Live Onstage
By Naperville Magazine
August 2026 View more Featured
By Jeff Banowetz
There have never been more opportunities to enjoy the arts in the western suburbs. Here are some performance highlights to plan for in the months ahead.
Meet You at the MAC
The McAninch Arts Center celebrates its 40th anniversary
Diana Martinez was happy to get a phone call in 2013 asking her if she was interested in helping reopen the theater at the McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn, better known as the MAC, after it had been closed for renovations and was in the midst of a search for a new executive director. “I knew the outgoing executive director, and he knew I was consulting, and he asked if I would consider coming on to help with the opening,” she says. “I thought, this is perfect. I get to go back to my hometown for a few months and help them get it reopened.”
Thirteen years later, she still hasn’t left. “Isn’t it funny how those things happen?” she says with a laugh.
That interim executive director job became permanent, and Martinez has helped transform the MAC into one of the most prominent performing arts venues in the Chicago area. The facility, on the campus of the College of DuPage, will host more than 300 events this year, including concerts, dance performances, live theater, art shows, and illusionists. It helps produce college shows, hosts national touring acts of all kinds, and serves as the home to both an acclaimed symphony (the New Philharmonic) and the professional Buffalo Theater Ensemble.
The MAC opened its doors in October 1986, but it was that $35 million renovation in 2013 that helped transform the center into what it is today. It updated the facility with state-of-the-art lighting and sound, improved the acoustics, and renovated the heating and cooling systems. It also created the Cleve Carney Art Gallery, which would be used to draw internationally acclaimed exhibitions to the area. (These featured work from Frida Kahlo in 2021, Andy Warhol in 2023, and Hokusai in 2025.)
“I can say that we’ve really grown from being a community art center to a regional art center,” Martinez says. “We are now drawing people from beyond Glen Ellyn and DuPage County.”
When Martinez took over, after the building had been closed for renovations, she had the opportunity to rethink how the facility could be used. “At that point, we were really starting from scratch again,” she says. “We were building this organization from the ground up, and that meant building new programming and figuring out what people wanted to see.”
The success has allowed the MAC to expand its programming and its facilities. The arts complex now features: the Belushi Performance Hall, a 780-seat space that hosts its biggest events; the 186-seat Playhouse Theatre; the 70-guest Studio Theatre; the exhibition space for the Cleve Carney Museum of Art; and the Lakeside Pavilion, an outdoor performance space with lawn capacity for 1,200 patrons.
But while the offerings have expanded, Martinez believes that one of the draws continues to be the connection visitors make with the art. “I think our audiences like to learn,” she says. “We have an audience that likes those MAC chats (conversations with the performers) and wants to dig a little bit deeper. They’re willing to try some new things and put in some effort to understand them.”
Programming the schedule for each season is always a challenge, but Martinez has found success by knowing her audience. “There are so many factors that go into bringing someone here, and it’s always a gamble,” she says. “I’m always hoping that this is right. But I think I know my audience, and I know what they like. There’s a certain level of sophistication that they like, and then there’s also a certain level of just a plain fun, good show.”
To kick off the new season, the MAC will be hosting a 40th Anniversary Festival on Aug. 23. The free, family-friendly event will feature live music (from local favorite Sixteen Candles, among others), art activities, food trucks, trivia contests, and other games. “I just wanted to do something that was free that everyone could enjoy,” she says. “Not everyone can go to a fundraiser, but this is a community event for everyone.”
As for the 40th anniversary season, Martinez is excited about the wide range of programming, covering a wide variety of disciplines. “You have artists from around the world bringing their talent here, and I always find that amazing,” she says. “That’s what makes this so exciting.”
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At the MAC this Season
The MAC will host more than 300 events this season, from college productions to national headliners. Here’s a sampling of a few touring acts headed to Glen Ellyn:
SEPT. 12
Jim Belushi & The Sacred Hearts Band
COD alum Belushi has been a big supporter of the college and the MAC, and he’ll be bringing his band—which plays blues, rock, and soul—with him for this performance.
OCT. 10
Ballet Hispánico New York
The acclaimed ballet company will be performing Gustavo Ramirez Sansano’s CARMEN.maquia, a “reimagining of the classic Spanish tale through a Picasso-inspired, black-and-white minimalist lens.”
OCT. 17
The Barricade Boys
These singers, who’ve all appeared in Les Misérables, return to the MAC for a show that focuses on “Broadway at the Movies.” They’ll perform songs from Moulin Rouge, Mamma Mia!, La La Land, Ghost, The Blues Brothers, Wicked, and others.
JAN. 30
Magic Rocks!
America’s Got Talent illusionist Leon Etienne takes the stage in this fast-paced, high-energy show.
FEB. 21
Hiplet Ballerinas
Fusing classical ballet with hip-hop and urban dance styles, this dance company creates an inclusive dance experience.
APRIL 10
Gravity
Three women stars from London’s West End, all veterans of the musical Wicked, will perform some of the greatest musical anthems of all time.
APRIL 11
NoGravity Theatre
This Italian performance arts company blends dance and visual artistry into a show with “gravity-defying choreography and mesmerizing stage illusions.”
For the full listing of performances, visit atthemac.org
Seasons of Theater
Fresh theater offerings coming to a stage near you
The historic Paramount Theatre (23 E. Galena Blvd.), located along the Fox River in downtown Aurora, continues to provide one of the best, Broadway-caliber experiences for anyone who loves live theater. This month, the Paramount will launch its 15th season, producing four shows in its refurbished art deco theater, built in 1931. It has become the largest subscription theater in the country, with more than 40,000 subscribers to its Broadway series.
The new season starts with Mean Girls, the musical based on the 2004 movie written by Tina Fey. Fey worked with her husband, Jeff Richmond, who provided the music, and lyricist Nell Benjamin to create the Broadway show. Running from Aug. 26 to Oct. 11, the comedy takes place at a high school on Chicago’s North Shore and follows an American girl raised in Africa who has to navigate the various cliques at her new school, including the most popular—the Plastics, led by queen bee Regina George.
For the holidays, Paramount is playing it traditional this year, with its first production of A Christmas Carol, running from Nov. 11 to Jan. 3. The classic Dickens tale is being adapted specifically for the Paramount stage and includes live music. The third show of the season is Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, running from Feb. 10 to March 28. The 1985 musical won a Pulitzer Prize and two Tony Awards in its initial Broadway run. The show was inspired by the pointillist painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat (which you can visit at the Art Institute of Chicago).
Running from April 28 to June 13, the final offering of the series is another Chicago favorite—Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The show, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and book and lyrics by Tim Rice, dates back to 1972, but its popular revival tour in the 1990s was a huge success and included a 16-month run with Donny Osmond in the title role at the Chicago Theatre. The family-friendly retelling of the Bible story of the dream-interpreter Joseph and his 11 jealous brothers is packed with memorable melodies in a variety of genres.
Finally, those who haven’t yet seen Paramount’s Million Dollar Quartet at its Stolp Island Theatre (5. E. Downer Pl.) will have one more chance when the show returns Oct. 7 to Jan. 3. Paramount recreated the famed Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennesse, for this production, which tells the true story of the night that Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins met in the studio. About 100 patrons are seated along the walls of the studio and are immersed in that historic recording session.
Drury Lane Theatre (17W275 Butterfield Road) in Oakbrook Terrace has three shows remaining in its current season. Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story was one of the first of the so-called jukebox musicals, created by Alan Janes in 1989. Running at Drury from Aug. 19 to Oct. 18, the show tells the story of Holly, one of the early pioneers of rock ’n’ roll, who rose to fame before his death at 22.
Families looking for holiday entertainment will enjoy Annie, winner of the 1977 Tony for Best Musical, based on the popular comic strip. The show has brought together generations of theatergoers to enjoy songs like “Tomorrow” and “It’s a Hard Knock Life.” It will run from Nov. 4 to Jan. 10. The season ends with the musical 9 to 5, based on the 1980 film with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton. The 1970s-set comedy involves three women working together in a large corporation who mistakenly kidnap their “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot” boss.
Naperville’s professional theater company, BrightSide Theatre, continues to put on impressive productions primarily at Meiley-Swallow Hall (31 S. Ellsworth St.) on the North Central College Campus in downtown Naperville. It kicks off its 15th season with The Addams Family, a musical based on the characters created by Charles Addams for The New Yorker and popularized by the 1960s TV show. With music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, the musical ran on Broadway for two years. You can enjoy the creepy kookiness of Gomenz, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley, Uncle Fester, and the rest of the Addams Family from Oct. 2 to 18.
BrightSide will then feature concert performances of The Secret Garden, a musical based on the classic Frances Hodgson Burnett novel, at the Madden Theater (171 E. Chicago Ave.) at North Central College from Jan. 8 to 17. The season’s third show is Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, staged at Meiley-Swallow Hall. This take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous detective is part farce and part mystery, with five actors playing more than 40 characters.
BrightSide’s final show of the season is Avenue Q, the 2004 Tony winner for Best Musical. The show uses both Sesame Street–style puppets and human actors to teach life lessons to young adults hoping to make it in New York. With music by Robert Lopez (best known for The Book of Mormon and Frozen) and Jeff Marx, the show was both a critical and commercial success on Broadway. Despite the puppets, this one is not targeted at younger children—the adult themes are a big part of the show’s appeal.
The Buffalo Theatre Ensemble will be celebrating its 40th anniversary season, along with McAninch Arts Center, where the professional theater troupe performs. This year kicks off with the classic Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, which runs from Nov. 12 to Dec. 13. This adaptation by Lauren Gunderson follows the four March sisters as they grow up in Massachusetts during the Civil War. The tension is turned up for the second show of the season, Dial M for Murder, a thriller written by Frederick Knott that was turned into an Alfred Hitchcock movie. No one is quite what they seem in this murder mystery that runs from Jan. 28 to Feb. 28. The season concludes with the farce One Man, Two Guvnors, running from May 6 to June 6, in which a servant winds up accidentally employed by two men, one a gangster and the other a criminal on the run.
Wheaton Drama is one of the area’s oldest arts organizations, having been producing community theater since 1931. It performs at Playhouse 111 (111 N. Hale St.) in downtown Wheaton, and the group will produce seven shows this year. The season starts with the musical Big Fish (Sept. 11 to Oct. 4), followed by She Loves Me (Nov. 11 to Dec. 13), Miracle on 34th Street (Dec. 18 to 20), Into the Breeches (Jan. 22 to Feb. 7), Disney’s Frozen Jr. (Feb. 25 to 28), and Murder on the Orient Express (June 11 to June 27). The seventh show, whose title will be announced this fall, will run from April 9 to May 2.
For a different theater experience, The Morton Arboretum is featuring two Walking Plays on its grounds, which are performed by professional actors who lead the audience to multiple locations throughout the arboretum for each scene. The combination of theater with a nature walk is truly unique. Performances include William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which began in July and continues through the first three weekends in August, and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights on weekends starting Sept. 19 and concluding Oct. 25.
Make ’Em Laugh
Comedy close to home
Options for standup comedy in the western suburbs continue to grow. Start with one of the country’s biggest headliners, Cedric the Entertainer, who will be performing on the big stage of the Paramount Theater on Aug. 8. Cedric’s career as a standup comedian, actor, and game show host has spanned more than 30 years. He’s currently the star of The Neighborhood on CBS and has appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows, including the Barbershop franchise.
He isn’t the only comedian coming to Aurora this fall. Paramount’s Copley Theatre is hosting a comedy series on select Saturday nights through November. The 165-seat theater offers an intimate space for some of the area’s best comedians to perform. On Aug. 22, Laura Hugg opens for headliner Larry Reeb (“Uncle Lar”); Sept. 26, Vikram Balaji opens for headliner Nick Gaza; Oct. 26, Michelle Krajecki opens for headliner Tim Cavanagh; and Nov. 7, Mike Preston opens for headliner Tim Benker (with Steve Cochran hosting). Tickets are $22, and there’s no drink minimum to attend—although patrons are welcome to come early to enjoy the bar at the Copley Theatre.
At the McAninch Arts Center, WGN Morning News “Around Town” reporter Ana Belaval will be on stage Sept. 19 to perform her standup comedy. The four-time Emmy winner draws from her experience in broadcasting and Puerto Rican heritage to produce a high-energy performance that’s become a local favorite. On April 3, Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood, known for their work on the TV show Who’s Line Is It Anyway?, will take the big stage at the MAC for their improv comedy show, “Asking for Trouble?”
The Comedy Vault (18 E. Wilson St.) continues to draw national headliners as well as some of the best local comics to downtown Batavia each week. The shows, typically held Thursday through Sunday, are about an hour and 40 minutes long, with an opening act, a featured comic, and a headliner in each show. Appetizers and drinks are available (and there’s typically a two-item minimum). Headliners coming this fall include Dan Soder (Sept. 8 to 11), Greg Fitzsimmons (Oct. 16 to 17), and Saturday Night Live alum Kevin Nealon (Nov. 12 to 14). There’s even an open-mic night each Monday for those brave enough to test their own skills (or simply enjoy those who take the leap).
On Friday and Saturday nights, CG’s Comedy Club (619 E. Boughton Road) in Bolingbrook is another local option. Admission is typically $20. The Bit Theater (4035 Fox Valley Center Drive) in Aurora and the West Side Improv Studio (125 W. Front St.) in Wheaton offer classes and other opportunities. Both venues also host a variety of shows for those who’d rather watch from the audience. Finally, Lennon’s (16 W. Jefferson Ave.) in downtown Naperville has launched a Friday Funnies comedy series, which brings in standup comedians on select Friday evenings.
Cue the Music
Notes on the new concert season
A trip to Orchestra Hall on Michigan Avenue is a wonderful way to experience the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. But it turns out you don’t need to travel to downtown Chicago for one of the country’s top symphonies. The CSO presents a three-concert series at Wheaton College each year, featuring the full orchestra in the beautiful Edman Memorial Chapel (401 E. Franklin St.).
The relationship between the CSO and Wheaton College dates back to 1960, when the CSO first performed there to celebrate the opening of the chapel. It traveled there again several times before it debuted the annual three-concert series in 2016. “The venue is appealing to both the orchestra and guest artists for several reasons, including its excellent acoustics, spacious stage, the ease with which musicians can hear one another, and the enthusiastic response from local audiences that often include many students,” says Cristina Rocca, the CSO’s vice president of artistic planning.
This year’s series begins Oct. 23 when guest cellist Jian Wang performs in Antonín Dvořák’s soaring Cello Concerto. The concert begins with music from CSO conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider’s native Denmark—Carl Nielsen’s Maskarade Overture. The program also includes Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Suite.
The Feb. 5 concert features another Nielsen work, the Inextinguishable Symphony. It also will include a Tchaikovsky piece, the First Piano Concerto, with soloist Beatrice Rana. The program opens with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3.
The final concert, on March 19, features Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as well as Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony-Concerto and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4. Subscriptions to the series are available now, and single concert tickets will go on sale Aug. 5.
Of course, the CSO is far from the only classical music option in the area. The DuPage Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 73rd season this year and 40 years of leadership from conductor and music director Barbara Schubert. It performs primarily at the Wentz Concert Hall (171 E. Chicago Ave.) on the North Central College campus in Naperville. While the DSO has yet to announce its 2026–27 program, it has released its concert dates: Oct. 17, Nov. 21, Feb. 13, March 20, and May 15. Its annual holiday concert (complete with a red-suited guest conductor) takes place Dec. 20.
Also celebrating an anniversary this year (its 50th) is the New Philharmonic, the professional orchestra in residence at the McAninch Arts Center. Conductor Kirk Muspratt kicks off the season Sept. 26 and 27 with Musica Italiana Dolce, featuring tenor Jesse Donner. This celebration of Italian music includes Giacomo Puccini’s iconic Nessun Dorma from Turandot, as well as other prominent works by Italian composers featured in film.
On Oct. 24 and 25, the Scots get a turn when the New Philharmonic offers a Tribute to Scotland, with music by composers Felix Mendelssohn, Max Bruch, and Peter Maxwell Davies. For its annual holiday show, the orchestra will accompany the Salt Creek Ballet in a performance of The Nutcracker (Dec. 18 to 20), and for New Year’s Eve, mezzo-soprano Kate Tombaugh joins the orchestra for its year-end concert featuring a range of music from “Strauss waltzes to showstopping arias.”
The New Philharmonic celebrates the 95th birthday of American film composer John Williams Feb. 5 to 7, and its season ends April 17 to 18 with a celebration of the symphony’s 50th anniversary concert, with a production of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which includes the finale “Ode to Joy,” with the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra Chorus.
For another option, the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra has yet to announce its 2026–27 season, but it typically offers a half-dozen performances throughout the year, including at least one with the Fox Valley Orchestra Chorus, and often at the Crimi Auditorium (1347 Prairie St.) at Aurora University.
Photos: Paula Lobo (Ballet Hispánico New York); Amparo (Hiplet Ballet); Jim Belushi & The Sacred Hearts; the McAninch Arts Center (Diana Martinez); Boris Martin (South Pacific); Milo Bue Design (Mean Girls); Rex Howard Photography (Georgiana & Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley); BrightSide Theatre (The Producers); N Phocus Photography (Cedric the Entertainer); Copley Theatre (Tim Cavanagh); Ana Belaval; Todd Rosenberg Photography (CSO); McAninch Arts Center (New Philharmonic)
