Best of Chicago 2019: Arts & Culture

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Best new theater company

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Logan Square Improv   Runner-Up

Best established theater company

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Steppenwolf   Runner-Up

Best off-Loop theater company

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Steppenwolf   Runner-Up

Staff Pick: Best off-Loop theater

Gift Theatre

by Kate Schmidt on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

On its website, Jefferson Park's tiny the Gift Theatre states as one of its founding beliefs that "a play never closes until everyone who saw it stops thinking about it." Which means maybe I should let the ensemble know that, thanks to me, their powerhouse 2018 production of Hamlet—directed by Monty Cole, with Daniel Kyri heading a mostly Black cast—is still running.

Staff Pick: Best off-Loop theater

Trap Door Theatre

by Catey Sullivan on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

It's not uncommon for newbies to leave Trap Door wondering what just hit them. Since founding the 45-seat Bucktown company over 25 years ago, Beata Pilch has specialized in "obscure" works by eastern European playwrights, many of them raucously absurdist and—at least initially, sometimes—emotionally and intellectually confounding.

Staff Pick: Best off-Loop theater

Court Theatre

by Catey Sullivan on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Under artistic director Charles Newell, Court Theatre is all over the place in the best possible way. Where else can you see both a rapturously well-done August Wilson epic and a mesmerizing one-man Iliad in the same season?

Best theater venue

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Steppenwolf   Runner-Up

Best theater bar/lobby

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

The Annoyance   Runner-Up

Best long-running play

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Hamilton (ongoing at CIBC Theatre)   Runner-Up

Best new play

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Second City’s She the People   Runner-Up

Best touring play

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Hamilton  Runner-Up

Best musical

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Hamilton   Runner-Up

Best stage performer

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Dawn Xiana Moon   Runner-Up

Best theater designer (sets, light, sound, etc.)

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Stefanie Johnsen   Runner-Up

Best playwright

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Maria Burnham  Runner-Up

Best stage director

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Maria Burnham  Runner-Up

Best choreographer

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Foxie la Fleur  Runner-Up

Best opera company

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Lyric Opera of Chicago  Runner-Up

Best new local opera production

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

West Side Story  Runner-Up

Best stand-up comic

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Shannon Noll  Runner-Up

Best sketch/improv troupe

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Improvised Jane Austen  Runner-Up

Best venue for stand-up

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

The Hideout  Runner-Up

Best venue for improv/sketch

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Second City  Runner-Up

Best dance troupe

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Joffrey Ballet  Runner-Up

Best dance studio

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Joffrey Academy  Runner-Up

Best dancer

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Dawn Xiana Moon  Runner-Up

Best venue for dance

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Auditorium Theatre  Runner-Up Harris Theater 

Best drag performer

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Lucy Stoole  Runner-Up

Best drag venue

on November 6, 2019 at 12:00PM

Hamburger Mary’s Chicago/Mary’s Attic  Runner-Up