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Theaters in Chicago

Apollo Theater

Theater

Info Despite being housed in a nondescript cement building in Chicago’s Lincoln Park, the Apollo Theater opens up into a polished and lush performance space. With a capacity of 450 people, the intimate theater has been presenting musicals, plays, and comedy acts since 1978. It has no relation to New York’s Apollo Theater. Some ... more

2540 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60614

Riviera Theatre

Concert Venue / Theater

Info Located in the historic Uptown theater district, the Riviera Theatre is one of Chicago’s premier concert venues. The theater was built in 1917 by the Rapp Brothers, a famous architectural duo known for designing magnificent theaters and performance venues. The building was originally designed as a movie theater for the ... more

4746 North Racine Avenue
Chicago, IL 60640

Athenaeum Theatre

Music Venue / Theater

Info The Athenaeum Theatre is a small-venue theater space in Lincoln Park, Chicago. The building opened in 1911 as part of the St. Alphonsus Catholic Church and was intended as a neighborhood playhouse and recreational center. Throughout the years, the Athenaeum Theatre served as a girls’ high school, temporarily housed the ... more

2936 North Southport Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657

Drury Lane Theater (Oakbrook Terrace, IL)

Theater

Info Unlike London’s centuries-old Drury Lane Theatre from which it borrows its name, Oakbrook Terrace’s Drury Lane Theatre is a product of 1984. Located half an hour west of the city, Drury Lane Theatre is the last one standing of a chain of Chicagoland dinner theater venues. Though the building also serves as a convention ... more

100 Drury Lane
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181

Convocation Center (NIU - Dekalb, IL)

Concert Venue

Info Home of Northern Illinois University and an hour west of Chicago, the Dekalb Convocation Center was built in 2002. The stadium has ties to the university, but it also books non-school events, including job fairs, trade shows, and concerts. Division I Northern Illinois University teams share the venue and games at the Dekalb ... more

1525 West Lincoln Highway
Dekalb, IL 60115

The Portage Theater

Theater

Info Opened in 1920, the Portage Theater is one of Chicago’s oldest movie houses, but as it lacks historic status, it seems annually threatened by developers. Supporters of the Portage Theater continually fight to keep the landmark intact. A massive renovation in 2006 has restored the theater to its glory days, garnering support ... more

4050 North Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, IL 60641

Greenhouse Theater Center

Theater

Info Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, the Greenhouse Theater Center hosts a rotating roster of theater companies. The center is devoted to nurturing small and mid-sized theater companies, letting them rent stage space with all the miscellaneous necessities such as a box office, lighting equipment, and ushers. Up to ... more

2257 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614

Music Box Theatre

Theater

Party Earth Review When the 800-seat Music Box Theatre opened in 1929, it was considered the little sister to the much larger movie palaces of the day, but its intimate size belies a calendar packed with more than three hundred different movie showings a year. Restored in the 80s, this is not a place to catch the latest Zac Efron vehicle ... more

3733 North Southport Avenue
Chicago, IL 60613

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Genesee Theatre (Waukegan, IL)

Concert Venue / Theater

Info Less than an hour from Chicago, the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan is the kind of extravagant venue usually found in downtown theater districts. This former movie palace brings ornate glamour to the suburbs, staging musicals, plays, concerts, and film series. The Genesee Theatre was built in 1927 as a movie theater and live ... more

203 North Genesee Street
Waukegan, IL 60085

Chicago Theatre

Concert Venue / Theater

Info The marquee outside the Chicago Theatre, which reads “Chicago,” is often used as a symbol for the city, and its glowing lights are a major landmark in the Loop. Built in 1921, the glitzy theater was originally a movie palace, back when films were a luxury experience. Now the building, with its French-inspired décor, hosts ... more

175 N State Street
Chicago, IL 60601

The Congress Theater

Concert Venue / Theater

Party Earth Review No matter what anyone thinks of the evening’s band, few would argue that The Congress Theater isn’t a beautiful place to see a concert – not even the city council, which designated this former 1920s movie palace a Chicago landmark in 2002. The ornate exterior – seemingly cloned from some Italian palace – gives way to a ... more

2135 North Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, IL 60647

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Park West

Concert Venue / Theater

Info The Park West, a Lincoln Park music venue, opened as a vaudeville and movie theater in the 1920s. By the 1960s, it was an adult-movie and burlesque theater. It entered its current incarnation as a live music and special event venue in 1977. Concerts at the Park West have included many notable alternative and classic rock ... more

322 West Armitage Avenue
Chicago, IL 60614

All theaters in Chicago →

Chicago Theaters Overview

There are a bunch of localized theater areas in Chicago, which makes sense considering the hundreds of theaters spread throughout the city. But if you’re looking for the biggest stages, the newest performances, and the hottest talent, you don’t need to look any further than The Loop.

Smack dab in the middle of the city, Chicago’s Loop is home to touring Broadway shows playing on the most illustrious stages. Just to name a few, there’s the Harris Theater, the Storefront Theater, the famous Chicago Theatre, the Ford Oriental Theatre, the Goodman Theatre, the Cadillac Palace Theatre, and the Bank of America Theatre.

Getting outside The Loop, the Gold Coast has a mini theater district of its own with both the Broadway Playhouse and the Lookingglass Theatre. More theaters abound in Old Town – home of Second City – while River West hosts theaters big and small.

If you’re looking for great Chicago theaters, you only have to search your neighborhood to stumble across a live show, a great play, an incredible aria, or a booming symphony. So get out of the clubs for a night and discover the cultural wonders that the theaters in Chicago bring out on a nightly basis.