The Nutcracker at The Center for Performing Arts

The Center’s vision is to bring together diverse artists and audiences to create experiences and memories that activate compassion and transform the world.

The Center for Performing Arts was founded in 1995, culminating a 10-year quest to bring a world-class performing arts facility to the Chicago Southland. Since its inception, the Center has served over 1.5 million individuals, introduced over 300,000 schoolchildren to arts-in-education experiences, and welcomed over 8,000 artists and touring companies; presenting dozens of local, national and world premieres. The Center annually serves over 50,000 residents from Cook, Will, and Kankakee counties in Northeast Illinois and Lake County in Northwest Indiana. In 2012, guided by the vision of creating an “arts infused university”, the Center became a unit of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Our state-of-the art facility seats 1,165 patrons and is located at a vibrant and dynamic university setting that also houses an on-site Visual Arts Gallery and The Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park (theNate), offering unique opportunities for pre- and post-show activities and gatherings.

With free parking, a convenient location accessible to major highways and presentations ranging from opera to family programs, our venue has served as a vibrant cultural destination in the southland community since 1995.