Inspired Chicago - Find fun things to do in Chicago!

Updated April 9, 2019 Scroll through the festival list or click on a link below to go directly to the month you plan to attend a festival. January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December If you are aware of a Chicago comedy or theater festival that has not been included on this page, please send the festival's information via DM using Twitter (@InspiredChicago). Visit the following pages to find more festivals: Art and Craft Festivals Film Festivals Food Festivals Heritage Festivals Music Festivals January College Improv Tournament , November 3, 2018–April 6, 2019 • Registration is $15 per player. Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival , January 10–20, 2019 • Admission varies (visit festival website for details). Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival , January 17–27, 2019 • Admission varies (visit festival website for details). Visit the Festival Neig...

In its sixth year of bringing professional productions of William Shakespeare's plays to Chicago's neighborhood parks, the Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks program will present Romeo and Juliet . From July 26 through August 27, 2017, professional actors will be performing a 75-minute abridged version of the play (with no intermission) to audiences in 18 parks across Chicago. Some locations will have ASL duo-interpretation or audio description. Use the interactive map below to find locations, dates, times, and accessibility offerings. All performances are free! Bring a blanket or lawn chair and enjoy the show! If you have questions regarding the interactive map, please read the Tips for Using This Map section. Tips for Using This Map Use the Zoom In (+) and Zoom Out (–) features, located at the bottom of the map, to show more or less map detail. Click on a map icon to open a panel showing detailed information about the performance and performance location (address, ...

My husband and I went to the Broadway In Chicago Summer Concert at Millennium Park's Jay Pritzker Pavilion on Monday, August 15, 2016. Chicago's theater fans are dedicated! The seating area was scheduled to open at 5:15 p.m. for the 6:15 p.m. concert. Though it was raining intermittently, people were waiting in line well before 4:30 p.m. I recommend arriving early. It was nice to find out that even if the line goes all the way to the end of Millennium Park's Great Lawn (on both the east and west sides), you will still get a good seat. Video highlights and live performances provided a preview of ten upcoming Broadway In Chicago shows: Fun Home (at Oriental Theatre November 2–13, 2016), STOMP (at Broadway Playhouse November 16, 2016–January 1, 2017), Finding Neverland (at Cadillac Palace Theatre November 22–December 4, 2016), The Phantom of the Opera (at Cadillac Palace Theatre December 14, 2016–January 8, 2017), The Bodyguard (...

In its fifth year of bringing professional productions of William Shakespeare's plays to Chicago's neighborhood parks, the Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks program will present Twelfth Night , a romantic comedy. From July 14 through August 14, professional actors will be performing a 75-minute abridged version of the play (with no intermission) to audiences in 19 neighborhoods across Chicago. Some locations will have ASL duo-interpretation and/or audio description. Use the interactive map below to find locations, dates, times, and accessibility offerings. All performances are free! Bring a blanket or lawn chair and enjoy the show! Would you like more Shakespeare? This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare. In celebration of Shakespeare and his work, there are events taking place across the city throughout 2016. To find upcoming events, please visit the Shakespeare 400 Chicago website. Tips for Using This Map Use the Zoom In (+) and Zoom Out (...

Butoh first came to my attention as I was looking through a list of more than a hundred Chicago Dance Month (continuing through May 3) events.  I was immediately intrigued by the costumes, makeup, and poses in the photo (shown below) accompanying the event synopsis.  All the details fit with my schedule:  location (Chicago Cultural Center), date (April 19), time (6:30 p.m.), and cost (free).  I would soon be going to see my first butoh performances! What is butoh, you ask?  I had the same question!  Per merriam-webster.com, butoh is "a form of dance or performance art of Japanese origin typically involving slow movement and often white makeup."  Other searches informed that Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno founded the butoh movement in the late 1950s in post-World War II era Japan. Each performance I witnessed was uniquely creative and expressive. In Baroness’s "Pale Saints" ("Spring"), Rosé was the only artist of the evening to use spoke...

Since I took a class in high school on the subjects, Greek and Roman mythology have been an interest of mine.  Today, I had the pleasure of seeing a performance of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad .  The cast of 14 skillfully utilized the Poetry Foundation’s performance space to tell the story of The Odyssey from Odysseus’s wife Penelope’s point of view.  Costumes were beautiful but simple, as were the props.  The performance was excellent–makes me want to read Edith Hamilton’s Mythology (a great intro to mythology) again and pick up copies of Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey ! Erica Barnes directs this adaptation of The Penelopiad , with original music by Joshua Dumas.  The Poetry Foundation, located at 61 West Superior Street in Chicago, will host additional performances on Monday, February 23, and Tuesday, February 24, both at 7 p.m.  Admission is free.  Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, so arrive early. If you're already a fan of mythology, this ...

Last Wednesday, October 8, 2014, I had the opportunity to enjoy live re-creations of two classics from the Golden Age of Radio.  Under the direction of Mercita DeMonk, the SAG-AFTRA Senior Radio Players presented The Great Gildersleeve and The Great McGinty .  The free event took place from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Chicago Cultural Center’s Claudia Cassidy Theater, 78 East Washington Street. The SAG-AFTRA Senior Radio Players started in 1997 when the Seniors Committee of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Screen Actors Guild formed the AFTRA/SAG Radio Players. I have to admit I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I was completely enthralled by the evening's performances.  The professional voice actors used scripts (when it was on radio, nobody could see them holding the scripts).  It was interesting to watch how some of the actors would use the whole body in the performance and others would mostly use the voice.  Again, remembering this ...