New year resolutionists vowing to widen their cultural horizons may check this list for artsy happenings taking place in Chicago-area galleries, museums, theaters, and other venues throughout 2025.
EmotionAir | Art You Can Feel (Oct. 30, 2025-Sep. 7, 2026) takes over Fields Studios. This Balloon Museum exhibition features large-scale installations and inflatable works by international artists. “Balloon Museum was conceived as a creative response to a changing world, based on the idea that the innocence of childhood can be transformed into art that elevates and inspires,” explains Roberto Fantauzzi, CEO of Lux Entertainment. “We are excited to share this vision, bringing joy, inspiration, and connection to new audiences.”
Ora Jones and Joey Slotnick are featured among the 18 cast members in Peter Shaffer’s Tony Award-winning play Amadeus at Steppenwolf Theatre (Nov. 6, 2025-Jan. 25, 2026). “We’re thrilled to welcome so many ensemble members back to their artistic home,” note the company’s artistic directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis.
Superheroes Anonymous by Carolina Boss, Family Fishing Trip by Lydia Vodopic, and Love & Gyros by Lily Zhang are featured in Pegasus Theatre Chicago’s 38th Annual Young Playwrights Festival (Jan. 5-26) at Chicago Dramatists. “We look forward to sharing these playwrights’ stories inspiring the next generation of writers and audiences,” says Executive and Producing Artistic Director Ilesa Duncan.
Under the baton of Music Director/Conductor Kirk Muspratt, New Philharmonic performs Donizetti’s bel canto opera The Elixir of Love (Jan. 25 -26) with soprano Alisa Jordheim and mezzo soprano Addie Rose Brown at the McAninch Arts Center (MAC) in Glen Ellyn.
Elizabeth Rentfro, Michael Ashford and Samantha Garcia take on 37 of the Bard’s plays in the fast-paced farce The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) at Oil Lamp Theater (Jan. 24-Feb.16) in Glenview.
Susan V. Booth directs Oscar winner Helen Hunt, Robert lan Barford and Sean Leonard in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal at (Feb. 8-March 16) Goodman Theatre. The drama is followed by Beautiful: The Carol King Musical (through March 23) at Drury Lane Theatre.
Chicago Dance Month’s Kickoff Celebration (May 31) on Navy Pier spotlights Ayodele Drum and Dance, Chicago Dance Crash, Chicago Mexican Folkloric Dance Company, Hiplet NEXT, MOMENTA Dance Company, Natya Dance Theatre, Praize Productions, Inc. and Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater.
A tap-dancing Mad Hatter appears in the Joffrey Ballet‘s production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at Chicago’s Lyric Opera House (June 5-15). Choreographed by two-time Tony winner Christopher Wheeldon, the fantastical production features music by Joby Talbot.
The Music Box Theatre’s Sapphopalooza series (May 10-June 1) celebrates cinematic lesbians with special screenings of 1996’s Murder and Murder(May 10); 1954’s Johnny Guitar (May 11); 1999’s But I’m A Cheerleader (May 12); 2019’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire (May 17); 2004’s D.E.B.S. (May 22); Ingmar Bergman’s 1966 classic Persona (May 24) and more.
Apollo Theater Chicago invites fans of the Twilight films (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn – parts 1 and 2) to Twihard! A Twilight Musical Parody (July 25-Nov. 9). The unauthorized spoof of cinema’s supernatural saga promises plenty of songs and laughs.
Inspired by the 1930s Federal Theatre Project that created stories based on the day’s headlines, Jackalope Theatre Company’s 16th Annual Living Newspaper Festival at the Broadway Armory (Aug. 21-25) generates one-act plays via recent news.
Babes With Blades will open and close its Fighting Words Festival (Sep. 6-14) at the Bramble Arts Loft with table readings of yo ho. Directed by Artistic Associate Maureen Yasko, the play by SMJ mixes history with fantasy as it follows female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read on the high seas.
Redtwist Theatre kicks off its Defiant Femmes season with Sarah Ruhl’s How to Transcend a Happy Marriage (Aug. 14-Sep. 21) while Idle Muse Theatre Company launches its new season with the world premiere of The Blood Countess (Sep. 11-Oct. 11).
TimeLine Associate Artist Kimberly Senior directs the world premiere of Sandra Delgado’s drama Hundreds and Hundreds of Stars (Oct. 8-Nov. 9) at Lookingglass Theatre Company’s Water Tower Water Works location.
Thanks to the Broadway hit Hell’s Kitchen (Nov. 11-30), Chicagoans can experience the music and coming-of-age story of Alicia Keys at the James M. Nederlander Theatre.
Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind (Oct. 18, 2025-Feb. 22, 2026) can be seen and heard at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. The comprehensive solo exhibition includes more than 200 works including interactive instruction pieces and scores, installations, films, music, photography, and archival materials.
On Nov. 15, Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater launches its Celebrating Women Leaders in Dance season with a 50th Anniversary Celebration honoring the late Dame Libby Komaiko and Artistic Director Irma Suárez Ruiz.
Hundreds of handmade puppets, an immersive sound design and a live score are featured in Manual Cinema’s reimagining of A Christmas Carol (Dec. 12-14) at the Studebaker Theater.
Fave characters from Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” (1813) come to life in Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley (Nov. 20-Dec. 21). Based on Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon’s trilogy of plays, this Buffalo Theatre Ensemble production arrives at the McAninch Arts Center just in time for the holidays.
Selina Cadell directs Much Ado About Nothing (Nov. 18-Dec 21) at Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Jentes Family Courtyard Theater this winter. “Much Ado About Nothing is a wonderfully well-rounded, mature, romantic story which embraces all the ridiculous ups and downs of our own behavior when we’re in the throes of deep feeling,” says Artistic Director Edward Hall. “It also offers some of Shakespeare’s wittiest prose and most dazzling language. A truly warm and inviting treat for audiences during the holiday season.”
Downtown Aurora is the place to be for the nostalgia and pageantry of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (through Jan. 11, 2026) at the Paramount Theatre.
Chicago-based multidisciplinary artist Andi Crist presents her first solo exhibition Live, Laugh, Labor: Thoughts on Usefulness and Other Myths at Cleve Carney Museum of Art (Oct. 16, 2025-Jan. 11, 2026). Through humor, skepticism, and traditional craft techniques, Crist explores the boundaries between artists and work.
A replica of Dorothy’s Ruby Red Slippers, the Cowardly Lion’s Medal of Courage and other memorabilia from The Wizard of Oz (1939) are showcased in The Land of Oz: Beyond the Page (Nov. 13, 2025-March 15, 2026) at the Driehaus Museum. “One of the most popular movie quotes of all time is from The Wizard of Oz— ‘There’s no place like home,’ and this season, your home is the Driehaus Museum,” says Executive Director Lisa M. Key.
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