Chicago’s Tony-Award winning Lookingglass Theatre Company, presenting the world premiere of the semi-autobiographical comedy Iraq, But Funny, now playing through July 20, written by Ensemble Member Atra Asdou and directed by Dalia Ashurina, is proud to announce its 2025 - 2026 season taking place in The Joan and Paul Theatre at Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St. at Michigan Ave. This fall, Lookingglass will host TimeLine Theatre Company’s production of Hundreds and Hundreds of Stars, October - November, before launching its own season with Young Ensemble performances in December, directed by Ensemble Member Heidi Stillman. The 2025 - 2026 season continues with the world premiere of White Rooster, March - April 2026, written and directed by Company Member Matthew C. Yee, followed by the world premiere of Untitled Vampire Play, June - July 2026, written by Company Member Kevin Douglas and directed by Devon DeMayo and concludes with the return of Lookingglass Outdoors performances and traditions throughout Chicago including Sunset 1919 on July 27, 2026. Additional information about the 2025 - 2026 season and Memberscriptions (Lookingglass productions only, Memberscriptions do not include TimeLine’s Hundreds and Hundreds of Stars) are available at LookingglassTheatre.org or by calling 312.337.0665.
“I could not be more excited about our 2025 - 2026 season. Ensemble Members Matthew C. Yee and Kevin Douglas are two brilliant playwrights, each with a genius knack for dark humor. Both White Rooster and Untitled Vampire Play hit you in the gut with poignancy and in the sides with laughter from two entirely different angles. The human mind is incredible!,” said Artistic Director Kasey Foster. “Ensemble Member Heidi Stillman directs our Lookingglass Young Ensemble this season, providing the next generation of theatre makers with a masterclass in the devising of new work, the creation of spectacle and the physical storytelling techniques that Lookingglass is known for. And, we open our doors even wider to organizations and artists looking for a home including hosting TimeLine Theatre’s production of Hundreds and Hundreds of Stars this fall.”
Lookingglass Theatre’s 2025-2026 season includes:
December 2025
The Joan and Paul Theatre at Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St. at Michigan Ave.
Directed by Company Member Heidi Stillman
Heading into its 27th year, The Lookingglass Young Ensemble is a group of Chicago-area young adults, ages 13-18, committed to building their theater skills, lifting their voices and developing their creativity through collaborative creation.
Meeting weekly from fall through spring, a typical year could include skill-building workshops, rehearsals and an annual production that weaves together language, visual spectacle, music and the unique talents and contributions of the ensemble. Inclusive, rigorous, playful and endlessly creative, the Young Ensemble builds not only better artists, but better collaborators, thinkers and leaders.
WORLD PREMIERE
March - April 2026
The Joan and Paul Theatre at Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St. at Michigan Ave.
Written and Directed by Company Member Matthew C. Yee
White Rooster is a darkly funny tale of love, loss and the strange things we inherit. After a family tragedy, Min is pulled into a world of restless spirits, old curses and mysterious traditions. Her fiancé won’t stay dead, her sister won’t stay buried and a rooster won’t be ignored. Blending spooky folklore with offbeat humor, White Rooster is a haunting tale of grief, family and the messiness of moving on.
WORLD PREMIERE
June - July 2026
The Joan and Paul Theatre at Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St. at Michigan Ave.
Written by Company Member Kevin Douglas
Directed by Devon DeMayo
Hilarity (and tragedy) ensue in the world premiere of Untitled Vampire Play when Val, a vampire, is in a new relationship with a mortal, Dom, each having different ideas about where their relationship should go. Rose, Val's progeny, wants Val to consider leaving the country, and on top of that, Val's estranged brother has returned, coincidentally, as a serial killer terrorizes the streets of Chicago. Untitled Vampire Play explores love, codependency, unwavering convictions and vampires.
Lookingglass Outdoors Summer 2026 Includes:
SUNSET 1919
Saturday, July 27, 2026 at 7 p.m.
The Eugene Williams Memorial, 125 Fort Dearborn Dr. north of 31st Street Beach
Co-curated by Ensemble Members J. Nicole Brooks and Kareem Bandealy
With Pugs Atomz, Rae Chardonnay, Aaliyah Christina, Glenn Felix Willoughby, olula negre, Julian Otis and Fawn E. Pochel
FREE
Launched in July of 2020, Lookingglass established Sunset 1919, an annual artistic ritual featuring music, movement and word commemorating the start of the 1919 Chicago race riots. Incited by the tragic murder of Eugene Williams, a Black teenager stoned to death by a White man, George Stauber, after drifting into a “Whites Only” section of Lake Michigan. Sunset 1919 is meant to honor the lives of Black people impacted by the deadly racial attacks that swept the nation that summer, the roots of which stretch back across centuries, the fruits of which we continue to pluck - a moment in an unbroken line.
Also, hosted by Lookingglass Theatre, is
TIMELINE THEATRE COMPANY’S
WORLD PREMIERE
HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF STARS
October - November 2025
Written by Sandra Delgado
Directed by Kimberly Senior
Subscriptions now on sale at TimeLineTheatre.com/2025-2026-season/
Like millions of Americans, Clara is doing her best to hold everything together—working hard, raising her tween daughter Stella, caring for an aging father and supporting her under-employed ex-husband. But when she applies for U.S. citizenship ahead of a mother-daughter trip to Paris, her application is unexpectedly flagged, exposing minor infractions in her past and threatening the only home she’s ever known. Blending grounded family drama with otherworldly wonder, this Chicago-set world premiere is a moving and provocative exploration of our country’s most fundamental values.
ABOUT THE JOAN AND PAUL THEATRE
The main stage at the Water Tower Water Works is named in honor of longtime Lookingglass supporters Joan and Paul Rubschlager and their transformational gift to ensure the future of Lookingglass. The couple have been instrumental in their partnership with Chicago organizations, such as Rush University and The Field Museum. Nationally, their support extends to the American Heart Association and Alzheimer's Association. The Joan and Paul Theatre reconfigures the stage and audience seating as dictated by the needs of each season, with a capacity of 200 persons including the balcony.
ABOUT LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY
Founded in 1988 by graduates of Northwestern University, Lookingglass Theatre Company is a nationwide leader in the creation and presentation of new, cutting-edge theatrical works and in sharing its ensemble-based theatrical techniques with Chicago-area students and teachers through Education and Community Programs. Guided by an artistic vision centered on the core values of collaboration, transformation and invention, Lookingglass seeks to capture audiences’ imaginations leaving them changed, charged and empowered.
Recipient of the 2011 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, Lookingglass has built a national reputation for artistic excellence and ensemble-based theatrical innovation. Notable world premieres include Mary Zimmerman’s Tony Award-winning Metamorphoses and The Odyssey, J. Nicole Brooks' Her Honor Jane Byrne, David Schwimmer’s adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and Studs Terkel’s Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel about the American Obsession, Matthew C. Yee's Lucy and Charlie's Honeymoon and David Catlin’s circus tribute to Lewis Carroll, Lookingglass Alice, which was captured by HMS Media and reached 1.6 million PBS viewers.Looking Alice is now available to more than four million students worldwide through Digital Theatre+. Work created by Lookingglass artists has been produced in Australia, Europe and dozens of cities throughout the United States.
(Top row. L to R) Matthew Yee, writer and director of WHITE ROOSTER, and Kevin Douglas, writer of UNTITLED VAMPIRE PLAY
(Second row, L to R) Devon DeMayo, director of UNTITLED VAMPIRE PLAY, and Heidi Stillman, director of 2025 Young Ensemble
Lookingglass Theatre Company Exterior of Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St. at Michigan Ave. Photo by Tom Harris
Lookingglass Theatre Company Lobby at Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St. at Michigan Ave. Photo by Tom Harris
Lookingglass Artistic Director Kasey Foster
Lookingglass Managing Director Jamey Lundblad (horizontal), photo by Anthony Barlich