Winter theater forecast: New, new-to-Chicago plays heat up suburban, city stages
Regional premieres of Broadway’s latest Tony Award-winning shows; national tours; classic dramas by August Strindberg, Henrik Ibsen and William Inge; the return of “Hamilton”; and a rip-roaring backstage farce are among the suburban and Chicago theater highlights this winter.
First the premieres …
“Eureka Day,” Jan. 13-Feb. 22, at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St., Chicago, BroadwayInChicago.com.
Broadway in Chicago and TimeLine Theatre’s co-production marks the Chicago premiere of Jonathan Spector’s 2025 Tony Award-winning satire on progressive attitudes, parenting and public health set in a private school in Berkeley, California, during a mumps outbreak. TimeLine co-founder and artistic director PJ Powers plays the beleaguered principal tasked with handling the crisis.
“Mary Jane,” Jan. 22-Feb. 22, at Northlight Theatre, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, (847) 673-6300 or northlight.org.
Georgette Verdin directs Northlight Theatre’s Chicago premiere of Amy Herzog’s semi-autobiographical play about women as caregivers, centered on a single mom who juggles caring for her special needs child with work and doctor’s visits and the support she receives from other women.
“Stereophonic,” Jan. 27-Feb. 8, at the CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St., Chicago, BroadwayInChicago.com.
Set in 1976, “Stereophonic” — a play-with-music by David Adjmi’ with original songs by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler — chronicles the efforts of an up-and-coming rock band to record their all-important sophomore effort. The Tony Award-winning play examines the shifting dynamics, creative conflicts and romantic entanglements of the band members, who are on the verge of breaking through or breaking up.
“Dear Evan Hansen,” Feb. 4-March 22, at Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora, (630) 896-6666 or ParamountAurora.com.
Director Jessica Fisch makes her Paramount directing debut helming the theater’s Chicago-area premiere of this bittersweet, deeply authentic musical by composer/lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (“La La Land,” “The Greatest Showman”) and writer Steven Levenson. Chicago newcomer Cody Combs plays the titular character, an anxious, isolated high schooler who writes himself self-affirming letters to bolster his self-confidence. One such letter winds up in the hands of troubled classmate Connor, who subsequently takes his own life. A misunderstanding he fails to correct turns Evan into a social media star and a surrogate son of the dead boy’s family.
“The Outsiders,” Feb. 10-22, at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago, BroadwayInChicago.com.
The musical adapted from S.E. Hinton’s seminal novel and Francis Ford Coppola’s film was set to premiere at the Goodman Theatre but was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now comes the first North American tour of the 1967-set, coming-of-age tuner about Ponyboy, best friend Johnny, their wrong-side-of-the-tracks greaser friends and their constant clashes with the more affluent Tulsa, Oklahoma, “socs.” Adam Rapp and Justin Levine wrote the book, and Levine, Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance composed the score for the 2025 Tony Award-winning musical.
“Hamnet,” Feb. 10-March 8, at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave., Chicago, (312) 595-5600 or chicagoshakes.com.
The Royal Shakespeare Company launches its U.S. tour of Lolita Chakrabarti’s stage adaptation of “Hamnet,” Maggie O’Farrell's fictionalized account of the impact the death of 11-year-old Hamnet Shakespeare had on his parents William Shakespeare and Agnes Hathaway. The play centers on the couple confronting their loss and the subsequent masterwork it inspired.
“Pivot,” Feb. 11-March 21, at Rivendell Theatre, 5779 N. Ridge Ave., Chicago, (773) 334-7728 or RivendellTheatre.org.
Rivendell ensemble member Hallie Gordon helms the world premiere of Alex Lubischer’s dark comedy about a young woman whose plans for a big wedding in her small Nebraska town blow up in her face. The cast includes artistic director Tara Mallen and ensemble members Ashley Neal, Keith Kupferer and Glenn Obrero.
“Morning, Noon, and Night,” Feb. 13-March 28, at Shattered Globe Theatre, at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, (773) 975-8150 or sgtheatre.org.
Shattered Globe’s production marks the Midwest premiere of Kirsten Greenidge’s domestic drama about teens, family and connection in a post-pandemic world. AmBer Montgomery directs.
“Two Sisters and a Piano,” Feb. 26-March 29, at Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe, writerstheatre.org.
Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz’s 1997 play unfolds in Havana, Cuba, in 1991 as the Russians are preparing to leave. It centers on sisters — writer Maria and pianist Sofia — who dream of freedom while under house arrest for minor crimes against the communist regime. Orbiting around them is the lieutenant assigned to guard, who is infatuated with Maria’s writing, and a piano tuner obsessed with Sofia. Lisa Portes directs Writers’ Chicago premiere.
Oldies but goodies
Also on tap this winter, a number of classic plays including: August Strindberg’s “The Dance of Death,” Jan. 29-March 22, at Steppenwolf Theatre; Richard Greenberg’s contemporary adaptation of Philip Barry’s “Holiday,” Jan. 31-March 1, at Goodman Theatre; Christopher Shin’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler,” Feb. 5-March 28, at Remy Bumppo; William Inge’s “Come Back, Little Sheba,” Feb. 6-March 22, at American Blues Theater; Strindberg’s “Miss Julie,” Feb. 6-March 8, at Court Theatre; and Caryl Churchill’s “Top Girls,” Feb. 12-March 22, at Raven Theatre.
Last but not least
Metropolis Performing Arts Centre stages “The Play That Goes Wrong,” a ferociously funny farce about an amateur theater company’s disastrous production of a whodunit. It runs Feb. 25-March 22 at 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights. metropolisarts.com.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s boffo bio-tuner “Hamilton” returns for a limited run from March 4-April 26 at the CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St., Chicago. BroadwayInChicago.com.