In the beginning of 2019, I set an intention to see at least one live performing arts performance every week for the entire year. I’m happy to say that I succeeded. Not only did I attend at least one performance every single week of the year, I attending 101 different events over the 52 weeks. Even excluding my time at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I “doubled up” 10 weeks of the year.
I was very happy that friends joined me at 26 of the events (or I joined them, in some cases), and 17 of the events involved people that I know personally. Also, 79 of the shows were by groups that I have never seen before.
Below is the list of events by week. When it says “w/” the name following is someone I know who was involved in the show (most often as a performer).
| WEEK | SHOW | COMPANY |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | The Winter Wolf | Otherworld Theatre |
| 02 | The Old Lady Broods | Trap Door Theatre (w/Manuela Rentea) |
| 03 | Antigone | Kirkwood Players |
| 04 | The Tin Woman | Theater of Western Springs |
| 05 | I Know My Own Heart | Pride Films and Theatre |
| 06 | Defiance | Buffalo Theatre Ensemble |
| 06 | Chinese New Year Parade | various |
| 07 | Chapatti | First Folio |
| 08 | Angelique Kidjo and Ladysmith Black Mambazo | Angelique Kidjo and Ladysmith Black Mambazo |
| 09 | Giselle | English National Ballet |
| 10 | Cardboard Piano | Timeline Theatre |
| 11 | Gross Indecency | Promethean Theatre Ensemble (w/Heather Smith) |
| 12 | How to Live on Earth | Chimera Ensemble |
| 13 | Southern Comfort | Pride Films and Theatre (w/Kyra Leigh) |
| 13 | The Man Who Was Thursday | Lifeline |
| 14 | Good Enough | 16th Street Theatre |
| 15 | Cambodian Rock Band | Victory Gardens |
| 16 | Best for Winter | Idle Muse Theatre (w/Erik Schnitger) |
| 17 | A Night at the Cabaret | Center Stage (w/Rose Bonarek) |
| 17 | Eurydice (Ruhl) | Jedlicka Performing Arts Center |
| 18 | Medusa Undone | Otherworld Theatre (w/Mary-Kate Arnold) |
| 18 | Small World | New Colony |
| 19 | Friends of Gamelan | Old School of Folk Music |
| 19 | Vagina Monologues | Elgin Community College (w/Brin Bixby) |
| 20 | Tribute to Cliff Alexis | Harper College Steel Bands (w/Pen Skrzynski) |
| 20 | I and You | OPFT and Open Door |
| 21 | Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez | CSO |
| 22 | BiPolar Bitch | Labrynth Arts & Sweetback Productions |
| 23 | It is Magic | Theater Oobleck |
| 24 | Bonnie Whitmore and James McMurtry | at Space, Evanston |
| 24 | A Few Good Men | TownSquare Players at Woodstock Opera House (w/Steve Pickering) |
| 25 | The Killing Game | A Red Orchid Theatre |
| 26 | Anne of Green Gables | Warrenville Masterpiece Community Theater (w/Brian Sebby) |
| 27 | Elizabeth Rex | Oak Park Festival Theatre |
| 28 | New Play Dev Workshop Showcase | Women’s Theatre Alliance (w/Sara Keely McGuire, Cherie McGuire, and Christopher Donaldson) |
| 29 | Ada and the Engine | The Artistic Home |
| 30 | 1776 | St. Genesius Productions (w/Rose Bonarek) |
| 31 | Pirates of Penzance | PM&L (w/Jennifer Biel) |
| 32 | Henry V | First Folio |
| 32 | Cake | at Out of Space |
| 33 | Being Norwegian | Entity Theatre e.V. (GER) @EF |
| 33 | Fight Song | CalArts Festival Theater (US) @EF (w/Fiona Casper-Strauss) |
| 33 | Trying it On | Warwick Arts Centre and China Plate (ENG) @EF |
| 34 | Dark Play | NeonBox Theatre Co (US) @EF |
| 34 | Dalloway | Dyad Productions (ENG) @EF |
| 34 | Dorian Gray | The Georgian Theatre Royal Youth Theatre (ENG) @EF |
| 34 | Metamorphosis | Different Theatre/Sweet Productions (ENG) @EF |
| 34 | Importance of Being Earnest | Shakespeare Reloaded (GER) @EF |
| 34 | Hyde and Seek | Flat Packed Theatre (ENG) @EF |
| 34 | Fishbowl | SIT Productions (ENG) @EF |
| 34 | Drowning | Dark Lady Co (US) @EF |
| 34 | Genesis, the Mary Shelley Play | Artists Collective Theatre (CA) @EF |
| 34 | To Fall in Love | Melpomene Productions (US) @EF |
| 34 | It’s True, It’s True, It’s True | Breach Theatre (ENG) @EF |
| 34 | The Patient Gloria | Gina Moxley and Abbey Theatre with Pan Pan Theatre Company (IRL) @EF |
| 34 | Elizabethan | David William Hughes (US) @EF |
| 34 | Chameleon | FRANK. Theatre (AUS) @EF |
| 34 | Happy Hour | FKP, Richard Jordan Productions, Teatro Metastasio, Teater Grob, The Pleasance (ITA) @EF |
| 34 | Piracy! A Comedy on the High C’s | Questing Vole Productions (ENG) @EF |
| 34 | The Burning | Incognito Theatre Company (ENG) @EF |
| 34 | The Incident Room | New Diorama Theatre in co-production with Pleasance and Greenwich Theatre (ENG) @EF |
| 34 | Ceilidh Dancing with Band Awry | Stramash (Band – Awry) (SCO) @EF |
| 34 | Quintessence | Emily Carding/Sweet Productions (ENG) @EF |
| 34 | DNA | Casus Circus and Cluster Arts (AUS) @EF |
| 34 | The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui | Bede’s (ENG) @EF |
| 34 | Fempire: Cleo, Theo, and Wu | Theatre of NOTE (US) @EF |
| 34 | The Wasp | Peppered Wit Productions (ENG) @EF |
| 34 | Noir Hamlet | Yasplz LLC (US) @EF |
| 34 | Spray | Cho-in Theatre Company – Korean Season presented by AtoBiz Ltd (KOR) @EF |
| 34 | Northanger Abbey | Fireside Theatre (ENG) @EF |
| 34 | And Then They Died | Riddled Image (ENG) @EF |
| 35 | 00 (zero zero) | Argonaut (ENG) @EF |
| 35 | My Love Lies Frozen in the Ice | Dead Rabbits Theatre (ENG) @EF |
| 35 | Einstein | Pip Utton Theatre Co (ENG) @EF |
| 35 | The War of the Worlds | Rhua and Clay (ENG) @EF |
| 35 | Thrones! The Musical Parody | Thrones! The Musical Parody (US) @EF |
| 35 | A Midsummer Night’s Droll | The Owle Schreame (ENG) @EF |
| 35 | Wild Swimming | FullRogue (ENG) @EF |
| 35 | Sexy Lamp | Katie Arnstein and Victoria Gagliano (ENG) @EF |
| 35 | Murder She Didn’t Write: The Improvised Murder Mystery | Degrees of Error and Something for the Weekend (ENG) @EF |
| 35 | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | The Bridge Theatre, London |
| 35 | Bartholomew Fair | Sam Wanamaker Playhouse/Globe Theatre, London |
| 36 | Legally Blonde | Freemont St Theatre (w/Steve Pickering) |
| 37 | Glengarry Glen Ross | Hale Theatre Co. (w/Alan Ziebarth) |
| 38 | Oslo | Timeline Theatre |
| 38 | Best of Enemies | Open Door Repertory |
| 39 | Aurelio Voltaire | Chicago Steampunk Expo |
| 40 | Holmes and Watson | Buffalo Theatre Ensemble |
| 41 | Bernhardt/Hamlet | Goodman |
| 42 | Mother of the Maid | Northlight |
| 43 | Countess Dracula | Otherworld Theatre |
| 44 | The Hound of the Baskervilles | City Lit |
| 45 | Hell Followed With Her | WildClaw Theater |
| 46 | The Suffrage Plays | Artemesia |
| 47 | Tru | Goz & Fotos at Stage 773 |
| 47 | Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula, Two Scenes from Antony and Cleopatra, and The Planets | Chicago Symphony Orchestra |
| 48 | Packing | About Face Theatre |
| 49 | You Are Happy | Red Theatre |
| 50 | Steel Bands Tribute to Women Composers | Harper College Steel Bands (w/Pen Skrzynski) |
| 51 | Mystery of Edwin Drood | Blank Theatre |
| 52 | Burning Bluebeard | Porchlight Music Theatre |