Our Events
We’ve designed The Understudy from the ground up to support a variety of events. Join us after close for play readings, drag performances, concerts, meetups, and more! The calendar is always updating, so check back often.
The Understudy believes curiosity is a powerful, generative force for transformation. We seek to feed our collective creative lives by nourishing deep curiosity– whether toward your own vision, or through engaging generously with the work of another. We see curiosity, empathy, and justice as interdependent ideals. Our work seeks to foster deeper connections to our passions, our neighbors, and to contemporary life.
We’re always on the lookout for new ways to share our space and bring creative people together. If you have an idea for a new one-off event or series at The Understudy, please fill out the form below. Please note that we give priority to theatre related events, and, though we really want to, we can’t accommodate every request. Let’s chat!
recurring series
I Can’t … I Have Trivia: An evening of Theatre Trivia at The Understudy
August 3 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Come join us for a night full of theatre trivia and fabulous prizes! Hosted by Patrick Zakem and Ben Kaye Aaaaand we are back with another round of trivia at […]
I Can’t … I Have Trivia: An evening of Theatre Trivia at The Understudy
August 3 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Instrumental Theatre Presents: Chicago Theatre Composers Club
August 11 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
A cabaret featuring short pieces from composers, lyricists and other Chicago musical artists. Hosted by Instrumental Theatre. Instrumental Theatre, in collaboration with The Understudy, is proud to introduce the Chicago […]
Instrumental Theatre Presents: Chicago Theatre Composers Club
August 11 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
The Understudy Dares You To Produce This Play: The House Party
August 17 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Amonthly reading series highlighting plays that have not received a Chicago production The Understudy Dares You to Produce This Play is a monthly reading series highlighting plays that have not […]
The Understudy Dares You To Produce This Play: The House Party
August 17 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
A Conversation with Nicole Brewer: The Antiracist Theatre
August 25 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Author Nicole Brewer is Joined by Mica Cole, Alexis Green, and Miranda Gonzalez to discuss working beyond white supremacy in theatre ABOUT THE BOOK A how-to guide for theatermakers who […]
A Conversation with Nicole Brewer: The Antiracist Theatre
August 25 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
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[post_content] => Come join us for a night full of theatre trivia and fabulous prizes! Hosted by Patrick Zakem and Ben KayeAaaaand we are back with another round of trivia at 7:30 on October 13th with new categories, spoopy drinks and fabulous prizes! Hosted by our friend Patrick Zakem, each round will test your knowledge of. A different facet of theatre history, current events, or culture. Think you’ve got what it takes? Come through✨
We recommend playing with a team of four and if you’re thinking of coming alone — no worries! We’ll find a group for you to join :^)
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[post_content] => A cabaret featuring short pieces from composers, lyricists and other Chicago musical artists. Hosted by Instrumental Theatre.Instrumental Theatre, in collaboration with The Understudy, is proud to introduce the Chicago Theatre Composers Club or CTCC!
This cabaret show will feature short pieces from composers, lyricists, and other musical artists, to shine a spotlight and rock out to their tremendous work. Tickets are $10 or PWYC. You can purchase a PWYC Ticket through the donation page~
Interested in showing new work? Submissions for composers are now open🎶
Line-up to be announced!
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[post_content] => Amonthly reading series highlighting plays that have not received a Chicago productionThe Understudy Dares You to Produce This Play is a monthly reading series highlighting plays that have not received a Chicago production. Produced by The Understudy’s bookstore team, this series works to expand the variety of playwrights and titles in our vibrant community.
This month, we're reading The House Party by Laura Lomas
Julie: Magdalena Dalzell
Christine: Isabella Maria Valdes
Jon: Diego Rivera-Rodriguez
About the Play
A wild party. A friendship. A cherished pet. And a night that changes everything. It's Julie's eighteenth birthday, and she's throwing a party in her father's extravagant townhouse. Her boyfriend has just dumped her and her longsuffering best friend Christine is trying to pick up the pieces. As the revellers pile into the booze, down in the kitchen Christine and her boyfriend Jon – son of Julie's cleaner – clear up and dare to dream of the future. But as the volume goes up and the shots go down, Julie concocts a twisted cocktail of privilege, desire and destruction.
The House Party spins Strindberg's classic play Miss Julie into intense, fizzing life for today's generation. Laura Lomas's play was first performed at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, in 2024, and then toured the UK in 2025, co-produced with Headlong in association with Frantic Assembly.
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[post_content] => Author Nicole Brewer is Joined by Mica Cole, Alexis Green, and Miranda Gonzalez to discuss working beyond white supremacy in theatreABOUT THE BOOK
A how-to guide for theatermakers who want freedom from white supremacy in their creative practices
The Antiracist Theatre offers readers the tools and foundational philosophy to create their own antiracist theatre ethos and delve into its three core principles: harm reduction, harm prevention, and relationship repair.
Nicole Brewer, faculty at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale and the originator of the Antiracist Theatre model, guides readers through self-reflection exercises designed to strengthen awareness of their own position, power, and privilege and uproot their racist practices. Brewer provides definitions of oft-used, but rarely defined terms like “accountability,” “racism,” and “abuse.” She welcomes BIPOC readers and lovingly and playfully calls in white theatermakers as she outlines methods to interrupt patterns of abuse.
All who believe the way forward for theatre is antiracist and anti-oppressive are welcome. We each have a role to play. Join us in liberating the stage, the classroom, and the performing arts.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nicole Brewer is a theater director whose work has been seen at theaters such as Long Wharf Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, and Folger Theatre. She is an educator with more than 18 years of teaching experience. Brewer is notably known as the originator of the internationally recognized Antiracist Theatre (ART) model. A leading voice in the movement to transform theater culture through accountability, care, and liberation-centered practices, Brewer serves as acting faculty at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.
In her debut book, The Antiracist Theatre, Nicole Brewer invites readers to consider the cost of business as usual and reclaim their power to challenge and shift extractive, exclusionary, and exploitative processes. Brewer creates space for readers to reimagine how creative spaces can function in healthier, more humane, and accountable ways. The book offers practical tools for building healthier creative environments where everyone can thrive.
For more than sixteen years, Brewer has developed and facilitated anti-racist and anti-oppressive training methodologies that challenge harmful industry norms and reimagine what collaborative artistic processes can be. Her work has been featured at conferences and institutions across the United States, Canada, and the UK, including workshops with Shakespeare's Globe and the University of Cambridge.
A dynamic speaker known for blending rigor, humor, honesty, and deep compassion, Brewer has taught at Howard University, her alma mater, the National Theater Institute, and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, among others.
About the Facilitators
Mica Cole, a Chicago native raised on the South Side, has been an arts administrator, producer and changemaker for nearly two decades. She is the Executive Director of TimeLine Theatre, a non-profit theater company that presents stories inspired by history that connect with today’s social and political issues. As a consultant with artEquity, she has co-led its BIPOC Surviving Predominantly White Institutions Series and the BIPOC Leadership Circle—both aimed at providing resources and mentorship to leaders of color.
Mica served eight seasons as the Repertory Producer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, playing a key role in guiding the company’s equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives, many of which now serve as foundational organizational models for institutions around the world. Mica has produced more than 80 shows, including a dozen transfers and national co-productions of new plays with theatres such as American Repertory, Seattle Repertory, South Coast Rep, Arena Stage, Portland Center Stage, and Berkeley Repertory. Mica has served on the advisory committee for the Latinx Theatre Commons and is a founding member of the Black Theatre Commons.
Instagram: @micacole33
Miranda Gonzalez, born and raised in the city of Chicago, is a writer, director, producer, facilitator, and organizational strategist with a Bachelor of Science from DePaul University, and has co-created curricula addressing anti-blackness in the Latiné community. Currently the Producing Artistic Director for UrbanTheater Company (UTC) in Chicago, she has curated and led numerous interdisciplinary projects that blend theater, music, dance, and oral history to tell the stories of Chicago’s history that mirror her identity and lived experience. Also a collective member of Culture Change Lab, she helps support arts organizations, funders, and lobbyists in reimagining collective structures through operational management. Concurrently, she serves on the National Latinx Theater Initiative Steering Committee advocating for the advancement of Latinx artists and organizations, influencing policy. In 2020 she was invited to record a TEDx talk “The Fear of Decolonization”. With a deeply rooted history in ensemble practice, she was a founding member of Teatro Luna and has produced, devised and developed plays since 2000. Selected to participate in Disney’s Live Entertainment 2024 Creative Intensive, Miranda was able to collaboratively present new storytelling concepts world-wide. Her play Back In The Day: an Immersive 80’s House Music Dancesical had its World Premier at UrbanTheater Company. Her most recent critically acclaimed play Mascogos, commissioned by the Los Angeles Latino Theater Company’s Imaginistas, discussing the history of the underground railroad to Mexico, had it’s world premiere in October 2025. The summer of 2025 she was a playwright in residence at the University of Chicago’s Reva & David Logan Center for the Arts, where she began developing her current play Fina (fee-nah) a time-bending afro-peruvian musical. Directing, writing, and script development credits include; Evolution of a Sonero by Flaco Navaja, Remote Learning Curve by Albany Park Theater Ensemble, Thank You for Coming. Take Care by Stacey Rose at Court Theatre, Ashes of Light by Marco Antonio Rodriguez, La Gringa by Carmen Rivera; Teatro Luna Productions S-E-X-Oh!, Lunaticas, Crossed, GL 2010, The North/South Plays a workshop at DCASE; F.O.P and Crime Scene Chicago with Collaboraction; and Melissa DuPrey’s Sushi-Frito at Free Street Theater. She is also an Executive Producer for the web series 50 Blind Dates with Melissa DuPrey and has written for web series Ruby's World Yo created by Marilyn Camacho. Recipient of the Diane Rodriguez Teatrista Award, Leaders for a New Chicago Award, 3Arts Award , International Centre for Women Playwrights 50/50 Award. Visit https://linktr.ee/chiblaxican to learn more!
Alexis Green (she/her) is a theatre artist, producer, and community connector in Chicago (but still tied to her desert girl roots of Phoenix, Arizona). She is an alumnus of Arizona State University, where she received her BA in Theatre Arts with a minor in Communication. Alexis also holds an MFA in Acting from Brown University/Trinity Rep.
Alexis has performed and directed at theatres all around the country, including Next Act Theatre, Raven Theatre, Bread Loaf School of English, Portland Stage, The Feast (formerly The Williams Project), The Black Theatre Troupe, and UNC Chapel Hill.
Alongside performing, Alexis served for five years as the Director of Programs for artEquity, where, as part of the leadership team until 2025, she provided guidance and supervision for artEquity’s national programs centering antiracism and resources for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the arts and culture sector, and also managed artEquity’s consulting relationships.
Alexis is also the Founder and Director of (X) Collective, a group of theatre artists in Chicago whose mission is to be in conversation and collaboration with our communities through service, reciprocal relationship-building, and community experiences.
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IN THE NEXT ROOM by Sarah Ruhl
July 27 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
A play reading of In the Next Room (or, The Vibrator Play) by Sarah Ruhl produced by Exit, Pursued by a Play Reading. In the Next Room or the vibrator […]
IN THE NEXT ROOM by Sarah Ruhl
July 27 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Love Detectives
July 24 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Band Practice combines a real live dating show with a real live clown detective show to find out the true nature of this so-called "love". Drat! LOVE has been ripping […]
Love Detectives
July 24 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
FEM/THEM Comedy Open Mic at The Understudy
July 22 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
If you identify as funny and not-a-dude-onstage, this is your night diva! Hosted by Preeti Thaker and Jordan Levene Preeti & Jordan present: A Comedy Open Mic for Women + […]
FEM/THEM Comedy Open Mic at The Understudy
July 22 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
RED BELL by Katherine Swan
July 20 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
When ex-dancer Rina shows up at Hank’s gym wanting to learn how to box, she embarks on a journey that will forever transform her. When ex-dancer Rina shows up at […]
RED BELL by Katherine Swan
July 20 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Leftovers Night with Band Practice
July 17 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
An open stage for clowns, goofs, and funny people who'd like to test out first drafts. Hosted by the iconic clown duo, Band Practice Leftovers Night is a strange and […]
Leftovers Night with Band Practice
July 17 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Kokandy Book Club presents: A Streetcar Named Desire
July 13 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
A musical cabaret inspired by A Streetcar Named Desire produced by your friends at Kokandy Productions! Join The Understudy and Kokandy Productions for the latest installment of our BOOK CLUB […]
Kokandy Book Club presents: A Streetcar Named Desire
July 13 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
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[post_content] => A play reading of In the Next Room (or, The Vibrator Play) by Sarah Ruhl produced by Exit, Pursued by a Play Reading. In the Next Room or the vibrator play is a comedy about marriage, intimacy and electricity.
Set in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity and based on the bizarre historical fact that doctors used vibrators to treat “hysterical” women (and some men), the play centers on a doctor and his wife and how his new therapy affects their entire household.
In a seemingly perfect, well-to-do Victorian home, proper gentleman and scientist Dr. Givings has innocently invented an extraordinary new device for treating “hysteria” in women (and occasionally men): the vibrator. Adjacent to the doctor’s laboratory, his young and energetic wife tries to tend to their newborn daughter – and wonders exactly what is going on in the next room. When a new “hysterical” patient and her husband bring a wet nurse and their own complicated relationship into the doctor’s home, Dr. and Mrs. Givings must examine the nature of their own marriage, and what it truly means to love someone.
** CAST TO BE ANNOUNCED **
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[post_content] => Band Practice combines a real live dating show with a real live clown detective show to find out the true nature of this so-called "love".Drat! LOVE has been ripping up the streets leaving people wounded, broken, confused, and perhaps with a bad haircut and useless evidence of its nefarious behavior. You are invited to join the investigation to find love and catch it once and for all. Band Practice combines a real live dating show with a real live clown detective show to find out the true nature of this mysterious mastermind. Highly interactive and slightly chaotic, leave the apps at home and expect to meet new eligibles as we collect clues, hear eyewitness accounts, go undercover, and hopefully set some traps to catch the damn thing. With a villain this cunning at large, no one should search for it alone! This show is welcome to anyone looking for love, OR anyone interested in questioning its true nature. This is a two hour show with an intermission included.
Meet Band Practice
A theatre making duo made of Ash Willison and Lisa Ullrich. We create shows, characters, and theatrical happenings exploring and stretching the live experience of performance.
Strange, cheeky, and wonderfully modern, we use elements of clown, physical theatre, improv, and music to interact with the audience through all the ways you love: tech conferences, bardic serenades, exorcisms, musical theatre showcases – to name a few.
quest to the Midwest tour
leftovers 17.07.26 the understudy // Chicago
love detectives 24.07.2026 the understudy // Chicago
DON'T BE SCARED 26+29 the Newport theatre // Chicago
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[post_content] => If you identify as funny and not-a-dude-onstage, this is your night diva! Hosted by Preeti Thaker and Jordan LevenePreeti & Jordan present: A Comedy Open Mic for Women + Non-Binary Comics!
If you identify as funny and not-a-dude-onstage, this is your night diva!
WHAT’S THE PLAN?
• 7:30 PM — arrive responsibly early, wonder what the vibe is gonna be like. Support the space by buying a drink!
• 8:00 PM — the mic starts, the chaos begins
• Sign-ups close at 9 PM because of boundaries
SET DETAILS
• 4 minutes of pure lightning
• 5 minutes if you buy a drink — please support and tip our bartenders ♥️
CAN MEN ATTEND?
Of course!
Men can sit, watch, hydrate, clap, and support women (a skill we’d love to see more of)
We kindly ask that you practice not-mansplaining
If you feel a mansplanation rising in your throat, please swallow it
ANYTHING ELSE?
Bring the vibes baby! This is our first time doing a comedy open mic and we’d love to make it a tradition. Come through!
xx
Preeti & Jordan
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[post_content] => When ex-dancer Rina shows up at Hank’s gym wanting to learn how to box, she embarks on a journey that will forever transform her.When ex-dancer Rina shows up at Hank’s gym wanting to learn how to box, she embarks on a journey that will forever transform who she is and who she will become.
But when a past trauma surfaces, Rina must confront a painful history that she’s struggled to leave behind. As she hurtles towards her first fight, Rina will be forced to reckon with what she fears the most.
Playwright: Katherine Swan
Director: Faith Hart
Dramaturg: Madie Doppelt
Stage Directions: Karina Patel
Rina: Noelle Oh
Hank: Scott Westerman
Alex: Harsh Gagoomal
Annie/Jessie/Wanda: Laila Rodriques
Jason/Rina's Father: Huy Nguyễn
Larissa: Marissa Stephens
Freshly Brewed Team:
Nadya Naumaan – Co-Artistic Producer
Joel Willison – Co-Artistic Producer
Danny Fender – The Understudy Co-Owner
Adam Crawford – The Understudy Co-Owner
About Freshly Brewed
Freshly Brewed seeks to invest in Chicago’s emerging playwrights and theatre artists in keeping with The Understudy’s commitment to Community, Collaboration, and Discovery. The series features monthly readings of new plays in various stages of development. Each artist conrtibuting– playwrights, directors, and actors– will receive a stipend underwritten by the series’ anonymous donor.
Freshly Brewed is a collaboration between The Understudy Coffee and Books and Pocket Theatrics
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[post_content] => An open stage for clowns, goofs, and funny people who'd like to test out first drafts. Hosted by the iconic clown duo, Band PracticeLeftovers Night is a strange and delicious feast of alternative comedy acts that are in the making, need experimenting, or somehow didn't quite make it to the main event just yet. Berlin based idiot duo Band Practice is teaming up with Chicago's Pocket Theatre to host this celebration of comedy anarchy. This evening originated back in Berlin and has been running since 2021 as a space for nourishing the genre-less comedy art scene in the fallout of COVID times. We are happy to get our first tour across the Atlantic started connecting with old friends, new artists, and a good old evening of hilarity. This is a mutual aid show, proceeds will go to assisting local charities (tba).
Want up to 5 minutes of stage time? Reach out to bandpracticeduo.com or on socials @bandpracticeduo to snag a slot.
Tickets are $10 or $15.
Meet Band Practice
A theatre making duo made of Ash Willison and Lisa Ullrich. We create shows, characters, and theatrical happenings exploring and stretching the live experience of performance.
Strange, cheeky, and wonderfully modern, we use elements of clown, physical theatre, improv, and music to interact with the audience through all the ways you love: tech conferences, bardic serenades, exorcisms, musical theatre showcases - to name a few.
quest to the Midwest tour
leftovers 17.07.26 the understudy // Chicago
love detectives 24.07.2026 the understudy // Chicago
don't be scared 26+29 the Newport theatre // Chicago
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[ID] => 3463
[post_author] => 6
[post_date] => 2026-06-17 20:25:50
[post_date_gmt] => 2026-06-18 01:25:50
[post_content] => A musical cabaret inspired by A Streetcar Named Desire produced by your friends at Kokandy Productions!Join The Understudy and Kokandy Productions for the latest installment of our BOOK CLUB series!
Summer is here—the air thick with music, perfume and sweltering heat. It's Tennessee Williams weather! Book Club is back, storming into town like a long lost sister you thought you'd never see. We're tickled to tackle A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, Williams' masterful, Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of Blanche, Stella, Stanley and all their New Orleans friends. Inspired by what is widely considered to be one of the best plays of the 20th century, we'll use music celebrate sisterhood, southern hospitality and standing in the middle of the street to scream your lover's name. It'll have you hollering "Book Club! Boooook Club!!!"
[post_title] => Kokandy Book Club presents: A Streetcar Named Desire
[post_excerpt] =>
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[post_modified] => 2026-07-12 21:40:49
[post_modified_gmt] => 2026-07-13 02:40:49
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[guid] => https://www.theunderstudy.com/event/kokandy-book-club-presents-a-streetcar-named-desire/
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