Marssie Mencotti

City Lit Theater has revealed the full cast and crew for the third production of its 2023-24  season: TWO HOURS IN A BAR. See who is starring and learn how to purchase tickets.

The Old Lady Project presents readings of 'The Matter with Family,' 'Women of a Certain Age,' and 'Elephants' Graveyard' on November 4th at Piven Theatre in Evanston. The project aims to develop plays and screenplays featuring female characters over 50. Submissions for the 2024 cycle open on November 5th.

Kicking off the new year, the Joseph Jefferson Awards announced its nominations for theater excellence among Non-Equity theater. See the full list!

Producer and Artistic Director Terry McCabe will direct Noël Coward’s 1924 comedy HAY FEVER as the final production of City Lit Theater’s 41st season. It replaces the previously announced AZTEC HUMAN SACRIFICE, which has been moved to a slot in spring 2023.

City Lit Theater will open its 41st season with the world premiere adaptation of THE VIRGINIAN: A HORSEMAN OF THE PLAINS. Owen Wister’s novel, published in 1902, is said to have established the Western genre of narrative fiction and the cowboy ideal as an American icon.

Strawdog Theatre Company is pleased announce casting for its world premiere of Brian James Polak's topical drama Welcome to Keene, New Hampshire, directed by Artistic Director Leda Hoffmann.

The new Chicago production team of Gosz & Fotos premiere their original musical TRU - A Musical for Mental Health, Nov. 1 through 24 at Stage773, 1225 W. Belmont. Winner of a?oeBest Musica?? and a?oeBest Choreographya?? at the 2018 Chicago Musical Theatre Festival, TRU takes the audience on a thought-provoking journey through the struggles and triumphs of living with mental illness. 

The Jeff Awards announced today via a special video, a total of 132 nominations in 22 categories for the 46th Annual Non-Equity Jeff Awards.

The Jeff Recommended, NNPN Rolling World production of  HERLAND has been extended to Saturday, April 20

After graduating from high school, Natalie (Simran Bal) gets a summer internship working for Jean (Kathleen Ruhl), her elderly neighbor, on a special project: creating a DIY retirement home for Jean and her two best friends. They set up shop inside Jean's garage, the former home of Jean's ex-husband's Bruce Springsteen cover band, and plan for the next chapter of their lives. Herland is a comedy about women growing up, growing old, and rocking out to the beat of their own drums. Playwright Grace McLeod, a UChicago graduate and the youngest playwright ever to partner with NNPN for a Rolling World Premiere, says that Herland 'highlights the necessity of creating space for women of all ages to find and use their voices. It challenges our perception of what a rockstar looks and sounds like.'

After graduating from high school, Natalie (Simran Bal) gets a summer internship working for Jean (Kathleen Ruhl), her elderly neighbor, on a special project: creating a DIY retirement home for Jean and her two best friends. They set up shop inside Jean's garage, the former home of Jean's ex-husband's Bruce Springsteen cover band, and plan for the next chapter of their lives. Herland is a comedy about women growing up, growing old, and rocking out to the beat of their own drums. Playwright Grace McLeod, a UChicago graduate and the youngest playwright ever to partner with NNPN for a Rolling World Premiere, says that Herland 'highlights the necessity of creating space for women of all ages to find and use their voices. It challenges our perception of what a rockstar looks and sounds like.'

After graduating from high school, Natalie (Simran Bal) gets a summer internship working for Jean (Kathleen Ruhl), her elderly neighbor, on a special project: creating a DIY retirement home for Jean and her two best friends. They set up shop inside Jean's garage, the former home of Jean's ex-husband's Bruce Springsteen cover band, and plan for the next chapter of their lives. Herland is a comedy about women growing up, growing old, and rocking out to the beat of their own drums. Playwright Grace McLeod, a UChicago graduate and the youngest playwright ever to partner with NNPN for a Rolling World Premiere, says that Herland 'highlights the necessity of creating space for women of all ages to find and use their voices. It challenges our perception of what a rockstar looks and sounds like.' Redtwist will be Herland's second of three stops during its rolling world premiere. The play is currently enjoying a critically acclaimed production at The Moxie theatre in San Diego, CA.

Full casting was announced today for City Lit's commissioned world premiere of THE SAFE HOUSE, by the Chicago-based playwright, director and actor Kristine Thatcher. In this play commissioned by City Lit, 32-year-old Bridget has come back home for a visit to Lansing, Michigan from New York City, where she has been getting by--but not better than that--as an actress.  She is staying with her widowed grandmother Hannah, whose forgetfulness and declining physical abilities have begun to concern Bridget's uncle Matt. But in her own way, Hannah may just be the strongest member of the family. Thatcher's play, set in 1982, is a study in the sometimes unexpected ways families can support each other as they adapt to life changes and make peace with the past. Terry McCabe is directing this world premiere opening November 11, 2018, following previews from November 2.

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.

J.B., the Pulitzer Prize and Best Play Tony Award -winner by the American playwright and poet Archibald MacLeish, takes place in a corner of an enormous circus tent, where two vendors prepare to perform a play based on the Book of Job. One vendor, Nickles (meant to signify the devil, who is sometimes called Old Nick ), will play the Devil. The other vendor, Zuss ( Zeus ), will play God. The two choose J.B., a wealthy banker, to play their Job. City Lit's production is directed by Brian Pastor and will be performed by an ensemble of nine women who take all twenty-three roles of men, women, and children in the play's cast of characters.

J.B., the Pulitzer Prize and Best Play Tony Award-winner by the American playwright and poet Archibald MacLeish, will be the second production in City Lit's 2017-18 season. Reviewing the original Broadway production in 1958, THE NEW YORK TIMES's legendary critic Brooks Atkinson called it A fresh and exalting morality that has great stature.

John Millington Synge, the Irish playwright who so singularly combined gritty realism and haunting spiritualism, penned one more play before his untimely death: DEIRDRE OF THE SORROWS, drawn from the legends of ancient Ireland's great heroine.

This June, one of Chicago's longest-running smash-hit shows, Tony n' Tina's Wedding, will celebrate 25 years as one of the windy city's most beloved theatrical institutions.  To honor the occasion, Chicago's favorite soon-to-be-married couple, Tony Nunzio and Tina Vitale, are welcoming back members of the original 1992 Chicago cast to the performance on Friday, June 16 at 8 p.m. Tony n' Tina's Wedding played an incredible 16 years during its original run in Chicago, and during that time entertained more than one million audience members of all ages. The new, retro/flashback version of the show opened in September of 2016 and is now in an open-ended run.

This June, one of Chicago's longest-running smash-hit shows, Tony n' Tina's Wedding, will celebrate 25 years as one of the windy city's most beloved theatrical institutions. To honor the occasion, Chicago's favorite soon-to-be-married couple, Tony Nunzio and Tina Vitale, are welcoming back members of the original 1992 Chicago cast to the performance on Friday, June 16 at 8 p.m.