American Theater Company American Theater Company (ATC) was founded in July of 1985 as American Blues Theatre when playwright Rick Cleveland, director William Payne, actor Ed Blatchford, and designer Jim Leaming founded a theater dedicated to exploring, nurturing, and developing theater that addressed and affected the real working-class people of Chicago. From 1986 to 1993, American Blues Theatre produced such critically acclaimed productions as Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape; Rick Cleveland's Bad Moon; and Monsters and Monsters II, collections of commissioned monologues by Chicago playwrights including Doug Post, Dwight Okita, David Mamet, and Paula Killen.
Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater (no relation to New York City's Apollo Theatre) located in the heart of Chicago's fashionable Lincoln Park neighborhood, has built a prestigious reputation. Built in 1978 by theatre producers Jason Brett and Stuart Oken and twice renovated, the Apollo boasts a dramatic glass and concrete design conceived by Chicagoan Michael Lustig. With a three-quarter thrust stage, the theatre includes 440 plush seats configured in just eleven rows, allowing audiences a theatrical experience unparalleled in intimacy and accessibility.
Athenaeum Theatre The Athenaeum opened in 1911 and was constructed by St. Alphonsus Church as a recreational center serving the mostly German community. The building featured a 1000 seat theatre for German Operetta, A gymnasium, bowling alleys, music and meeting rooms. Over the years, meeting rooms gave way to classrooms and the theatre became a temporary church in the early 1950's after a devastating fire damaged the church. Today, under the direction of SCT Productions, the Athenaeum is once again fulfilling it's original purpose. Offices and studio Theatres now occupy former meeting room space and the 1000 seat theatre has been updated.
Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University This theater is known the world over for its classic, "Chicago School" design and its acoustically perfect interior. Construction of this landmark began in 1887. It is one of the last remaining buildings in the city designed by the firm of Sullivan and Adler.
Along with his partner Dankmar Adler, Sullivan invented the Chicago school of architecture, one that put 'form over function" and replaced traditional neoclassical design with a uniquely American flavor.
Pre & Post Dinner Suggestions: Rhapsody - 65 East Adams * 312.786.9911
LaStrada - 155 N. Michigan * 312.565.2200
Custom House - 500 S. Dearborn * 312.523.0200
Baton Show Lounge The Nationally Renowned Baton Show Lounge, a premiere showcase for the art of female impersonation, has been in business since 1968. The Show Lounge received notoriety from many appearances of its owner, Jim Flint, and its performers on Phil Donohue, Oprah, E! Entertainment Network and many other television shows.
Beverly Arts Center The Beverly Arts Center is an independent, not-for-profit cultural and educational institution dedicated to enriching lives through the visual and performing arts.
Biograph Theater This Lincoln Park neighborhood landmark is probably best known by Chicagoans as the place where John Dillinger was shot and killed in 1934 after attending a screening of "Manhattan Melodrama" starring Clark Gable (allegedly the ghost of Dillinger has haunted the theater ever since).
During the 70s, the balcony was converted into two small additional screens. The original decor mostly lost, the historic Biograph continued to show movies until 2001.
Black Ensemble Theater A single, poignant, whiskey-laced note hangs in the air. It's a woman's deep alto, and the spotlight lingers on her body as her note lingers over the audience, seemingly stopping time before an exuberant cacophony of voices explode into one last chorus leading the intermission curtain fall on Chicago's Black Ensemble Theater
Briar Street Theatre Since the autumn of 1997, the Briar Street Theatre has been transformed by its resident performance artist ensemble BLUE MAN GROUP. The proscenium theater, with 625 seats and a 52-seat balcony, has become their home for the near future. The building, built 100 years ago as a carriage house, was converted to a theater in the 1980s. The original second floor actually hangs from the ceiling by means of massive turnbuckles that can still be seen.
The Blue Man Group performance is a one of kind multimedia feast of sight, sound, music and comedy.
Cadillac Palace Theatre Step back in time and breathe in the Culture - Go Ahead. One step inside the magnificent Cadillac Palace Theatre and patrons of the arts are transported to a gilded past, richly restored in the heart of Chicago's contemporary Theatre District.
