THE 2019 YEAR OF CHICAGO THEATRE BRINGS $1.3 MILLION IN DIRECT SUPPORT TO CHICAGO'S LOCAL THEATRE COMMUNITY

 MAYOR LIGHTFOOT AND DCASE ANNOUNCE $1.3 MILLION IN DIRECT SUPPORT TO THE LOCAL THEATRE COMMUNITY DURING THE 2019 YEAR OF CHICAGO THEATRE

116 theatres and dance artist organizations will receive $835,750 in financial grants and 157 theaters, and theatre-makers will receive $448,650 to fund artist performance fees and commissions to maintain free public programming

Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) announced more than $835,750 in financial grants to 116 theatre and dance artists, nonprofit theatres and other community organizations as part of the 2019 Year of Chicago Theatre – with a special focus on organizations located on the South, Southwest and West Sides. In addition to these cultural program grants, DCASE will also provide more than $448,650 to 157 theatres, theatre-makers and dance-makers to cover artist performance fees and commissions so these organizations can maintain their free public programs.

The City of Chicago and the League of Chicago Theatres have designated 2019 as the ‘Year of Chicago Theatre.’ This citywide, year-long focus on theatre is the first of its kind in the U.S.



“Theater has the power to bring people together, influence the way that we think and feel, encourages personal reflection, and fosters creativity and expression – all while making our lives better,” said Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “Our performing arts organizations are integral to the fabric of Chicago and help to define its world-class status. It is only right that we support those organizations that add so much value and culture to Chicago.”

DCASE grants, performance fees, and commissions are made possible by the City’s annual budget and through the generous support of Chicago’s philanthropic and business leaders.

“To truly fall in love with Chicago, you must go to our theatres. This is where the city bares its fearless soul,” said DCASE Commissioner Mark Kelly. “From Broadway musicals or storefront plays and improv, the energy of the city comes alive in our theatres. And with a diverse collection of more than 250 dynamic theatres throughout our neighborhoods, there’s always a seat waiting for you.”

Financial grants awarded through the DCASE Cultural Grants Program:

Year of Chicago Theatre Sector-building Grants
2019 CityArts Project Grants support initiatives and projects that have the potential to impact the Chicago theatre sector at large. The goal of this grant program is to incentivize creativity related to city-wide initiatives and to further the program priorities of innovation, community engagement, diversity, equity and collaboration. Grants range from $5,000 to $50,000.
$319,750 awarded
17 organizations supported

Year of Chicago Theatre Micro-grants
The 2019 Year of Chicago Theatre Micro-grants support projects which increase diversity and access in Chicago’s theatre sector, with a focus on Chicago’s South and West sides. Grants range from $2,000 – $5,000.
$50,000 awarded
13 organizations supported

CityArts Program Grants (specifically for theatre, dance and performance arts)
The CityArts Program seeks to encourage nonprofit organizations to attain artistic excellence and financial stability by making general operating grants to Chicago-based, arts and culture-focused organizations of all sizes. DCASE gen-op funding has increased by 36% over the past two years. Grants range from $2,000 – $25,000.
$400,000 awarded
64 organizations supported

Individual Artists Program Grants (specifically for theatre, dance and performing arts)
Through project grants, the Individual Artists Program aims to assist Chicago's professional artists in creating work that elevates their careers and brings value to the City of Chicago. Grants range from $500 – $5,000.
$66,000 awarded
22 artists supported

Examples of the organizations supported through financial grants include Albany Park Theater Project (“Port of Entry”), Chicago Children’s Theatre (X Marks The Spot, an Extra-Sensory Tour), Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (DESTINOS – 3rd Chicago International Latino Theater Festival), Deeply Rooted Dance Theater (“Essence” Project), DirectorsLabChicago in collaboration with Haven and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (Stage Direction Masterclass Series), Jackalope Theatre Company (House Party: Youth Access Initiative), Kuumba Lynx (Chicago Hip Hop Theater Festival), See Chicago Dance (Expanding and Diversifying Dance Journalism) and Victory Gardens Theater (ACCESS 2.0).

Additionally, DCASE supports artist performance fees and commissions totaling $448,650 to 157 theatres, theatre-makers, and dance-makers as part of its free public programming. Examples include the new Millennium Park theatre series, a new Millennium Park theatre-themed public art activation, theatre exhibitions and special events at the Chicago Cultural Center, theatre performances at the Taste of Chicago, and dance performances and lessons offered as part of the Chicago SummerDance series.

Examples of the organizations supported through performance fees and commissions include Aguijón Theater Company, Barrel of Monkeys, CircEsteem, Chicago Dance Crash, Chicago Full Moon Jam Productions, Collaboraction Theatre Company, Emerald City Theatre, eta Creative Arts Foundation and Free Street Theater (Millennium Park Theatre Residencies, presented in partnership with the Bayless Family Foundation).

The first half of 2019 has been a busy one for DCASE and the League of Chicago Theatres, including the launch of a new theatre asset mapping project aimed at bolstering theatre on the South, Southwest and West Sides. Other initiatives include a major advertising campaign and global media events with Choose Chicago, and theatre-themed cultural programming at Millennium Park (including the Film Series programmed in collaboration with theatres), the Chicago Cultural Center, and the Chicago Riverwalk (including Art on theMART and lantern processions). DCASE and the League of Chicago Theatres have also partnered with the Chicago Park District for “Night Out in the Park” for more than 200 free performances from 40 theatres in all 77 of Chicago’s community areas. Over 100 arts industry volunteers serving on committees to advance this important initiative.

Earlier this year, DCASE and the League of Chicago Theatres announced significant foundation support for the Year of Chicago Theatre from BMO Harris Bank, Bayless Family Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Illinois Arts Council Agency, The Joyce Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation Endowment at Millennium Park Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Millennium Park Foundation, Prince Charitable Trusts, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Promotional and programming support for the Year of Chicago Theatre is provided by Art on theMART, Chicago Loop Alliance, Choose Chicago, FCB Chicago, HMS Media, Illinois Restaurant Association, LUMA8, The Magnificent Mile Association, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and others—plus many City departments and sister agencies including the Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Library, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Transit Authority and the Department of Aviation.

For more information about the Year of Chicago Theatre, visit ChicagoPlays.com and join the conversation on Social Media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) @ChicagoDCASE and @ChicagoPlays (#2019isYOCT #ChiTheatre).



2019 Year of Chicago Theatre:
The City of Chicago and the League of Chicago Theatres have designated 2019 as the ‘Year of Chicago Theatre.’ This citywide, year-long focus on theatre is the first of its kind in the U.S. The initiative includes performances and special events for the public at hundreds of cultural venues, theaters, parks and neighborhood locations throughout the city. The City of Chicago and its partners will also launch a marketing campaign; provide additional financial grants to theatre projects; encourage dialog around inclusion and equity; and call on civic, philanthropic, arts and business leaders to support the theatre community. To truly fall in love with Chicago, you must go to our theatres - where the city bares its fearless soul. From Broadway musicals to storefront plays and improv, there’s a seat waiting for you at one of our 250+ theatres. Book your next show today at ChicagoPlays.com.

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events:
The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is dedicated to enriching Chicago’s artistic vitality and cultural vibrancy. This includes fostering the development of Chicago’s non-profit arts sector, independent working artists and for-profit arts businesses; providing a framework to guide the City’s future cultural and economic growth, via the 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan; marketing the City’s cultural assets to a worldwide audience; and presenting high-quality, free and affordable cultural programs for residents and visitors.

CHICAGO SUMMER 2019 THEATER HIGHLIGHTS

Celebrating 2019 as the Year of Chicago Theatre, Chicago will continue to produce some of the most exciting work in the country this summer. Offerings from the city’s more than 250 producing theaters feature everything from the latest musicals to highly anticipated world premieres. 

For a comprehensive list of Chicago productions including a Summer Theatre Guide, visit the League of Chicago website, ChicagoPlays.com. Half-price tickets are available at HotTix.org or at the two Hot Tix half-price ticket locations: across from the Chicago Cultural Center at Expo72 (72 E. Randolph) and Block Thirty Seven, Shops at 108 N. State. Hot Tix offers half-price tickets for the current week and some performances in advance.

“As we approach the halfway point of the Year of Chicago Theatre, I encourage every Chicagoan and visitor to attend a production by one of our 250 theater companies. This summer, there is a wide range of offerings, including an impressive number of musicals and world premieres. Simply, there is something for everyone,” notes Deb Clapp, Executive Director of the League of Chicago Theatres.




The following is a selection of notable work playing in Chicago throughout the summer:


New works and adaptations include:

Lookingglass Theatre presents a new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Mary Shelley’s unsettling story crackles to life as Victor Frankenstein must contend with his unholy creation. From the brain of Lookingglass Ensemble Member David Catlin comes a new, visceral adaptation. Through Aug 4, 2019.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company premieres Ms. Blakk for President. See award winning playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney as Joan Jett Blakk, America’s first black drag queen presidential candidate. Joan’s story begins in Chicago; it’s 1992 and, with the AIDS crisis at its height, Joan and the newly formed Queer Nation Chicago have big goals in mind. Through July 14, 2019.

Strawdog Theatre Company presents Take Me, a world premiere musical based on a true story. When her husband lapses into a coma, Shelly finds direction from voices she believes are aliens who instruct her to move to Roswell, NM and build an amusement park in their honor before awaiting further instruction. Through June 22, 2019.

Theater Oobleck presents the world premiere of It Is Magic at the Chopin Theatre. A mashup of Macbeth and The Three Little Pigs, It Is Magic is a sorrowful and hilarious meditation on the deep, ancient evil at the heart of the community theater audition process and an investigation into the mysteries of theatre-making itself. Through June 29, 2019.

Musicals include:

Come From Away plays at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. The remarkable true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them. On 9/11, the world stopped. On 9/12, their stories moved us all. Runs July 30 - Aug 18, 2019.

Goodman Theatre presents the classic American musical The Music Man about the charming and charismatic con man Harold Hill who assumes he can easily fleece the citizens of staid River City, Iowa with the grand promise of a marching band. But the smooth-talking swindler can’t tell a trombone from a treble clef—and Marian, the local librarian, knows it. Directed by Mary Zimmerman. Runs June 29 - Aug 4, 2019.

The wives of Henry VIII join forces for an electrifying pop-concert spectacle SIX playing at The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The queens take the mic to reclaim their identities out of the shadow of their infamous spouse —remixing 500 years of historical heartbreak into an exuberant celebration of 21st-century female empowerment. Through June 30, 2019.

Teatro Vista and Collaboraction bring back the hit La Havana Madrid at The Den Theatre. La Havana Madrid is an immersive theatre experience, complete with live music, based on the true story of a 1960's Chicago nightclub. It also shares how and why Latinos originally migrated to the shores of Lake Michigan, only to be pushed further west – away from the lake – by the forces of gentrification and racism. Through June 22, 2019.

Marriott Theatre premieres Darling Grenadine about Harry, a charming songwriter whose fanciful view of the world rivals the Technicolor of any MGM classic, as he floats through the kind of Manhattan life that dreams are made of. He suddenly finds himself confronted with the idea that a dream may be exactly what it is. And reality isn't nearly as beautiful. Runs June 26 - Aug 18, 2019.

Notable comedies include:

Drunk Shakespeare plays in a hidden speakeasy located behind The Chicago Theatre. Hilarity and mayhem ensue while the four sober actors try to keep the script on track. Each show is different depending on who is drinking... and what they’re drinking! 21+ only. Open Run.

The Infinite Wrench continues at The Neo-Futurarium with a mechanism that unleashes a barrage of two-minute plays for a live audience. Each play offers something different — funny, profound, elegant, disgusting, topical, irrelevant, terrifying, or put to song. Open Run.

Grinning from Fear to Fear runs at The Second City e.t.c. From psycho killers to big pharma, coming out to your family to coming undone in your nightmares, The Second City's fearless force of comedy commandos takes on everything that makes us all unfalteringly unique. Open Run.

Dramatic works include:

Something Clean opens in a co-production with Sideshow Theatre and Rivendell Theatre at Victory Gardens Theater. This breathtaking new drama follows one woman’s struggle to make sense of her own grief, intimacy, culpability, and consent. Runs June 16 - July 21, 2019.

Windy City Playhouse’s The Recommendation opens presented in an immersive style, as audiences are invited to (literally) walk a mile in these young men's shoes. This psychological thriller follows two friends through the trials and tribulations of life and tests just how far they will go to get what they want. Runs July 2 - Sept 22, 2019.

Definition Theatre premieres Ethiopianamerica. If the American dream is a privilege, not a right, then Girma and Elizabeth Kifle have truly earned it. After emigrating from Ethiopia to the United States with nothing, the couple is poised to send their eldest son to college. But the ghosts of the life they left in Ethiopia threaten to destroy their American dream before it starts, and the Kifle sons reckon with being American in Ethiopian bodies. Through June 9, 2019.


Other notable works include:

Chicago Shakespeare Theater continues one of our city’s favorite summer traditions! Now in its eighth year, the FREE FOR ALL Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks tour heads out to neighborhood parks across the north, west, and south sides of the city with a 75-minute abridged production of Shakespeare’s hilarious The Comedy of Errors for families and neighbors of all ages. Runs July 18 – August 18, 2019.

Teatro ZinZanni and Broadway In Chicago open Love, Chaos, and Dinner at Spiegeltent ZaZou in the Cambria Hotel. Enter a realm where reality and dreams converge — an experience unlike any other! Teatro ZinZanni is a whirlwind of international cirque, comedy, and cabaret served with a multi-course feast. Begins July 18, 2019.

Cirque du Soleil’s VOLTA plays at Soldier Field. A captivating voyage of discovery that showcases never-before seen under the Big Top acrobatics in a visually striking world. Through July 6, 2019.

Physical Theater Festival Chicago plays at Stage 773 featuring nine whirlwind days of physical theatre programming including four shows from around the world, a hometown show, workshops with international guest artists, and a Scratch Night featuring new short works from local performers. Runs May 31 - June 8, 2019.

About Chicago Theatre
Chicago theatre is the leader in the U.S. with more than 250 theaters throughout Chicagoland, comprising a rich and varied community ranging from storefront, non-union theaters to the most renowned resident theaters in the country, including 5 which have been honored with Regional Tony Awards, and the largest touring Broadway organization in the nation. Chicago’s theatres serve 5 million audience members annually and have a combined budget of more than $250 million. Chicago produces and/or presents more world premieres annually than any other city in the nation. Last year alone Chicago theatre companies produced more than 100 world premiere productions and adaptations. Each year Chicago theatres send new work to resident theaters across the country, to Broadway, and around the world. 

About 2019 Year of Chicago Theatre
The Year of Chicago Theatre is presented by The City of Chicago and the League of Chicago Theatres. To truly fall in love with Chicago, you must go to our theatres. This is where the city bares its fearless soul. Home to a community of creators, risk-takers, and big hearts, Chicago theatre is a hotbed for exciting new work and hundreds of world premieres every year. From Broadway musicals to storefront plays and improv, there’s always a seat waiting for you at one of our 200+ theatres. Learn More: https://chicagoplays.com/year-of-chicago-theatre/


The League of Chicago Theatres’ Mission Statement
Theatre is essential to the life of a great city and to its citizens. The League of Chicago Theatres is an alliance of theatres, which leverages its collective strength to support, promote and advocate for Chicago’s theatre industry. Through our work, we ensure that theatre continues to thrive in our city.

For a comprehensive list of Chicago productions, visit the League of Chicago Theatres website,  ChicagoPlays.com. Half-price tickets to the current week’s performances as well as future performances are available at HotTix.org and at the two Hot Tix half-price ticket locations: across from the Chicago Cultural Center at Expo72 (72 E. Randolph) and Block Thirty Seven (108 N. State). 

FREE Chicago Theatre: An Extraordinary Rendition Tribute To Chicago-based Goat Island at Chicago Cultural Center Through June 23, 2019

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

Exhibition Opening

World Premiere Performance - 

An Extraordinary Rendition

hancock & kelly (Richard Hancock and Traci Kelly, United Kingdom, now based in Germany)

An Extraordinary Rendition is conceived as a response to Goat Island’s first performance, Soldier, Child, Tortured Man (1986), and explores notions of systemic violence through varied references to militarization, spectacle, fraternity hazing rituals, and abstracted cheerleader routines.

Strobe lighting effects will be used during this performance

Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.

Admission is free and open to the public

Opening this Saturday and running 

March 30th-June 23, 2019

About Goat Island

Throughout the 23 years of its existence (1986–2009), the Chicago-based Goat Island contributed to the conception of nine major performance works, accompanied by publications, film and video projects, workshops, summer schools, lectures and symposia, inventing a complex institution bigger than the individual works. Freed from prescribed narrative and dialog, the work of Goat Island was built slowly in a creative process informed by repetition, chance and individual perception. The company was known for its sustained collaborative production approaches with work developed over multiple years by Goat Island Members Karen Christopher, Joan Dickinson, Matthew Goulish, Lin Hixson, Greg McCain, Tim McCain, Mark Jeffery, Bryan Saner and Litó Walkey. Their shared activations continue to influence generations of artists, theatre makers, cultural theorists, social philosophers and teachers.

In conjunction with the city's Year of Chicago Theatre, nine national and international performance groups and artists have been commissioned to develop and present new work, each inspired by one of Goat Island's original performances. A tenth performance created from fragments of the nine new responses will be presented in June during a week of concluding events.

All exhibitions and performances, including goat island archive–we have discovered the performance by making it, at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., are presented by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). 

Building hours are Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Saturday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; closed holidays. Admission is FREE. For information, visit chicagoculturalcenter.org, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @ChiCulturCenter.