman to win a Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Play (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding); Tony Award-nominated lighting designer Jiyoun Chang (Stereophonic, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, Slave Play); Tony-nominated original music and sound designer Justin Ellington (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf); Tony-nominated video designer Stefania Bulbarella (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding); and Tony Award-winning hair and wig designer Nikiya Mathis (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding). The company also includes associate director Manna-Symone Middlebrooks, dialect and vocal coach Yetunde Felix-Ukwu, intimacy consultant Sierra Young, associate sound designer Dwaine Potts, stage manager Melanie J. Lisby, and assistant stage manager Brillian Qi-Bell. Casting is by Caparelliotis Casting, Kelly Gillespie and Erica A. Hart.

There will be a student matinee performance during the run which will host nearly 600 students, 90% of whom are from Chicago Public Schools. This is one of many live performance opportunities for students offered in the 2024/2025 season, including student matinees of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Pericles this fall and 40 performances of Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the spring.

I'll be out for the press opening for Jaja’s African Hair Braiding on January 17th, so check back shortly after for my full review. 

More information at chicagoshakes.com/jaja or on social media at @chicagoshakes.  

PERFORMANCE DETAILS:

Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m.

Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (no matinee on January 15)

Thursdays at 7:00 p.m.

Fridays at 7:00 p.m.

Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

Chicago Shakespeare strives to make its facility and performances accessible to all patrons. Accessible seating, assistive listening devices, large-print and Braille programs, and sensory tools are available at every performance. Enhanced performances include:

Audio-described performance with optional touch tour – Sunday, January 26 at 2:00 p.m.

A program that provides spoken narration of a play’s key visual elements for patrons who are blind or have low vision. Touch Tours provide patrons the opportunity to experience, firsthand, a production’s design elements.

Open captioned performances – Wednesday, January 29 at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

A text display of the words and sounds heard during a play, synced live with the action onstage.

ASL interpreted performance – Thursday, January 30 at 7:00 p.m.

All dialogue and lyrics are translated into American Sign Language by two certified interpreters

CREATIVE TEAM

Jocelyn Bioh - Playwright

Whitney White - Director 

David Zinn - Set Designer

Dede Ayite - Costume Designer

Jiyoun Chang - Lighting Designer 

Justin Ellington - Original Music and Sound Designer

Stefania Bulbarella - Video Designer

Nikiya Mathis - Hair and Wig Designer

Manna-Symone Middlebrooks - Associate Director

Yetunde Felix-Ukwu - Dialect and Vocal Coach

Erica A. Hart, CSA - Casting

Kelly Gillespie, CSA - Casting

David Caparelliotis, CSA - Casting

Sierra Young - Intimacy Consultant

Dwaine Potts - Associate Sound Designer

Melanie J. Lisby - Stage Manager

Brillian Qi-Bell - Assistant Stage Manager

CAST

Melanie Brezill - Michelle, Chrissy, LaNiece

Leovina Charles - Vanessa, Sheila, Radia

Victoire Charles - Jaja

Yao Dogbe - James, Franklin, Olu, Eric

Mia Ellis - Jennifer

Tiffany Renee Johnson - Aminata

Jordan Rice - Marie

Awa Sal Secka - Bea

Aisha Sougou - Ndidi

Bisserat Tseggai - Miriam

Onye Eme-Akwari - Nollywood Dreams Actor

Morgan Scott - Nollywood Dreams Actor

Kevin Medesse Aousso - Understudy

Renea S. Brown - Understudy

Debora Crabbe - Understudy

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER (CST)

A Regional Tony Award recipient, Chicago Shakespeare Theater produces a bold and innovative year-round season that includes Shakespeare, original plays, musicals, family programming, and international theatrical events. CST is committed to serving as a cultural center across its three stages—the 700+ seat Yard, 500 seat Jentes Family Courtyard Theater, and the 200 seat Carl and Marilynn Thoma Upstairs Studio as well as in classrooms, neighborhoods, and venues around the world. CST has a deep commitment to education and lifelong learning with robust programming for students, teachers, and lifelong learners, and engagement with communities across the city. Onstage, in classrooms and neighborhoods across the city, and in venues around the world, Chicago Shakespeare is a multifaceted theater—inviting audiences, artists, and community members to share powerful stories that illuminate the complexities, ambiguities, and wonders of our world. www.chicagoshakes.com

World Premiere of Ayn Rand's "It's a Wonderful Life" as Performed by the Conspirators December 20 - 22, 2024

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar 

THE CONSPIRATORS ANNOUNCE THE WORLD PREMIERE-ISH OF: 

AYN RAND’S “IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE” 

AS PERFORMED BY THE CONSPIRATORS, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF PRESIDENT BIDEN—NO WAIT, LIZ CHENEY 

DECEMBER 20 - 22, AT OTHERWORLD THEATRE

CONTENT WARNING: MAY CONTAIN VARIETY ACTS AND HOLIDAY-THEMED SONG AND DANCE.

The running time is 80 minutes with no intermission.

The Conspirators are proud to present the world premiere of Ayn Rand's "It's a Wonderful Life" as Performed by the Conspirators Under the Direction of President Biden NO WAIT, Liz Cheney (RAND/CHENEY) written by Sid Feldman and directed by Wm. Bullion, at the Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark St, in a very limited run, December 20 - 22. The performance schedule is Friday - Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased at the door or online at www.conspirewithus.org. 

The Conspirators bring RAND/CHENEY, their “was-going-to-be-annual-until-the-pandemic” holiday tradition back for THREE NIGHTS ONLY! A traditional TV holiday special goes awry when progressive factions demand better content; a series of sensible patriots led by President Biden—NO WAIT, Liz Cheney try to keep back the chaos. The centerpiece is a hilarious retelling of "It's a Wonderful Life" through the eyes of libertarian goddess Ayn Rand.

The cast of RAND/CHENEY includes: Eva Andrews (she/her), Elena Avila (she/they), Meaghan Morris (they/them), Wm. Bullion (in he/his triumphant return), Olivia Anton (she/they), Sarah Franzel (she/her), AL SMART! (they/them), Evan Richter (he/him), Sam Erwin (they/them), Zach Foley (he/him), Brian Rohde (he/him), Demitri Magas (he/him), Andrew Bosworth (he/him), Donaldson Cardenas (he/him), Kate Akerboom (they/she) and Aimee Bass (she/her) on percussion.

Crew includes: Matt Bonaccorso (he/him, stage manager), Wm. Bullion (he/him, director), Sid Feldman (he/him, playwright, style coach, technical director), Mike McShane (he/him, lights), Sebby Woldt (they/them, sound) and Madison Rivers (she/they, music director).

ABOUT WM. BULLION (Director, Artistic Director)

Wm. Bullion is a veteran tragicomedian, director, and actor on the fringe of the Chicago theater fringe. Bullion is an Emeritus member of The Factory Theater, for whom he directed Prophet$ and Born Ready. He started Sliced Bread Productions in 1988 and put up some solid work before it folded in 2008. He co-founded The Conspirators in 2016 (and has proudly directed all their big pieces: Commedia Divina: It’s Worse Than That; Viva La Mort; The Conspirators 125th Anniversary Jubilee, Feat. “The Ineptidemic”; Accidental Death of a Black Motorist; The Deckchairs, or Make the Titanic Great Again; and The Resistible Rise of Herr Helmut Drumpf) but he was a fool to think starting another theater group in Chicago is a viable, sustainable idea. Yet, here we are, getting grants and making stuff for YOU.

ABOUT SID FELDMAN (Author/Style Coach/Producing Director)

Sid Feldman co-founded The Conspirators and has written plays, adaptations, screenplays, reviews and essays. He has produced plays, concerts and events for numerous organizations including New Crime and Sliced Bread Productions (also with Wm. Bullion).

ABOUT THE CONSPIRATORS

The Conspirators are a (still relatively new) theater and performance collective in Chicago dedicated to provoking thought and action through dynamic, immediate theater art. The Conspirators work exclusively in a style of neo-Commedia called “The Style”—a highly theatrical performance mode developed by movie stars Tim Robbins and John Cusack from the techniques of Ariane Mnouchkine, Commedia dell’Arte, Bugs Bunny cartoons and punk rock, as historically performed by New Crime Prod. (R.I.P.) and The Actors’ Gang. The company also offers Style workshops to interested performers of all calibers.

The Conspirators are proud to present the world premiere of Ayn Rand's "It's a Wonderful Life" as Performed by the Conspirators, Under the Direction of President Biden NO WAIT, Liz Cheney (RAND/CHENEY) written by Sid Feldman and directed by Wm. Bullion, at the Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark St, in a very limited run, December 20 - 17. The performance schedule is Friday - Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased at the door or online at www.conspirewithus.org.

For more show info, go to www.conspirewithus.org and follow The Conspirators on Facebook and Instagram.

SAVE THE DATE: Three-time Jeff Award winner Ron OJ Parson to direct Hymn at Chicago Shakespeare Theater April 29–May 25

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Three-time Jeff Award winner Ron OJ Parson to direct 

Hymn

Olivier Award winner Lolita Chakrabarti  re-sets her acclaimed play in Chicago

April 29–May 25 in the Courtyard Theater

Three-time Jeff Award winner, Ron OJ Parson and Hymn, Olivier Award winner, Lolita Chakrabarti

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) announces renowned Chicago director Ron OJ Parson will helm the North American premiere of Lolita Chakrabarti’s Hymn, making his CST directorial debut. Chakrabarti has re-imagined her play in the South Side of Chicago, following an acclaimed premiere at London’s Almeida Theatre. The creative team also includes scenic and projection designer Rasean Davonté Johnson, costume designer Yvonne Miranda, lighting designer Jason Lynch, and sound designer and composer Willow James. The production runs April 29–May 25, 2025 in the Jentes Family Courtyard Theater. 

Hymn charts the lives of two middle-aged Black men as they form a deep bond in an intimate exploration of the loyalties and betrayals of brothers, fathers, and sons. The play received five-star reviews in its UK premiere from The Observer, The Daily Mail, and WhatsOnStage, which hailed it as “mind-blowingly excellent.”

“I wanted to write a story of two Black men who find love with each other—a familial, platonic love,” says Chakrabarti. “My own male friends have often surprised me with their sensitivity, femininity, fussiness, insecurities, fun, kindness, and warmth—the list goes on. Hymn was born out of my desire to tell a different story. To reframe this play for Chicago is very exciting indeed, and I believe it will lend itself beautifully to this city’s rich culture.”

CST artistic director Edward Hall said, "In my brief time in Chicago it has not taken me long to get acquainted with the work of the brilliant Ron OJ Parson. Both Lolita and I felt he was the missing piece in this delicate jigsaw, and I am deeply happy that the play resonated so powerfully with him. This will be Ron’s Chicago Shakespeare debut, and I am delighted to be welcoming the director of such a huge and important body of work into our company."

“I’ve long admired the work at Chicago Shakespeare, during my theater journey here in Chicago,” said Parson. “I am truly honored to be working on Hymn by world-renowned playwright Lolita Chakrabarti. As my journey continues, what better play than a play about brothers, family, love, faith, and hope. What the world needs a lot of. Peace.”

Lolita Chakrabarti won the Olivier Award for Best New Play for her adaptation of Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi, which later went on to a Tony Award-winning Broadway run and a national tour. Her adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the West End last year. Chakrabarti’s debut play Red Velvet enjoyed an acclaimed run at CST in 2017.

Ron OJ Parson is the co-founder and former artistic director of Onyx Theatre Ensemble, a resident artist at Court Theatre, and an ensemble member at TimeLine Theatre. In 2022, he received the Zelda Fichandler Award from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation and was recognized as the Chicago Tribune’s Chicagoan of the Year for Theater. He has won three Jeff Awards for directing for Relentless at TimeLine Theatre, and Blues for an Alabama Sky and Fences at Court Theatre. Other credits include East Texas Hot Links, The Lion In Winter, Arsenic and Old Lace, Two Trains Running, King Hedley II, Radio Golf, Five Guys Named Moe, Gem of the Ocean, Seven Guitars, Jitney, and The Piano Lesson at Court Theatre, Trouble in Mind, Too Heavy For Your Pocket, and A Raisin in the Sun at TimeLine Theatre Company, Toni Stone and Sweat at Goodman Theatre, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and East Texas Hot Links at Writers Theatre.

Parson is joined on the creative team by scenic and projection designer Rasean Davonté Johnson, a two-time Jeff Award winner returning to Chicago Shakespeare after Measure for Measure and It Came From Outer Space, with other recent credits including Romeo and Juliet at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Lucha Teotl at Goodman Theatre, and Her Honor Jane Byrne at Lookingglass Theatre; costume designer Yvonne Miranda, who makes her CST debut with recent credits including Leroy & Lucy at Steppenwolf Theatre, Primary Trust at Goodman Theatre, and The Hot Wing King at Writers Theatre; lighting designer Jason Lynch, a Jeff Award winner returning to CST after Beauty and the Beast, with other credits including Layalina and the ripple, the wave that carried me home at Goodman Theatre and Choir Boy at Steppenwolf Theatre; and sound designer and composer Willow James, who returns to CST after Twelfth Night, with other credits including A Christmas Carol, The Penelopiad, and The Nacirema Society at Goodman Theatre.

More information at chicagoshakes.com/hymn or on social media at @chicagoshakes.  

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER (CST)

A Regional Tony Award recipient, Chicago Shakespeare Theater produces a bold and innovative year-round season that includes Shakespeare, original plays, musicals, family programming, and international theatrical events. CST is committed to serving as a cultural center across its three stages—the 700+ seat Yard, 500 seat Jentes Family Courtyard Theater, and the 200 seat Carl and Marilynn Thoma Upstairs Studio as well as in classrooms, neighborhoods, and venues around the world. CST has a deep commitment to education and lifelong learning with robust programming for students, teachers, and lifelong learners, and engagement with communities across the city. Onstage, in classrooms and neighborhoods across the city, and in venues around the world, Chicago Shakespeare is a multifaceted theater—inviting audiences, artists, and community members to share powerful stories that illuminate the complexities, ambiguities, and wonders of our world. www.chicagoshakes.com

Chicago Premiere of Reina Hardy’s GLASSHEART Via City Lit Theatre January 10 – February 23

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

Cast and production team announced for Chicago Premiere of 

Reina Hardy’s 

GLASSHEART

January 10 – February 23

Modern-day reimagining of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is both hilarious and poignant. City Lit Executive Artistic Director Brian Pastor to direct.

City Lit Theater has announced its cast and creative team for the Chicago Premiere of GLASSHEART, by Chicago-based playwright Reina Hardy. City Lit Executive Artistic Director Brian Pastor will direct this new take on the Beauty and the Beast story, in which the Beast has had to live centuries enduring his existence in a hideous body. He has moved to present-day Chicago with his only friend, a lamp named Only, who thinks he should get out more and meet a woman who might fall in love with him and break the spell. The landlady of their new home – a low rent apartment in an unnamed Chicago neighborhood – happens to be a Witch, perhaps the one who turned him into a beast in the first place. But there is hope when Only and the Beast meet their new neighbor Aiofe, a recent transplant from Michigan who is looking forward to her new life as a barista in the Windy City. Though the Beast is very much an 18th Century European gentleman and Aiofe a 21st Century independent woman, they find they have much in common and together learn things about their true selves and what it means to be human. GLASSHEART will open to the press on Sunday, January 19 at 3 pm, following previews from January 10, and play through February 23, 2025.

Pastor’s cast for the four-person play will include three veterans of City Lit and the Chicago theater scene, along with one newcomer. Actor and playwright Mark Pracht, a Jeff Award winner for his leading role in REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT with The Artistic Home, a nominee for his John Proctor in Invictus Theatre’s THE CRUCIBLE, and known most recently to City Lit audiences for the title role in PROMETHEUS BOUND, will play The Beast. Additionally, Pracht’s “Four Color Trilogy” of plays about the comic book industry was produced at City Lit over the past three seasons, concluding with THE HOUSE OF IDEAS this past fall. Kat Evans, whose many roles at City Lit include Bridget in THE SAFE HOUSE and Io to Pracht’s Prometheus, will play the lamp called Only.

Appearing as The Witch will be Elaine Carlson, whose most recent of many City Lit roles was as Meg in THE BIRTHDAY PARTY. She has earned Jeff Award nominations for her title role in MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION and her Eleanor of Aquitane in A LION IN WINTER, both with Promethean Theatre Ensemble; and won an Actress in a Principal Role Jeff Award for SALT OF THE EARTH with Famous Door Theatre. Completing the cast as the independent, politically minded Aiofe will be Cailyn Murray, a new-to-Chicago actress who moved from Washington DC to Chicago in 2023. Since arriving in Chicago, she has appeared in Corn Productions’ DRINK:PRIDE and has been a Dungeon Master for Otherworld Theatre’s Interactive D20 Dungeons & Dragons events. Cailyn holds a BA in Theatre from Muhlenberg College. 

L-R: Mark Pracht, Cailyn Murray, Elaine Carlson, Kat Evans. 

The production team will include Jeremiah Barr (Scenic Design), Liz Cooper (Lighting Design), Petter Wahlbäck (Sound Design and Original Music), kClare McKellaston (Costume Design), Paul Chakrin (Violence Design), Courtney Abbott (Intimacy Coordinator), Meghan Norine McGrath (Props Design), and Hazel Marie Flowers-McCabe (Stage Manager).

A Chicago-based self-described “playwright and fabulist,” Reina Hardy’s work has been produced across the United States, and in the UK, Australia and Greece. GLASSHEART was praised by the WASHINGTON POST for its “off-key insights” and its “funky, poetic” nature. THE WASHINGTONIAN called it “enchanting, funny, and thought-provoking.”

Tickets may be ordered online at www.citylit.org or purchased over the phone by calling 773-293-3682. Ticket prices are $30 for previews and $35 for regular performances. Senior prices are $25 for previews and $30 for regular performances. Students and military are $12.00 for all performances. City Lit Theater is located at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr, on the second floor (accessible via elevator) of the Edgewater Presbyterian Church.

Production Details 

January 10 – February 23, 2025

Previews January 10 – 18, 2025

Press opening Sunday, January 19 at 3 pm

Regular run January, January 24 – February 23, 2025

Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 3 pm

Mondays, February 10 and 17, 2025 at 7:30 pm

Tickets $30 for previews and $35 for regular performances. Senior prices are $25 previews and $30 regular performances. Students and military are $12.00 for all performances.

Tickets available online at www.citylit.org  or by phone at 773-293-3682.

All performances at City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr, on the second floor (accessible via elevator) of the Edgewater Presbyterian Church.

Chicago premiere of a new play by Chicago-based playwright Reina Hardy. A modern-day reimagining of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. The Beast has moved into a low-rent district in Chicago with his last loyal friend, a lamp named Only. They meet a neighborly witch and a young woman who might, somehow, still break the curse.

BIOS

Reina Hardy (Playwright). Reina Hardy's plays, which usually contain magic and sometimes contain science, have been produced across the US, the UK, Australia and Greece. Her prose has appeared in Electric Literature, Fantasy Magazine, Startrek.com, and more, and her first movie as a screenwriter, PAGING MR. DARCY, aired on the Hallmark Channel in February 2024. She is currently under contract with Simon and Schuster for a nonfiction book entitled SH*TTY BOYFRIENDS OF WESTERN LITERATURE. Hardy’s honors include a Michener Fellowship, Kilroy’s List, National New Play Network New Play Showcase, Source Festival, Kennedy Center MFA Playwrights Workshop, Interact 20/20 Commission, Kennedy Center ACTF TYA PRIZE. Her plays are currently licensed through Broadway Play Publishing and TRW Plays.

She received her Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting and Screenwriting from the University of Texas at Austin. Hardy is represented  by the Gurman Agency for theatre, Aevitas for nonfiction, and Arlook Management and Verve for television and film.

Brian Pastor (they/them, Director, Executive Artistic Director) is a trans/non-binary producer, director, actor, and playwright in Chicago and the Executive Artistic Director of City Lit Theater. Brian previously spent ten and a half years on staff at City Lit, including nine as Managing Director. Brian has served as City Lit’s Resident Director, from 2019 until assuming their current position on July 1. For City Lit, they directed THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD, George Bernard Shaw’s ARMS AND THE MAN, Archibald MacLeish’s J.B., and their own acclaimed adaptation of Robert Kennedy’s THIRTEEN DAYS. Brian is a founder and Emeritus Artistic Director of Chicago’s Promethean Theatre Ensemble, where they directed THE LION IN WINTER, THE WINTER’S TALE, and GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE (all Broadway World Award Nominated - Best Director), as well as HENRY V and THE DARK SIDE OF THE BARD. Brian also directed the world premiere of THE BLACK KNIGHT by Angeli Primlani, the inaugural show for Lifeboat Productions. As an actor, Brian has worked with Strawdog, Raven, WildClaw, Promethean, Accomplice, and City Lit, among others. Brian is the former Executive Director of Sideshow Theatre and the former Executive Director of Raven Theatre. They also served as a board and company member of The Mime Company and as a founding company member of Chicago dell’Arte. A Pittsburgh native, Brian has called Chicago home since their graduation from Northwestern University in 2003.

 

ABOUT CITY LIT THEATER COMPANY:

City Lit is the eighth oldest theatre company in Chicago, behind only Goodman, Court, Northlight, Oak Park Festival, Black Ensemble Theatre, Steppenwolf, and Pegasus theatres.  It was founded in 1979 with $210 pooled by Arnold Aprill, David Dillon, and Lorell Wyatt.  For its current season, its 44th , it operates with a budget slightly over $200,000.  It was the first theatre in the nation devoted to stage adaptations of literary material.  There were so few theatres in Chicago at the time of its founding that at City Lit’s launch event, the founders were able to read a congratulatory letter they had received from Tennessee Williams.

For four decades and counting, City Lit has explored fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoirs, songs, essays and drama in performance. A theatre that specializes in literary work communicates a commitment to certain civilizing influences—tradition imaginatively explored, a life of the mind, trust in an audience’s intelligence—that not every cultural outlet shares.

City Lit is located in the historic Edgewater Presbyterian Church building at 1020 West Bryn Mawr Avenue. Its work is supported in part by the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council Agency,  and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events CityArts program.  An Illinois not-for-profit corporation and a 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt organization, City Lit keeps ticket prices below the actual cost of producing plays and depends on the support of those who share its belief in the beauty and power of the spoken written word.

World Premiere Musical Revue Hitt Records December 21, 2024 – January 26, 2025, at the Black Ensemble Theater

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

Black Ensemble Theater announces new musical revue

2024 Season of Affirmation with

HITT RECORDS

Written and Directed by Daryl D. Brooks

DECEMBER 21, 2024 – JANUARY 26, 2025

Black Ensemble Theater’s Founder and CEO Jackie Taylor announces the world premiere musical revue as part of the 2024 Season of Affirmation: Protection – Hitt Records, written and directed by Black Ensemble Theater’s Producing Managing Director Daryl D. Brooks. Hitt Records, replacing the previously announced A Gamble on Huff: The Story of Gamble and Huff, runs December 21, 2024 – January 26, 2025, at the Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center, 4450 N. Clark Street in Chicago. 

Join James and Charles Hitt at their vintage record shop, Hitt Records, CDs and Tapes, as they school their nephew and customers on their vast knowledge of music. Together they show that music has no limits but there is nothing new under the sun. Featuring hits from Curtis Mayfield, Phil Collins, Alexander O’Neil, Shalamar, Sister Sledge, The Brothers Johnson, Bob Marley, and many more! 

The cast of Hitt Records includes: Lyle Miller, Dennis Dent, Michael Lunder, Rhonda Preston, Qiana McNary, DeVaughn Loman, Dwight Neal, Trequon Tate, Jaitee Thomas, Britt Edwards and Destin Warner.

The creative team is Jackie Taylor (Executive Producer), Daryl D. Brooks (Writer/Director/Producing Managing Director), Robert Reddrick (Music Director), Christopher Chase Carter (Choreographer), Denise Karczewski (Set/Light Designer), Evelyn Danner (Costume Designer), Sean Alvarez (Sound Designer), DJ Douglass (Projection Designer), and Harrison Ornelas (Technical Director).

Under the music direction of Robert Reddrick, the band includes: Adam Sherrod (keys), Eric Troy (keys), Myron Cherry (drums), Oscar Brown, Jr. (bass/band leader), Charles "Chip" Dubose (guitar)

Dawon Washington (saxophone), Antwan Washington (trumpet), and Bill McFarland (trombone).

Tickets for Hitt Records are available at www.blackensemble.org, (773) 769-4451 and at the Black Ensemble Theater Box Office, 4450 N. Clark Street in Chicago. Performances are Fridays at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $56.50-$66.50 (fees included). Valet parking is available for $13 (cash only).

The 5-Play Card

Black Ensemble Theatre’s 5-Play Card is a digital ticket package unlike any other. At a cost of $225, buying a 5-Play Card saves $20 off each individual ticket, giving an average of $45 a ticket as opposed to our standard $65 ticket price. One of the greatest perks of the 5-Play Card is its flexibility – use the five tickets any way you want! You can: bring five people to one show, treat yourself to five different shows, or use the 5-Play Card in any ticket number combination until all five tickets are spent.

The 5-Play Card is good for 18 months and becomes active immediately after purchasing. If you buy multiple 5-Play Card packages, please note that a maximum of five tickets can be redeemed on a single show date. 

Production Details

Written and Directed by: Producing Managing Director Daryl D. Brooks

Cast: Lyle Miller, Dennis Dent, Michael Lunder, Rhonda Preston, Qiana McNary, DeVaughn Loman, Dwight Neal, Trequon Tate, Jaitee Thomas, Britt Edwards, Destin Warner

Artistic Team: Jackie Taylor (Executive Producer), Daryl D. Brooks (Writer/Director) Robert Reddrick (Music Director), Christopher Chase Carter (Choreographer), Denise Karczewski (Set/Light Designer), Evelyn Danner (Costume Designer), Sean Alvarez (Sound Designer), DJ Douglass (Projection Designer), Harrison Ornelas (Technical Director).

Band: Adam Sherrod (keys), Eric Troy (keys), Myron Cherry (drums), Oscar Brown, Jr. (bass/band leader), Charles "Chip" Dubose (guitar), Dawon Washington (saxophone), Antwan Washington (trumpet), and Bill McFarland (trombone).

Schedule: December 21, 2024 – January 26, 2025

Press Opening: Sunday, December 29, 2024, at 3:00pm

Previews: December 21 at 8pm, December 22 at 3pm and December 28 at 8pm

Regular run: January 3-26, 2025 

Fridays at 8pm

Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm

Sundays at 3pm

Location: Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center, 4450 N. Clark Street, Chicago

Valet parking is available for $13 (cash only).

Tickets: $56.50-$66.50 (fees included)

Box Office: The Box Office is located at 4450 N. Clark Street in Chicago.

(773) 769-4451; www.blackensemble.org

Black Ensemble Theater 

Founded in 1976, by the phenomenal producer, playwright and actress Jackie Taylor, Black Ensemble Theater is the only African American theater located in the culturally, racially, and ethnically diverse north side Uptown community. Through its Four Play Season of Excellence, The Black Ensemble Theater dazzles audiences locally, nationally, and internationally with outstanding original musicals that are entertaining, educational, and uplifting. The Black Ensemble Theater has produced more than 100 productions and employed over 5,000 artists. 

The mission of the Black Ensemble Theater Company is to eradicate racism and its devastating effects upon society through the theater arts and community engagement. For more information on the Black Ensemble Theater Company, visit www.BlackEnsembleTheater.org or call 773-769-4451.