Welcome to The Shakespeare Project of Chicago
We believe that the key to creating a transformative experience of Shakespeare is through making Shakespeare’s words understandable and impactful for our audiences. Story telling that is truthful, simple, fantastical, poetic, lyrical, sometimes challenging, but always universal. Our gifted artists deliver performances that are intimate and emotionally engaging – Shakespeare at its best. The theatrical reading: not less, but so much more.
Programming inquiries can be sent to outreach@shakespeareprojectchicago.org.
The Shakespeare Project of Chicago is primarily funded by our individual donors who support our mission of making Shakespeare accessible to all. Additional funding is provided by the Illinois Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Shakespeare Project of Chicago is a not-for-profit 501c3 organization. All donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. To make a donation, click on the Benefactors link above.
Confined to a tuberculosis sanitarium, Rhoda corresponds with Jerry, a left-wing Jewish bookseller. Their letters reveal that the challenges and hatred they face are countered by their mutual love for each other, their passion for literature, poetry, and music, and the left-wing political causes they fight for.
Their struggles come to life in the counterculture of Chicago’s Dil Pickle Club, frequented by friends like poet Carl Sandburg, lawyer Clarence Darrow, labor leader Jack Jones, hobo and left-wing debater Lizzee Davis, and feminist “red,” Martha Biegler.
The discovery of the letters more than a century later in an abandoned trunk offers a message of hope by linking Rhoda and Jerry’s past to the present.
2024-2025 Theatrical Reading Season
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
Saturday, November 16, 2024, 2:00PM – Wilmette Public Library
Sunday, November 17, 2024, 2:00PM – Niles-Maine District Library
Tuesday, November 19, 2024, 7:00PM – Mount Prospect Public Library
Wednesday, November 20, 2024, 6:30PM – Vernon Area Public Library
THE WINTER’S TALE
Friday, February 21, 2025, 7:00PM – Niles-Maine District Library
Saturday, February 22, 2025, 2:00PM – Wilmette Public Library
Monday, February 24, 2025, 6:30PM – Vernon Area Public Library
Tuesday, February 25, 2025, 7:00PM – Mount Prospect Public Library
THE TEMPEST
Friday, April 4, 2025, 7:00PM – Niles-Maine District Library
Saturday, April 5, 2025, 10:00AM – Newberry Library
Sunday, April 6, 2025, 2:00PM – Mount Prospect Public Library
Monday, April 7, 2025, 6:30PM – Vernon Area Public Library
Saturday, April 12, 2025, 2:00PM – Wilmette Public Library
KING LEAR
Friday, June 13, 2025, 7:00PM – Niles-Maine District Library
Saturday, June 14, 2025, 10:00AM – Newberry Library
Sunday, June 15, 2025, 2:00PM – Mount Prospect Public Library
Wednesday, June 18, 2025, 6:30PM – Vernon Area Public Library
Saturday, June 21, 2025, 2:00PM – Wilmette Public Library
THE SHAKESPEARE PROJECT OF CHICAGO
P.O. BOX 25126
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60625
(708) 446-9835
Email: peter@shakespeareprojectchicago.org
THE SHAKESPEARE PROJECT OF CHICAGO acknlowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.
