Chicago theater

If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that my wife and I are very fond of those little Amtrak trips to the Windy City. Chicago was a place for me to grind it out for my trade for 5 years, but now is a fabulous adult amusement park, complete with rides (what do you think the El is?). I’ve not gone all encyclopedic on the great things you can find here, except maybe for that compendium of jazz clubs (1). Today, I’ve come up with something similar, if not nearly as lengthy. Our recent Christmas trip was so much fun, we decided we needed to come back for St.Patrick’s day and actually be there when they make the Chicago River flow green. We’re trying to get our single friend from the Rockies to join us, and she mentioned how she’d like to see a Shakepeare play. Theaters are all around us in the loop, but we’ve never stepped into any of them in all our times there. We were taken by an ad for “Drunk Shakespeare” on our last trip (2). Taking place a block north of where we were staying in the loop, the plot is that one of a group of actors downs several shots before trying to read some lines, and the rest adapt. Sounded like fun, but they had an archaic COVID policy: proof of vaxx required! Nuts to that, so we enjoyed the extra sleep, hard to come by when you’re whirling through Chi-town!

So in order to provide our friend, and us, a logical compendium of the choices available should we decide to step out to the theater, I came up with this list. To note is that so many of the really great theaters are right in the loop. These were several thousand seat ornate palaces built in the Roaring Twenties and have been restored to their glory. There’s also history in places outside the loop, like the Biograph (now Victory Gardens Theater) in Lincoln Park where John Dillinger was gunned down and the Merle Raskin Theater of DePaul U where the famous Goodman School started in the mid 20s. Note that not all these theaters feature plays. The old Chicago Theater in the loop features mainly musical acts and some places are just very comfortable movie houses with great bars.

Because of our run-up with COVID regulations last December, I’ve sought out policies for each of these theaters. It looks like nearly all have gotten with the program, although many would still like you to wear those silly masks. (The column seems not to survive the transfer). Two venues had a seemingly strict policy, the Lion Theater roaring yes indeed and the First Folio Theater in Oak Brook, stating proof of vaxx is required, then goes onto say it no longer checks! Don’t ask, don’t tell! Still wise to keep a mask in your pocket. If it’s an UnMask (3), you’ll be able to breathe through it.

So here are your many many choices. I’ve left out the few far flung venues in the ‘burbs. You may end up sitting among huge crowds in the baroque palaces of the loop all the way down to a few new close friends in the 45 seat converted garage of the Trap Door Theater out west in Bucktown/Wicker Park or the 2nd floor of a church City Lit occupies in Edgewater. But you sure don’t want to pay full price for those tix! Not here in the city of the Deal! After all, whose hotel spire lords it over the skyline, name proudly emblazoned at the base? It ain’t the Sears Tower (which is what the locals still call it. Willis?). As you practice your own art, you can get half price tickets on line through Theater in Chicago (4). An outfit called HotTix has two storefront operations in the Loop from which they deal, and they also work online (5).

theater	address (* in the Loop)	web site	COVID policy  (as of 1/10/23)
Annoyance Theater & Bar (comedy)	851 W. Belmont Ave	https://www.theannoyance.com/
Apollo Theater Chicago	2550 N. Lincoln	https://www.apollochicago.com/	vaxx (not updated since 5/22/22)
Auditorium Theater	*50 E. Ida B. Wells Dr	https://auditoriumtheatre.org/	masks rec’d
BoHo Theater at the Edge Theater	5451 N. Broadway	https://bohotheatre.com/	masks req’d
Briar Street Theater	3133 N. Halstead	https://www.briarstreetbroadway.com/
Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place	175 E. Chestnut	https://www.broadwayinchicago.com/theatre/broadway-playhouse/	masks rec’d
Cabaret ZaZou (Cambria Hotel)	*32 W.Randolph	https://cabaretzazou.com/
Cadillac Palace Theater (Palace Theater-1926)	*151 W. Randolph St	https://www.broadwayinchicago.com/theatre/cadillac-palace-theatre/	masks rec’d
Chicago Dramatists	798 N. Aberdeen	https://chicagodramatists.org/
Chicago Shakespeare Theater	800 E. Grand Ave (Navy Pier)	https://www.chicagoshakes.com/	masks rec’d
Chicago Theater (1921)	*175 N. State St	https://www.msg.com/the-chicago-theatre	depends on event
CIBC Theater (Majestic -1906)	*18 W. Monroe	https://www.broadwayinchicago.com/theatre/cibc-theatre/	masks rec’d
City Lit Theater	1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave	https://www.citylit.org/
Davis Theater (Pershing -1918)	4614 N. Lincoln Ave.	https://davistheater.com/
The Edge Theater	5451 N. Broadway	https://www.edgetheater.com/
The Edge Off Broadway	1133 W. Catalpa	https://www.edgetheater.com/
First Folio Theater	4614 N. Lincoln	https://firstfolio.org/	vaxx, but won’t check masks req’d
Free Street Theater	1717 31st St, Oak Brook	https://freestreet.org/	(guideline link won’t open)
Greenhouse Theater Center	1419 W. Blackhawk St	https://www.greenhousetheater.org/
Harris Theater for Music and Dance	2257 N. Lincoln	https://www.harristheaterchicago.org/	masks rec’d
iO Theater	*205 E. Randolph	https://ioimprov.com/
The Jarvis Square Theater	1501 N.Kingsbury St	https://www.nealshowproductions.website/
The Lion Theater	1439 W. Jarvis	https://www.theatreinchicago.com/theatre/the-lion-theatre/369/	vaxx req’d
James M. Nederlander Theater (Oriental – 1926)	*182 N. Wabash	https://www.broadwayinchicago.com/theatre/chicagos-james-m-nederlander-theatre/	masks rec’d
Mercury Theater Chicago	*24 W. Randolph	https://www.mercurytheaterchicago.com/
Music Box Theater (1929 – movies)	3745 N. Southport	https://musicboxtheatre.com/
Raven Theater	6157 N. Clark	https://www.raventheatre.com/
Reginald Vaughan Theater (Invictus)	3733 N. Southport	https://www.invictustheatreco.com/	vaxx req’d
Steppenwolf Theater	1106 W. Thronadale	https://www.steppenwolf.org/
The Theater School at DePaul University (Merle Reskin Theater) (Goodman School – 1925)	1650 N. Halstead	https://theatre.depaul.edu/Pages/default.aspx
Theo Ubique Cabaret Theater	60 E. Balbo Ave	https://theo-u.com/
The Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center (Northwestern)	721 Howard St, Evanston	https://wirtz.northwestern.edu/
Theater Wit	1229 W. Belmont	https://www.theaterwit.org/	masks req’d
TimeLine Theater Company	615 W. Wellington	https://timelinetheatre.com/	masks req’d
Trap Door Theater	1665 W. Cortland	https://trapdoortheatre.com/
Victory Gardens Theater (Biograph – 1911, where they gunned down John Dillinger)	2433 N. Lincoln Avenue	https://www.facebook.com/victorygardens/

References

1. Ike B.  Chi Jazz.  WordPress 5/23/21.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2021/05/23/chi-jazz/

2. The Drunk Shakespeare Society. https://www.drunkshakespeare.com/welcome

3. The UnMask breathe with us.  https://getunmask.com/

4. Theater in Chicago.  Half Price Ticket Deals. https://www.theatreinchicago.com/tictix.php

5. HotTix.  https://hottix.org/locations/