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Celebrating over 25 years of queer stories on stage

Since our founding in 1995, About Face Theatre has been a national leader in advancing dialogue about gender and sexuality. Through bold theatre and arts-based educational programs, our work celebrates the persistence and joy of queer identities while shining a spotlight on the social inequalities impacting LGBTQIA+ people.

We invite you to be part of our affirming community and join us for our 2021-2022 Season at The Den Theatre in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.

Explore AFT’s 2021-2022 Season

A pair of hands clasped tightly surrounded by shattered glass

Laced
by Sam Mueller

The night after a queer bar outside of Tampa, Florida, is vandalized, three twenty-something bartenders gather to grieve, riot, and above all, piece together the events of the night before. Fiery, poetic, and up-to-the-minute contemporary, Laced ferociously celebrates the spaces in which we find our truest selves and the many ways the LGBTQ community comes together in the face of hate.

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A Black man in a red dress holding a magnolia blossom, stands in a foggy swamp with a taller, shirtless Black man on one side of him and a disapproving Black man with his back turned on the other side. In the distance, a house is on fire.

The Magnolia Ballet
by Terry Guest

Ezekiel is a Black teenager haunted by the ghosts of racism, homophobia, and toxic masculinity–the same ghosts that have plagued men in Georgia for generations, including his emotionally distant father. But when he discovers a trove of forbidden love letters among his late grandfather’s belongings, Ezekiel begins to believe that the only way to fight these multi-generational ghosts is to burn everything to the ground.

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Two young people lay on the floor writing

Untitled AFYT Show
by the AFYT ensemble

AFT’s award-winning About Face Youth Theatre will begin its fall session in October 2021 with hybrid in-person and virtual workshops, culminating in an original, devised theatre production to be presented in person in June of 2022.

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Explore AFT’s Educational Programs

The award-winning About Face Youth Theatre provides free training in devised theatre, lessons about social justice through history, and opportunities for leadership development and activism. Since its inception in 2000, AFYT has provided a space for queer youth to learn, grow, and make friends while creating theatre that uplifts and supports other LGBTQ+ youth and allies.

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The Green Room Collective is a new leadership program focused on individualized skill-building, directly supporting AFT operations, and preparing the next generation of LGBTQ+ leaders for the next chapter in their stories.

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Our Community Engagement program has provided touring performances and workshops to schools, churches, campuses, and conferences for over 20 years. Over the last two years, we’ve begun exploring new ways to reach audiences across the country through virtual programs and discussions. These events provide opportunities for people of all ages to have important conversations about gender, sexuality and intersecting identities, while exploring ways to be a better ally and support healthy relationships.

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