5627 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60659
American Blues Theater is a theatre in Chicago, IL.
Based on the film by Frank Capra, this 25th anniversary production is directed by Executive Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside with music direction by ensemble member Michael Mahler. George Bailey, the everyman from small town Bedford Falls whose dreams of escape were stopped...
Written by Gloria Majule and directed by Mikael Burke, this Chicago Premiere is a sharp satire following an unlikely foursome ascending Mount Kilimanjaro. The dramedy follows a tour guide, a Tanzanian-American tourist, and two missionaries as they confront questions of identity...
Written by Ken Urban and directed by Jonathan Berry, this world premiere is the winner of the 2024 Blue Ink Award for playwriting. Jane is adrift, suffering a recurring nightmare in which a young man breaks into her house, and her quest to find a therapist leads to a dangerous...
Whether you leave the theater with intensified despair or renewed hope is up to you — and that’s what makes this terrifying and achingly sad story, with just the right dose of humor, hope, and humanity, a brilliant piece of art. …
Premonitions Inc. is an oddball new cabaret and acrobatics show in the Spiegeltent of the Loop’s Cambria Hotel.…
Vladimir is a powerful and potent story of defiance, strength, and sacrifice.…
Michael R. Jackson’s wildly inventive and unique 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Strange Loop now makes its Chicago premiere. A Strange Loop is a “big Black and queer-ass American Broadway show,” in the main character Usher’s words, about the lead trying to write a musical called A Str…
What did our critic think of JIMMY BUFFETT'S ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE at Music Theater Works At The North Shore Center For The Performing Arts?…
Dead Girl’s Quinceañera brings a missing person case to the stage — and the detectives are a group of three Latina teen girls in Miami, Florida. Phanésia Pharel’s play capitalizes on the pop culture obsession with true crime and murder mysteries — though Dead Girl’s Quinceañera is ultim…
Opening its 15th season, BrightSide Theatre in Naperville is presenting The Addams Family Musical which runs through October 18,. The musical, written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, is the first time the familiar characters created by Charles Addams appea…
Operation Mincemeat is an absolute smash. I adore this inventive and fun musical. It’s extremely original, and it’s the kind of show that gives me hope for the future of new one-of-a-kind musicals like it. Written by David Cummings, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mince…
Chopin in Winter is an imaginative work of art for those with an acquired taste of deep storytelling combined with some of the most beautiful piano compositions from the Romantic era. …
Steppenwolf opens its 51st season with a blistering and captivating production of Suzan Lori-Parks’s Topdog/Underdog. This play has long been on my theater bucket list, and it’s absolutely what I think of when I think of a “Steppenwolf play”: A gritty family drama about brothers undergoing h…
24 total · showing 1–10
A tour-de-force solo show by artistic affiliate Tania Richard, directed by J. Nicole Brooks. Growing up in an all-white Chicago suburb, Richard spent her days dodging microaggressions, striving to fit in, and yearning to see herself reflected. Her transformation began when she...
American Blues Theater presents the 2026 Blue Ink Playwriting Festival in August, featuring staged readings of new works by playwright Nia Akilah Robinson, the 2026 Blue Ink Award winner, along with finalists Benjamin Benne and Claire Crowley. Robinson's winning play, Overnight...
Overnight at the Museum, written by Nia Akilah Robinson, is the recipient of the 2026 Blue Ink Award for playwriting at American Blues Theater. The play follows two Black men working as night guards who steal Ghanaian artifacts from a gentrified American neighborhood, racing to...
The 2026 Blue Ink Playwriting Festival at American Blues Theater presents staged readings of new works, including the award-winning Overnight at the Museum by Nia Akilah Robinson, along with finalist plays and thou shalt be healed by Benjamin Benne and The Scouts of America...
American Blues Theater presents the hit jukebox musical, Always…Patsy Cline, created by Ted Swindley with band & vocal orchestrations by August Eriksmoen and Tony Migliore. The American Blues Theater production is directed by Executive Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside, with...
American Blues Theater, under the ongoing leadership of Executive Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside, continues its 40th anniversary season with the reimagined classic Come Back, Little Sheba by William Inge and directed by Associate Artistic Director Elyse Dolan. Come Back...
American Blues Theater celebrates its 24th Annual Production of It’s a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago! from Frank Capra’s film and directed by Executive Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside with musical direction by Ensemble Member Michael Mahler . George Bailey, the Everyman...
World Premiere by Tony Award nominee & Artistic Affiliate Kristoffer Diaz, directed by Artistic Affiliate Dexter Bullard. Manhattan. Burt and Adele are hosting a dinner party. Steak is on the stove. The George Washington Bridge has collapsed into the Hudson. Kristoffer Diaz has...
American Blues Theater presents its 23rd annual production of It’s a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago!, adapted from Frank Capra's classic film. Directed by Gwendolyn Whiteside, this heartwarming tale follows George Bailey, played by Brandon Dahlquist, as he navigates a moment of...
American Blues Theater, under the continued leadership of Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside, presents the live, online reading of The Lion written and performed by Ensemble member Manny Buckley, as part of The Room series. The reading will be live on Friday, January 15 at...
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Love Story: A Tribute to Taylor Swift Raue Center For The Arts (11/07-11/07) |
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Million Dollar Quartet Stolp Island Theatre (10/07-1/03) |
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Rotary Rocks The Raue: James Garner's Tribute to Johnny Cash Raue Center For The Arts (10/24-10/24) |
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The Christmas Carol Paramount Theatre (11/11-1/03) |
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Topdog/Underdog Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theater (9/17-11/01) |
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Blond Ambition: A Tribute to Madonna Raue Center For The Arts (11/07-11/07) |
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Memphis The Musical Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building (10/24-10/25) |
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When We Were Young and Unafraid Greenhouse Theater Center (11/12-11/29) |
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The Uncanny Attic: Chapters I-L Halloween Edition The Newport Theater (10/30-10/30) |
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Seasons—a celebration The CheckOut (11/07-11/07) |
