PLAYGROUND THEATER
3209 N Halsted St
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 871-3793
Member ensembles serve up improv and original sketch comedy In addition to improv comedy shows, The Playground offers children's programs, improv classes and customized comedy shows for corporations and other groups.
AMERICAN THEATER COMPANY
1909 W Byron St
(773) 929-1031
This hard-working troupe offers down-to-earth dramas about the bedrock reality of blue-collar workers and Midwestern Americans. A Hours: 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday; call to confirm
THE SECOND CITY THEATER
1616 N. Wells St.
312-664-4032
If Chicago is famous for improvisational comedy, The Second City is the ongoing reason. Originally called the Compass Players when the group started at the University of Chicago in 1955, this world-class comedy troupe has become Wells Street's irreplaceable comic institution since 1959. An incubator for celebrities, it's famous for encouraging the talents of Mike Myers, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Ed Asner, Betty Thomas, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, George Wendt, Tim Kazurinsky, Chris Farley, Shelley Long and Alan Arkin; young alumni include Tim Meadows of "Saturday Night Live," Richard Kind and Bonnie Hunt. Hours: Call the box office at (312) 337 - 3992 for schedule.
BLUE MAN GROUP
at the Briar Street Theatre
3133 N. Halsted
Hours: Vary with production, but usually 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 7 and 10 p.m. Friday; 4, 7 and 10 p.m. Saturday; 3 and 6 p.m. Sunday
EUROPEAN REPERTORY COMPANY
2936 N. Southport
773-248-0577
This theater, founded by British director Dale Goulding and Bulgarian theater artist Yasen Pelyankov, specializes in productions of shows by European writers or employing European theater traditions. Often inventive, never dull, its shows have included "The Maid's Tragedy," "Caligula," "The Cherry Orchard" and a long-running double bill of Greek tragedies as interpreted by European writers. (The company's 1995 production of "Agamemnon" ran for more than two years before making way for Howard Barker's provocative "Scenes From an Execution," the story of Artemisa Gentileschi, a Renaissance painter who fought for freedom of expression.)Hours: 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday
STAGE LEFT THEATER
3408 N Sheffield Ave
(773) 883-8830
In its intimate storefront space , Stage Left Theatre has a sturdy reputation for producing venturesome, contemporary drama and building younger audiences. The theater is air conditioned, with good sight lines and acoustics.Hours: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday
LIVE BAIT THEATER
3914 N Clark St
(773) 871-1212
Founded in 1987, this theater produces new works by emerging Chicago playwrights and solo artists, with an emphasis on unusual subject matter and compelling visual components.
IMPROV OLYMPICS
3541 N. Clark Street773/ 880-0199
Founded by Charna Halpern and Del Close, this Wrigleyville comedy
theater features teams of players who create often-elaborate "scripts" from audience suggestions. Bill Murray, who worked with Halpern and Close, wryly calls the ImprovOlympic "the most important group work since they built the Pyramids." At the heart of the work that flourishes here is the Harold, a long-form improvisation that discards sketch comedy in favor of variations on a theme of suggestions. Hours: 8, 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; 8, 10:30 p.m., 12 a.m. Friday and Saturday; 8 p.m. Sunday, 8:30 p.m. Monday.I
ATHENAEUM THEATER
2936 N. Southport Chicago
773-935-6860
A 949-seat proscenium auditorium attached to a Catholic church, this theater (which now includes a studio space) has long served as an outlet for community and professional theater. The current home of Chicago Opera Theater, it also serves as a primary venue for the eclectic fare presented by Performing Arts Chicago and occasionally showcases commercial ventures as well as dance recitals. The studio has been rented to various plucky non-Equity theater companies. The seats are cramped and acoustics poor but sight lines are good.
MERCURY THEATER
3745 N Southport Ave
(773) 325-1700
A nicely renovated space (opened in early 1996 and converted from a 1912 nickelodeon), this comfortable theater offers excellent sight lines and adequate acoustics. Generally, the Mercury features eclectic selections of musical offerings and late-night productions by smaller local theater troupes.
Bailiwick Theater
1229 W. Belmont
773.883.1090
Since its founding in 1982, Bailiwick Repertory has consistently endeavored to achieve the vision of gifted directors in productions that have been as diverse as our audiences. We have also worked hard to remain accessible, affordable, and responsive to our community. With the director as fulcrum of our artistic process, Bailiwick has been recognized with more than 150 Citations, Nominations, and Recommendations from the Jeff Committee for all aspects of production. We have also received more than three-dozen After Dark Awards, several Black Theater Alliance Awards, and the Pride Series has been inducted into the City of Chicago's Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame and been the recipient of the Torch Award from the Human Rights Campaign, the only theatre in the nation to be so honored.
Music Box Theatre
3733 N. Southport Ave.
773-871-6604
Cult, independent, classic and foreign films are shown on a daily basis on the theater's two screens. Along with a reputation for Sing-A-Long and Live Performance theater as well. This art-house theater hasn't changed much since it first opened back in 1929. You'll still see "twinkling stars" and moving cloud formations cast on the ceilings of the two auditoriums, and hear live organ music played in between films on the weekend.
VIC THEATER
3145 N Sheffield Ave
(773) 472-0366
When there's no live music, hit the Brew and View. Singular to all of northern Illinois, the Brew and View is the Vic's alter ego, transforming the theater from music to movies. Three bars are open throughout the films, creating a cinematic experience miles away from the strip-mall multiplex. Movies at Brew and View tend to be second- and third-run, as well as cult and underground favorites. The lubricated crowd will often speak along with the dialogue or even dance (go see 'Grease' there). If you want to quietly concentrate on the movie, this is the wrong place. But if you want to see an old or new favorite for five bucks while drinking quarter beers, this is paradise. Hours: Noon-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday for the Vic box office; 7:30 p.m.-2 a.m. for Brew and View, which is any night with no concert; late-night concert hours vary with shows
A showcase for countless permanent and transient Chicago theater companies, this generically named, three-theater complex, with each space differently configured but containing exactly 148 seats, has hosted more than 225 theater companies since opening its doors in 1977. In the past year, Theatre Building has been host to the Chicago Writers' Bloc New Plays Festival, Famous Door Theatre (producing plays here since 1998), the Chicago SketchFest, Congo Square Theatre Company, Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago and others. Theatre Building also develops original works through the Musical Theatre Writers' Workshop and presentation program, premiering some 95 musicals in Chicago. Excellently maintained, the three theaters are comfortably air-conditioned, with excellent sight lines and adequate acoustics.
CHEMICALLY IMBALANCED COMEDY
1420 W. Irving Park Road
(773) 865.7731
angie@cicomedy.com
The Mission . . . All Things CIC is an umbrella organization, made up of artists from the Chicago area and beyond, dedicated to recruiting, arranging, and providing alternative performance spaces and opportunities for artists to utilize. CIC supports the vision of talented writers, directors, and performers and is committed to assisting in the production of new and previously produced works all in the many styles of comedy.
Comedy Sportz
929 W Belmont
Tickets: 773.549.8080
Lake Shore Theatre
3175 N Broadway
773-472-3492
The Lakeshore Theater’s mission is simplicity itself: To be an artist-driven theater dedicated to comedy as an uncompromising form of expression rather than a simple means to force herds of hapless customers to buy watered-down drinks and scarf down undercooked chicken wings.
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