Porchlight Music Theatre’s Porchlight Young Professionals Associate Board are proud to announce their latest special event, Wicked: For Good Watch Party, Monday, Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. at the Davis Theater, 4614 N Lincoln Ave. The watch party includes an exclusive screening of John Chu’s sequel to “Wicked,” a live pre-show conversation/Q+A featuring Wicked cast veterans: the national tour’s “Boq” Justin Brill and Broadway In Chicago’s “Nessarose” Summer Naomi Interior and hosted by Porchlight Music Theatre’s Artistic Director Michael Weber, a raffle of “Wicked: For Good”-themed items and guests are encouraged to come dressed in their Ozmopolitan best for a chance to win a costume contest. The event is sponsored by Annie Mitran Brennan and Matt Brennan, Jenny Poth, Lisa and Alex Villani-Gale and Madison Wakefield. Funds raised at this screening go to support Porchlight Music Theatre’s artistic and educational programs. Tickets are now available beginning at $25 at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org.
“After the success of last year’s exclusive screening, we wanted to gather the Porchlight Young Professionals and Porchlight’s friends to experience this year’s most anticipated cinematic event - together,” said Porchlight Young Professionals Chair Nate Groonwald. “Not only will we see the conclusion of the already Oscar-buzzed film but hear actual backstage stories from Justin and Summer. We look forward to the most swankified evening for all.”
ABOUT JUSTIN BRILL, special guest
Justin Brill is a performer, educator and director currently serving as the Head of BFA in Music Theatre program at Illinois Wesleyan University after teaching at Columbia College Chicago and San Diego State University. As a performer he has performed on Broadway (All Shook Up, Rent, High Fidelity), National Tours (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Wicked) and throughout the Chicagoland area (Drury Lane, Marriott Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, TATC, The Beautiful City Project). As a director he has collaborated with Refuge Theatre Project, The Fireside Theatre, the 2022 virtual celebration of Shakespeare’s birthday “TO BE” for Chicago Shakespeare and the upcoming SpongeBob Musical for The Marriott Theatre. He toured for over three years with the first national tour of Wicked alongside his wife, Shanna VanDerwerker, who was a swing and dance captain for the tour. During his time on tour, he performed the role of “Boq” more than 1200 times.
ABOUT SUMMER NAOMI INTERIOR, special guest
Summer Naomi Interior spent 22 years as a professional music theatre actress, on both stage and screen, performing leading roles in such shows as Mary Poppins, Beauty & the Beast, Sweet Charity, Aida, The Light in the Piazza, Shrek, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and—of course—Wicked. She and her husband met while dancing together in a Chicago production of CATS, more than 10 years ago, and they currently live with their three little boys in Oswego. Interior now works as a writer and marketer. She is fully immersed in her favorite, and most challenging, role to date: Mama.
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT YOUNG PROFESSIONALS
The Porchlight Young Professionals (PYP) is an ensemble of young professionals who share a passion for advancing music theatre in Chicago as well as the innovative and transformative art happening at Porchlight.
The PYP inspires the next generation of Porchlight’s theatre patrons and serves as ambassadors through fundraising, event planning and committee involvement.
Current members include Nate Groonwald, chair; Gia Wunar, vice chair; Adam Zaucha, secretary; Lisa Villani-Gale, fundraising chair, Madison Wakefield, membership committee chair, Meggie Keiser, events committee chair, Claire Berman, Annie Mitran Brennan, Kellie Buffington, Matthew Bowen, Ben Jossi, Jonah Levi-Paesky, Jenny Poth, Kathryn Rosenbaum, Becca Sheehan, Yessenia Sosa and Emily Werner.
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
Porchlight Music Theatre, entering its 30th season, is the award-winning center for music theatre in Chicago. Through live performance, youth education and community outreach, we impact thousands of lives each season, bringing the magic of musicals to our theatre home at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts in the Gold Coast and to neighborhoods across the city. Porchlight has built a national reputation for boldly reimagining classic musicals, supporting new works and young performers, and showcasing Chicago’s most notable music theatre artists, all through the intimate and powerful theatrical lens of the “Chicago Style.”
Porchlight's history over nearly three decades includes more than 70 mainstage works with 15 Chicago premieres and five world premieres.
Porchlight's education and outreach programs serve schools, youth of all ages and skill levels and community organizations. Porchlight annually awards dozens of full scholarships and hundreds of free tickets to ensure accessibility and real engagement with this uniquely American art form.
The company’s many honors include 178 Joseph Jefferson Award (Jeff) nominations and 50 Jeff awards, as well as 44 Black Theatre Alliance (BTA) nominations and 15 BTA awards. In 2019, Porchlight graduated to the Large Theatre tier of the Equity Jeff Awards and has been honored with seven awards in this tier to date including Best Ensemble for Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies (2019) and Best Production-Revue for Blues in the Night (2022).
Through the global pandemic, Porchlight emerged as one of Chicago’s leaders in virtual programming, quickly launching a host of free offerings like Sondheim @ 90 Roundtables, Movie Musical Mondays, Porchlight by Request: Command Performances and WPMT: Classic Musicals from the Golden Age of Radio. In 2021, Porchlight launched its annual summer series, Broadway in your Backyard, performing at parks and venues throughout the city.
The 31st Season is Sponsored By Brenda & Jim Grusecki.
Porchlight Music Theatre is partially supported by generous contributions from Actor’s Equity Foundation; Arlen and Elaine Cohen Rubin Charitable Fund or the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City; Chicago Free For All Fund; the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; James P. and Brenda S. Grusecki Family Foundation; Mesirow Financial; the Pritzker Traubert Foundation; Daniel and Genevieve Ratner Foundation; The Saints; Dr. Scholl Foundation; the Shulman-Rochambeau Foundation; the Shubert Foundation; Uvae Kitchen & Wine Bar and Bukiety.
The season program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency. Porchlight Music Theatre wishes to thank members of the Matching Gift Corporate Program including Allstate; Baird Foundation; BDO USA; Google; Jackson National Life Insurance and The Saints.
Justin Brill as "Boq" - one of the special guests at Porchlight Music Theatre’s Porchlight Young Professionals Associate Board are proud to announce their latest special event, Wicked: For Good Watch Party, Monday, Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. at the Davis Theater, 4614 N Lincoln Ave.
Summer Naomi Interior as "Nessarose" - one of the special guests at Porchlight Music Theatre’s Porchlight Young Professionals Associate Board are proud to announce their latest special event, Wicked: For Good Watch Party, Monday, Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. at the Davis Theater, 4614 N Lincoln Ave.
Coming at Porchlight:
Monday, Dec. 8 and Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Directed by Brenda Didier and Michael Weber
Music Directed by David Fiorello
Starring Adrian Aguilar, Neala Barron, Sharriese Hamilton and George Keating
Rhapsody Theater, 1328 W. Morse Ave.
Porchlight Sings the Season celebrates the holidays with music from Broadway and Hollywood with Porchlight luminaries performing songs from Mame, Meet Me in St. Louis, Holiday Inn and others. This premiere offers a musical respite from the holiday stress with an unforgettable evening of festive entertainment, a salute to Chicago holidays past, warm cookies, sing-alongs, an ugly Christmas sweater contest and more.
The Irish … and How They Got That Way
January 31 - March 15, 2026
By Frank McCourt
Original Musical Arrangements by Rusty McGee
Directed by David Girolmo
Music Directed by David Fiorello
Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St.
The uplifting story of an American immigrant journey, The Irish … and How They Got That Way is an irreverent history of Ireland through the tumultuous 20th and 21st centuries seen through the eyes of Pulitzer Prize winning author, Frank McCourt (Angela’s Ashes, ‘Tis, Teacher Man) whose razor sharp wit, coupled with his trademark satirical irony and boundless love for the Irish People are all underscored by humor, heartache and a glorious score that spans 100+ years from “Danny Boy,” “Galway Bay” and “The Rare Old Times” to “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra” and U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I Am Looking For.”
Porchlight In Concert: Follies
Saturday, April 25, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 26, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Goldman
Directed by Artistic Director Michael Weber
Music Directed by Linda Madonia
Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Porchlight In Concert debuted in 2024 with sold out performances of Sunday in the Park with George and this season returns to the Studebaker for a limited engagement of another Stephen Sondheim classic, Follies. Winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Score, Follies shares the reunion of the legendary "Weismann Follies" company on the eve of their crumbling theater's demolition, to reminisce about their past and confront their futures with a rich score that celebrates show music of the 20s - 40s. Considered to be one of the landmark American musicals, Follies includes the celebrated Sondheim standards "Broadway Baby," "I'm Still Here," "Losing My Mind" and more.
MORE FROM PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE:
Chicago Sings Broadway’s British Invasion
Spring 2026
Porchlight’s annual concert fundraiser highlights Great Britain’s contributions to the biggest hits of Broadway. Chicago music theatre’s leading performers add their signature style to the musical favorites that premiered “across the pond” in this one-night-only event. From early West End successes like Me and My Girl, Oliver! and Stop the World - I Want to Get Off, to the “rock operas,” Jesus Christ Superstar, Chess and Evita, blockbusters including Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon and Les Misérables and recent favorites Mamma Mia!, Six, Operation Mincemeat and more.
Broadway in your Backyard
Summer 2026
Porchlight's free, outdoor summer concert series marks its sixth edition in 2026 at parks throughout Chicago. The 60-minute, family-friendly, outdoor performance includes some of the best loved show tunes from Broadway and Hollywood with sing-alongs, a raffle for valuable prizes and more.