Athenaeum Theatre Music Venue / Theater

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 adjoining Catholic Church after a devastating fire, and acted as a show space for theater, dance, and other performing arts. The vintage theater also used to be the home of the Chicago Opera Theater until the group moved into its newfangled home at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park in 2004.

The building offers five rehearsal spaces for educational and community arts programs, as well as office spaces for up-and-coming arts organizations. The main stage at the Athenaeum Theatre seats 984 and is the site of many community and professional theater performances throughout the year.

Today, Performing Arts Chicago presents many shows at the Athenaeum Theatre from serious plays by Eugene O’Neill to parody shows about the (il)legitimacy of Illinois governors.