Sharriese Hamilton

Cast Set for PORCHLIGHT SINGS THE SEASON World Premiere
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Oct 16, 2025

Award-winning Porchlight Music Theatre has revealed the cast for the next production in its 31st season, the world premiere of Porchlight Sings the Season. Learn more!

BIG WHITE FOG to be Presented at Court Theatre in September
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jul 16, 2025

Court Theatre will present Theodore Ward’s Big White Fog, directed by Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson. Learn more and see how to purchase tickets here!

Review: THE COLOR PURPLE at Goodman Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - Jul 1, 2025

Though THE COLOR PURPLE has a fair share of tragedy, the ending is heartwarming, celebratory, and puts a pin in Celie’s story — and with Brittney Mack at the lead, this musical makes that range of emotions land. 

Photos: Inside The Beautiful City Project's THE GOSPEL TRUTH: SECOND EDITION
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Mar 5, 2025

The Beautiful City Project's February cabaret THE GOSPEL TRUTH: SECOND EDITION, featured an all-Black cast and band, and raised funds and awareness for Sunshine Gospel Ministries, a Chicago organization celebrating its 120th year. See photos here! 

THE GOSPEL TRUTH: SECOND EDITION Celebrates Black History Month
by Stephi Wild - Feb 4, 2025

The Beautiful City Project has announced the cast of THE GOSPEL TRUTH: SECOND EDITION, a Black History Month celebration. Back by popular demand from 2023, the show will feature an All-Black cast and band.

Review: FALSETTOS presented by Court Theatre and TimeLine Theatre Company
by Rachel Weinberg - Nov 25, 2024

FALSETTOS, originally written as two-one act musicals set in 1979 and 1981, respectively, feels simultaneously dated and prescient. In this co-production from Court Theatre and TimeLine Theatre Company, director Nick Bowling leads a first-rate ensemble that preserves the musical as a period piece but also makes it feel utterly alive. Lauren Nichols’s set design evokes a 1970s retro roller rink and Theresa Ham’s costume designs also use extremely ‘70s colors (and each character wears a signature color). But many of the show’s central themes hit now as ahead of their time and eerily relevant. In particular, the musical’s reverence for Jewish culture and tradition and its unabashed embrace of queer love are especially moving at a time when anti-Semitism and homophobia seem tragically on the rise in America.

Cast Set For FALSETTOS at Court Theatre
by Stephi Wild - Oct 9, 2024

Court Theatre and TimeLine Theatre Company will present William Finn and James Lapine’s Falsettos, a tribute to family and its many forms; a playful interrogation of faith and identity; and a celebration of the beauty, complexity, and necessity of love.

FALSETTOS to be Presented by Court Theatre & TimeLine Theatre This November
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Sep 10, 2024

Court Theatre and TimeLine Theatre announced their collaboration on FALSETTOS, set to run this November. The production will bring the Tony Award-winning musical to Chicago audiences.

Paul Williams And Henson Puppeteers Post-Show Talkback This Friday Following EMMET OTTER'S JUG BAND Performance
by A.A. Cristi - Dec 5, 2023

Join legendary composer Paul Williams and the puppeteers of Jim Henson's Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas for a post-show talkback on Friday, December 8 at Chicago's Studebaker Theater.

Review: EMMET OTTER'S JUG-BAND CHRISTMAS IS A GIFT at Studebaker Theater
by Misha Davenport - Nov 21, 2023

What did our critic think of EMMET OTTER'S JUG-BAND CHRISTMAS IS A GIFT at Studebaker Theater?

Photos: JIM HENSON'S EMMET OTTER'S JUG-BAND CHRISTMAS At Studebaker Theater 
by A.A. Cristi - Nov 21, 2023

The live theatrical adaptation of “Jim Henson’s Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas” opens in Chicago on November 20, 2023 and plays through December 31, 2023, at the Studebaker Theater at the historic Fine Arts Building. See photos from the production below!

VIDEO: First Look at THE NACIREMA SOCIETY at Goodman Theatre
by Alan Henry - Sep 28, 2023

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

Review: THE NACIREMA SOCIETY at Goodman Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - Sep 27, 2023

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.

Andy Mientus and Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone Will Lead the Chicago Premiere of JIM HENSON'S EMMET OTTER'S JUG-BAND CHRISTMAS
by Stephi Wild - Sep 22, 2023

Casting for the live theatrical adaptation of “Jim Henson’s Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas” is now set for the Chicago premiere production, November 14-December 31, 2023, at the Studebaker Theater. Learn more about the production here!

Cast Set For THE NACIREMA SOCIETY at the Goodman Theatre
by Stephi Wild - Aug 16, 2023

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!

Review: IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
by Rachel Weinberg - Jul 5, 2022

What did our critic think of IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE at Chicago Shakespeare Theater? Kellen Blair and Joe Kinosian’s IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE is campy musical theater fun that pays homage to the 1953 “B-movie” from which it’s adapted. In the vein of musicals like LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, Blair and Kinosian lean into the source material’s ability to delight and amuse with a take-home message that’s clear as day—but the earnestness of the material is what allows it all to be delivered with a wink.

Photos: Porchlight's Staged Reading Of Paul Oakley Stovall's CLEAR Celebrates Opening Night
by A.A. Cristi - Jun 2, 2022

Porchlight Music Theatre’s 27th season continues with a staged reading of Clear, book, music and lyrics by Paul Oakley Stovall, and directed by Reneisha J. Jenkins and music directed by Austin Deadman, Tuesday, May 31 at 7 p.m. at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn.

Jaye Ladymore Joins the World Premiere of IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE
by Chloe Rabinowitz - May 19, 2022

Chicago Shakespeare Theater has announced that Jaye Ladymore has joined the company for the world premiere production of It Came From Outer Space, a new musical comedy based on the ‘50s cult classic sci-fi film from Universal Pictures.

Paul Oakley Stovall Will Lead Porchlight Music Theatre's Staged Reading Of Stovall's CLEAR This Month
by Stephi Wild - May 19, 2022

Porchlight Music Theatre's 27th season continues with a staged reading of Clear, book, music and lyrics by Paul Oakley Stovall.

Christopher Kale Jones & More to Lead World Premiere of IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
by Chloe Rabinowitz - May 12, 2022

Chicago Shakespeare Theater announced the cast and creative team for the world premiere production of It Came From Outer Space, a new musical comedy based on the ‘50s cult classic sci-fi film from Universal Pictures.