NOTE: Even though many businesses have begun re-opening, generally at reduced capacities and with many restrictions, music venues and theaters in particular are likely to remain closed for some time. For any in-person event, check with the venue for details of health and safety plans. We are maintaining a list of cancellations and making updates as events are rescheduled for later dates. We have also added new listings for streaming events, including streaming theater and performing arts events and streaming concerts and music events.
Events
"First Name Basis: Forty Years of Portraits" Recommended Free
Friday 8/21 - Tuesday 10/13
Chicago Reader contributor Dmitry Samarov will be presenting drawings and paintings from the last four decades of his life. There will be an opening reception on Friday 8/21 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Appointment only. Email vitodklein@aol.com or call 207-249-9486. 207-249-9486
First Name Basis: 40 Years of Portraits by Dmitry Samarov Recommended Free All Ages Agenda
8/21-10/18: Tue-Sat 10 AM-6 PM or by appointment
Drawings and paintings by Reader contributor Dmitry Samarov, with an opening reception scheduled for Friday 8/21 from 7-10 PM. Attendance will be limited; please contact the gallery for more information. 207-249-9486
Blue Man Group Recommended The Short List (Theater) Canceled
Open run: Wed-Fri 8 PM, Sat 2, 5, and 8 PM, Sun 4 PM
$49-$104
UPDATE Sunday, March 15: this event has suspended performances for the time being. Refunds available at point of purchase.
The long-running show (22 years and counting in Chicago) featuring performers in blue latex paint, drumming, video, comedy, and other assorted mayhem continues. 800-258-3626
Home/Land Recommended Free The Short List (Theater)
Available anytime through Vimeo
Albany Park Theater Project offers a streaming version of their critically lauded 2012 production about undocumented immigrants, written and performed by the teen ensemble and directed by APTP producing artistic director David Feiner.
Plays for the People Recommended The Short List (Theater)
7/8-11/8: see website for complete schedule
$22 approximately (£19.62)
Black Lives, Black Words International Project produces an online season of seven plays celebrating African American and African experience. The pieces will be performed live over Zoom for a period of five days, with audiences limited to 50 people per performance. The second day of each run will also feature a Q&A chaired by BLBW cofounders Reginald Edmund and Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway. The schedule is as follows:
7/8-7/12: Ride Share by Reginald Edmund, directed by Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway. A young African American Uber driver rides with a dark specter as he discovers the unsavory aspects of humanity.
8/13-8/16: Proof of Love by Chisa Hutchinson, directed by Kyle Haden. A well-off Black woman learns some things about both herself and her husband when a car accident leaves the latter comatose.
8/20-8/23: Buttafly Precinct, written and directed by Sha Cage, in which "two young girls struggle to survive on the streets carrying a dark secret and a jar of butterflies across the city of Minneapolis on the eve of George Perry Floyd's murder."
8/24-8/30: Cell Surface by Dominic Taylor, directed by Jerrell Henderson, described as "a play about making a play in Zoom about two amazing African-American scientists, Dr. E.E. Just and Dr. Roger Young."
9/16-9/20: The Immortal Goats by Idris Goodwin, directed by Tiffany Nicole Greene. After the removal of statues honoring colonizers, a committee has to determine who should be recognized in their place—within the running time of the play.
10/12-10/17: Call for the Wailing Women by Katrina D. Richard, directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton. A modern-day Afrocentric retelling of Euripides's The Suppliants, about a group of grieving women in wartime desperate to bury their dead.
11/2-11/8: The Emancipation of Yankee Oluwale by Wole Oguntokun, based on the story of David Oluwale, a British Nigerian whose body was found in the River Aire in Leeds in 1969, leading to an investigation of how the homeless and mentally ill man had been tormented by the police.
Apsáalooke Women and Warriors Recommended All Ages
Through 4/4/2021: Thu-Mon, 9 AM-5 PM
The Apsáalooke people of the Northern Plains were beaders, artists, mothers, two-spirited people, and warriors. This exhibition features contemporary beadwork and fashion of the Apsáalooke as well as 100-year-old war shields. The exhibition is presented in both English and Spanish, with select sections also in Apsáalooke. 312-922-9410
Wet Cash Recommended Member Picks Free Agenda The Short List (Theater)
Open run: Fri 8 PM
Stand-up with a very big twist. Each week, performers at this showcase can do anything they want. One time, they ran a show where everybody on the bill and in the audience was named Derek. Plus, all donations benefit the fishbowl they toss their money in—hence the title. Expect, well, everything. 773-654-1490
The Infinite Wrench Goes Viral Recommended The Short List (Theater)
Available in streaming format through Patreon anytime.
The Neo-Futurists take their signature show, featuring 30 plays in 60 minutes, online during the COVID-19 crisis. The Neos offer five membership levels ranging from $3 ("Elbow Bump"), which comes with a link to a website where you can set your own timer for 60 minutes and watch all 30 plays, to $100 ("An Extended, Almost Uncomfortable Hug"), which brings a full array of perks including a customized play on a subject of your choosing. The menu includes older archival plays as well as new ones that are being created in quarantine by the ensemble.
. . . And I Am Not Afraid Recommended Free The Short List (Theater)
Available anytime through Prop Thtr website
Prop Thtr presents a free streaming version of this production from fall of 2019, presented then under the title I Am Going to Die Alone and I Am Not Afraid. Devised by the ensemble and directed by Anna Gelman, with music by Alec Phan, the play uses the Holocaust and its legacy as a lens for exploring bravery and tenacity in the face of violence and oppression. Reader critic Dmitry Samarov wrote "In a time when so many societal forces are hell-bent on dividing us along tribal lines, this powerful piece of theater shows how sharing the tribulations of one people must give all people pause."
Of Dice and Men Recommended The Short List (Theater)
Opens Fri 7/31, 7 PM CDT; free through 8/14, then on a paid basis
Otherworld Theatre offers a show designed for digital performance, written by Cameron McNary and directed by James Martineau. The story follows a Dungeons and Dragons master, James Francis, who finds his life turned topsy-turvy when one of his friends enlists in the military and his romantic relationship going nowhere. The show is free via Otherworld's YouTube channel from July 31 to August 14, and then afterward on a paid basis through their Patreon. Recommended for ages 14+.
Sexy Baby Recommended Free The Short List (Theater)
Available anytime on YouTube
Free
Hell in a Handbag offers up a free YouTube stream of their 2012 musical, a satire of child beauty queen pageants created by artistic director David Cerda and Scott Lamberty that former Reader critic Zac Thompson called "biting" and "hysterical." The show was chosen by the members of the company as one of their favorites and is presented free as a gift to the community during the COVID-19 shutdown, though donations to Hell in a Handbag are of course welcome.
The Harold Recommended Member Picks The Short List (Theater)
Open run: Wed-Thu 8 PM, Fri 8 and 10:30 PM, Sat 10:30 PM, Sun 8 PM, Mon 10:30 PM
Improv teams use an audience suggestion to create interweaving story lines that result in a connected long-form narrative.
Still/Here Recommended Free The Short List (Theater)
Available online anytime through Vimeo
Free Street offers a free streaming version of this 2019 show (subtitled Manifestos for Joy and Survival), in which survivors of an apocalyptic event in Chicago provide memories of the struggles that defined their lives before the catastrophe, including fighting gentrification and racism. The narrative is drawn from interviews conducted with over 400 Chicago community members.
Medusa Undone Recommended Free The Short List (Theater)
Available anytime through company website or YouTube channel
Otherworld Theatre offers a free streaming version of last spring's production of a play by Bella Poynton, directed by Tiffany Keane Schaefer, that retells the story of the legendary gorgon as a critique of rape culture, with Medusa caught in a love triangle between Athena and Poseidon. Reader critic Josh Flanders wrote "The god-human relationship here is a metaphor for celebrity idolatry and the lack of consequence so many with power have maintained, as well as the dangers of living for others versus ourselves."
Parched Recommended Free The Short List (Theater)
Available anytime through Vimeo
Free Street Theater offers a free streaming version of their 2019 show about the politics of water, pollution, and corporate theft of resources. Reader critic KT Hawbaker wrote of that production "Devised over the course of ten months by Free Street's youth ensemble, students aged 14-19, Parched is driven by vignettes drawn from interviews with researchers, activists, and community members. In that respect, it's a combo of journalism and performance, resulting in passionate storytelling that feels informed and brave."
Riff Recommended Agenda The Short List (Theater)
Open run: Fri-Sat 10:30 PM
312-929-2401
The Other Art Fair : AMFM Recommended Free All Ages
Ongoing
The Other Art Fair's Online Studios is a digital hub for artists meant to exhibit in the 2020 Spring fairs. The Other Art Fair has launched an online exhibition of 10 artists curated by AMFM's founder Ciera McKissick. Free, up until further notice.
ComedySportz Theatre Recommended Member Picks The Short List (Theater)
Open run: Thu 8 PM, Fri 8 and 10 PM, Sat 6, 8, and 10 PM
$19
Part of a national chain of comedy clubs, this company is known for quick improv games (think Whose Line Is It Anyway?), but it also stages long-form improv. LCD screens and sophisticated lighting and sound systems amplify the sports-style improv of the company's eponymous production, ComedySportz. There's a snobbery in the Chicago improv community that looks up at the "art" of the long form, with its emphasis on story and characters, and down on the "entertainment" of the short, with its emphasis on games and punch lines. ComedySportz falls emphatically in the entertainment camp; its bottom line is laughter, and it gets plenty of it. The show is structured as a competition between two teams performing multiple games that require audience participation. A referee ensures that the players--a rotating roster from a company of about 50--work clean or they finish the game with a brown bag over their heads. The formula is practically foolproof: players may flash their quick wits in winning responses, but they're even funnier when they fail. In one game a team had to devise a pick-up line, each member contributing a word. Moving rapidly from player to player, the line developed: "Tonight-I'll-tango-with-your-face." Probably wouldn't work at a bar, but at ComedySportz it killed. --Ryan Hubbard 773-549-8080 or 312-559-1212
Intimate Apparel Canceled
3/12-4/19: Wed 1 and 7:30 PM, Thu 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 2:30 and 8 PM, Sun 2:30 PM; also Tue 3/17 and 4/17, 7:30 PM; Sun 3/15 and 3/29, 7 PM; Wed 4/8, 7:30 PM only; Sat 3/14, 8 PM only; no performance Sun 4/12
Previews 3/12-3/19, $30-$61; regular run 3/20-4/19, $30-$89, $15 students all performances (pending availability)
UPDATE Friday, March 13: this event has been postponed until further notice. Contact the box office for information about exchanges or refunds.
Esther, a Black seamstress in 1905 Manhattan falls in love through an epistolary relationship with a Caribbean man working on the Panama Canal, but their marriage turns out differently than she hoped for. Lynn Nottage's 2003 drama, directed for Northlight by Tasia A. Jones, provides a portrait of the way Esther's life intersects with other women, including a wealthy socialite, her landlady, and a prostitute who also plays ragtime in a brothel. Mildred Marie Langford stars as Esther. There will be an open captioning performance on Sat 4/11, 2:30 PM. 847-673-6300
The Cake
1/30-3/1: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM; ASL performance Thu 2/20, 8 PM
$42
Bekah Brunstetter, a writer for the NBC series This is Us and the daughter of former Republican North Carolina state senator Peter Brunstetter, wrote this drama, set in Winston-Salem, in the aftermath of the Masterpiece Cakeshop Supreme Court case, involving bakers who objected to making cakes for same-sex couples. First seen locally at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble in 2018, Buffalo Theatre Ensemble's production is directed by Steve Scott and stars Connie Canaday Howard as Della, the owner of a bakery whose personal beliefs are tested when her goddaughter asks her to make a cake for her wedding to another woman. 630-942-4000
In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) Canceled
3/6-4/5: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Mon 3/9, 8 PM (opening night) and Wed 3/25, 8 PM; no show Sun 3/8
Previews 3/6-3/7, $10; regular run 3/9-4/5, $20, $15 seniors over 65 and students any age; all Thu performances $10 industry
UPDATE Tuesday, March 17: this production has been canceled. Check with box office for refunds.
Sarah Ruhl's 2009 play, set in 1880s New York, examines "female hysteria" through a doctor who has invented a machine purported to cure it, and his wife's fascination with what is going on in the examination room. Morgan Manasa directs for Idle Muse Theatre Company. 773-340-9438
Zoe Beloff: "Emotions Go to Work" Free
8/14 to 1/17/2021
$17
Scottish-born artist, Zoe Beloff, will be opening up her exhibition at the International Museum of Surgical Science which explores technologies influence on emotion. An opening reception will be held 1/15 of next year from 6-8pm. 312-642-6502
Wendy & DB
Fridays, 9:30 a.m.
The children's music duo performs a family-friendly livestreamed set weekly on their Facebook page.
“This Bucket Ain't For Ice!” All Ages
Tuesdays-Saturdays, 12-4 p.m.
An exhibition of blues music photography by Eric Kriesant. 312-808-1286
Dream Freaks Fall From Space Member Picks
Open run: Wed-Thu 8 PM, Fri-Sat 8 and 11 PM, Sun 4 PM, Tue 8 PM
$29-$46
Second City is in denial. Donald Trump is our president, and along with that comes a host of issues regarding race, gender equality, LGBTQ rights, and police brutality, among other things. The cast of the brand-new yet already outdated main-stage revue Dream Freaks Fall From Space tackle these loaded topics by mentioning them, then moving right along. And speaking of denial, scenes break one of the most fundamental rules of improvisation—embody the spirit of "yes, and . . . " to complement your partner onstage. Here instead actors deny ideas with "What are you talking about?" Second City is the tentpole of Chicago comedy for the rest of the country, but Dream Freaks feels like it was concocted in an intermediate-level improv class where mere nods get laughs and politics get skewered with Pixy Stix. Continue reading >> 312-337-3992
Masque of the Red Coronavirus Free 18+
Available on the company website anytime.
Black Button Eyes Productions presents an interlocking series of videos performed by various artists that mash up Edgar Allan Poe's classic horror tale, "The Masque of the Red Death," in which a prince and his entourage try to cheat a pandemic by taking sanctuary in a pleasure palace, with contemporary articles about how the wealthy and the extremely wealthy are taking refuge in luxury during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a note on the website, company artistic director Ed Rutherford observes "way too many lines of The Prince are quoted verbatim from a public figure."
Freak Show Cabaret Free
Available anytime via YouTube and Facebook
Experimental musician and performer Sophia Lucia, who studied performing arts at University of Illinois-Chicago, offers a livestreamed version of her one-woman alternative variety-cabaret show, recorded in quarantine from her home in Paris. It's available via YouTube and her Facebook page, and the music is also available through Bandcamp.
Shakes@Home Free
Available anytime through the website
In response to the COVID-19 shutdown, Chicago Shakespeare provides an online anthology of learning activities, readings, archived discussions of past shows, and more. These include a new podcast, Asides, which analyzes some of the most famous direct audience addresses in the Shakespearean canon; actor-chef John Tufts's "Cook Like Shakespeare" series; and favorite moments in past productions.
Keeping Curious Free
Available anytime online through company website or Facebook page
Lookingglass Theatre offers several free online programs during the COVID-19 shutdown. The Infinite Room Podcast brings together artists and activists to discuss the importance of storytelling in creating community. Episodes include discussions of public housing policies with ensemble member J. Nicole Brooks, author and director of Her Honor Jane Byrne, which had to cancel most of its run due to the shutdown, and ensemble members David Catlin and Mary Zimmerman discussing how to put epic adventures onstage. On Tuesdays at noon CDT, Lookingglass artists offer "Lookingglass Live," a free 15-minute workshop on topics such as yoga and comedy. Finally, Through the Lookingglass showcases company artists at home performing various songs, stories, and poems.