Lookingglass Theatre Company is thrilled to announce its annual fundraiser, the unGALA: Going gglamping! The 2023 experience will take you back to your best summer camp memories - only this time as a gglamorous grownup! On Saturday, March 25, 2023, frolic with your fellow “forest creatures” for an evening of mirth, revelry, and stargazing. Only this Tony Award-winning theatre can curate an experiential night of gglamping with party games, gaiety, and engagement.
Join the Lookingglass Board, Ensemble Members, Artistic Associates, and guest artists in a progressive dinner party through the rooms of Chicago’s iconic Blackstone Hotel, featuring themed performances along every stop of the route. Going gglamping will celebrate 35 years of Lookingglass by journeying through the core values of Collaboration, Invention and Transformation in inimitable Lookingglass style.
Collaboration
Guests will be camping out under the stars in the Collaboration Ballroom where Award-winning projection designer John Boesche will be mapping the ceiling with the wonders of the world in video form created by HMS media and Ensemble Member Phil Smith, and featuring the voices of Chicago’s own Ana Belaval (WGN’s Around Town), Ensemble Member Joey Slotnick and Bill Kurtis (Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me) while Ensemble Member and Head Camper Kasey Foster and Charlie Otto (This Must be the Band) guide the group through time and space with a bedrock of sound.
Invention
gglassworks, Lookingglass New Works Development Initiative now responsible for over 70 new plays for the American stage, will take the spotlight in the Invention Room. Artistic Associate and Stand-Up artist Atra Asdou will take the mic and present sneak excerpts from her original play Iraq, but Funny presented by guest artists Sarha Abraham, Michael Jando, and Will Mobley, with live musical accompaniment by Ronnie Malley. “I don’t see a lot of plays about the Middle East, and when I do, they are rarely written by middle eastern people, and when they are…they are not comedies,” says Asdou. “The Mid-East makes people nervous, and I want to break that down, break bread, break hearts and have a laugh.”
Transformation
Chicago’s dreamweaver Dennis Watkins (The Magic Parlor) takes the stage spinning yarns and flummoxing minds around the campfire in the room of Transformation. Guests will be willing participants with Chicago’s illusive card shark King of Diamonds.
Late Night game playing
The Sleepunder will not disappoint with Head Camper Kasey Foster's unGala GAME NIGHT which may include but will not be limited or beholden to a very special Talent Show, Name that Tune, Mental Bingo, Mad Libs, and the super-competitive Pop the Balloon! Party Goers will also be treated to the tasty beats of DJ alvinthethird! Beginning at 9:15PM, Sleepunder tickets are $100 and include late night eats and drinks.
The evening will include a Raffle with $100 tickets (max 300 sold) to win an iconic Teardrop Camper Trailer that sets the trend of tiny camping without leaving the essentials you want. The winner will be drawn on March 25 at 11pm.
A Silent Auction, opening March 15, will include items such as: STARGAZING DINNER: a night of revelry, storytelling, and a delicious meal with Anthony Fleming III and other Lookingglass Ensemble Members, and VIP tickets for four (4) guests to Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour at Soldier Field, Chicago. Additional silent auction items will be announced at a later date.
Capacity for the event is limited to 200 guests. Sponsorship information for the 2023 unGALA: Going gglamping event is available here.
More information is available at lookingglasstheatre.org/ungala
THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 unGALA SPONSORS
Grand Benefactor
- Joan and Paul Rubschlager
Host Committee
- Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation
- Lisa Naparstek Green and Howard Green
Event Sponsor
- Richard Chapman
- Exelon
- Steve and Lorrayne Weiss
- Waldorf Astoria, Chicago
Artistic Advocate
- Deann and Rick Bayless
- Chanon DiCarlo and Ethan Weber
- Charlie and Stephanie Frankel
- Jill Reznick Meier and Jonathan Meier
Artistic Friend
- Rachel and Jacob Avraham
- Cindee and William Dietz
- Lindsay Knight and Nick Seguin
- Chiara Mangiameli and Benjamin Lumpkin
- Diana and Michael Sands
- Diane and Christopher Whatton
About Lookingglass Theatre Company
Inventive. Collaborative. Transformative. Lookingglass Theatre Company, recipient of the 2011 Regional Theatre Tony Award, was founded in 1988 by eight Northwestern University students. Now in its 35th Season, Lookingglass is home to a multi-disciplined ensemble of artists who create story-centered theatrical work that is physical, aurally rich and visually metaphoric. The Company, located in Chicago’s landmark Water Tower Water Works, has staged 70 world premieres, received 161 Joseph Jefferson Award Nominations, and produced work all across the United States. In 2016, Lookingglass received the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions and in 2017, was the recipient of the League of Chicago Theatres’ Artistic Achievement Award.
Lookingglass continues to expand its artistic, financial, and institutional boundaries under the guidance of Artistic Director Heidi Stillman, Executive Director Rachel L. Fink, a 29-member artistic ensemble, 22 artistic associates, an administrative staff, and a dedicated board of directors led by Chair Diane Whatton.
For more information, visit lookingglasstheatre.org.
Engage with us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. #LookingglassTheatre
Lookingglass Board Members
- Steve Armstrong
- Deann Bayless
- Michael Belsley
- Molly Beran
- Brenda Langstraat Bui
- David Catlin
- Richard Chapman
- Lester N. Coney
- Chanon DiCarlo
- Richard A. Ditton
- Rachel L. Fink
- Anthony Fleming III
- Charlie Frankel
- Lee Golub
- Luis Gutierrez
- Lisa Naparstek Green
- Michael Harrington
- Catie Walsh Headtke
- Lindsay Knight
- Anita Mauro
- Jill Reznick Meier
- Marla Mendelson, M.D.
- Bob Palffy
- Abbie Roth, M.D.
- Peter Roth
- Yasmeen Soin
- Lindsay Hearn Stal
- Jeff Steigelman
- Heidi Stillman
- Sam Tepper, PhD
- Diane Whatton
- Steven Weiss
Lookingglass Ensemble Members
- Kareem Bandealy
- Mara Blumenfeld
- Walter Briggs
- J. Nicole Brooks
- David Catlin
- Thomas J. Cox
- Lawrence E. DiStasi
- Kevin Douglas
- Christine Mary Dunford
- Laura Eason
- Anthony Fleming III
- Kasey Foster
- Raymond Fox
- Joy Gregory
- Doug Hara
- Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi
- Anthony Irons
- David Kersnar
- Louise Lamson
- Daniel Ostling
- Andre Pluess
- David Schwimmer
- Joey Slotnick
- Philip R. Smith
- Heidi Stillman
- Tracy Walsh
- Andrew White
- Temple Williams III
- Mary Zimmerman
Lookingglass Artistic Associates
- Atra Asdou
- Brian Sidney Bembridge
- Christine A. Binder
- Cordelia Dewdney
- Deanna Dunagan
- Sara Gmitter
- Tony Hernandez
- Lauren Hirte
- Joshua Horvath
- J. Salomé Martinez Jr.
- Wendy Mateo
- Ericka Ratcliff
- Sully Ratke
- Scott Silberstein
- Rick Sims
- Alison Siple
- Samuel Taylor
- Lisa Tejero
- Troy West
- Lindsey Noel Whiting
- Matthew C. Yee
Event Listing Details
Event: Lookingglass Theatre Company’s 2023 unGala, Going gglamping
Date and Time: March 25, 2023, 5:30PM
Location: The Blackstone, 636 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60605
Ticket Details: Limited capacity available. Sponsorship information available here.
Website: For more information, visit lookingglasstheatre.org/ungala.