February Lobo-lit Book Club: Palaver by Bryan Washington
2026-02-22 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Pizza Lobo-Andersonville, 5457 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL, 60640, United States
A monthly book club in collaboration with Pizza Lobo. Those who show their book at the bar will get a free 10″ pizza!

POTUS
2026-02-23 19:00 - 22:00 | The Understudy Coffee and Books, 5531 N Clark St, Chicago, IL, 60640, United States
A play reading written by Selina Fillinger and produced by Exit, Pursued by a Play Reading

Exit, Pursued by a Play Reading is a new reading series where Chicago’s best and most beloved actors find themselves chased by rabid, unrehearsed, theatrical comedies – desperately trying to stay ahead, as they strive to tickle your fancy, brighten your heart, and warm the chilliest of Chicago evenings.
This time, we’re reading Potus by Selina Fillinger
The Story

One four-letter word is about to rock 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. When the President unwittingly spins a PR nightmare into a global crisis the seven brilliant and beleaguered women he relies upon most risk life liberty and the pursuit of sanity to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble.

Cast TBA

Dramaturgy Mixer with LMDA Chicago
2026-02-24 19:00 - 21:00 | The Understudy Coffee and Books, 5531 N Clark St, Chicago, IL, 60640, United States
Come join us for a discussion and mixer hosted by Yasmin Mikhaiel and Maren Robinson of LMDA Chicago!

Calling all Chicago dramaturgs! Join LMDA for a mixer at The Understudy. Join VP of Freelance Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel and Chicago Regional VP Maren Robinson for an interactive conversation on the state of Chicago dramaturgy. You’ll learn about resources and opportunities compiled by the Literary Managers & Dramaturgs of the Americas and connect with fellow dramaturgs desiring more collaborative spaces.

Let’s gather to chat about how we show up for each other whether we’re currently in rehearsals or not! The night begins with a facilitated conversation and then transitions to an open chat space for you to meet and greet dramaturgs from across Chicago.

RSVP for free!

Meet Your Hosts:
Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel (she/they) is a Chicago-based dramaturg, arts journalist, and creative producer. She currently serves as VP of Freelance for LMDA. Their dramaturgy centers care work and their theatre reporting and research explores possibility models for the future of theatremaking and writing that is reflexive, culturally competent, and sustainable. She is an alum and current faculty of The Theatre School at DePaul University. In 2025/2026 she has been awarded two arts journalism fellowships, one with Art and Public Life’s Chicago Critics Table at UChicago and the other as a Rising Leader of Color with Theatre Communications Group.

Maren Robinson (she/her) is a dramaturg and educator who has worked on nearly 60 productions including 18 new works. She is particularly interested in new work, science on stage, civic conversations and the potential of embodied dramaturgy outside of theater. Maren is Resident Dramaturg and a Company Member at TimeLine Theatre. She is also a lecturer at The Theatre School at DePaul University, Associate Director of the Master of Arts Program in Humanities at the University of Chicago and serves as the Chicago Metro VP of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.

About LMDA:
Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas was founded in 1985 as the volunteer membership organization for the professions of literary management and dramaturgy. LMDA holds the belief that theater is a vital art form that has the power to nourish, educate, and transform individuals and their communities and that dramaturgy is central to the process of theater-making.

The Creative Workspace
2026-02-25 19:00 - 22:00, 2026-03-04 19:00 - 22:00, 2026-03-11 19:00 - 22:00, 2026-03-18 19:00 - 22:00 | The Understudy Coffee and Books, 5531 N Clark St, Chicago, IL, 60640, United States
A space where creatives and artists can write, craft, read, journal, and crochet every Wednesday from 7p – 10p. Hosted by Jett & Friends~

A weekly space where artists can maHave a creative project you wanna finish or just need a late night-ish place to get some journaling done? Orrr — would you just like to make new friends while attempting to crochet your first grandma square??
Well come hang with us starting next Wednesday (1/21) from 7pm to 10pm✨ BYOS (bring your own supplies~) Bar and bookstore will be open. No cover. Hosted by Jett Parr & friends 🙂

the un-blessed | a poetry reading // solo show | by elena victoria feliz
2026-02-26 20:00 - 21:30, 2026-03-02 20:00 - 21:30 | The Understudy Coffee and Books, 5531 N Clark St, Chicago, IL, 60640, United States
if the bible were a movie, this piece is about the extras.

ABOUT
the un-blessed is a biblical reimagining. if the bible were a movie, this piece is about the extras. what does it mean to know that world defining events are happening around you, and you exist in the margins, that you are not among the chosen? does it make you angry? do you give up? do you try anyway – even if you doubt there is a god who believes in you? in the face of despair, disaster, war, miracles (or their absence), and the fear of being forgotten after we are gone, the un-blessed is a poetic exploration of the human capacity for hope.

A BRIEF EXCERPT
blessed are those who are collateral in the stories of those we think we know,
the martyrs in the margins
for the world was built on their backs
their hearts are sacred too

blessed are the forgotten, for they shall inherit the imagination of those who care enough to try

CONTENT ADVISORY
This piece contains mature themes and is recommended for mature audiences (17+). A more detailed content advisory is available upon request at the time of the event.

IMPACT CAMPAIGN
All ticket proceeds will be donated to Ele Elna Ewak – an emergency relief organization on the ground in Gaza, supporting Palestinian communities amidst the genocide, with a focus on restoring clean drinking water.

Snacks with Chats: Let’s Talk Local!
2026-03-09 19:00 - 21:00 | The Understudy Coffee and Books, 5531 N Clark St, Chicago, IL, 60640, United States
Join us for an evening of community, fundraising and a discussion on organizing and local elections. Hosted by The Local Lab co.

Join us for our first Chats With Snacks of 2026!
This gathering is all about local elections, fundraising, and creativity.
America is celebrating 250 years of life this year! Can you believe it? I have learned that the things I love most about this country are:
1.) the fact that we get to fundraise at a small level to support each other when the support structures around us aren’t working!
2.) local elections make my life better (even if the federal government might* hate me)
So bringing my joys together, thanks to my gratefulness for 250 years, we will spend an evening fundraising for ICIRR, listening to music from local artists creating new works to share with us, and having conversations about local elections and how we can strengthen our communities.
I’m excited to see you all back at The Understudy on March 9th at 7p
-Kevin, founder of The Local Lab co.

TLDR?
Come through to:– Snack and chat with fellow artists & neighbors– Experience short performances– Express yourself in conversations and hear theannouncement of this season’s theme– Share your new works or ideas in a welcoming space
Our event is free & open to the public 🙂

Again and Again and Again: on writing and reflection
2026-03-16 19:30 - 21:00 | The Understudy Coffee and Books, 5531 N Clark St, Chicago, IL, 60640, United States
A prose-based generative writing workshop hosted by Tori Rego and Taylor Thornburg.

“Again and Again and Again: On Writing and Reflection” is a prose-based generative writing workshop hosted by Tori Rego and Taylor Thornburg. Participants will study excerpts of fiction and nonfiction works fixated on memory, recollection, and narrative form, including Vladimir Nabokov’s Speak Memory, Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, and Taylor Thornburg’s Agathe: 6:00pm to 7:27. Workshop participants will be led through a series of writing prompts to probe their own memories in search of weaving new stories that interlace the past, the present, and all the spaces inbetween.

Fem/Them Comedy Open Mic at The Understudy
2026-03-20 20:00 - 22:00 | The Understudy Coffee and Books, 5531 N Clark St, Chicago, IL, 60640, United States
If you identify as funny and not-a-dude-onstage, this is your night diva! Hosted by Preeti Thaker and Jordan Levene

Preeti & Jordan present: A Comedy Open Mic for Women + Non-Binary Comics!
If you identify as funny and not-a-dude-onstage, this is your night diva!

WHAT’S THE PLAN?
• 7:30 PM — arrive responsibly early, wonder what the vibe is gonna be like. Support the space by buying a drink!
• 8:00 PM — the mic starts, the chaos begins
• Sign-ups close at 9 PM because of boundaries

SET DETAILS
• 4 minutes of pure lightning
• 5 minutes if you buy a drink — please support and tip our bartenders ♥️

CAN MEN ATTEND?
Of course!
Men can sit, watch, hydrate, clap, and support women (a skill we’d love to see more of)
We kindly ask that you practice not-mansplaining
If you feel a mansplanation rising in your throat, please swallow it

ANYTHING ELSE?
Bring the vibes baby! This is our first time doing a comedy open mic and we’d love to make it a tradition. Come through!

xx
Preeti & Jordan

ikaros ensemble and cloud community college presents: threaded
2026-03-24 20:30 - 22:00 | The Understudy Coffee and Books, 5531 N Clark St, Chicago, IL, 60640, United States
explore shades of tenderness, relationship, and community through music and spoken word

Love serves as a needle pulling thread, fastening the connection between our souls. It takes on many forms, but is sewn into the fabric of our lives allowing for us to live in harmony.Chicago-based string collective Ikaros Ensemble partners with local poets inside and out of writing collective Cloud Community College to present Threaded – a collaborative tapestry of music and spoken word, indulging in themes of love and connection.
Come experience this dynamic collaboration rooted in love at The Understudy (5531 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60640) Tuesday, March 24th at 8pm (doors at 7:30pm). Cocktails and other beverages are available for purchase (21+ with a valid ID).
XOXO,
Ikaros X Poets

March Lobo Book Club: The White Hot by Quiara Alegría Hudes
2026-03-29 19:00 - 20:30 | Pizza Lobo-Andersonville, 5457 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL, 60640, United States
A monthly book club collab between Pizza Lobo x The Understudy. Hosted by Magdalena and Chloe✨

A monthly book club collab between Pizza Lobo Andersonville and The Understudy~
Grab a copy of The White Hot by Quiara Alegría Hudes at The Understudy and join us for a discussion over some pizza and drinks at Pizza Lobo Andersonville! Those who show their book at the bar will get a free 10″ cheese pizza.

What’s the book about?
April is a young mother raising her daughter in an intergenerational house of unspoken secrets and loud arguments. Her only refuge is to hide away in a locked bathroom, her ears plugged into an ambient soundscape, and a mantra on her lips: dead inside. That is, until one day, as she finds herself spiraling toward the volcanic rage she calls the white hot, a voice inside her tells her to just…walk away. She wanders to a bus station and asks for a ticket to the furthest destination; she tells the clerk to make it one-way. That ticket takes her from her Philly home to the threshold of a wilderness and the beginning of a nameless quest—an accidental journey that shakes her awake, almost kills her, and brings her to the brink of an impossible choice.
The White Hot takes the form of a letter from mother to daughter about a moment of abandonment that would stretch from ten days to ten years—an explanation, but not an apology. Hudes narrates April’s story—spiritual and sexy, fierce and funny—with delicate lyricism and tough love. Just as April finds in her painful and absurd sojourn the key to freeing herself and her family from a cage of generational trauma, so Hudes turns April’s stumbling pursuit of herself into an unforgettable short epic of self-discovery.

The Shark is Broken
2026-03-30 19:00 - 22:00 | The Understudy Coffee and Books, 5531 N Clark St, Chicago, IL, 60640, United States
A play reading written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon and produced by Exit, Pursued by a Play Reading

Exit, Pursued by a Play Reading is a new reading series where Chicago’s best and most beloved actors find themselves chased by rabid, unrehearsed, theatrical comedies – desperately trying to stay ahead, as they strive to tickle your fancy, brighten your heart, and warm the chilliest of Chicago evenings.
This time, we’re reading Potus by Selina Fillinger
The Story

One four-letter word is about to rock 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. When the President unwittingly spins a PR nightmare into a global crisis the seven brilliant and beleaguered women he relies upon most risk life liberty and the pursuit of sanity to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble.

Cast TBA
