Mike Mazzocca

Trap Door Theatre is adding three more performances to its run of a?oeLipstick Lobotomy,a?? written by Krista Knight and directed by Kate Hendrickson. Additional shows will be at 8 p.m. March 26, 27 and 28. The show features Dennis Bisto, Abby Blankenship, Natara Easter, Ann James, Eleanor Katz, Emily Lotspeich, Michael Mejia, Kirk Osgood, Ann Sonneville, Michaela Voit, Bob Wilson and Bernadetta Zawiejska. 

In the world premiere of a?oeLipstick Lobotomy,a?? John F. Kennedy's little sister, Rosemary Kennedy, and the playwright's Great Aunt Ginny develop a friendship at an exclusive high-end sanitarium for women in the fall of 1941. The women undergo the peculiar cutting-edge treatments on offer by a society desperate to find the cure for womanhood in this incisive comedy.

In the world premiere of 'Lipstick Lobotomy,' John F. Kennedy's little sister, Rosemary Kennedy, and the playwright's Great Aunt Ginny develop a friendship at an exclusive high-end sanitarium for women in the fall of 1941. The women undergo the peculiar cutting-edge treatments on offer by a society desperate to find the cure for womanhood in this incisive comedy.

The House Theatre of Chicago continues their 2018 -2019 season with the beloved tale of Pinocchio at The Chopin Theatre upstairs theatre, 1543 W. Division, March 28 - May 19. This world premiere of the classic story inspired by the works of Carlo Collodi has been adapted for the stage by Company Members Joseph Steakley and Ben Lobpries. The House Theatre of Chicago's rendition of Pinocchio features the direction of Company Member Chris Mathews.

The Holiday Hootenanny Radio Hour is pleased to announce Nick Thornton's heart warming new radio play CRICKET ON THE MANTLE, with music directed and arranged by Mike Mazzocca, as its inaugural presentation. All proceeds from this pay what you will production will go to benefit the Chicago chapter of American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER).

Due to popular demand, Underscore Theatre Company, in association with Theater Wit, is pleased to announce two additional weeks of performances of its hit musical HAYMARKET, extending through Sunday, September 16, 2018 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago.

Following a successful five-week run at The Den Theatre's Heath Main Stage, Underscore Theatre Company, in association with Theater Wit is pleased to announce a transfer and extension of its hit musical HAYMARKET, the true story of Chicago's infamous Haymarket riot. HAYMARKET will play an additional four weeks of performances featuring the full original cast from August 3 - September 2, 2018 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago.

Underscore Theatre and The Den Theatre are pleased to present an all-new staging of the Jeff Award-nominated Best New Musical HAYMARKET (formerly Haymarket: The Anarchist's Songbook) the true story of Chicago's infamous Haymarket massacre. With book, music and lyrics by Alex Higgin-Houser and David Kornfeld, the actors accompany themselves to the stirring folk-infused score. Having spent the last two years workshopping the show, the authors alongside director Nick Thornton and musical director Robert Ollis have crafted an all-new theatrical experience - creating new songs, overhauling the book, and like the union workers from the show, building on a strong foundation.

Underscore Theatre and The Den Theatre are pleased to present an all-new staging of the Jeff Award-nominated Best New Musical HAYMARKET (formerly Haymarket: The Anarchist's Songbook) the true story of Chicago's infamous Haymarket massacre. With book, music and lyrics by Alex Higgin-Houser and David Kornfeld, the actors accompany themselves to the stirring folk-infused score. Having spent the last two years workshopping the show, the authors alongside director Nick Thornton and musical director Robert Ollis have crafted an all-new theatrical experience - creating new songs, overhauling the book, and like the union workers from the show, building anew.

Underscore Theatre and The Den Theatre are pleased to announce casting for an all-new staging of the Jeff Award-nominated Best New Musical HAYMARKET (formerly Haymarket: The Anarchist's Songbook), the true story of Chicago's infamous Haymarket massacre. With book, music and lyrics by Alex Higgin-Houser and David Kornfeld, the actors accompany themselves to the stirring folk-infused score. Having spent the last two years workshopping the show, the authors alongside director Nick Thornton and music director Robert Ollis have crafted an all-new theatrical experience - creating new songs, overhauling the book, and like the union workers from the show, building anew.

The Jeff Awards announced today a total of 115 nominations in 19 categories for the 45th Annual Non-Equity Jeff Awards.

THE TRAP DOOR THEATRE is proud to present The Locketeer Adapted from The Numbered by Elias Canetti, Adapted and Directed by Catherine Sullivan

THE TRAP DOOR THEATRE is proud to present The Locketeer Adapted from The Numbered by Elias Canetti, Adapted and Directed by Catherine Sullivan

The Locketeer is an adaptation of Elias Canetti's play from 1956, The Numbered wherein a nameless future state claims its power by imposing life spans on its citizens. This competition for status causes social paranoia and a tragicomic refusal of facts. The adaptation will be devised with the ensemble.

Don't miss Trap Door Theatre's Into the Empty Sky, inspired by collection of works by Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska and directed by Monica Payne.  Into the Empty Sky explores the strength it takes to flee catastrophe, the haunting nature of memory, and the (im)possibility of making it out alive. Opens May 11th and runs through June 17th.  

Into the Empty Sky, devised and directed by Monica Payne, draws from a selection of Wislawa Szymborska's poems as the catalyst for this new work. Szymborska, a beloved Polish poet and Nobel laureate, tended to view her subjects, both large and small, from an unusual, pragmatic, and wry perspective. Into the Empty Sky features six women trapped in a purgatorial landscape; unsure of their surroundings, haunted by the past, and trying desperately to escape.

Written in 1941, Bertolt Brecht's compelling parable The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a savage satire of social and political corruption.

Trap Door Theatre will present The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, written by Bertolt Brecht and translated by George Tabori and Alistair Beaton. Directed by Victor Quezada-Perez, the production will run March 16 - April 22, 2017.

The Trap Door Theatre presents Fantasy Island For Dummies (low cut daydream too near, too near), written by Ruth Margraff and directed by Kate Hendrickson, with original music composed by Nikos Brisco. The production opens Today, September 29, 2016 at 8 p.m. and runs through Saturday, November 5, 2016.

Fantasy Island for Dummies (low cut daydream too near, too near) is a new music-theatre work inspired by an episode of the iconic television series about the pleasures and perils of wish fulfillment. Devised in a collaborative exploration with Trap Door Theater actors, the piece is written by Ruth Margraff and directed by Kate Hendrickson, with original music composed by Pink Velvet. A 1980 "Fantasy Island" episode about a ventriloquist and her devious dummy inspires a voyage into suppressed identities, ancient Babylonian sex goddesses, and a "perfect wife" struggling with her defiant side.