7 Queer Plays to Check out This Season
Have you been looking for a handy list of some of the exciting queer productions coming up in Chicago this season? Look no further! Here are seven queer productions that span a wide variety of forms and stories, from an opera of Midsummer Night’s Dream to Doug Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a trans woman who survived Nazism,
Man in the Ring at Court Theatre

In Man in the Ring, a six-time world champion boxer is fighting against his biggest adversary yet: his sexuality. But careful, the punches will land hard (and the men will definitely be attractive.) Don’t miss it at Court Theatre September 15 through October 16.
Support Group for Men at Goodman Theatre

One of the featured plays in Goodman Theatre‘s annual New Stages Festival, the comedy Support Group for Men imagines a north side boys’ club interrupted by a gender non-conforming visitor. See it September 23 through October 9, 2016.
I Am My Own Wife at About Face Theatre

The acclaimed LGBT theatre company, About Face Theatre, will be remounting Doug Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama I Am My Own Wife about a trans woman who survived Nazism and communism in Germany in plain sight and with a whole lot of grace. Actress Delia Kropp stars, so you know you need to see it. Don’t miss it November 4 through December 10 at Theatre Wit.
The Fairy Queen at Chicago Opera Theater

Henry Purcell’s operatic reimagining of Shakespeare’s hilarious classic A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be staged in conjunction with the reopening of the historic Studebaker Theater at 410 S. Michigan. Oh, and you can expect “a gender-bending culture clash of social satire” to boot. Check it out November 5, 11, and 13 at Chicago Opera Theater.
Men on Boats at American Theater Company

Playwright Jaclyn Backhaus reimagines the first government-sanctioned expedition in the American West in 1869 with an ensemble cast of a lot of variously gendered people, but you can bet that none of them are cis men. Did someone say “feminism”? See it January 6 through February 12, 2017.
Straight White Men at Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Prolific playwright Young Jean Lee brilliantly delves into questions of identity and privilege in this home-for-the-holidays tale of a family of American men running February 2 through March 19, 2017 at Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
Sycamore at Raven Theatre
When a teenage brother and sister both fall for their new next-door neighbor boy, nothing good can come of it. This world premiere by Sarah Sander promises to bring all the adolescent feels you thought you repressed. See it March 8 through April 29, 2017 at Raven Theatre.
Get tickets to these shows and more with TodayTix here. Want even more theater? See what shows opened last month in Chicago here.
- a midsummer night's dream
- About Face Theatre
- American Theater Company
- Charlotte von Mahlsdorf
- Chicago Opera Theater
- Court Theatre
- Delia Kropp
- Doug Wright
- Ellen Fairey
- Goodman Theatre
- Henry Purcell
- I Am My Own Wife
- Jaclyn Backhaus
- LGBTQ+
- Man in the Ring
- Men on Boats
- Pulitzer Prize
- Queer
- Raven Theatre
- Sarah Sander
- Steppenwolf Theatre Company
- Straight White Men
- Studebaker Theater
- Support Group for Men
- Sycamore
- The Fairy Queen
- World Premiere
- Young Jean Lee