Shawn Quinlan News

The bawdy, silly, and immensely entertaining adult pantos by Britain's Tom Whalley have become a popular holiday season tradition at PrideArts, and the company will continue this tradition with its fourth Whalley panto – RAPORNZEL.

While this iteration leans heavily into Finn's chaotic sense of fun, it occasionally rushes through the emotional beats and connections that make the show such a powerful study of illness, hope, and community.

Hell in a Handbag Productions will open its 2024/25 Season with the 25th anniversary edition of Artistic Director David Cerda’s* holiday classic Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer (An Unauthorized Musical Parody). Check out photos from the production, 

Hell in Handbag will host a special weekend of benefit performances during its upcoming 25th anniversary edition of Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer (An Unauthorized Musical Parody).

Hell in a Handbag Productions will open its 2024/25 Season with the 25th anniversary edition of Artistic Director David Cerda's holiday classic Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer (An Unauthorized Musical Parody). Learn how to purchase tickets.

Full casting has been announced for PrideArts’ production of SHAKESPEARE’S R & J with an all-female cast. Learn more about who is starring in the show here!

 PrideArts has announced its full cast for its Chicago premiere of the musical GAY CARD. PrideArts’ artistic director Jay Españo will direct the musical, with Robert Ollis providing musical direction and conducting a five-piece band.

Pride Films and Plays will produce the American premiere of FIVE ENCOUNTERS ON A SITE CALLED CRAIGSLIST, an Edinburgh Festival hit by the British playwright and actor Samuel Ward. Desperately hilarious and achingly bleak, this is an intricate and tender exploration of our attempts to encounter each other in a technologized world, performed by a single actor interacting extensively with the audience.

The 1993 AIDS-themed musical ALL THAT HE WAS that opened on August 12, earning rave reviews and a Jeff recommendation, will extend its run by one week and will now close on Sunday, September 15.

Pride Films and Plays has announced that $5 of each ticket sold for each Friday 8pm performance of ALL THAT HE WAS, the Jeff-recommended musical that opened on Monday August 12, will go toward one of four Chicago-area charities that provides services and advocacy for those impacted by HIV/AIDS.

Cody Dericks, is a graduate of Hofstra University whose Chicago credits include HOLDING THE MAN and JERKER for Pride Films and Plays, has has stepped into the role of Alex, the graduate student who along with his husband Josh (Marc Prince), welcomes a third young man, Darius (Jesse James Montoya) into their bed.

Pride Films and Plays' Chicago premiere of AFTERGLOW, S. Asher Gelman's long-running off-Broadway drama, has been extended a second time - this time for an additional eight weeks.

Pride Films and Plays will mount a fully staged production this summer of GRINDR THE OPERA (An Unauthorized Parody) - the satirical musical about the gay hookup app that changed the landscape of gay relationships. The musical was produced in the UK last year, in an extended, sold-out production at London's Above the Stag Theatre (the UK's only full-time professional LGBT+ theater), and won the 2019 Off West End Award (or OFFIE) for "Best New Musical" this past February. GRINDR THE OPERA, by New York-based composer-lyricist-playwright Erik Ransom, was an entry in the 2018 Chicago Musical Theatre Festival following staged readings in New York in 2015 and 2017 and a full production in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in fall 2017.

A brand-new version of the award-winning 1993 musical ALL THAT HE WAS to open on August 12, 2019 at Pride Arts Center.

Marc Prince will assume the role of Josh, one-half of a gay male couple that invites a third man into their bed, in Pride Films and Plays' Chicago Premiere of S. Asher Gelman's AFTERGLOW. Prince has most recently been seen on Chicago stages in Hell in a Handbag's POSEIDON! and as Horse in THE FULL MONTY with Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre. In 2018, he played Sarge in Pride Films and Plays's YANK! A WWII LOVE STORY.

The Chicago Premiere of AFTERGLOW, an off-Broadway hit from 2017 exploring the emotional, intellectual, and physical connections between three men and the broader implications within their relationships, will be extended for an additional four weeks to meet demand.

Underscore Theatre Company is pleased to present its 4th annual CHICAGO MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL, created to showcase and support the growing field of musical theatre creators from Chicago and beyond. This year's Festival, featuring full productions of seven new musicals plus two staged readings, will play February 5 - 25, 2018 at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Each full production will receive at least four performances during the Festival. Single tickets are currently available at www.cmtf.org. The press "Sneak Preview," featuring a sampling of songs from the 2018 Festival, is Monday, February 5 at 8 pm.

Underscore Theatre Company is pleased to present its 4th annual CHICAGO MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL, created to showcase and support the growing field of musical theatre creators from Chicago and beyond. This year's Festival, featuring full productions of seven new musicals plus two staged readings, will play February 6 16, 2018 at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Each full production will receive at least four performances during the Festival. Single tickets are currently available at www.cmtf.org. The press Sneak Preview, featuring a sampling of songs from the 2018 Festival, is Monday, February 5 at 8 pm.

Midsommer Flight, a professional not-for-profit theatre company that was one of five Finalists for this year's League of Chicago Theatres Emerging Theatre Award, is staging Shakespeare's Twelfth Night for the third consecutive holiday season, complete with its acclaimed musical score. The comedy is being performed in the Show House room at the Lincoln Park Conservatory, 2391 N. Stockton Drive, for three weekends - from November 30 December 17, 2017. The production is part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Night Out in the Parks initiative that provides world-class performances in Chicago's neighborhood parks throughout the year.