Shariba Rivers

Rehearsals for longtime August Wilson interpreter Chuck Smith’s new production of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone are underway with an all-Chicago cast. Learn more about the production.

This spring, the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson will light up Chicago stages. Learn more here!

With NOTES FROM THE FIELD, playwright Anna Deavere Smith once again proves she’s a master of her genre of theatrical storytelling. Known for her documentary (or verbatim) plays, Smith presents monologues from 19 different interviews in this exploration of the school-to-prison pipeline in America. By allowing her interview subjects to literally speak for themselves, Smith has mastered the art of showing and not telling. NOTES FROM THE FIELD has a clear agenda; it’s a searing condemnation of the systemic failings of the American judicial, police, educational, and penitentiary institutions — and most notably a condemnation of the ways in which those systems have failed Black and Brown Americans. But Smith conveys her points with a blistering humanity (even if, at two hours and 40 minutes, I think she could have arrived at those points with a shorter run-time).

Mildred Marie Langford, Adhana Reid and Shariba Rivers will give voice to 18 real-life people caught in America’s school-to-prison pipeline in TimeLine Theatre’s Chicago premiere of Notes from the Field by Anna Deavere Smith.

Get a first look at Goodman Theatre's production of The Nacirema Society, now on stage through October 15th.

It seems fitting that Goodman Theatre opens new Artistic Director Susan V. Booth’s inaugural season with THE NACIREMA SOCIETY, a play that’s about coming out to society. This Chicago premiere marks a continuation of Booth’s long-standing relationship with celebrated Black playwright Pearl Cleage. THE NACIREMA SOCIETY takes the form of an extended farce, following the incredibly wealthy Dunbar family in 1964 Montgomery, Alabama. In this light-hearted (if not always legitimately laugh-out-loud) comedic play, Cleage draws heavily from classic farce conventions. As the centennial event of matriarch Grace Dubose Dunbar’s beloved Nacirema Society, Montgomery’s organization for Black young women, dawns — and she awaits her own granddaughter Grace’s coming out — the antics become more and more heightened as family secrets come to light.

Goodman Theatre’s 2023/2024 Season—Susan V. Booth’s first to curate as new Artistic Director—begins with works by Pearl Cleage, Atlanta’s first Poet Laureate and Booth’s longtime creative collaborator and friend. Learn more about the cast here!

Discover the nominations for the 55th Anniversary Jeff Awards for Equity Theater! Find out who made the cut and get ready for the highly anticipated awards ceremony.

Raven Theatre will conclude its 40th Anniversary Season with the Chicago premiere of The October Storm, by Joshua Allen, a follow up to Allen’s smash-hit The Last Pair of Earlies.

Raven Theatre, Chicago's newest Equity-affiliated theatre, has announced casting for its Chicago premiere of The October Storm by Joshua Allen, a follow up to Allen's smash-hit The Last Pair of Earlies, directed by Malkia Stampley.

TimeLine Theatre Company has announced he addition of two matinees to the current run of the company’s critically acclaimed revival of Trouble in Mind on Thursday, December 8, and Thursday, December 15, at 2 p.m.

Get a first look at footage from TimeLine Theatre Company’s Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress, directed by TimeLine Company Member Ron OJ Parson, running now through December 18, 2022.

What did our critic think of TROUBLE IN MIND at TimeLine Theatre Company? TROUBLE IN MIND is a blistering portrait of racial and gender politics on Broadway.

TimeLine Theatre Company’s 2022-23 season will continue this fall with the landmark classic Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress, directed by TimeLine Company Member Ron OJ Parson, running November 2 – December 18, 2022.

Governors State University’s Center for Performing Arts announces the world premiere of Red Summer written by Lookingglass Theatre’s Andrew White and MPAACT’s Shepsu Aakhu, composed by Shawn Wallace, directed by Lydia J. Dymond. Red Summer will play at the Center for the Performing Arts stage, just 35 miles from Chicago in University Park, IL, September 16-25, 2022. 

Redtwist Theater's Modern Adaptation of ANTIGONE Opens This Sunday. Sophoklese’ Tragedy is given a modern adaptation by Anne Carson, directed by Christine Freije and starring Redtwist Company Members Brian Parry and Sarah Sapperstein.

Redtwist Theatre has announced the cast and creative team for its next production, Antigone, adapted by Anne Carson and directed by Christine Freije, June 23 – July 31, at Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. 

If the first production at the new Copley Theatre in Aurora is an indication of what the new BOLD series will be, patrons will be riveted to the action on the stage.

The inaugural production is Sweat, Lynn Nottage’s acclaimed modern-day drama about life in an American Rust Belt town being battered by the constant threat of company shutdowns. Sweat is the winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play and a landmark achievement of American theater. Performances are March 9th - April 24th, 2022. There are two press openings: Wednesday, March 16, and Thursday, March 17 at 7 p.m.

Pegasus Theatre Chicago will present the 35th Annual Young Playwrights Festival, streaming Jan. 6 - Feb. 6, 2022 and a virtual opening night ceremony, Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. CST. This year’s world premieres, written by high school students and given a staged professional production, share judgment in the material, mundane and mystical worlds.