The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is, historically, the first ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959, and has since become one of the most influential and prolific comedy theatres in the world.
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Unitarian church on Half Day Road in Deerfield, Illinois and is now located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood on Halsted Street. Its name comes from the 1927 novel Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse which original member Rick Argosh was reading during the company's inaugural production, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, in January 1974.
Theater in Chicago describes not only theater performed in Chicago, Illinois, but also to the movement in Chicago that saw a number of small, meagerly funded companies grow to institutions of national and international significance. Chicago had long been a popular destination for touring productions, as well as original productions that transfer to Broadway and other cities. According to Variety editor Gordon Cox, beside New York City, Chicago has one of the most lively theater scenes in the United States. As many as 100 shows could be seen any given night from 200 companies as of 2018, some with national reputations and many in creative "storefront" theaters, demonstrating a vibrant theater scene "from the ground up". According to American Theatre magazine, Chicago's theater is "justly legendary".
Organic Theater Company was founded in 1969 in Madison, Wisconsin by artistic director Stuart Gordon and his wife Carolyn Purdy Gordon. Its first play was a production of Richard III but harassment from the local officials of Madison caused the production to be moved to three different venues before closing. In 1970 at the invitation of Paul Sills, Organic moved to Chicago where Sills helped the theater find a home in the Holy Covenant Church where they produced original adaptations of George Orwell's Animal Farm and Homer's Odyssey. When Sills took his production of Story Theater to Los Angeles that summer he invited Organic to produce at his Body Politic Theater on Lincoln Avenue. The company ended up staying there over three years where it produced Candide which was invited by Joseph Papp to the Public Theater in New York. They also produced Poe by playwright Stephen Most and Warp! by Stuart Gordon and Bury St. Edmund aka Lenny Kleinfeld, an original science-fiction epic adventure in three parts. Warp! was produced on Broadway at the Ambassador Theater in 1973.
Steven Dietz is an American playwright and theatre director. Called "the most ubiquitous American playwright whose name you may never have heard", Dietz has long been one of America's most prolific and widely produced playwrights. In 2019, Dietz was again named one of the 20 most-produced playwrights in America. Though several of his plays have been seen Off-Broadway, the vast majority of Dietz's plays are produced in American regional theaters. Seattle WA and Chicago IL are among the cities that have proved to be enduring homes for his work. Seattle's ACT Theatre has produced 12 plays by Dietz, including 7 world premieres. This includes a recent new variation on his own adaptation of "Dracula" entitled "Dracula: Mina's Quest". His new psychological thriller "How a Boy Falls", will premiere at Northlight Theatre, Chicago, in 2020. During the 2018-19 season, Dietz premiered two interlocking plays for adult and youth audiences, entitled "The Great Beyond" and "The Ghost of Splinter Cove." During the 2015-16 season, Dietz premiered three new plays: "Bloomsday", "This Random World", and the thriller "On Clover Road". Other recent plays include an intimate thriller, "The Shimmering"; the black comedy, "Rancho Mirage"; and a contemporary riff on Arthur Schnitzler's "Reigen" entitled "American la Ronde". Dietz's plays have been seen at Steppenwolf Theatre, Old Globe Theatre, Actor's Theatre of Louisville (KY), Seattle Repertory Theatre (WA), Berkeley Repertory Theatre (CA), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Ashland), McCarter Theatre Center, Alliance Theatre, Trinity Repertory Company (RI), the Dallas Theatre Center (TX), and the Denver Center Theatre Company, among others. In 2010, Dietz was named one of the most produced playwrights in America, placing eighth on the list, tied with Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee for number of productions. Dietz's plays have been produced internationally in over twenty countries, and translated into a dozen languages. His work as a director has been seen Off-Broadway, at major regional theaters, as well as at the Sundance Institute and the Playwrights' Center - Minneapolis. In addition to teaching master classes in playwriting, story-making and collaboration around the United States, Dietz has taught in the MFA Playwriting and Directing programs at the University of Texas at Austin since 2006.
Silk Road Rising is a theatre company located in downtown Chicago dedicated to presenting plays written by individuals of Asian and Middle Eastern descent. Formerly known as Silk Road Theatre Project, the name was changed in 2011 in order to better reflect their mission statement which includes online video plays and documentaries, civic engagement projects, and education programming in addition to live theatre.
Sheldon Arthur Patinkin was a chair of the Theater Department of Columbia College Chicago, Artistic Director of the Getz Theater of Columbia College, Artistic Consultant of The Second City and of Steppenwolf Theatre and Co-Director of the Steppenwolf Theatre Summer Ensemble Workshops.
The Joseph Jefferson Award, more commonly known informally as the Jeff Award, is given for theatre arts produced in the Chicago area. Founded in 1968, the awards are named in tribute to actor Joseph Jefferson, a 19th-century American theater star who, as a child, was a player in Chicago's first theater company. Two types of awards are given: "Equity" for work done under an Actors' Equity Association contract, and "Non-Equity" for non-union work. Award recipients are determined by a secret ballot.
Rick Shiomi is an internationally recognized, award-winning Japanese Canadian playwright, stage director, artistic director and taiko artist, and a major player in the Asian American/Canadian theatre movement. He is best known for his groundbreaking play Yellow Fever, which earned him the Bay Area Theater Circle Critics Award and “Bernie” Award. Over the last couple decades, Shiomi has also become a notable artistic and stage director. He directed the world premiere of the play Caught by Christopher Chen for which he received the Philadelphia Barrymore Award Nomination for Outstanding Direction. He is currently the Co-Artistic Director of Full Circle Theater Company.
The House Theatre of Chicago is a non-profit, ensemble theatre company in Chicago, IL. The House was founded in 2001 by a group of friends from the British American Drama Academy and Southern Methodist University with the mission of exploring the ideas of Community and Storytelling in order to create a unique theatrical experience for audience members. Since becoming eligible in 2004, The House has been nominated for more than 40 Joseph Jefferson Awards. In 2007, The House became the first recipient of Broadway in Chicago's Emerging Theater Award. Performances currently take place at the Chopin Theatre in Wicker Park.
Michael Patrick Thornton is an American actor and theater director. He recently played the character of Dr. Gabriel Fife in the ABC drama series Private Practice. He is a native of Jefferson Park, a neighborhood on Chicago's northwest side.
American Blues Theater is an American theater.
TimeLine Theatre Company is a not-for-profit theatre company located in the Lakeview East neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1997, TimeLine is a midsize theater with an annual budget exceeding $1 million.
The Hypocrites is a Chicago storefront theater company founded in 1997 by Sean Graney, Brandon Kruse and Christopher Cintron. The company is currently run by Sean Graney and Kelli Strickland. One of Chicago’s premier off-Loop theater companies, The Hypocrites specializes in mounting bold productions that challenge preconceptions and redefining the role of the audience through unusual staging and direct engagement. The company has a reputation in Chicago for creating exciting, surprising, and deeply engaging theater as it re-interprets well-known works for contemporary audiences, reveling in the absurd while revealing the core of what makes classics classic.
“The Hypocrites, who with each new production, continue to rise not just to the rank of one of our city’s best storefronts but one of Chicago’s best theaters period.” – Newcity Stage
Actors Theatre of Louisville is a non-profit performing arts theater located in downtown Louisville, Kentucky.
Rohina Malik is an American playwright, actress, speaker, story teller and educator of South Asian descent.
Nine Stories Productions is a New York-based film, theater and television production company founded by Jake Gyllenhaal and Riva Marker in 2015. Nine Stories has a first-look deal with Bold Films, the company behind Whiplash, Drive, and Nightcrawler, the latter of which Gyllenhaal starred in and produced. Gyllenhaal won an Independent Spirit Award for producing Nightcrawler and was an executive producer on David Ayer's End of Watch. Marker produced Cary Fukunaga's critically acclaimed child soldier drama Beasts of No Nation and was an executive producer on Academy Award nominated The Kids Are All Right.
Writers Theatre is a non-profit theatre company founded in 1992 and located in Glencoe, Illinois. Michael W. Halberstam, the founder of the company, has been artistic director since its inception and Kathryn M. Lipuma has been executive director since 2007.
Steep Theatre Company is a not-for-profit theatre company located in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 2000 by Peter Moore, Alex Gillmor, and Alex Gualino, Steep has become known as one of Chicago’s iconic ensemble-based storefront theatres. Chicago is known for its brand of bold, collaborative, actor-driven theatre in intimate venues scattered throughout the city’s many neighborhoods, and Steep is an embodiment of this theatrical movement. The ensemble has produced over 60 plays and cultivated a growing community of artists and audience members. In 2019, through a gift from the Bayless Family Foundation, Steep announced it would become an Equity theater.
Sandra Delgado is a Colombian-American actor, writer, and producer who grew up and works in Chicago, Illinois.
