Court Theatre

Court Theatre Court Theatre is a Tony Award-winning center for classic theater located in the heart of Hyde Park.

Established in 1955, Court Theatre is the professional theatre on campus at the University of Chicago. We are guided by our mission to create innovative productions of classic plays that are thought provoking, character-driven, and thematically enduring. Through main stage productions, audience enrichment programs, and collaborations with the University of Chicago, we re-examine, re-envision, and

renew classic texts that pose enduring and provocative questions that define the human experience. Underlying this mission is our vision of becoming the Center for Classic Theatre, where the arts community looks for leadership in the creation, production and study of classic theatrical works. Court works to fulfill this mission first through the rigorous exploration of dramatic texts, including the African-American canon and musical theatre works; second by expanding the canon of classic theatre through initiatives such as the Barbara E. Franke Commissioning Program for New Classics; and third, by ongoing institutional strategic planning, which currently includes the possibility of an expanded, state-of-the-art facility. In all of its work, Court strives to sustain an artistic environment conducive to deeply creative work. Named “the most consistently excellent theater company in America” by The Wall Street Journal, Court has a national reputation for excellence and innovation. Through five adventurous and compelling main stage productions per season, as well as a wealth of free symposia, post-performance discussions and education programs, it endeavors to make a lasting contribution to American theatre by thoroughly examining and imaginatively re-envisioning classic works to illuminate timeless themes and uncover immediately relevant messages.

How do theatres survive and thrive in a changing entertainment landscape? Great question! Next Wednesday, September 2, f...
08/26/2026

How do theatres survive and thrive in a changing entertainment landscape? Great question!

Next Wednesday, September 2, four artistic directors from some of Chicago's most celebrated stages - our own Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director Avery Willis Hoffman, Susan Booth (Goodman), Audrey Francis (Steppenwolf), and Edward Hall (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) - will explore the enduring power of live performance, how our industry continues to reinvent itself, and the strength that comes from adaptability.

Moderated by Chris Jones, this event is hosted by the University of Chicago's Graham School and is currently at capacity. Join the waitlist here → https://grahamschool.wufoo.com/forms/w1o2xc180rcyfoq/...
📸 Joe Mazza

Today is the last day of the 2026 Spotlight Reading Series, and we're wrapping up with the Chicago Critics Circles, pres...
08/22/2026

Today is the last day of the 2026 Spotlight Reading Series, and we're wrapping up with the Chicago Critics Circles, presented in partnership with Arts+Public Life.

Chicago Critics Circles position criticism as a vital cultural practice—one that not only reflects Black progress, but actively participates in shaping it. As the final gathering of the Spotlight Reading Series, this program offers a space to pause, reflect, and collectively ask: What does it mean to inherit, interpret, and carry forward a century of Black cultural life?

Part I features an opening invocation from Candace Hunter and a conversation between Camille Bacon, Skyla Hearn, Donna Rose Weems, and moderator Adrienne Brown on Black Authorship: Writing Our Worlds.

Part II focuses on Claiming Space and Being in Public, featuring jada-amina, Tara Betts, Adam McMath, Regina Victor, and moderator Tempestt Hazel.

Between the two events, there will be an intermission with music by Zahra Baker and Shanta Nurullah, and the conclusion will be a celebratory mixer featuring DJ Duane Powell.

We couldn't think of a better way to bring this year's Spotlight to a close. Thank you to everyone who joined us for A Century of Black Progress.

Meet our next Spotlight Reading Series participant, Adia Sykes - lead facilitator for the Blackstone Book Club happening...
08/19/2026

Meet our next Spotlight Reading Series participant, Adia Sykes - lead facilitator for the Blackstone Book Club happening tonight at the Blackstone Branch of the Chicago Public Library!

Adia is an arts organizer, curator, and dancer based in Chicago. Her practice seeks to center philosophies of improvisation, intuition, and care, engaging them as tools through which meaningful relationships between artists and viewers can be cultivated, while leaving space for the vernacular to mingle with constructs of history and theory.

As an administrator advocating for racial equity and sustainable ecosystems for creative practitioners, she has held roles with organizations like Chicago Artists Coalition, where she started their SPARK Grant; Threewalls; and as a Lead Organizer of the Chicago Art Census. At present, Adia is a Program Manager at United States Artists. She has also realized curatorial projects with the Art Institute of Chicago; Centro Arte Opificio Siri in Terni, Italy; Chicago Mayor’s Office; Woman Made Gallery; ACRE; Material Exhibitions; and Engage Projects.

Adia earned a Masters in Arts Administration and Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Chicago.

She will be guiding tonight's conversation about Harvey Young and Queen Meccasia Zabriskie’s Black Theater is Black Life: An Oral History of Chicago Theater and Dance, 1970–2010. We can't wait!

Last week, we gathered for the Kuumba Theatre Archive Unfurling, presented in partnership with the Chicago Public Librar...
08/18/2026

Last week, we gathered for the Kuumba Theatre Archive Unfurling, presented in partnership with the Chicago Public Library and part of the 2026 Spotlight Reading Series.

Archivist facilitators Nix Mendy and Johanna Russ invited guests into an up-close look at vital archives from Kuumba Theatre and Chicago’s Black Arts Movement, highlighting the stories and histories that have shaped our city’s cultural landscape. Special guest—and former director of Kuumba—Pemon Rami then shared his firsthand experience as an artist and a participant in the Black Arts Movement, giving guests an intimate, personal view into this history.

This unfurling was an act of ancestral veneration—a celebration of those who came before and their enduring blueprint for art as activism. Looking back helps us build a way forward.

Thank you to those who joined us. ...
📸 Ollie Photography

A few days ago, our Education team completed the third iteration of Dramatic Literacy: Unlocking Text-Based Play! This y...
08/17/2026

A few days ago, our Education team completed the third iteration of Dramatic Literacy: Unlocking Text-Based Play! This year, we welcomed more educators than ever before; dove into exciting texts; visited the Weston Game Lab and the Obama Presidential Center; shared ideas, techniques, and resources; and gathered in community.

We'd like to thank all of the educators who participated, the facilitators and Teaching Artists who joined us, and the various partners who collaborated with us on this year's program.

Every day's a school day. May we never stop learning.

Spotlight 🤝 Sun-TimesCheck out this recent feature on the Spotlight Reading Series, in which Director of Engagement Kam...
08/14/2026

Spotlight 🤝 Sun-Times

Check out this recent feature on the Spotlight Reading Series, in which Director of Engagement Kamilah Rashied and Resident Artist and Spotlight co-founder Ron OJ Parson share the history of the series and the intent behind this year's A Century of Black Progress.

Kamilah shares, "“This is...remembering as a community. This is also consciousness raising. It’s like, ‘Wait, did you know that these thriving Black spaces were here on the South Side’? Let’s resurface that information for your awareness."

Read the full article here → https://bit.ly/SpotlightSun-Times...
📸 Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Today kicks off three days of staged readings in the Spotlight Reading Series! We are proud to partner with these incred...
08/12/2026

Today kicks off three days of staged readings in the Spotlight Reading Series! We are proud to partner with these incredible artists to bring these stories to life.

Check out each cast and creative team below!...
HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED
By August Wilson
Aaron Mays, Director
Charles Andrew Gardner, Associate Director
Niki Dreistadt, Stage Manager
Kamilah Rashied, Post-Show Discussion Moderator

Ron OJ Parson, Actor
Charles Andrew Gardner, Stage Directions...
A WOMANIST TRILOGY: HURSTON, RICHARDS, AND KENNEDY
Kemati Janice Porter, Director
Razor Wintercastle, Assistant Director
Willow James, Sound Designer
Celeste M. Cooper, Casting
Danny Fender, Stage Manager

A BLACK WOMAN SPEAKS
By Beah Richards
Cheryl Lynn Bruce, Woman

COLOR STRUCK
By Zora Neale Hurston
Cheryl Lynn Bruce, Ensemble
Linda Bright Clay, Ensemble
Sierra Coachman, Effie
Kristin E. Ellis, Emmaline
Thee Ricky Harris, Ensemble
Patrick Newson Jr., Ensemble
Julian Parker, John
Sean James William Parris, Ensemble
Juwon Tyrel Perry, Ensemble
Michael Aaron Pogue, Ensemble
André Teamer, Ensemble

SHE TALKS TO BEETHOVEN
By Adrienne Kennedy
Linda Bright Clay, Suzanne
André Teamer, Beethoven
Sean James William Parris, Stage Directions...
ARE YOU READY TO SMASH WHITE THINGS?
By Ireon Roach
Charlique C. Rolle, Director
Gilded Road Productions & Orion Magnus, Sound Design and Music Composition
Celeste M. Cooper, Casting
Niki Dreistadt, Stage Manager
Tyrone Phillips, Post-Show Discussion Moderator

Melissa DuPrey, Nurse
Lawrence Grimm, Father
Lydia Moss, Esther
Victor Musoni, Trell
Matty Robinson, Terell
Alexis Ward, Essie X
Tiffany Renee Johnson, Stage Directions

Now that Spotlight's officially underway, we'd like to spotlight the featured visual artist! We’re pleased to feature ar...
08/11/2026

Now that Spotlight's officially underway, we'd like to spotlight the featured visual artist! We’re pleased to feature artist Brandon Breaux’s SEEN as the leading image for Spotlight's tenth-anniversary festival, in recognition of this year's theme: A Century of Black Progress.

This work is also prominently displayed as a mural in Washington Park near the corner of E 55th Place & S. Martin Luther King Drive, literally embedded in the South Side community. We believe this artwork - and several of Breaux's recent works commemorating the contributions of important Black figures, like André Leon Talley and John Lewis, among others - aligns with the mission of Spotlight to champion Black genius.

We are grateful for his contribution to the 10th anniversary of this legacy project and we encourage you to learn more about him and his work here → https://brandonbreaux.com/

Today's Spotlight Reading Series event, the Kuumba Theatre Archive Unfurling, features archivist facilitators Nix Mendy ...
08/09/2026

Today's Spotlight Reading Series event, the Kuumba Theatre Archive Unfurling, features archivist facilitators Nix Mendy and Johanna Russ, and guest speaker Pemon Rami.

Pemon is an accomplished author, international film producer, and director. He serves on the Board of the Illinois Arts Council and is a member of the Luminary Board for the Independent Film Alliance. Previously, he was involved with the Joseph Jefferson Theatre Awards committee and acted as a National Endowment for the Arts Program Evaluator. Rami co-founded the Chicago Black Theatre Alliance, the League of Chicago Theatres, and the Midwest Black Theatre Alliance.

In 1967, Rami was appointed Associate Director of Theodore Ward’s South Side Center for the Performing Arts. The following year, he met Val Gray Ward during a performance and joined Kuumba Theatre. When Ward became director of the African American Cultural Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1969, she appointed Rami as interim director of Kuumba until her return. During this time, Rami taught acting and directed productions such as MZILIKAZI, THE JOLLY GREEN SOLDIER, THE SIRENS, and the award-winning THE MIGHTY GENTS. As the first African American film casting director in Chicago, Rami provided talent for classic feature films and television movies such as BLUES BROTHERS, MAHOGANY, COOLEY HIGH, THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR, and UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT. Pemon is honored with a mural on the newly built Friend Health Clinic on E. 63rd Street in Chicago, created by renowned muralist Rahmaan Statik in 2022.

Pemon, Nix, and Johanna will be at the Harold Washington Library this afternoon, guiding guests through the Kuumba Theatre archives, celebrating the Black Arts Movement, and diving into Chicago theatre history.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Ntozake Shange's masterpiece FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SU***DE / WHE...
08/09/2026

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Ntozake Shange's masterpiece FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SU***DE / WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF, currently being staged by our friends at ETA Creative Arts.

When invited by the Chicago Sun-Times to reflect on the production's significance, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director Avery Willis Hoffman shared, "To focus on women and the experiences of Black women, specifically, was definitely revolutionary...[this play] offers you so many opportunities for interpretation, and the positioning of women at the center of the conversation is still very much needed.”

Check out these photos from our 2019 staging of FOR COLORED GIRLS, and please join us in wishing our friends at ETA a successful run....
📸 Avery Willis Hoffman by Joe Mazza
📸 Melissa DuPrey, Melanie Brezill, Melody Angel, Leah Casey, and AnJi White by Michael Brosilow
📸 Alexis J. Roston and Leah Casey by Michael Brosilow
📸 Melody Angel, Alexis J. Roston, and AnJi White by Michael Brosilow
📸 Melody Angel and Melissa DuPrey by Michael Brosilow
📸 Alexis J. Roston, Angelica Katie, Leah Casey, Melissa DuPrey, and Melanie Brezill by Michael Brosilow
📸 Alexis J. Roston, Melody Angel, Melissa DuPrey, AnJi White, Melanie Brezill, Angelica Katie, Patrese D. McClain, and Leah Casey by Michael Brosilow

Address

5535 S. Ellis Avenue
Chicago, IL
60637

Opening Hours

Monday 12pm - 5pm
Tuesday 12pm - 5pm
Wednesday 12pm - 7:30pm
Thursday 12pm - 7:30pm
Friday 12pm - 8pm
Saturday 12pm - 8pm
Sunday 12pm - 7:30pm

Telephone

+17737534472

Website

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