Theatre Y

Theatre Y Communion by Intimate Participation

MEET CY MITCHELL: (4th Shift Studio Guest Artist)*COLLAGES* Cyreeta Mitchell is a mixed media artist from Seattle, Washi...
06/05/2026

MEET CY MITCHELL: (4th Shift Studio Guest Artist)

*COLLAGES*

Cyreeta Mitchell is a mixed media artist from Seattle, Washington whose work explores ancestral ephemera mixed with found objects. They create collages and ceramic sculptures inspired by indigeneity and spirituality that are deeply introspective. Their work has been exhibited at Columbia City Theater, Pratt Fine Arts Center and Urban Artworks Gallery in downtown Seattle. They've also been recognized with scholarships from Pratt, Hugo house, and the YMCA for both writing and visual art. Mitchell's work is currently being shown in our Art Gallery, 4th Shift Studio, curated by our very own Marvin Tate.

Gallery hours are 4PM-7PM and Cy will have their work up through June 13th.

We are lucky to have the award winning guest "Pieces Of Me" in the theatre on June 5th and 6th!"Pieces of Me" (written a...
06/04/2026

We are lucky to have the award winning guest "Pieces Of Me" in the theatre on June 5th and 6th!

"Pieces of Me" (written and performed by Bo Petersen) is a profoundly moving personal story of the unspoken histories that many people carry within them. An exploration of family secrets, with resonances that still echo today. With her cousin, Chris Petersen, providing the musical accompaniment and with musical direction by Royston Stoffels, this multi-layered piece of storytelling renegotiates personal histories and asks questions about identity: “Who are you, if you can no longer be who you are?”
 
"Pieces of Me" is an autobiographical play that exposes the devastating emotional cost of living secretly as a mixed-race family under the vicious racist apartheid regime and the legacy it bore. Her father Benjamin Johannes Petersen, also known as Benny, made a fateful decision in 1944 that would change his life forever. Until then, he and his close-knit family were classified by the South African Government as “Coloured”.
 
"Pieces Of Me" AWARDS:

Standard Bank Ovation Award 2024
Nominated for Fleur du Cap Award 2025 for Best Solo Play
Nominated for Naledi Award 2026 for Best Performance in a Solo Production
 
CREDITS
Written, performed, and produced by Bo Petersen
Music: Chris Petersen
Musical Direction: Royston Stoffels
Stage Management & Technical Support: Kenan Fortuin South African Producer: Yvette Hardie, ASSITEJ SA
Photography & Design: Bonga Mokoena, Maggie Gericke, Ingrid Fadnes
Communications Support: Kwanele Finch Thusi, Bonga Mokoena, Lungile Ndlovhu

Ticket Link in bio!

We have the distinct pleasure of hosting Bo Petersen's critically acclaimed, one woman show 'Pieces Of Me' next Friday a...
05/29/2026

We have the distinct pleasure of hosting Bo Petersen's critically acclaimed, one woman show 'Pieces Of Me' next Friday and Saturday (June 5th and 6th)!

'Pieces Of Me' is an autobiographical play that reckons with the immense cost of living secretly as a mixed-race family under the racist apartheid regime of South Africa.

This play explores how Bo's father's decision to pass as white shaped her life. Under apartheid, Petersen's family could not legally exist due to in*******al relationships being illegal. At 19, Bo accidentally discovered her father's racial background—and therefore her own which led her to become the custodian of her father's secret.

'Pieces of Me' is Bo's renegotiation with history and with her father. Focused on a specific South African history, this play resonates with experiences of discrimination, passing, and silence throughout the world.

MEET BO PETERSEN:

Bo has worked as a professional actor in South Africa for more than 40 years, working on stage, TV, and film. She has also made a name for herself as a director. Bo currently resides in the US where she continues to write, direct, and perform.

Ticket link in our bio

05/21/2026

We finally get to celebrate the release of Charles Hill after 20 years in prison and 23 years BEFORE his projected discharge date! This is a huge win for our community and would like to honor this courageous man by hosting a potluck and party THIS SATURDAY NIGHT (May 23rd). This Inside Ensemble member, poet, visionary, and creator of M.A.D.E. deserves to be celebrated so come to Theatre Y around 7, bring something to share, and help us rejoice in Charles Hill's Freedom!

We've had the great privilege of premiering our first ever television series on this week! KILL THEM ALREADY goes insid...
05/14/2026

We've had the great privilege of premiering our first ever television series on this week! KILL THEM ALREADY goes inside. It asks what we lose when we permanently remove human beings from society, not just what they lose.

Erased from public life, from their families, from the future. Stateville Correctional Facility held some of the most hard-won wisdom, scholarship, and moral depth you will never encounter --  because we have made certain of it.

Americans are watching masked agents vanish their neighbors off the streets and calling it new. It isn't.
Illinois abolished parole in 1978. Since then, thousands of men have been buried alive. Not killed, just disappeared.

These men have earned degrees, built philosophies, and cultivated an empathy that shames the world that locked them away. But without parole, none of it reaches us. Their healing cannot reach ours.
We are in a cycle of endless violence, and we engineered it ourselves.

The disappearance machine is not new. Learn from those living inside it now, before we forget how to recognize it on our own streets. Our goal is to reinstate parole in Illinois!

You have 6 chances to catch KILL THEM ALREADY on CAN TV:

Today (5/14) at 2PM
Tomorrow (5/15) at 5:29AM, 10:59AM, 12:29PM, 5:59PM, & 7:29PM

We are proud to present this groundbreaking and thought-provoking show and hope you can catch the first episode! You can find the link to CAN TV in our bio.

We invite you to be a part of the ever-growing Theatre Y mission!As a free theatre, we operate off of our community's ge...
05/07/2026

We invite you to be a part of the ever-growing Theatre Y mission!

As a free theatre, we operate off of our community's generosity and over the past 20 years that has allowed us to produce award-winning theatre, documentaries, live music events, youth programming, storytelling events, a TV show, an art gallery, and much more. We also house mission-aligned non profits inside of our North Lawndale building and are constantly looking to expand the organizations we work with.
 
We do all of this with support from foundations and MEMBERS, like you?

Similar to NPR’s Public Access Membership Model,
Theatre Y Members donate monthly to support our work.

The average membership is $20/mo, but you can become a member for as little as $5/month! This guarantees you a seat to each Theatre Y performance and opens our doors to those who can’t afford a ticket.

BENEFITS-

WORK WITH US

Members may submit proposals for productions and special events!

BE PART OF THE PROCESS

Come visit us during rehearsals! We now welcome members a glimpse into our artistic process on special production days.

STRENGTHEN YOUR VOICE

Members may enrich their acting and public speaking skills by scheduling individualized, thirty-minute training sessions with us. 

MAKE OUR SPACE YOURS

Theatre Y offers members only rentals of its Black Box Theater, Cabaret, and Gallery spaces. Get in contact with us to reserve your event today

You can become a member online by going to our website or following the link in our bio.

Thank you for your continued support!

📸: .r.soderstrom

A statement from Co-Director Melissa Lorraine:"CHARGES is a hard show to close. It has been such a joy to build this ter...
04/16/2026

A statement from Co-Director Melissa Lorraine:

"CHARGES is a hard show to close. It has been such a joy to build this terrifying play with my dear friend Héctor and a team of beautiful, dedicated, talented, self-sacrificial humans. From top to bottom, these people gave you everything they had, and then some. And we became more than the sum of our parts. This show will live in our memories now. I am basking in my love and adoration for everyone who participated in this beautiful, fleeting, magical ritual. You all have enlarged me. I'm bursting with gratitude."

MEET HÉCTOR ALVAREZ: (Co-Director) Héctor Alvarez is an interdisciplinary artist from Spain working in performance, thea...
04/12/2026

MEET HÉCTOR ALVAREZ: (Co-Director)

Héctor Alvarez is an interdisciplinary artist from Spain working in performance, theater, film, and opera. His work has been praised as “visually gorgeous and fulsome, so rich and sensitive in detail” (The Chicago Reader) and has been presented in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Madrid, Hong Kong, and Mexico City. He is a Princess Grace Award Winner, Drama League Directing Fellow, Watson Fellow, and was artist in residence at the Antonio Gala Foundation (Spain). In 2025, Alvarez was awarded Opera America’s Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Award. Recent directing credits include the operas "Umbra" by Elliot Menard and "Here Be Sirens" by Kate Soper; the plays "My Foot My Tutor", "Antigonick", "Roberto Zucco", and "The Water Station"; and "We’re Gonna Die", a film re-imagining of Young Jean Lee’s existential cabaret about mortality. The film was created in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic and was named one of 2020’s Top Cultural Picks by WDCB’s The Arts Section.

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3611 W Cermak Road
Chicago, IL
60623

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Thursday 6pm - 11pm
Friday 6pm - 11pm
Saturday 6pm - 11pm
Sunday 2:30pm - 8pm

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