What a difference a couple of days makes. On Tuesday, the League of Chicago Theatres issued a statement to “reassure our patrons that all of Chicago’s theatres remain open for business.” But two days later, after Governor Pritzker and Mayor Lightfoot urged the shutdown of all public and private events expected to attract 250 or more patrons, theaters and other venues around the Chicago area, large and small, announced that they were either canceling or postponing their planned performances and other public events, including fund-raising galas and panel discussions. (TheReader had planned to hold a panel at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theatre on Wednesday, March 25. That event has been canceled.)
In the meantime, if you have tickets for a show that has not yet canceled, it’s probably prudent to call ahead the day of the performance to make sure it’s still happening. Several theaters have noted that they are willing to exchange tickets for future productions. Since they are likely to suffer a very large hit from lost box office revenue during this shutdown, you might want to consider treating the cost of your ticket as a donation if you can afford to do so.
