WHITE ROOSTER World Premiere and More Set for Lookingglass Theatre Company 2025-2026 Season
The season will feature the world premiere of Untitled Vampire Play, and more.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jun. 16, 2025
Chicago's Tony-Award winning Lookingglass Theatre Company has revealed its 2025 - 2026 season taking place in The Joan and Paul Theatre at Water Tower Water Works. This fall, Lookingglass will host TimeLine Theatre Company's production of Hundreds and Hundreds of Stars, October - November, before launching its own season with Young Ensemble performances in December, directed by Ensemble Member Heidi Stillman.
Lookingglass Theatre's 2025-2026 season includes:
YOUNG ENSEMBLE PRODUCTION
December 2025
The Joan and Paul Theatre at Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St. at Michigan Ave.
Directed by Company Member Heidi Stillman
Heading into its 27th year, The Lookingglass Young Ensemble is a group of Chicago-area young adults, ages 13-18, committed to building their theater skills, lifting their voices and developing their creativity through collaborative creation.
Meeting weekly from fall through spring, a typical year could include skill-building workshops, rehearsals and an annual production that weaves together language, visual spectacle, music and the unique talents and contributions of the ensemble. Inclusive, rigorous, playful and endlessly creative, the Young Ensemble builds not only better artists, but better collaborators, thinkers and leaders.
WORLD PREMIERE
WHITE ROOSTER
March - April 2026
The Joan and Paul Theatre at Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St. at Michigan Ave.
Written and Directed by Company Member Matthew C. Yee
White Rooster is a darkly funny tale of love, loss and the strange things we inherit. After a family tragedy, Min is pulled into a world of restless spirits, old curses and mysterious traditions. Her fiancé won't stay dead, her sister won't stay buried and a rooster won't be ignored. Blending spooky folklore with offbeat humor, White Rooster is a haunting tale of grief, family and the messiness of moving on.
WORLD PREMIERE
UNTITLED VAMPIRE PLAY
June - July 2026
The Joan and Paul Theatre at Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St. at Michigan Ave.
Written by Company Member Kevin Douglas
Directed by Devon DeMayo
Hilarity (and tragedy) ensue in the world premiere of Untitled Vampire Play when Val, a vampire, is in a new relationship with a mortal, Dom, each having different ideas about where their relationship should go. Rose, Val's progeny, wants Val to consider leaving the country, and on top of that, Val's estranged brother has returned, coincidentally, as a serial killer terrorizes the streets of Chicago. Untitled Vampire Play explores love, codependency, unwavering convictions and vampires.
Lookingglass Outdoors Summer 2026 Includes:
SUNSET 1919
Saturday, July 27, 2026 at 7 p.m.
The Eugene Williams Memorial, 125 Fort Dearborn Dr. north of 31st Street Beach
Co-curated by Ensemble Members J. Nicole Brooks and Kareem Bandealy
With Pugs Atomz, Rae Chardonnay, Aaliyah Christina, Glenn Felix Willoughby, olula negre, Julian Otis and Fawn E. Pochel
FREE
Launched in July of 2020, Lookingglass established Sunset 1919, an annual artistic ritual featuring music, movement and word commemorating the start of the 1919 Chicago race riots. Incited by the tragic murder of Eugene Williams, a Black teenager stoned to death by a White man, George Stauber, after drifting into a "Whites Only" section of Lake Michigan. Sunset 1919 is meant to honor the lives of Black people impacted by the deadly racial attacks that swept the nation that summer, the roots of which stretch back across centuries, the fruits of which we continue to pluck - a moment in an unbroken line.
Also, hosted by Lookingglass Theatre is
TIMELINE THEATRE COMPANY'S
WORLD PREMIERE
HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF STARS
October - November 2025
Written by Sandra Delgado
Directed by Kimberly Senior
Subscriptions now on sale at TimeLineTheatre.com/2025-2026-season/
Like millions of Americans, Clara is doing her best to hold everything together-working hard, raising her tween daughter Stella, caring for an aging father and supporting her under-employed ex-husband. But when she applies for U.S. citizenship ahead of a mother-daughter trip to Paris, her application is unexpectedly flagged, exposing minor infractions in her past and threatening the only home she's ever known. Blending grounded family drama with otherworldly wonder, this Chicago-set world premiere is a moving and provocative exploration of our country's most fundamental values.
Chicago Awards - Live Stats
Best Musical - Top 3
1.
HAIRSPRAY (Uptown Music Theater of Highland Park)
7.4% of votes
2.
RENT (Highland Park Players)
7.3% of votes
3.
THE WIZARD OF OZ (Up and Coming Theatre/Elgin Summer Theater)
6.6% of votes
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