Stephen Schellhardt News

The Sound of Music, one of the most beloved musicals of all time, has enchanted audiences for more than 50 years. This holiday season, Chicago audiences can experience this unforgettable Rodgers and Hammerstein classic for the first time, or all over again, at downtown Aurora’s Paramount Theatre. Previews start November 9, 2022.

The third production at the Copley Theatre in Aurora is the 3 time Tony winning musical (2015 Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score) Fun Home. It was adapted from the 2006 memoir of Alison Bechdel. It is the story of Alison's journey discovering her own sexuality and her relationship with her closeted gay father Bruce as she tries to discover the truth about his mysterious life.

Paramount Theatre will present the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Fun Home – book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, music by Jeanine Tesori, based on the popular graphic novel of the same name by Alison Bechdel – as the third production in its inaugural four-show BOLD Series.

BoHo Theatre’s Artistic Director Stephen Schellhardt has announced that he will step down from the position at the end of the 2021 season. Schellhardt first joined the company in 2015 and took over as Artistic Director in 2019.

BoHo Theatre, now in its 17th season, will present a series of play readings via Zoom in lieu of in-person live performances, given the continued uncertainty about safety of live performance during the COVID pandemic. The reading series, called “In the Wings,” will feature four plays under consideration for full productions in future seasons. The theme for the reading series is “An Exploration of Truth.” 

Sana Selemon is the new executive director of BoHo Theatre in Chicago.

As part of the annual recognition of theater excellence, the 47th Non-Equity Jeff Awards today announced honorees in 21 artistic and technical categories. Recipients included 27 theater artists whose work was featured at 14 theater companies during the 2019-2020 season.

With the conclusion of the 2019-2020 Chicago non-Equity theater season, the Jeff Awards announced the nominees for the 47th annual awards for theater excellence that include 120 theater artists across 21 categories.

A star-studded line-up of more than 20 top Chicago stage performers joined Chicago Offstage! Live at Home. Among the stars who appeared during the event was Miguel Cervantes, the star of the Chicago production of Hamilton.

Join WGN-TV's a?oeAround Towna?? correspondent Ana Belaval and a star-studded line-up of more than 20 top Chicago stage performers for Chicago Offstage! Live at Home, a virtual streaming event debuting live on Season of Concern's new YouTube channel (https://tinyurl.com/soctube) on Sunday, April 19, at 6 p.m. CST.

BoHo Theatre has announced its 16th season, featuring fresh looks at a pair of classic stories. BoHo's 2020 season will feature the musical FALSETTOS by William Finn and James Lapine, followed by Jeffrey Hatcher's new adaptation of Frederick Knott's riveting thriller WAIT UNTIL DARK. BoHo will also continue its partnership with Northwestern University's Next Step Program by staging a reading of a new play by student Nate Hollander.

Eleven world premiere plays and musicals seen first by Chicago audiences were among those receiving nominations by the Jeff Awards, announced today. A total of 192 nominations were made in 34 categories that honor Chicago Equity theatrical productions that opened between August 1, 2018 and July 31, 2019. During the 2018-19 season, Jeff Awards judges attended opening nights of 132 Equity productions offered by 43 producing organizations and from these openings, 112 productions were a?oeJeff Recommendeda?? and eligible for award nominations.

BoHo Theatre closes out its 2019 season with BIG FISH, the imaginative and moving musical by Andrew Lippa and John August, directed by BoHo Theatre Artistic Director Stephen Schellhardt. BoHo brings its trademark attention to character and relationships to this intimately staged tale of a larger-than-life storyteller and his fraught relationship with his only son.

BoHo Theatre begins its 2019 season with BRIGHT STAR, a new musical by playwright Steve Martin and musician Edie Brickell, directed by Ericka Mac. This production marks the company's first as a resident company at Lincoln Park's Greenhouse Theater Center and also the first under new artistic director Stephen Schellhardt. BRIGHT STAR was nominated for five Tony Awards and called "a shining achievement" by THE NEW YORK TIMES. It received a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and Outer Critics Circles Awards for Outstanding New Broadway Musical and Outstanding Score.

Though the D'Ysquiths may be felled one by one in A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE, nothing can stop Matt Crowle from stealing the show.

Porchlight Music Theatre's production of the 2014 Tony Award-winning Best Musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder has been extended through Saturday, March 16  at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder stars Matt Crowle and features music by Stephen Lutvak, lyrics by Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak, and a Tony Award-winning book by Robert L. Freedman, is directed and choreographed by Stephen Schellhardt and music directed by Andra Velis Simon.

BoHo Theatre announces the directors for its upcoming 2019 season, its first as a resident theatre at the Greenhouse Theater Center in Lincoln Park. BoHo is focused on bringing people together through an eclectic mix of musicals, dramas, and classic plays, inspiring its community to make caring, thoughtful relationships the highest priority.

Porchlight Music Theatre's Mainstage 2018 - 2019 season continues with 2014 Tony Award-winning Best Musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder, January 25 - March 10, 2019 at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street.

Northwestern University's Waa-Mu Show announces its 88th annual production "For the Record." The entirely student written and orchestrated musical follows a journalist as she embarks on a project to chronicle the lives of three of history's most incredible, and nearly forgotten, women.

A purple crayon wielding adventurer, a dancing beagle and an intrepid young aviator will fuel a season of stories for young audiences when Northwestern University's 2018-2019 Imagine U season lifts off Sept. 29 at the Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts.