Tickets

April 17-19 & 24-26
Logan Center, Theater Performance Lab 501 & Room 701

New Work Week presents readings and performances of the freshest student plays. These texts are newer than you'll hear anywhere else. Some are new twists on old classics, some have never been spoken before. Join us for just one show, or purchase a NWW Festival Pass and see as many shows as you want. Check out taps.uchicago.edu for line-ups and leave your preconceptions at the door.

Tickets: $5 or $10 for a NWW Festival Pass. To purchase a Festival Pass, Click here.

TICKETS FOR APRIL 24TH ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE ONLINE BUT CAN STILL BE PURCHASED AT THE DOOR BEGINNING ONE HOUR BEFORE THE SHOW.

April 25, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Mandel Hall, 1131 E 57th St

Chicago recital debut

Bach: Partita No. 3 in A minor, BWV 827
Beethoven: Sonata in C Minor, Op. 13, Pathétique
Chopin: Nocturne in A-flat Major, Op. 32
              Two polonaises, Op. 40
              Three mazurkas, Op. 63
              Scherzo no. 3 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 39

In 2005 Rafal Blechacz was the uncontested winner of the 15^th Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, garnering not only the Grand Prize, but also all four of the special prizes (mazurka, polonaise, concerto and sonata) and the Competition’s audience prize.   Now with an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording contract, much acclaim and numerous awards (including Esso Klassik Awards, 2012 and 2008; Fryderyk awards, 2010 and 2008), Blechacz makes his Chicago debut.

“Blechacz’s playing was a revelation. The clarity, the finesse, the discipline with tempo and dynamics and the maturity of it were striking.” (Gramophone)

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

Fridays, April 25 through May 23@ 8:30pm
University Church
5655 S University Ave

The alumni of Off-Off Campus are truly what separate this improv troupe from its peers. Pulitzer-prize winning playwright David Auburn was in the Second Generation and he has publicly stated that Off-Off was his first training ground in scriptwriting. In recent years, two Off-Off alums, Abby Sher and Tami Sagher, have starred on The Second City's Mainstage. Greg Kotis, one of the first members of Off-Off, is best known for penning the Tony award-winning Broadway musical Urintown. Off-Off alums can also be seen in improv and sketch groups in Chicago and across the nation. They are writers for TV and film, they create video games (e.g. You Don't Know Jack), and of course, they are doctors, lawyers, economists, and scholars. A new show every week!

For comprehensive Off-Off Campus news and information see our website

Appropriate for ages 16 and up.

Tickets: $5

April 26, 2014, 7:30pm
Logan Center Performance Hall

10^th Anniversary with Patricia Barber

Pacifica Quartet
Lisa Kaplan, piano
Nicholas Photinos, cello
Nicholas Reed, percussion

Marta Ptaszynska: Space Model for solo percussion
Franghiz Ali-Zadeh: Habil-Sayagy for cello and prepared piano
Elena Firsova: String Quartet No. 11 “Purgatorium”
Patricia Barber Quartet

The 10^th anniversary celebration of the Contempo Double Bill puts the work of top creative women in music from around the world front and center stage.  The intrepid jazz artist Patricia Barber leads her quartet in the second half.

“Cross Diane Krall with Susan Sontag and you get Patricia Barber, whose throaty, come-hither vocals and coolly incisive piano are displayed to devastating effect.” (Time magazine)

Click here to visit the Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

April 19-27, Saturdays @ 7:30pm & Sundays @ 3pm
Ida Noyes Hall, Cloister Club

The Hyde Park Community Players and the Classical Entertainment Society present Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

Run Time: Approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission.

Tickets: $8 Advanced UofC Student, $10 Advanced General

At the door: $10 UofC Student/Senior, $12 General

TICKETS FOR APRIL 19 & 20 ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE ONLINE BUT CAN STILL BE PURCHASED AT THE DOOR ONE HOUR BEFORE THE SHOW.

Sunday, April 27, 3pm
Logan Center, Performance Hall

The first of the Five Elements Project, this concert features traditional and contemporary works by renowned composers Chen Yi, Lei Liang, Bright Sheng, and Liu Wenjin, as well as the world premiere of Huang Ruo’s Phrases of the Stream for pipa and erhu. The program is curated by Qing Hou, Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist and the Chinese Fine Arts Society’s artist in residence.

Program:

Huang Ruo: Phrases of the Stream
Yihan Chen, pipa and Betti Xiang, erhu
Traditional Chinese Tune: The Love of the Wei River
Yihan Chen, pipa
Traditional Chinese Tune: Winter Duck Playing in Water
YuQi Deng, guzheng
Traditional Chinese Tune: High Mountain Flowing Water
YuQi Deng, guzheng
Lei Liang: Lake
Eugenia Moliner, flute and Jennifer Woodrum, clarinet
Bright Sheng: The Stream Flows
Ming Huan Xu, violin and Jessica Tong, dancer
Liu Wenjin: Three Gorges Dam Capriccio
Betti Xiang, erhu and Amy Briggs, piano
Chen Yi: Happy Rain On A Spring Night
Emanuele Andrizzi, conductor
Eugenia Moliner, flute; Jennifer Woodrum, clarinet; MingHuan Xu, violin; David Cunliffe, cello; Amy Briggs, piano

Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for regular admission, and $50 for VIP seats and a cocktail reception right after the concert!

May 1-May 11
Logan Center, Theater West

Buried in Bughouse Square: A Studs Terkel Circus is a new work produced by Theater and Performance Studies at UChicago that brings Helena Kays (director) and Jay Torrence (playwright) together with a student ensemble to explore the life and work of Chicago artist and icon Studes Terkel through expressions of circus, clown and physical theater. With high-energy performances, Buried in Bughouse Square is suitable for ages 7-97 involving us all in the quest for story.

Tickets: $6 in advance, $8 beginning 2 hours before the show.

Friday, May 2, 7pm
Links Hall
3111 N Western Ave

Equal parts dance and theater, The Queue unfolds in a fictional airport, where travelers stumble humorously, tragically, and awkwardly into the high stakes of each other's private lives. Followed by an exclusive post-show discussion with the co-creators as they discuss their process collaborating on this comedic and moving dance-theater production.

Co-created by Lucky Plush Artistic Director Julia Rhoads (UChicago TAPS lecturer) and director Leslie Buxbaum Danzig (co-founder of 500 Clown, former UChicago TAPS lecturer, and current curator at the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry) in collaboration with ensemble members and The Claudettes, a drum and piano duo.

Includes free transportation.

Tickets: $10 for current UChicago students only

NOTE: Please bring your valid UChicago Student ID when picking up your ticket.

May 2, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Mandel Hall, 1131 E 57th St

Haydn: String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 76, No. 2, “Quinten”
Krzysztof Penderecki: String Quartet No. 3: Leaves from an unwritten diary
Zhou Long: Song of the Ch’in
Verdi: String Quartet in E Minor

Celebrating its 30^th anniversary season, the Shanghai Quartet has become one of the world’s foremost chamber ensembles and is renowned for its passionate musicality, impressive technique and multicultural innovations.  Capping a season of celebrations, including Chicago Presents’ 70^th and Giuseppe Verdi’s 200^th, the Shanghai closes an elegant program with Verdi’s one and only string quartet, written during a production delay of his opera Aida.

“The Shanghai cohesively blends the music’s pulsing rhythms and thrusting figurations with intelligence and grace.” (The New York Times)

Click here to visit the Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

Saturday, May 3, 7:00pm
Logan Center, Performance Hall

The UChicago Charter School Woodlawn Campus Fine Arts Department is excited to present its fourth annual spring dance concert, Dancing Beyond Borders. The concert will feature dance styles from around the world and celebrate how the spirit of dance connects everyone. The performance will showcase the artistic passion and talent of the UChicago Charter School students, celebrate graduating seniors and highlight the exceptional work that has emerged from an ongoing partnership with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Suitable for all ages.

The run time will be approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.

Tickets: $15 for Adults, $10 for Students and Children

May 4, 2014 @ 3pm
Logan Center, Performance Hall

What do frongs and a horse's mane have to do with violins? Find out at this violin and viola extravaganza! Performers ages three and up will delight you with the music of Bach, Vivaldi, and more.

Tickets: Adults: $15, Children (12 and Under): FREE

This performance will run approximately one hour and 15 minutes with no intermission.

Sunday, May 4, 6pm
Logan Center, Performance Penthouse

REMEMBERING  MABEL

KT SULLIVAN salutes “The Singer’s Singer”  Mabel Mercer with songs introduced by her like   “Love For Sale,”  “Fly Me To The Moon.”, “It Was Worth It”, and  “While We’re Young”.

Frank Sinatra said “Everything I know about  phrasing, I learned from Mabel Mercer”.  

The New Yorker calls KT Sullivan  “as vocally, comically and theatrically assured as contemporary cabaret performers get.”  She  recently appeared at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC with Brian Stokes Mitchell in Broadway Today, at the Humanities Festival in Chicago with Dave Frishberg. KT has headlined at Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, Lincoln Center, The Spoleto Festival, The Nouvelle Eve in Paris, The Chichester Festival in England and the Adelaide Festival in Australia. She was a guest star on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion and has seven albums in worldwide distribution on the DRG label.   She received the “Mabel Award” for Lifetime Achievement from the Mabel Mercer Foundation and Liza Minnelli presented her with the Manhattan Association of Cabaret & Clubs’ Outstanding Female Vocalist Award.  KT was named one of  the top 100 Irish Americans by Irish America magazine and is married to outstanding Irish-American Steve Downey, President of the New York Browning Society.  In April 2012, KT became the Artistic Director of the Mabel Mercer Foundation. KT's Broadway credits include Suky Tawdry in Three Penny Opera with Sting and the leading role, Lorelei Lee, in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on Broadway. She also toured nationally as Dolly Tate in Annie Get Your Gun with Cathy Rigby.  KT has guest starred on Police Squad, Night Court, Remington Steele, Hardcastle and McCormick, Simon & Simon, Cabaret 13 with Michael Feinstein and In Performance at the White House with Mary Martin.

Tickets: $40 General Preferred (cabaret seating), $30 General Admission, $10 U of C Students

Wednesday, May 7, 5-10pm
Goodman Theatre
170 N Dearborn St

Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman brings an ancient and beloved Chinese fable to life in a dazzling new adaptation hailed as “strikingly beautiful” by National Public Radio.

Music, puppetry, colorful sets and exquisite costumes enliven a simple fable of love and its complications. When a shape-shifting serpent attempts to join the human world, a vengeful monk threatens to dash all her hopes for happiness. Intricate, clever and enchanting, The White Snake’s dazzling form equals its tender content.

Includes free transportation and a pre-performance reception and conversation between Judith Zeitlin, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Chinese Literature, Department of East Asian Languages & Civilizations and Program in Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago; and Elizabeth Rice, Education & Community Engagement Assistant at Goodman Theatre.

Tickets: $10 for current UChicago students only

NOTE: Please bring your valid UChicago Student ID when picking up your ticket.

May 9, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Logan Center Performance Hall

Enjoy music by some of today’s finest young composers, performed by Contempo’s resident ensembles, eighth blackbird and the Pacifica Quartet.  Programs will include dissertation works by UChicago doctoral candidates in composition.

Tickets are complimentarly but reservations are suggested.

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

May 16, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Roosevelt University, Ganz Hall

Enjoy music by some of today’s finest young composers, performed by Contempo’s resident ensembles, eighth blackbird and the Pacifica Quartet.  Programs will include dissertation works by UChicago doctoral candidates in composition.

Tickets are complimentary but reservations are recommended.

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Saturday, May 17, 3-5pm
Logan Center, Performance Hall

Freakonomics authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner discuss 'Think like a Freak: How to Solve Problems, Win Fights and Be a Slightly Better Person'

In this dynamic, essential book, the authors of Freakonomics turn your brain inside out, teaching you how to think like a freak. Levitt and Dubner analyze the decisions we make, the plans we create, and the morals we choose. They show us how their insights can be applied to daily life to make smarter, harder, and better decisions.

Tickets: $30 which includes a copy of the book.

Authors will also be available after the performance to sign books.

May 25, 2pm
Logan Center, Performance Hall

A collection of experimental choreography by Catherine Eng and Karen Reppy exploring everything from religious ambiguity to the process of crying to putting on skinny jeans. All proceeds will go to the Hyde Park School of Dance's STEPS Outreach program which works to bring dance to underserved communities.

The performance will run approximately one hour with no intermission.

Tickets: $12 General Admission, $8 Students, FREE for children under 5.

Julie and Parker Hall Annual Jazz Concert

May 30, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Logan Center Performance Hall

Variations on the Great American Songbook

Jazz piano lovers won’t want to miss this special double bill treat.  The legendary and versatile Dick Hyman brings his “uplifting elegance and jaw-dropping chops” (NPR) to a selection of solo jazz piano works.  Then Bill Charlap, regarded as one of the premiere interpreters of the Great American Songbook, and his long-standing trio partners take the stage for their interpretations on “America’s classical music.”

“Charlap ranges over the keyboard with nimble, crisply swinging lines, subtly layered textures, dense chords, and spiky interjections.” (TIME Magazine)

Click here to visit the Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

May 31, 2pm
Logan Center Performance Hall

Storyteller Charlotte Blake Alston and string jazz musician John Blake Jr. come together to perform "Fiddlin' with Stories," a performance of four stories that reinforces community values and keeps history alive.

Run Time: appx. one hour.

Appropriate for ages 6 and up.

Tickets: $10 Adults, $5 Children under 17.

June 8, 2014 @ 3pm
Logan Center, Performance Hall

Bring the whole family to experience a celebration of the piano with student performers playing pieces from around the world. Learn about this versatile instrument and see how much it can do!

Tickets: Adults: $15, Children (12 and Under): FREE

This performance will run approximately one hour and 15 minutes with no intermission.

June 27-28, 8pm
Logan Center, Performance Hall

Clinard Dance presents "Chicago's Watershed: A 156-Mile Choreography" and repertory work, "From the Arctic to the Middle East: (Broken Narratives by an American Flamenco Dancer)"

Tickets: $25 General Admission, $55 VIP (Saturday evening only)

The performance will run approximately 2 hours with one intermission.

June 28, 2pm
Logan Center, Performance Hall

A contemporary dance company rooted in flamenco, Clinard Dance Theatre will bring families together and expose them to the rich history of flamenco dance.

Suitable for ages 6 and up.

Tickets: $10 for adults, $5 for children 17 and under.

To purchase a family pass which allows admission for up to 4 family members for 5 Family Matinees for $75, CLICK HERE!

July 12, 2pm
Logan Center, Performance Hall

Catch the rhythm! Feel the heat! Snap your fingers! Tap your feet! Youth members of ASE: The Chicago Association of Black Storytellers, put a unique spin on stories and rhythms from African and African American traditions.

Appropriate for ages 6 and up.

Tickets: $10 for adults & $5 for children 17 and under.

To purchase a family pass which allows admission for up to 4 family members for 5 Family Matinees for $75, CLICK HERE!