Willow James News

The Story Theatre will welcome back audiences with the Chicago premiere of Marie Antoinette and the Magical Negroes, written and directed by Chicago playwright and Governing Ensemble Member Terry Guest.

Victory Gardens Theater has announced the cast for the final show in its 2021/22 Mainstage Season, the regional premiere of cullud wattah, written by Erika Dickerson-Despenza and directed by Lili-Anne Brown. cullud wattah runs June 11 – July 17, 2022 at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

James Beard Award-winning Chef Rick Bayless and Windy City Playhouse Artistic Director Amy Rubenstein today announced that their hit immersive production, “A Recipe For Disaster,” must close Sunday, April 24 on the Club Level at Petterino's (150 N Dearborn). “A Recipe For Disaster” is written by Bayless, Rubenstein and Windy City Playhouse Associate Artistic Director Carl Menninger and directed by Jeff Award Winner David H. Bell.

Chicago's Artemisia Theater will return to in-person performances in 2022, providing platforms for fiercely feminist viewpoints with two daring new productions. 

James Beard Award-winning Chef Rick Bayless and Windy City Playhouse Artistic Director Amy Rubenstein today announced they will join the cast of their hit immersive production “A Recipe For Disaster,” written by Bayless, Rubenstein and Windy City Playhouse Associate Artistic Director Carl Menninger and directed by Jeff Award Winner David H. Bell.

Definition Theatre opens its 10th anniversary season with the Chicago premiere of WHITE by ensemble member James Ijames and directed by Ericka Ratcliff. Produced in partnership with Steppenwolf Theatre Company's LookOut Series, WHITE will run in Steppenwolf's 1700 Theater from March 10 – April 10, 2021. 

Artemisia Theater announced today the appointment of Kelcey Anyá as the company's first managing director, marking a key moment of growth and renewed commitment to elevating women's voices.

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.

This is the last chance to vote for the 2021 BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards! The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021.

Time is running out to vote for for the 2021 BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards! The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021.

Pegasus Theatre Chicago has announced the authors and plays being presented at 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.

Pegasus Theatre Chicago has announced the authors and plays being presented at 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.

Raven Theatre, Chicago's newest Equity-affiliated theatre, is pleased to continue its 2021-22 Season with Jonathan Harvey's sweet and charming coming-of-age play Beautiful Thing, directed by Mikael Burke. This touching story of two boys living in London discovering how they fit into the world around them will play February 9 – March 27, 2022 on Raven's 85-seat East Stage, 6157 N. Clark St. (at Granville) in Chicago.

Guest, a Governing Ensemble member, served as The Story's Resident Playwright from 2019-2020, receiving three developmental workshops over the course of a year, culminating in a staged reading of Marie in early March 2020.

James Beard Award-winning Chef Rick Bayless and Windy City Playhouse Artistic Director Amy Rubenstein today announced the extension of their immersive production, “A Recipe For Disaster,” written by Bayless, Rubenstein and Windy City Playhouse Associate Artistic Director Carl Menninger and directed by Jeff Award Winner David H. Bell, through March 27, 2022. 

Artemisia Theatre, dedicated to empowering women, onstage and off, has announced it will postpone Artemisia Fall Fest until 2022. 

Lauren Ferebee's new play Goods, a sci-fi adventure about two intergalactic trash collectors receiving its virtual world premiere May 5-30, 2021 via Chicago's Artemisia Theatre, has won the 2021 Planet Earth Arts Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

Two intergalactic trash collectors, both women, one Black, one white, are hurtling through space toward the finish of their anniversary route, ready to celebrate their return to Earth. But a surprising job sends them back out to the asteroid belt and forces them to make a devastating choice.

 In order to continue its strong feminist story-telling tradition, Artemisia Theatre has announced an entirely virtual 2021 season. The new season includes two World Premiere theater productions and eight audio performances airing on its podcast We Women.

EVERY WAITING HEART, the full-length play by Lauren Ferebee that was planned pre-COVID for a fully staged production in June 2020, will be produced as an audio drama streaming for an open-ended run and premiering on Tuesday, November 10.