Curtain Call Chicago - June 15, 2026

Curtain Call Chicago - July 1, 2026 

Catch as Catch Can is a sharp, inventive family drama by Mia Chung about two blue-collar New England families whose lives are shaken when a prodigal son comes home. Using three veteran actors to play six roles and directed by Amy Morton, the play explores identity, race, gender, and the pressures of family expectation.

Joining the conversation is the brilliant cast:  Gary Cole (Brady Bunch Movies, Office Space and NCIS who returns to Steppenwolf after a 25 year absence), Audrey Francis (Co-Artistic Director of Steppenwolf) and Tim Hopper (longtime Steppenwolf ensemble member). Incredible insight into the production…one you do NOT want to miss….

Curtain Call Chicago - July 6, 2026

Suffs is a stirring historical musical by Shaina Taub about the women’s suffrage movement in the United States, focusing on the activists who fought for the right to vote which is now the 19th Amendment. It focuses on activists like Alice Paul as they fight, disagree and push for voting rights.  It follows the movement’s internal tensions, political strategy, and the personal sacrifices behind the march toward the 19th Amendment.

Curtain Call Chicago - July 1, 2026

Iceboy! at Goodman Theatre is a world-premiere musical comedy set in 1938 New York, where Broadway star Vera Vimm adopts a frozen Neanderthal and accidentally sparks a wildly funny chain of events involving Eugene O’Neill and The Iceman Cometh. It features Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman and is described by Goodman as a mischievous, high-energy show about ambition, family, and theatrical history gone gloriously off the rails.

Curtain Call Chicago - May 27, 2026 

Champions of Magic is a high-energy touring illusion show that blends grand-scale magic, close-up tricks, mentalism, escapes, and theatrical spectacle into one family-friendly production. It features original illusions, interactive moments, and a big stage-show feel with humor and dramatic effects. 

The core stars are Young & Strange (Richard Young and Sam Strange), a duo who began performing together as children and are known for inventive large-scale illusions. The cast also includes Fernando Velasco, an illusionist and escapologist known for daring escapes, and Liberty Larsen, a fourth-generation magician from the renowned creators of the Magic Castle, Genii Magazine, and the Academy of Magical Arts. She is known for blending theatrical magic with music and original performance style.

Curtain Call Chicago - June 24, 2026

Theo Ubique’s Damn Yankees is a high-energy revival of the Tony Award-winning musical, in which a devoted baseball fan makes a devilish deal to help the Washington Senators beat the Yankees. It blends romance, comedy, and classic songs like “Heart” and “Whatever Lola Wants” into a playful, fast-moving night at the theater.  Joining in the conversation are: Luke Nowakowski (Joe Boyd), Tommy Thurston (Mr. Applegate) and Jenny Couch (Lola). A thoughtful and deep conversation about the meaning of the show. 

Curtain Call Chicago - June 27, 2026

Reality Detox: The Improv Experience is a high-energy Second City show built fresh each night, blending fast-paced improv with a few sketch surprises. It’s funny, unpredictable, and shaped by the audience and the moment, making each performance feel one of a kind.

Curtain Call Chicago - June 22, 2026

Titanic: The Virtual Experience at Germania Place in Chicago is an immersive virtual reality adventure that transports guests from the Titanic’s wreckage deep in the Atlantic to the ship’s opulent decks in 1912, with interactive recreations of its most famous spaces.

Curtain Call Chicago - June 10, 2026

David Byrne’s Theater of the Mind is an intimate, immersive theatrical experience that blends neuroscience experiments with storytelling to explore how we perceive reality, form memories, and understand identity. Guided in small groups through a series of sensory rooms, audience members see, hear, taste, and physically move through a series of experiences set up thru story that reveal how unreliable their own senses can be. The show becomes a kind of live, mind-bending science experiment inside the theater.  Joining in the conversation are two actors who play David: James Earl Jones, II and Elizabeth Laidlaw.

Curtain Call Chicago - April 29, 2026

Steppenwolf Theatre is one of Chicago’s most celebrated theater companies, known for powerful, innovative productions and a world-class ensemble of actors, directors, and playwrights. Founded in 1974, it has helped shape American theater with acclaimed works on its Lincoln Park stages. Now it celebrates its 50th Season with a look its’ final shows of the season, and a description of how the 51st season was selected. The interview is a conversation with its co-artistic directors Audrey Francis and Glenn Davis.

Curtain Call Chicago - June 3, 2026

Jerry Lewis is an international legend in the world of film and television comedy. He was an actor, writer, producer, director and yet his life was quite complicated with many rumors emerging over the years about various parts of his life including his work for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and his professional relationship with Dean Martin, the other half of one of the most famous comedy teams ever: Martin and Lewis.

Finally, the truth is told through the memories shared by his son, Christopher. Chris says that the examples his Dad set for him and his viewers were the building blocks for laughter as a part of everyday life with a focus on helping people in need which became a critical part of his life’s mission.

Curtain Call Chicago - June 17, 2026

Laurel and Hardy: After the Laughter is a deeply researched book that chronicles the final years of comedy legends Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, from their curtailed 1954 British tour through Hardy’s death in 1957 and Laurel’s quiet retirement in Santa Monica living at the Oceana. Drawing on letters, news reports, private documents, and rare photographs, it offers an intimate look at their declining health, abandoned plans for a comeback and Laurel’s reflective later life as he watched a new generation discover “Stan & Ollie” on television. This interview is of co-author Nico Cartenstildt, also the author of a previous book on the legendary comedy team.

Curtain Call Chicago - May 11, 2026

Octet is a play by Dave Malloy about eight strangers in a church basement who gather for an internet addiction support group and confront the ways technology shapes their lives. It blends music, humor, and unease into a sharp look at modern loneliness and connection.