Announcing the 2026/27 Season
Court Theatre is proud to announce its 72nd season! The 2026/27 season is an exploration of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit. America is at an undeniable inflection point. We, as a set of complex communities, are reexamining our systems and very ways of being, challenging long-held beliefs, and asking urgent questions. Theatre—which we believe to be a foundational pillar of civic discourse—helps us to find new pathways through complicated times.
From the haunting revelations of Winsome Pinnock’s Tituba, a provocative response to Arthur Miller’s classic, The Crucible; to Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson’s landmark completion of August Wilson’s American Century Cycle with Joe Turner’s Come and Gone; to Luis Alfaro’s Mojada, an astonishing contemporary adaptation of Euripides’s Medea set in Chicago; to the new American opera safronia, created by avery r. young, Chicago’s inaugural Poet Laureate, Court Theatre’s 2026/27 season peers deep into the heart of distinctly American stories—with all their nuance, contradictions, and beauty—and reaffirms the crucial resilience of the classics.
Join us in the Pursuit → Subscribe Now.
From Avery and Angel
Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director Avery Willis Hoffman shares, “As our country passes a historic milestone, Court’s 2026/27 season works towards demonstrating theatre’s place at the center of civic life. Our art form has historically offered fresh perspectives, inspired spirited discourse, and created unique and shared experiences that help us better understand each other and ourselves. In this moment of intense reflection, we are re-committing to this complicated, but basic, mission, all of which feels increasingly urgent, and getting to the heart of how theatre can make a real impact. In my first full season as the new Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director, I am proud that Court is leading these conversations.”
Executive Director Angel Ysaguirre adds, “The 2026/27 season affirms that American stories are varied, complex, and beautiful, and it has something for everyone. From Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson’s historic completion of the August Wilson Century Cycle, to a new opera, to a national premiere, to a Chicago-specific adaptation, this season stretches our expectations and expands the boundaries of our art form. This is exciting for us, our audiences, and the artists we’re working with—some of whom we’re thrilled to welcome to Court’s stage for the first time. We can’t wait to present a season that is as varied, complex, and beautiful as the America outside our doors.”
Explore the 2026/27 Season
Performed in the hallowed halls of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, the 2026/27 season opens with the American premiere of Tituba. In this solo performance, Tituba—the real-life person accused in the Salem witch trials and featured in Arthur Miller’s classic The Crucible—invites us to journey through a mystical world to hear her side of the story. Learn more →
More than twenty years in the making, Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson completes a defining chapter of his artistic legacy. With Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Parson completes August Wilson’s American Century Cycle and joins an elite circle of directors who have staged all ten plays at the same theatre. Wilson’s iconic, evocative prose and vivid characters shine in this portrayal of a nation haunted by slavery, with spirits around every corner and no escape in sight. Learn more →
An adaptation of an ancient tale of revenge, sacrifice, and the high price of pursuing freedom, Mojada renders Euripides’s Medea myth urgently and achingly alive in the city of Chicago. Produced in partnership with Teatro Vista Productions, Mojada confronts the contradictions at the center of American identity: opportunity and erasure, belonging and betrayal. Both a love letter and a searing indictment, this electrifying production asks: What are we willing to sacrifice in the pursuit of liberty? Learn more →
An extraordinary new opera from inaugural Chicago Poet Laureate avery r. young, safronia blends gospel, blues, funk, folklore, poetry, and history. Told through the evocative music of the hundreds of thousands of African Americans who journeyed to Chicago during the Great Migration, this vibrant new work completely reimagines the scope of the American classical music landscape. Learn more →
Subscription Information
Three and four-play subscriptions to Court’s 2026/27 season range from $120 to $300 and are on sale now. Please note, seating at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel is general admission; subscribers will receive access to the preferred section. To purchase a subscription, call the Court Theatre Box Office at (773) 753-4472, or subscribe online.
Subscribe NowNote: The first production in Court Theatre’s 2026/27 season begins in December 2026, markedly later than years past, and will take place offsite at the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. Court’s Abelson Auditorium will be dark for the summer and fall of 2026 as we modernize our lighting equipment and implement a new fall protection system. These changes will create a safer working environment for theatre technicians, and provide necessary and exciting updates to our intimate house.
We hope you will join us in the Pursuit.
Header photos: Gabrielle Randle-Bent (Joe Mazza), Avery Willis Hoffman (Joe Mazza), Ron OJ Parson, Wendy Mateo, Denise Yvette Serna, avery r. young (Sulyiman Stokes), and Timothy Douglas (D’Ambrose Boyd). Photos of Avery Willis Hoffman and Angel Ysaguirre by Joe Mazza. |
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