Theater

The cast's initial attraction to the play was the sharp, witty, often hilarious dialogue of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.

Joliet's The Rialto Square Theatre reopened Tuesday night to the delight of more than 1,200 people who came out for the performance by Vitamin String Quartet. The theater was closed for 4 months.

Participants will learn from Emily Kristen Morris, a New York City-based actor, singer, dancer and certified vocal instructor, who is currently starring as Elsa in “Frozen” at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora.

An intimate, fast-paced version of the Shakespeare tragedy with live percussion promises to scare up a chilling entertainment for audiences.

Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois will host a Trunk or Treat on Sunday at Nikos Catering in Joliet.

The $1.5 million restoration project will begin this month and be completed in March 2025.

Returning to the stage in mid-November, the community theater troupe has an exciting season ahead at the newly revitalized Woodstock Opera House.

The popular musical will now run through June 2025 at the intimate downtown Aurora theatre.

An Ira Levin thriller launches the 61st season for Village Theatre Guild, featuring “Dr. Cook’s Garden” weekends through Nov. 9.

This October, prepare for a thrilling theatrical experience as Improv Playhouse presents “Dracula,” the iconic Bram Stoker novel brought to life as a staged radio drama using the original 1938 Orson Welles script.

Janus Theatre Company stages dramedy that takes creative liberties with famous real-life women during the French Revolution.

The State Ballet Theatre Ukraine presents “The Sleeping Beauty” Wednesday, Nov. 13 at the Rialto Square Theatre in downtown Joliet.

Stage Coach Players are celebrating the Halloween season with a production of “Blithe Spirit,” which opens Oct. 24 and runs for two weekends.

The Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park Theatre in Joliet and Critical Grind Board Game Café in Shorewood are offering mystery theater events in October.

Pre-movie activities at the Harry Potter Movie Event at the ROXY Lockport include Sorting Hat house placement, Olivander’s Pop-up Shoppe and magic classes in herbology, divination and wand mechanics.

With quick humor and clever dialogue, this show follows two bachelors and their pursuit of love with a modern twist. This show honors the act of being earnest in a world that rewards the opposite behavior.

After closing its doors in May to move locations, Dixon Stage Left welcomed an award-winning Broadway actor as its new artistic director – something Executive Director Scott Fattizzi says “is one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities in the theater world.”

Tickets are on sale now for “Menopause The Musical 2: Cruising Through The Change” at the Rialto Square Theatre in downtown Joliet on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

Dixon Stage Left continues renovations of a building purchased to be their new home.

Watch as world-class ice skaters and acrobats claim their frozen playground with speed and grace, challenging the laws of gravity with daring acrobatics.

Woodlawn Arts Academy will present its fall musical theater production, Disney-Pixar’s “Finding Nemo Kids," at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11; 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13, at Centennial Auditorium at Sterling High School.

Northern Illinois is home to several incredible professional theaters and the fall marks the start of the 2024-25 season of shows that include plays, musicals and comedy.

“It’s like if you defeated a ferocious monster in front of a live crowd”: Child performers with disabilities paired with peer mentors who help them audition, learn lines for upcoming Sterling performances of "Willy Wonka Jr."

This play for adults boasts a talented cast of five, but also a foul-mouthed sock puppet – or should one say shock puppet? – with a mind of its own.

When the plot kicks into high gear, the performances, illusions and magic will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Tickets are now on sale for Mannheim Steamroller Christmas at the Rialto Square Theatre in downtown Joliet on Thursday, Nov. 14.

Penguin Project of the Sauk Valley is gearing up for its next production, "Willy Wonka Jr." The group will perform Nov. 8-10 at Centennial Auditorium in Sterling.

A longtime McAninch Arts Center resident, Buffalo Theatre Ensemble had been a suburban mainstay for 26 years.

The Playnfield Players will perform “A Christmas Carol” Dec 20, Dec. 21 and Dec. 22 at Plainfield High School – Central Campus, 24120 Fort Beggs Drive Plainfield.

“Inherit the Wind” is on stage at Goodman Theatre in Chicago, with star power including Harry Lennix of television’s “The Blacklist.”

The adult musical comedy – with puppets – can be outrageous, it can be real, as well as truly unique and astonishing. A production worth seeing.

PM&L Theatre is excited to announce auditions for “A Christmas Carol,” and they want you to join them on this journey into the heartwarming world of Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim and the Ghosts of Christmas.

The Polo Area Community Theatre will perform its rendition of “James and the Giant Peach” at 7 p.m. Sept. 20, 21 and 27; and at 2 p.m. Sept. 22 and 28 at the Polo Town Hall. The show revolves around orphan James, played by Mady Weilacher, who is given a bag containing magical items that have the power to grow things to colossal size.

Elgin Theatre Company has a captivating production for its 73rd opener – both hilarious and thought-provoking in a fictionalized account of the pressured trio of talents reworking the screenplay for "Gone With The Wind."

The Polo Area Community Theatre is set to perform a musical adaption of Roald Dahl’s “James and the Giant Peach.”

The theater will present “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Titanic the Musical,” “Always Something There…,” “Catch Me If You Can” and “Million Dollar Quartet Christmas.”

The production will be in a Radio Studio format, so no memorization will be involved. Actors of all ages are needed.

The play is a clever and riveting portrayal of Queen Elizabeth’s relationships with her prime ministers during her long reign.

Steven Marking plays Will Dilg in an inspiring one-man stage production. After suffering from the drowning death of his only son in the early 1920s, Dilg rose from the depths of depression to lead a national crusade by forming the Izaak Walton League.

The theater, projected to cost $125 million to build, would sit on city-owned property at New York and Lake streets.

Engle Lane Theater in Streator is getting ready to host a set of performances for the comedy play “Four Old Broads.” The show starts with a matinee at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8, and continues with shows at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10, through Friday, Sept. 13.

“Cold Case Live” is hosted by retired NCIS Special Agent Joe Kennedy. The international cold case expert has successfully solved hundreds of murders while working with detectives around the world to implement his methodology.

The hit show is the season opener for the Paramount's 13th Broadway Series, whose popularity has turned the venue into the nation's largest musical subscription house.

“The Trail to Oregon!” is a musical parody of the “Oregon Trail” video game series. The show will be performed Sept. 20-22.

In the weeks before the next election, an entertaining tribute to democracy in action awaits at Marriott's production of “1776.”

Dixon Stage Left has announced the launch of its next fundraiser and its first production since moving locations earlier this year – “My Big Fat Italian Wedding Murder.”

The Morris Theatre Guild is holding auditions for children ages seven to 18 to perform Shrek, Jr., a musical.

The group plans a one-year anniversary party featuring established poets' special readings.

Filled with adult humor, a catchy score and puppets, this unique show addresses adult issues while spoofing the memory of educational television shows

The York Theatre in downtown Elmhurst is celebrating 100 years of movies and memories.