Performing Arts
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Elgin fundraiser to honor Risé Jones, welcome Hamilton Wings’ new directorOct 29, 2025 1:14 pm - A fundraiser on Saturday, Nov. 1, will pay tribute to Hamilton Wings’ late director Risé Jones and welcome her successor, Brittany Barber.
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Best bets: Immersive Wondra opens at Woodfield and 312 Comedy Fest returnsOct 28, 2025 4:48 pm - The immersive, nature-centered Wondra opens at Schaumburg’s Woodfield Mall, Rosemont hosts Halloween revelers, the New Philharmonic performs classical music by candlelight in Glen Ellyn and Chicago’s Lyric Opera stages a double bill set in Sicily.
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Things to do Oct. 31 to Nov. 6: Halloween and Dia de Muertos events, the 312 Comedy Festival and moreOct 28, 2025 12:16 pm - Make plans for Halloween events and trick-or-treating throughout the suburbs; Dia de Muertos events in Highland Park, Waukegan and Naperville; the 312 Comedy Fest in Chicago and more.
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Spotlight: ‘Amadeus’ at Steppenwolf, ‘Million Dollar Quartet Christmas’ at MarriottOct 28, 2025 10:10 am - Steppenwolf Theatre revives Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus,” Marriott Theatre jump-starts the holiday theater season with “Million Dollar Quartet Christmas,” and Chicago’s Artistic Home revives Tracy Letts’ “Superior Donuts” this week.
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‘We don’t all have to be the same’: BrightSide Theatre revival of ‘Rocky Horror’ comes at the right timeOct 22, 2025 1:55 pm - BrightSide Theatre artistic director Jeffrey Cass fulfills his longtime ambition to stage the cult classic “The Rocky Horror Show,” a campy 1973 tuner that celebrates living one’s truth and living it fearlessly.
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Best Bets: Halloween events, Frank Caliendo at Paramount, Ailey II at The MACOct 22, 2025 8:10 am - It’s a jam-packed weekend, with Howlin’ at the Moon in Naperville, master impressionist and comedian Frank Caliendo at the Paramount, Sons of the Never Wrong in Evanston and Ailey II at The Mac.
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Shakespeare in the ’burbs: ‘Merchant of Venice’ at Janus Theatre, ‘As You Like It’ at WritersOct 21, 2025 2:37 pm - Janus Theatre concludes its long tenure at the Elgin Art Showcase with a 90-minute adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” and Writers Theatre stages “As You Like It.”
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Things to do Oct. 24-30: Nightmare on Chicago Street, Taste of the Town, Halloween events and moreOct 21, 2025 1:18 pm - Make plans now for Nightmare on Chicago Street in Elgin, Wheeling’s Taste of the Town, the last weekend of Night of 1,000 Jack-o’-Lanterns, Penn and Teller at the Chicago Theatre, Halloween events and trick-or-treating throughout the suburbs and more.
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Stage frights: Halloween shows dominate Chicago-area stagesOct 17, 2025 9:35 am - This Halloween, suburban and Chicago theaters are serving up thrills, chills and chuckles, including tales of mad scientists, drunken vampires, terrorized wives, imperiled puppets and plucky farm animals.
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Talkin’ ’bout ‘Revolution(s)’: Goodman’s galvanizing funk metal tuner ideal for these timesOct 15, 2025 5:05 pm - Goodman Theatre’s assertive, galvanizing “Revolution(s)” by Tom Morello and Zayd Ayers Dohrn is a funk-metal, hip-hop tuner ideal for our time.