LUMINOSITY, FULL CIRCLE FESTIVAL, and More Included in 25-26 Season at Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble
In addition, CDE announces Davon Suttles as its new assistant artistic director.
By: Emmy Rice Aug. 02, 2025
Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble (CDE) has announced its 2025 - 2026 season. CDE will open this season with LUMINOSITY, Aug. 1-2, followed by a reimagined “Full Circle Festival,” Sept. 19-28, featuring local artists participating in a classic fringe-style festival. The Artists’ Residency, Body Passages, returns to CDE from Nov. 14-15, as well as the New Plays Program and Next Stage Development.
In addition, CDE announces Davon Suttles as its new assistant artistic director. The season will conclude with a new work by Ellyzabeth Adler, "Architecture of Memory” May 8-23.
Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble’s youth programming, in partnership with FACETS, includes the Annual Family Days of films and forums at FACETS, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., Sunday, Oct. 19 and Sunday, Dec. 7.
All performances and special events take place at Chicago Danztheatre, 1650 W. Foster Avenue. For additional information on this upcoming season and to purchase tickets visit DanzTheatre.org.
“Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble is excited to announce its 2025 - 2026 season and share some positive administrative news that will not only help sustain CDE but also support the vibrant visual and performing arts community,” said Executive Director Ellyzabeth Adler. “Last year, we relaunched our artist residency program, Body Passages, which not only included performing artists but also expanded to include visual art with the addition of our new art studios. We received a grant from the Bayless Family Foundation for a new dance floor for the auditorium, as well as for our new rehearsal space, The Loft. We have expanded our rehearsal and performance subsidies rentals program, thanks to a grant from the Driehaus Foundation. We launched our first playwright cohort with nine artists, and now, we are ready to expand and sustain to carry us into our 25th year.”
New Assistant Artistic Director
Davon Suttles has been named the new assistant artistic director for the organization. They have been working with CDE since 2021 as teaching artists and, since 2024, have been managing CDE’s social media. Suttles was a Body Passages artist this past year and is a member of M.A.D.D. Rhythms.
ABOUT CHICAGO DANZTHEATRE ENSEMBLE
Founded in 2001, Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble (CDE) is Chicago’s only multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to social justice and socially conscious work that builds community through the arts “one voice, one story, one person at a time.” CDE’s mission is to engage, inspire, and challenge the community, both onstage and in the classroom, through innovative and collaborative multidisciplinary storytelling to illuminate aspects of social issues. We do this in the genre of Tanztheatre, "which unites all art media to achieve an all-embracing, radical change in humankind.” Through our school-based art and performance programs, CDE helps students in Chicago schools explore their own creativity, supporting their social and emotional learning. CDE provides a physical and emotional space where community conversation and cultural change can happen.
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