While many theatres in Chicago are temporarily dark, there’s still plenty to see online! Check out the hundreds of online performances, classes, podcasts, and workshops that Chicago theatres have to offer by searching online with Hot Tix, all from your living room.
This month, a reimagined Chicago Theatre Week returns February 25 – March 7, 2021! Take time to learn about a new theatre, watch a virtual performance, and support Chicago’s vibrant theatre community. See a full list of participating theatres.
Where Did We Sit On The Bus?
Virtual performance
Victory Gardens Theater
Streaming now – March 7
Originally recorded during its performance run in spring 2017 as part of VG’s Up Close and Personal Series, Where Did We Sit on the Bus? is an electric one-man show pulsing with Latin rhythms, rap, hip-hop, spoken word, and live looping. During a third grade lesson on the Civil Rights movement and Rosa Parks, a Latino boy raises his hand to ask, “where did we sit on the bus?” and his teacher can’t answer the question. This thrilling autobiographical production from Jeff Award-winner Brian Quijada examines what it means to be Latino through the eyes of a child, turned teenager, turned adult. Visit HotTix.org for more information!
Tokens of Promise
Virtual play reading
Goodman Theatre
Streaming March 20
There’s only one open “diversity” analyst position at this start-up. And the minorities must duke it out to access the sweet privilege of employment. A wicked satire about the modern-day job search and scarcity mentality, Ada A.’s new play exposes the inherent competition in employment that leads us to forsake our humanity out of necessity and survival. Visit HotTix.org for more information!
Taking Up Serpents
Virtual performance
Chicago Opera Theater
Streaming Feb. 27 – March 19
Kayla’s father presides over an isolated community of snake handlers – a sect of Pentecostals who willingly take up venomous snakes to prove themselves before God. When ritual ends in tragedy, Kayla is compelled to return to the family she left behind, reckon with her past, and take control of her future. The Midwest premiere of Taking Up Serpents features music by Kamala Sankaram and libretto by Jerre Dye. Visit HotTix.org for more information!
The Second City’s Happy Hour
Virtual performance
The Second City
Streaming now – March 25
The Second City’s Happy Hour features Second City’s stellar talent of today shaken up with our fabulously funny alumni streaming weekly laughs right into your own personal quarantainment zone! It’s time to get a little happier. Join the world-famous comedy pros from The Second City two Thursdays every month at 7 p.m. CST. Visit HotTix.org for more information!
An Iliad
Virtual performance
Court Theatre
Streaming March 3 – 31
An Iliad showcases the power of classic theatre to speak to our current moment. Interrogate how rage and division reverberate throughout civilization in this streaming release of our limited-engagement, site-specific production of An Iliad at the Oriental Institute. This professionally captured, multi-camera stream of the play allows you to experience this one-of-a-kind production at home. Visit HotTix.org for more information!
Mountain Goat Mountain
Virtual performance
Filament Theatre
Streaming now – March 21
Using just a bedsheet, a phone or computer, pencils and a piece of paper, Mountain Goat Mountain immerses families in a 45-minute theatrical experience. Children and families are carried along by a narrative soundscape, and invited to bring their own creativity and imagination to the performance. Visit HotTix.org for more information!
Moby Dick In The Dark
Audio play
Theatre In The Dark
Streaming March 11 – April 10
The three famous words opening Herman Melville’s infamous American novel likewise open Theatre in the Dark’s thrillingly experimental Moby Dick In The Dark live online audio theatre created from Chicago’s most innovative theatre company. Actors broadcast live across 5,500 miles to audiences around the world as Theatre in the Dark cooks with signature style the story of young Ishmael’s three-year voyage across the earth’s oceans in pursuit of Captain Ahab’s fiery revenge for an elusive and vengeful sperm whale named Moby Dick. Visit HotTix.org for more information!
Tomás and the Library Lady
Virtual performance
Northwestern University’s Wirtz Center for Performing Arts
Streaming now – March 26
Tomás and the Library Lady, directed by MFA Directing student Ismael Lara, Jr., tells the true story of a nine-year-old Tomás Rivera, the son of Mexican migrant workers who move from Texas to Iowa to work in corn fields in the summer of 1945. Tomás finds the library, where he bonds with the librarian. Adapted for the stage by José Cruz Gonzáles from the children’s book of the same title, written by El Paso born and UTEP graduate Pat Mora, Tomás takes his education into his own hands and develops a lifetime love of reading and writing. Visit HotTix.org for more information!
How Do We Navigate Space?
Virtual performance
Strawdog Theatre Company
Streaming March 15 – April 18
How Do We Navigate Space? is an original hybrid of film and theatre. This work explores the experiences of Chicagoans navigating through our current, drastically changed world. The piece is inspired by surveys submitted by Chicago residents sharing their experiences during 2020. Combining movement, music, visual art, and the voices of Chicagoans, the film will express a non-linear story of our diverse and complex city in the search for connection. Visit HotTix.org for more information!
Miss Holmes
Audio play
Lifeline Theatre
Streaming March 12 – May 2
Miss Sherlock Holmes, possessor of one of the greatest deductive minds of her generation, finds herself regularly incarcerated for behaviors deemed abnormal in a “respectable” lady. Miss Dorothy Watson struggles to make a difference at the only hospital in England that will hire female doctors. These unconventional women, trapped in an era that refuses to accept them, must forge a bond of trust and work together to uncover the secrets surrounding a corrupt police investigator whose wives have a habit of turning up dead. Join the original Lifeline cast in this thrilling murder mystery that re-introduces familiar characters from the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in an immersive, six-episode audio experience. Visit HotTix.org for more information!
Visit ChicagoPlays.com to find other exciting productions and classes online, and find insider guides to all things performing arts and the Chicago theatre scene.