The Understudy Coffee and Books is proud to host its first collaborative event with their neighbors Bramble Theatre Company! This event takes place during The Understudy's Grand Opening weekend. Please note this event is pay what you can. Doors open at 7:00 pm. The reading will begin at 7:30 pm and runs approximately 90 minutes. […]

Join us at The Understudy on Saturday, April 29th for the 10th Anniversary of Independent Bookstore Day! This is an excellent opportunity to support us and Chicago’s independent bookselling community!📚☕️ • The annual Indie Bookstore crawl is a one day national party celebrating indie bookstores. • Here’s how it works this year: Readers use the […]

👖 POP UP ALERT 🧦 . We're excited to host @thegoodyvault in our lounge this Saturday, May 27th! Join us to browse new (old) threads reworked by Emanuel alongside our usual books and brews. We're huge fans of Emanuel's eye for detail and his extraordinary craftsmanship, so come get some new summer pieces! . See you there […]

Join us at The Understudy for a reading, signing, and Q&A of Chicago author Richard Engling's newest novel "Give My Regards to Nowhere"

A Red Orchid Theatre invites you to take a peek behind the curtain and see how their team goes about exploring a play. What gets their ensemble excited about a script? How do actors, directors, playwrights, and designers all approach the same text differently? What defines a quintessential A Red Orchid production? To recreate the […]

We're so excited to celebrate our first Midsommarfest after opening in March! The Understudy is right outside the northern gates of the fest on the corner of Clark and Gregory, so stop by to beat the heat and reenergize before diving back in to all the food, drink, entertainment, shopping, and general revelry  the festival […]

Author Michael Kostroff, best known for his five seasons as Maury Levy on HBO’s legendary hit series The Wire, is joining us on June 14th to talk about his new book, The Stage Actor's Handbook.  The book is an invaluable guide to the traditions and best practices of the professional stage actor, from first rehearsal to […]

Join us for our queer open mic night, hosted by Understudy cast member Sharon Pasia and KJ Whitehead. Doors open at 7:30PM, the event begins at 8PM. Click Here to reserve a spot to perform.

EVENT DETAILS: Join us for a fascinating discussion of Chicago theatre history, as we celebrate the launch of the second edition of Something Wonderful Right Away: The Birth of Second City—America's Greatest Comedy Theater by Jeffrey Sweet. Doors open right at 7:00p for a 7:30p start to the talk. Please have your ticket ready to […]

ABOUT THE PLAY Laiba is a queer teenage girl who is obsessed with proving that Ender from the book Ender’s Game is gay, despite the author’s documented homophobia. She comes to believe that she is Ender and must fall in gay love with her classmate Jannat to save the world. Runtime: One Hour DOORS OPEN […]

ABOUT THE PLAY In the world of modeling, to "fit in" is to contort: socially, physically, mentally. In 1987, six young professionals seem to have fitting in down to a science…or so they think. Unsupervised and unfiltered, these models confront growing up while breaking down. What will they do to stay in vogue?   ABOUT […]

UPDATE 6/14/23: Attendee and Competitor tickets SOLD OUT. Waitlist begins at 6PM the evening of the event. The Understudy is proud to host its first-ever latte art throwdown, presented in collaboration with Metric Coffee. Expect our signature dramatic flair. Join The Understudy for an evening of fierce looks, fierce competition, and fabulous prizes. Top competitors […]