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Poetry Off the Shelf: Ben Okri with The Poetry Foundation

Join us for a special US appearance by acclaimed Nigerian-born British novelist and poet, Ben Okri. Ben Okri is a playwright, poet, novelist, essayist, short-story writer, anthologist, and aphorist who has also written film scripts. His works have won numerous national and international prizes, including the Booker Prize for Fiction. His books include the eco-fable […]

  • ASL Interpreted
  • Captioning
  • Hybrid Program

The Lehman Trilogy with TimeLine Theatre Company at Broadway Playhouse

TimeLine presents the Chicago premiere production of the 2022 Tony Award winner for Best Play! Told in three parts over one evening, The Lehman Trilogy is the quintessential story of western capitalism, rendered through the lens of a single immigrant family. On a cold September morning in 1844, a young Jewish man from Bavaria stands […]

  • Open Captions

The Flying Dutchman at Lyric Opera of Chicago

The Flying Dutchman is the story of a young woman’s obsession. Senta dreams of the Dutchman, who’s cursed to wander the earth. He comes ashore every seven years, searching for a woman who will be faithful to him until death. When she meets him, Senta’s fate is sealed. This new-to-Chicago production at Lyric Opera of […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • Audio Description

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice

Blown fuses, real and metaphorical, punctuate the action with flashes of pent up energy in this acclaimed play. The diminutive heroine frequently plunges the dilapidated house she shares with her alcoholic mother into darkness by playing her dead father’s records at a volume matched only by the soulful power of her vocal impressions. Little Voice […]

  • All Gender Restrooms
  • Sensory Friendly

LEAD Conference Share Out 2023

Event Description: Are you curious about the Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD) conference? Did you want to attend but couldn’t? Join The Collab for a Zoom Lunch and Learn about this year’s LEAD experience. Four representatives from the Collab will share takeaways from their focus areas and lead a live discussion with our arts and culture […]

  • ASL Interpreted
  • Captioning
  • Virtual

An Evening with Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key at Francis W. Parker School

Based on their critically acclaimed podcast of the same name, Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key are excited to share their new book with the Chicago Humanities audience: The History of Sketch Comedy: A Journey through the Art and Craft of Humor. This book will take readers on a delightful and hilarious journey through the evolution […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Eurydice at Writers Theatre

Nichols Theatre 325 Tudor Ct, Glencoe

Eurydice is a play about newlywed and newly dead Eurydice arrives in the underworld without memories or language where she struggles to recover her humanity with the aid of the father she lost years ago. When Orpheus arrives to rescue her, Eurydice must choose between staying with her father or escaping with her husband—between life […]

  • All Gender Restrooms
  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • Digital Documents Available
  • Hybrid Program
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Mesmerized: A Ben Franklin Science & History Mystery at Chicago Children’s Theatre

Through fabulous storytelling and fast-paced comedy, Ben Franklin and his want-to-be-inventor niece, Sarah, travel to France where they use the Scientific Method to test a mystical man’s magical cure-all in MESMERIZED: A BEN FRANKLIN SCIENCE & HISTORY MYSTERY. Kids will laugh as they engage their minds to solve this mystery, fueled with stories about Ben […]

Around the World in 80 Trees with Jonathan Drori at Morton Arboretum

A botanical journey of beauty and botany, myth and mayhem: Bestselling author Jonathan Drori takes a gloriously illustrated trip across the globe, bringing to life the science of trees by revealing how their worlds are intricately entwined with our own history, culture and folklore. His journey includes self-mummifying monks, entrepreneurial resin diggers and the Venetian […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Mesmerized: A Ben Franklin Science & History Mystery at Chicago Children’s Theatre

Through fabulous storytelling and fast-paced comedy, Ben Franklin and his want-to-be-inventor niece, Sarah, travel to France where they use the Scientific Method to test a mystical man’s magical cure-all in MESMERIZED: A BEN FRANKLIN SCIENCE & HISTORY MYSTERY. Kids will laugh as they engage their minds to solve this mystery, fueled with stories about Ben […]

The Lehman Trilogy with TimeLine Theatre Company at Broadway Playhouse

TimeLine presents the Chicago premiere production of the 2022 Tony Award winner for Best Play! Told in three parts over one evening, The Lehman Trilogy is the quintessential story of western capitalism, rendered through the lens of a single immigrant family. On a cold September morning in 1844, a young Jewish man from Bavaria stands […]

  • ASL Interpreted

SANCTUARY CITY at Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Newark, NJ. Post-9/11. Two teenagers, brought to America as children, now face an unlikely foe: unexpected, unreciprocated love. Their friendship is no longer enough (for one of them) and their adopted country doesn’t love them back. Pulitzer Prize-winner Martyna Majok brings light to the sacrifices made by DREAMers, lovers and life-long friends in the heart-stirring […]

  • ASL Interpreted
  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • Audio Description
  • Open Captions
  • Sensory Friendly
  • Spanish captioning
  • Touch Tour
  • Wheelchair Accessible

SANCTUARY CITY at Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Newark, NJ. Post-9/11. Two teenagers, brought to America as children, now face an unlikely foe: unexpected, unreciprocated love. Their friendship is no longer enough (for one of them) and their adopted country doesn’t love them back. Pulitzer Prize-winner Martyna Majok brings light to the sacrifices made by DREAMers, lovers and life-long friends in the heart-stirring […]

  • ASL Interpreted
  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • Audio Description
  • Open Captions
  • Sensory Friendly
  • Spanish captioning
  • Touch Tour
  • Wheelchair Accessible

The Nacirema Society at Goodman Theatre

It’s 1964 Montgomery, Alabama, and the Nacirema Society prepares for its annual introduction of six elegant African-American debutantes to a world of prosperity, privilege and social responsibility. This centennial year, […]

Walter Isaacson on Elon Musk with David Axelrod at Northwestern University

From the author of Steve Jobs, Leonardo da Vinci, Einstein and more, Walter Isaacson returns to Chicago Humanities with the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Family Day | Party! at MCA

After a summer hiatus, Family Days are back! Designed and led by Chicago artists, Family Day is a monthly program that allows families and youth to connect and engage with […]

  • ASL Interpreted

Oliver Jeffers at Ryan Center for Music

Oliver Jeffers is an acclaimed storyteller and visual artist. His latest picture book, How We Got Here and Where We Might Go - Our Human Story. So Far., is written […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Poetry with Sandra Cisneros at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall

In her long career in literature and teaching, Sandra Cisneros has shared her passion for creative writing and expressing her experience as a Mexican woman. After a 28 year break from poetry, she returns to her roots with her most recent collection of songs, elegies, and declarations that chronicle her pilgrimage toward rebirth and the […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Public Art and Environmental Justice in Chicago at Block Museum of Art

How can art engage people on climate change and environmental issues that are impacting our city and neighborhoods? Join Uzma Noormohamed, Program Director of the Illinois Science & Energy Innovation Foundation, Mike Dimitroff, Manager of Art initiatives at the Chicago Park District, and Cynthia Weiss, Delilah Salgado, and Citlalli Trujillo of the artist collective Rio […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Wheelchair Accessible

First Lady MK Pritzker on Architectural Preservation at Northwestern University

As one of the most historical buildings in Chicago, the Governor’s Mansion has hosted many legendary people, including Abraham Lincoln, FDR, and the current First Family. First Lady MK Pritzker and former interior designer for the Obama White House, Michael Smith, have teamed up to restore this iconic building and bring Chicago history to life, […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Historian Simon Schama on Pandemics, Vaccines and the Health of Nations at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall

During our era of COVID, many of us felt as if we were living through “unprecedented times,” but was our experience really that unique? Pandemics have been around as long as people. Join esteemed historian and bestselling author Simon Schama with author and Richard W. Leopold Professor of History Deborah Cohen for a conversation exploring […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Is Freedom of Speech, Free? at Ryan Center for Music

How does cancel culture impact our social, cultural, and political lives? With The Atlantic’s Caitlin Flanagan leading the discussion, join Johns Hopkins’ Yascha Mounk, out with his latest book The Identity Trap; and FIRE President Greg Lukianoff and journalist Rikki Schlott, co-authors of The Canceling of the American Mind, for a captivating conversation about the complexities of our […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Comedian Sarah Cooper at Ryan Center for Music

Comedian Sarah Cooper rocketed to fame during the pandemic with her lip-synched videos of Donald Trump’s speeches. Her face, his voice–it was social media magic. In her hilarious and honest debut memoir, Foolish: Tales of Assimilation, Determination, and Humiliation, Cooper tells witty and heartfelt tales of growing up as the youngest in a Jamaican family, […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

NFTs and Art at Block Museum of Art

Since the NFT (Non-fungible tokens) exploded into the art world a few years ago, artists, collectors, arts professionals, art lovers, and museumgoers are still trying to understand what NFTs are and what they mean for the future. Author, Amy Whitaker, takes readers through the origins of NFTs, the connection to the history of artmaking and […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Poverty in America with Matthew Desmond at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall

Why does the United States, one of the richest countries on earth, allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit citizens to live and die on the streets, and continue to pay poverty wages? Pulitzer Prize-winning sociologist Matthew Desmond uses vivid storytelling and rigorous research to delve into the […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible