Hey There, Otherworlders!
Change is the only constant in the multiverse, and Otherworld is embarking on a massive new journey. For our 2026/2027 season, our epic mainstage productions are taking up residence at the Greenhouse Theater Center in Lincoln Park, while our comedy crews are heading on a city-wide tour at legendary spots like iO and The Second City.
Before you dive into the dates and ticket links below, check out this quick note from our Artistic Director about what this new era means for our fleet... and why we are excited to have you in our crew now more than ever.
NOTE FROM ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
At Otherworld Theatre, we do the impossible. We build starships out of cardboard, conjure gods out of thin air, and give Chicago’s geek community a place to call home. Our stage is a canvas for the vast, the imaginative, and the epic. We are a dedicated sanctuary for science fiction, fantasy, and the boundless human spirit.
Right now, Otherworld is living out the ultimate sci-fi narrative. We find ourselves itinerant, moving as a nomadic fleet through the Chicago storefront ecosystem. For our mainstages, we have found a powerful new flagship by taking up residence at the Greenhouse Theater Center, while our comedy squads continue to deploy across the city to tour iconic venues. Like the crew of the Galactica, we have been uprooted and forced into the stars. We are tasked with protecting a culture, a people, and a dream with nothing but the scrap metal we can carry and the sheer defiance in our chests.
Being itinerant isn't our defeat. It is our odyssey. We are not lost; we are navigating. And when you are in the deep void, you survive by relying on the crew next to you as we establish this new residency.
Under our 2026/2027 theme, Threads of Fate, every single show this season asks if we can change our destiny. From the deceptive, ancient whispers of a forgotten forest in Midsummer Night Scream, we witness the profound ways our individual choices alter the world around us. In the spring, we trace mankind's oldest struggle against mortality as two legendary brothers defy the gods themselves in the high-fantasy epic The Epic of Gilgamesh. Finally, we plunge into the depths for our summer blockbuster with a stunning, gender-bent adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, where a legendary crew must navigate the deep unknown to fulfill or fracture an epic destiny.
Because we deliberately choose to forgo the exhausting, creative-stifling treadmill of traditional institutional grants, our autonomy is our superpower. But that means our lifespring is you. Every ticket you buy, every friend you bring, and every donor who looks us in the eye isn't just a transaction. It is a brick in the foundation of the world's premier Sci-Fi/Fantasy theater.
As a theater company, our destiny isn't left to chance. Our board, our donors, our audiences, and our artists are the ones holding the loom. We are the ones weaving the threads that bind this community together and ensure Otherworld thrives in its next journey. We are a ragtag fleet, yes, but we are unyielding, we are together, and we will find our way home.
So say we all.