Curtain Call Chicago - November 2, 2026

Stephanie Alison Walker’s wickedly funny new comedy, where a circle of suburban mothers takes on the school board to ban “controversial” books from their children’s library—armed with pickleball paddles, hard kombucha, and unwavering certainty. But as the campaign gains momentum, old friendships fray, private fears surface, and the fight over what belongs on the shelves becomes a fight over who gets to control the story.

Featuring Katrina Lenk, Caroline Neff, Wendy Mateo, Sadieh Rifai, and David Darrow, this is a sharp, compassionate satire about censorship, community, and the dangerous comfort of believing you’re on the right side.

Photo by : Tom Kotulski

Curtain Call Chicago - October 28, 2026

Kokandy Productions uses musical theater to tell complex, challenging stories. Scot Kokandy is the co-founder and executive producer of Kokandy Productions established in 2012 which has brought many successful productions of some of the best musical theater around. From Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park and Into the Woods, to American Psycho, Hair and Jekyll & Hyde, every production an amazing use of storefront and often intimate space to create an unforgettable evening of theater. From its beginnings to how the productions are selected and created, Scot is candid and interesting in this captivating conversation for anyone who loves Chicago theater and certainly for anyone who performs on a Chicago stage.

Curtain Call Chicago - October 14, 2026 

Never Mind the Happy is Marc Shaiman’s candid, witty memoir about a life in music, movies, theater and show business. It follows his journey from a young theater kid to an award-winning composer and lyricist, with stories about Broadway, Hollywood, major collaborations, and the personal highs and heartbreaks that shaped his career.

The book mixes sharp humor with genuine reflection, making it feel like part insider showbiz tale and part personal portrait of a creative life. It’s especially rich with his experiences with legends including Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand and so many more! These are the stories that define Shaiman’s world, from stage to screen.

Curtain Call Chicago - October 16, 2026

A Strange Loop follows Usher,(played by Eddie Weaver) a Black, queer Broadway usher struggling to write a musical about a Black, queer Broadway usher struggling to write a musical. Michael R. Jackson’s Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning work blends biting humor and raw emotion as Usher confronts his intrusive thoughts, family expectations and search for self-acceptance. Directed by Mikael Burke, the Chicago premiere is a co-production of Raven Theatre and About Face Theatre, running at Raven through December 13th.

Curtain Call Chicago - October 20, 2026

Remy Bumppo Theatre Company presents Dominique Morisseau’s Mud Row at Theater Wit through November 15. Directed by Malkia Stampley, this moving, often funny family drama follows two generations of sisters connected by a home in a historically Black neighborhood in West Chester, Pennsylvania. When Regine inherits her grandmother’s house, she and her estranged sister, Toshi, must confront the painful history between them. Featuring Ayanna Bria Bakari as Regine and Tiffany Renee Johnson as Toshi, the production explores ambition, belonging and the complicated inheritance of family love.

Curtain Call Chicago - October 9, 2026

Erika Sheffer’s Vladimir follows an independent Russian journalist whose pursuit of a dangerous story puts her convictions—and the safety of those around her—to the test. This timely drama explores the price of truth, the pressures of authoritarianism, and the personal sacrifices required to resist. Shattered Globe Theatre presents the Midwest premiere at Theater Wit, directed by Lou Contey thru November 14th.

Curtain Call Chicago - August 31, 2026 

Sunday in the Park with George is a work by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s presented by Kokandy Productions and presented in the intimate downstairs space of the Chopin Theatre.

The musical is inspired by Georges Seurat’s pointillist painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. In 1884 Paris, the exacting, emotionally remote painter George struggles to complete his ambitious canvas while his lover and model, Dot, longs for a fuller life and greater connection. Their relationship frays as George gives priority to his art.

A century later, George’s descendant—also an artist named George—faces a similar conflict between creative innovation and human intimacy. As he prepares a high-tech artwork inspired by Seurat’s painting, he confronts artistic doubt, family legacy, and the question of what artists owe to the people who love them. 

Curtain Call Chicago - September 25, 2026

The Last Word is Declan Grogan’s monthly IO Theater show where sharp comedy, spontaneous ideas, four unique beverages and the thrill of live performance converge. Catch it only on the last Friday of each month—because some things are worth saving for the final say.

Curtain Call Chicago - September 9, 2026 

Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Puzzles and Games of the Broadway Legend by Barry Joseph is a biography-meets-puzzle anthology that explores Stephen Sondheim’s lesser-known lifelong passion for designing and solving intricate games, arguing that puzzles were a core way he made sense of the world—“making order out of chaos,” as Sondheim himself put it. Drawing on more than eighty years of Sondheim’s activities, the book presents extremely rare, never-before-seen puzzles, treasure hunts, parlor games, board games, and crossword designs, alongside original interviews with celebrity friends and collaborators who played his games and analysis from puzzle designers and theater professionals. Beyond telling the story, it invites readers to try solving Sondheim-style puzzles and adapt his games for their own use, offering a fresh angle on his creative process for fans of his shows and useful anecdotes for interviews or features that go beyond standard musical-theater biographies.

Curtain Call Chicago - September 7, 2026

SPECIAL PROMO: TICKETS FOR $29 ALL-IN, THRU NOV 15TH WITH CODE MDTRM

Vape! The Grease Parody is a Gen Z–inflected, 90-minute spoof of the 1978 film-musical Grease, currently running at Chicago’s Apollo Theater (2550 N. Lincoln Ave.) through January 3, 2027. Produced by Sketchworks Comedy with a mostly Chicago cast, the show reimagines Rydell High’s romances, rivalries, and hallway politics through a 2026 lens—swapping cigarettes for vapes, updating slang and social-media culture, and poking fun at the original’s iconic moments and innuendos.

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 - September 21, 2026

Kowalski is Gregg Ostrin’s new play imagining the fateful 1947 Provincetown encounter between Tennessee Williams and a young Marlon Brando. As Williams searches for the actor who can bring Stanley Kowalski to life in A Streetcar Named Desire, the drama blends history and theatrical invention to explore ambition, desire, artistry, and the birth of an American classic. It stars Johnny Galecki as Williams and Jacob Moscovitz as Brando.