Back for its fifth year, this year's Festival of Unfinished Work will feature six scenes from original full-length plays currently in process, all written by Chicago-based playwrights. This year, we're zeroing in on dialogue, with each scene featuring just two characters in conversation (and/or conflict). As always, audience members will have the opportunity to vote on which pieces they are most interested in seeing developed further. Plays and playwrights will be announced this spring.

AS YOU LIKE IT is a vibrant Shakespearean comedy that wittily explores love and gender roles. Banished from court by her uncle, Rosalind escapes to the Forest of Arden, where she disguises herself as man in order to win over her lover by trying to convince him he should forget her. The play examines various types of love—from passionate to superficial to mature—offering a nuanced look at romantic relationships and human connection and playfully exploring the fluidity of gender roles. Audiences are encouraged to come early and bring a picnic to enjoy

This is a play about theater critics. And this is a play about vampires. But we repeat ourselves. In this darkly humorous one-person show by Conor McPherson, a former Dublin scribbler spins the tale of his unfortunate encounter with the supernatural.

Pablo and Tania are young, ambitious, and ready to put down roots. Frank and Virginia have spent years cultivating the perfect garden — and the perfect image. But when a property line gets questioned ahead of an important backyard party, civility goes straight into the compost bin. What starts as a tiny landscaping disagreement quickly explodes into a hilarious all-out war over class, race, privilege, taste, and who really gets to belong in “the neighborhood.”

The American tribal love rock musical HAIR celebrates the sixties counterculture in all its barefoot, long-haired, bell-bottomed, beaded and fringed glory. To an infectiously energetic rock beat, the show wows audiences with songs like "Aquarius," "Good Morning, Starshine," "Hair," "I Got Life" and "Let The Sunshine In." Exploring ideas of identity, community, global responsibility and peace, HAIR remains relevant as ever as it examines what it means to be a young person in a changing world.

Direct from Broadway, comes the acclaimed Tony Award-winning musical Suffs about the brilliant, passionate, and funny American women who fought tirelessly for the right to vote. Created by Shaina Taub, the first woman to ever independently win Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score in the same season, this "thrilling, inspiring and dazzlingly entertaining" (Variety) new musical boldly explores the triumphs and failures of a struggle for equality that's far from over. Winner of the Outer Critics' Circle Award for Best New Musical.

We're off to see the Wizard! Click your heels three times and join The Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Dorothy…and Toto too, as they follow the yellow brick road in search of their heart’s desires. For the first time on Metropolis’ Main Stage, L. Frank Baum’s tale comes to life in this extraordinary story of heart, friendship, courage, and belonging. This adaptation contains all of the Oscar-winning songs from the movie, including “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “We’re Off To See The Wizard.” No matter how far our journey takes us, there is no place like home. Bring your entire family over the rainbow to the “merry old land of Metropolis” and experience the excitement, enchantment, and exuberance of this timeless tale again…or for the very first time.

Loud, glitter-soaked, and unapologetically raw, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH is a genre-defying rock musical about identity, heartbreak, and the messy, human search for wholeness. This production features three performers rotating through the roles each night (billed as the Sun Cast, Moon Cast, and Earth Cast), shattering the idea of a single Hedwig and revealing something deeper: this story isn't owned by one voice - It lives in all of us. Part rock concert, part confession, Hedwig takes the stage to tell her story--of East Berlin, a botched surgery, and a love that split her wide open. Driven by a live band and iconic anthems like "The Origin of Love" and "Midnight Radio," the show is fierce, funny, and emotionally unfiltered.

This play examines the injustices perpetrated by the upper class of America, the inherent ignorance and damage caused to the lower classes by our richest citizens. "Dry Powder" follows a private equity firm as they begin their routine inheritance and gutting of a small-time luggage company.

Step into the magical world of ABBA as the Candlelight concert series reimagines the Swedish supergroup's timeless pop anthems in an intimate setting illuminated by the soft glow of hundreds of candles. This unique 60-minute musical experience brings together the beloved hits of one of pop music's most successful bands with the innovative Candlelight format that has captivated audiences worldwide, creating a multi-sensory atmosphere where sight and sound combine in perfect harmony. The talented Rasa String Quartet brings their classical expertise to ABBA's iconic catalog, performing beloved songs including "Dancing Queen," "Mamma Mia," "The Winner Takes It All," "Waterloo," "Super Trouper," and "Fernando," among others, transforming these disco-era classics into elegant string arrangements that reveal new dimensions in these familiar melodies.

John Mulaney is a three-time Emmy Award, Critics Choice award and WGA award-winning writer, comedian and actor. Most recently, Mulaney can be seen as the host, writer and executive producer of his Netflix talk show Everybody's Live with John Mulaney. The show serves as the continuation of the series Everybody's in LA. The series features monologues, guests, pre-taped sketches, musical segments and more. Everybody's in LA was a six-night live comedy series that explored Los Angeles during the Netflix Is A Joke Festival in 2024. In December 2024, Mulaney starred in the Broadway play All In: Comedy About Love, alongside a cast including Fred Armisen, Richard Kind and Renee Elise Goldsberry. Mulaney is currently on the first leg of his newest stand-up tour, JOHN MULANEY: MISTER WHATEVER, performing across North America.

Michael Carbonaro, star of truTV's The Carbonaro Effect, blends quick-witted comedy with mind-blowing illusions in a live show filled with audience participation. After two hit national tours, he returns with his newest adventure, Michael Carbonaro: WONDERBOY--where audiences discover him as the Hero of Mischief. Bringing wonder, laughter, and magic to the stage -- reality doesn't stand a chance.

yo ho. charts the journey of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, two pirates aboard a campy, sexually charged ship facing immediate threat from the crown. Equal parts historical fantasy and introspective sexual and gender exploration, this play is a deeply emotional reimaging and reminder of queer history.

Created by the Emmy-winning writer from "Schitt's Creek," this hilarious new musical flips the script on the greatest love story ever told. & Juliet asks: what would happen next if Juliet didn't end it all over Romeo? Get whisked away on a fabulous journey as she ditches her famous ending for a fresh beginning and a second chance at life and love-her way. Juliet's new story bursts to life through a playlist of pop anthems as iconic as her name, including "Since U Been Gone‚" "Roar," "Baby One More Time," "Larger Than Life‚" "That's The Way It Is," and "Can't Stop the Feeling!"-all from the genius songwriter/producer behind more #1 hits than any other artist this century. Break free of the balcony scene and get into this romantic comedy that proves there's life after Romeo. The only thing tragic would be missing it.

The Midwest Premiere of All Nighter by Natalie Margolin directed by Clara Zucker. It's 2014. Obama is president, Ke$ha is on our iPhones, and at a small liberal arts college, a tight-knit group of roommates pull one last all-nighter to complete their final assignments. Holed up in an old ballroom, the pressure mounts and the Adderall flows as the truths that bind this group together are put to the test. What will be left when the sun rises?

IN THE CONTINUUM puts a human face on the devastating impact of AIDS in Africa and America through the lives of two unforgettably courageous women. Living worlds apart, one in South Central LA and the other in Zimbabwe, each experiences a kaleidoscopic weekend of life-changing revelations in this story of parallel denials and self-discoveries.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1967, Ponyboy Curtis, his best friend Johnny Cade and their Greaser family of 'outsiders' battle with their affluent rivals, the Socs. THE OUTSIDERS navigates the complexities of self-discovery as the Greasers dream about who they want to become in a world that may never accept them. With a dynamic original score, THE OUTSIDERS is a story of friendship, family, belonging...and the realization that there is still "lots of good in the world."