Following a successful presentation of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts at Selcuk University in Konya, Turkey for World Theatre Day 2009, ShawChicago Artistic Director Robert Scogin has announced the company's 2009-2010 season. ShawChicago's 16th season of concert readings will open with Votes for Women!, the politically driven play by Elizabeth Robins that examines early feminist views, October 17 - November.... Read More

Artistic Director Sean Graney's original adaptation of Sophocles' Oedipus will close The Hypocrites' spectacular 12th season. In reference to his passion for adapting and directing Oedipus, Graney explains: "By highlighting commonly overlooked aspects of the original, this new adaptation tells the story of a compassionate, albeit arrogant, leader whose zealous desire to heal his people brings about.... Read More

Steppenwolf Theatre Company has announced its new American play Superior Donuts, by Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning ensemble member Tracy Letts and directed by ensemble member Tina Landau, will open on Broadway October 1, 2009 (at a Shubert Theatre to be announced). Superior Donuts makes its Broadway debut direct from its sold-out world premiere at Steppenwolf last summer. Casting.... Read More

The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs announced a 2009 fall season full of events at the Chicago DCA Theaters- the Storefront Theater, located at 66 E. Randolph Street and the Studio Theater in the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph Street.

Chicago DCA Theater offers downtown audiences an off-Loop theater experience with an exciting look at the vibrant emerging.... Read More

The Jeff Awards announced that Arlene Crewdson, Founding Executive/Artistic Director and Global Voices Director of Pegasus Players, will receive a Special Award at the 36th Annual Non-Equity Jeff Awards Ceremony on June 8, 2009, honoring her outstanding contributions to Chicago theatre.

Arlene Crewdson founded Pegasus Players in 1978 and has directed many productions there. She taught classic theatre.... Read More

Two-time Tony Award winners Nathan Lane (The Producers, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) and Bebe Neuwirth (Chicago, Sweet Charity) will star as Gomez and Morticia in The Addams Family, a new musical based on the bizarre and beloved family of characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams, beginning performances Friday, November 13,.... Read More

Life and love are not so simple, as three couples with six different perspectives discover in the Chicago premiere of Rebecca Gilman's The Crowd You're In With at Goodman Theatre. Wendy C. Goldberg, a frequent Gilman collaborator and artistic director of the acclaimed National Playwrights Conference at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center- where.... Read More

They're so bad, they couldn't get any better. The Neo-Futurists will proudly present their renditions of the best worst films ever made. With a shoe-string budget and some special guest artists, their eighth-annual series tackles urban rebels, lounge singers, demons, assassins, fairies and the gays. It Came From the Neo-Futurarium VIII: Legend of The Neo-Futurarium runs June 25.... Read More

Profiles Theatre concludes its 20th Anniversary Season with the World premiere of the comedy/drama Graceland by Ellen Fairey, directed by Matt Miller.  The production runs May 22- June 28, 2009, at Profiles Theatre, 4147 N. Broadway. 

Chicago's oldest cemetery is the backdrop for Graceland, the story of four lonely Chicagoans.... Read More

Cirque du Soleil and MSG Entertainment have announced a brand new theatrical touring show that will be making a stop in the Windy City. The show is set to open first at The Chicago Theatre for a limited engagement from November 19, 2009 through January 3, 2010. Following Chicago, the show will premiere in New York in.... Read More

The Jeff Awards announced 114 nominations in 24 categories for Non-Equity Jeff Awards, which honor excellence in Chicago theatres not under a union contract, for productions that opened between April 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009.  The Jeff Awards judged the opening nights of 130 productions offered by 57 non-Equity.... Read More

The producers of The Color Purple have announced that American Idol Season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino will reprise her starring role of Celie for the Chicago Engagement. Returning to its debut home of Chicago, The Color Purple will make its home at The Arie Crown Theater for two weeks, September 2 -13, 2009.

Fantasia made her Broadway.... Read More

Northlight Theatre Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans prepare for the Chicago Premiere of The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh, directed by BJ Jones.  The production will run April 29-June 7, 2009 at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie. 

"Wee Thomas" the cat has been killed.  What's worse,.... Read More

DreamWorks Theatricals and Neal Street Productions, Ltd. Have announced that the 'big fat hit' Broadway production of Shrek The Musical with book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Jeanine Tesori, directed by Jason Moore, will launch a National Tour in Chicago. Shrek The Musical will play the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental.... Read More

Court Theatre will conclude its 54th season with August Wilson's beloved classic The Piano Lesson, directed by Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson. The fourth play in Wilson's Century Cycle will run at Court Theatre, 5535 S Ellis Avenue, May 5 - June 7, 2009.

Master playwright August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play is the 1930s entry in his.... Read More

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley announced that April 23, Shakespeare's 445th Birthday, will be Talk Like Shakespeare Day, an occasion for Chicagoans to bring the spoken words of Shakespeare into their daily lives. "On his 445th birthday, Shakespeare still speaks to the people of Chicago through timeless words and works," said Mayor Daley in his formal city proclamation..... Read More

Get out your dictionaries!  Celebrating 35 years of producing award-winning musical theater in Chicagoland, The Marriott Theatre will present this side-splitting production of the Tony Award-winning musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.  The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee previews May 13th, opens May 20th, and runs through July 19th.... Read More

Two countries, three generations, 22 turbulent years-and a dynamic soundtrack ranging from Syd Barrett to The Plastic People of the Universe to U2-are at the heart of Rock 'n' Roll, a sweeping and passionate drama about love, music and revolution from Academy Award and four-time Tony Award-winner Tom Stoppard. For the play's Chicago .... Read More

TimeLine Theatre Company, dedicated to presenting plays inspired by history that connect to today's social and political issues, announces three of the four plays of its 2009-10 season, including the Chicago premiere of Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention. A fourth play and the season's schedule are still to be announced.

"We have put together.... Read More

New Artistic Director Jason Southerland has announced his first full-season's roster of plays at Evanston's Next Theatre, Chicago's destination for socially provocative, artistically adventurous work. In the offering, theater-goers will find the highly-anticipated world premiere of Jason Loewith's latest adaptation War With The Newts, Israeli playwright Boaz Gaon's poignant.... Read More