Theatre with a side of life
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents the World Premiere IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, A New Musical. The creative team of Kellen Blair (book and lyrics) and Joe Kinosian (book and music) reimagine a 1953 sci-fi flick as a musical comedy. Blair and Kinosian spoof the tale of a small town being invaded by aliens. Their parody is ...
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. It’s believed Shakespeare penned this tale in 1603 around the time of Queen Elizabeth’s death and during a plague that killed one-in-five Londoners. It is one of 18 plays printed seven years after the Bard’s own death. The first record of it being performed is in 1741. ...
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents a Beatles inspired AS YOU LIKE IT. Adapter and Director Daryl Cloran takes a1620’s comedy and infuses it with 1960’s music. The brilliant pairing, centuries in the making, is a poetic explosion of joy and words. Cloran, along with the Bard of the Beach Shakespeare Festival, conceived this unusual compilation. At first, ...
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents EMMA a new musical. Jane Austen’s beloved tale of a young woman of privilege and her questionable matchmaking skills gets a musical makeover. Paul Gordon (book, music, lyrics) deftly adapts the classic. Gordon serving as playwright and composer aids the ongoing seamless transitions. Characters’ musings go from spoken to sung with a breath ...
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents THE WIZARD OF OZ. Frank Baum’s classic is a beloved children’s story. The tale of Dorothy and Toto whisked away by a tornado, befriending a misfit crew and getting chased by a witch is well-known. The film version is iconic. And the spin-off musicals, “The Wiz” and “Wicked”, have garnered their own ...
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents the North American Premiere production of SIX. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived! The dynamic show starts with these six decisive words. The wives of Henry VIII announce how they became an ex. Each word stinging with assault and insult. The song’s dramatic pizzazz is reminiscent of Chicago’s “Cell Block Tango.” ...
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents HAMLET. William Shakespeare penned this tragedy about a son’s revenge for his father’s murder. The well-known Shakespeare play is the origin for the familiar ‘to be or not to be?’ It’s a question pondered by Hamlet (played by Maurice Jones) as he grapples with death and immortality. Shakespeare’s famed tale is riddled ...
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents The National Theatre of Great Britian’s Landmark Production of JB Priestley’s Classic Thriller, AN INSPECTOR CALLS. This show is about the intrigue from story to style. It starts with a little boy ( played by a spunky Judah Abner Paul)running through the theatre. Once onstage, he attempts to raise the massive red ...
Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Bronks, and Richard Jordan Productions with Theatre Royal Plymouth and Big in Belgium in association with Summerhall present Bronk’s US/THEM. On September 1, 2004, terrorists invaded a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia. 1,200 children and adults were held captive for three days. Caryl Wijis (playwright, director, co-creator) and Thomas Vantuycom (co-creator) ...
In partnership with the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents COMPAGNIE NON NOVA’S L’APRE’S-MIDI D’UN FOEHN VERSION 1. The Yard at Chicago Shakes has been converted into an onstage theatre in the round. The limited seating encircles mechanical fans positioned along a circle. The audience enters the theatre together. Jean-Louis Ouvard is inside ...