Chicago Writers' Bloc Fall Festival 2025 Of New Plays And Musicals Begins In November

Chicago Writers’ Bloc will present its 2025 Fall Festival of New Plays, showcasing eight new plays and musicals by local playwrights, composers, and lyricists at City Lit Theater from November 2 through 20, 2025. The festival will include staged readings of five new musicals and three new plays, representing a range of genres from farce to psychological drama, musical mystery, and family theatre.

Opening the festival on November 2 is Merry Widows, the Musical by Joanne Koch, Diane Dorsey, Francesca Peppiatt, and Ilya Levinson. The story follows a group of men and women navigating love, loss, and renewal through their grief support group, featuring music by Grammy nominee Ilya Levinson and lyrics by Francesca Peppiatt.

On November 3, two new plays will be presented. 3-Way Mirror by Blake Levinson explores the unraveling psyche of Patina, an aging actress whose fabricated past collides with reality when she becomes the muse for three playwrights competing in a writing contest. That same evening, Heart of Chac by Chloe Bolan follows a psychic detective on a suspenseful journey through modern and ancient Mayan culture as she searches for a missing artist beloved by her community.

The festival continues November 9 with Mother of the Bride by Lawrence Adelson, Gregory Becker, Nicholas Davio, and Chancey Davis-Mauney. The musical centers on Alice, a hard-drinking nightclub owner determined to prove herself at her daughter’s wedding, even as she struggles to stay sober and confront her own past.

On November 12, Wencke Braathen’s Star Harvest, directed by Nick Pardo, takes audiences on a cosmic journey through time as alien visitors harvest human life energy across history—until unexpected forces intervene.

The festival’s final weekend features four additional works. On November 18, A Coyote Solstice Tale by Elizabeth Doyle and Don Gecewicz adapts Thomas King’s award-winning children’s book into a musical family piece about nature, consumerism, and friendship. On November 19, SEXTET by Elizabeth Howard and Jeffery Lyle Segal, set in 1970s New York, examines the romantic entanglements of a polyamorous group navigating love and liberation. The festival concludes November 20 with Possessed by June Finfer and Michael Hanko, a time-travel mystery musical about a woman who longs to live in the past—until her wish comes true in unexpected ways.

All performances will take place at City Lit Theater, located at 1020 Bryn Mawr Avenue in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at writersbloc.booktix.com. Each performance begins at 7:30 p.m., with parking information available at citylit.org/parking and convenient access via public transportation.

Chicago Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. RENT (Highland Park Players)

6.9% of votes

2. HAIRSPRAY (Uptown Music Theater of Highland Park)

6.8% of votes

3. DREAMGIRLS (The Drama Group)

6.6% of votes

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