Theater
The best theater in Chicago, including play and musical critical reviews
‘Trevor’ is an upbeat, optimistic new musical about getting past junior high
The new musical at Writers Theatre has an eye on bigger stages
Children's theater and family-friendly plays in Chicago
Chicago is a theater town, and stage shows meant for kids and families are as robust as the grown-up offerings. Some companies, like Chicago Children’s Theatre and Emerald City Theatre, dedicate their whole missions to entertaining and educating little ones; others, like Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Lifeline Theatre, make chldren’s theater part of a varied programming mix. With so many options, it’s never to early to get kids invested in the arts.
Latest theater reviews
Trevor
With an optimistic eye and a healthy dose of Diana Ross, a new musical about a gay kid’s coming-of-age shows strong promise
Shockheaded Peter
The cult favorite musical, about naughty children meeting grisly deaths, feels rather lifeless despite fine performances
Megastasis
A single joint derails a young man’s life in Kia Corthron’s fact-heavy but dramatically inert new play
An Octoroon
Young synergist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins deconstructs 19th-century Irish writer Dion Boucicault’s race melodrama to thrilling effect
Latest theater & performance news
Time Out loves
Hir
What you think you know—about gender, family dynamics or Steppenwolf—is up for debate in Taylor Mac’s charming and challenging work
An Octoroon
Young synergist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins deconstructs 19th-century Irish writer Dion Boucicault’s race melodrama to thrilling effect
La Havana Madrid
Sandra Delgado goes digging into Lakeview’s lost Latinx legacy, with charming and edifying results
At the Table
A blazing young ensemble brings its best to the table in this prickly portrait of friends and enmities
Fight City
Power corrupts in Factory Theater’s action-packed dystopian-future tale
Moby Dick
A powerful, thrilling and acrobatic new adaptation that, like Ahab, just can’t quite capture the whale
