Chicago Children’s Theatre, Chicago’s first and largest professional theater devoted to young audiences, turns 20 next season.
To celebrate, the company has planned a 2025-26 season that’s a fond look back at some of its favorite live theater experiences for families over the past 20 years.
The fun begins this fall with Leo Lionni’s Frederick and climaxes next spring with an exciting, all-new, immersive staging of the classic bedtime story, Goodnight Moon.
In between, The Beatrix Potter Holiday Party is back, plus CCT will produce its first-ever Chicago Sensory Summit, featuring dedicated programming and public events around the growing field of sensory theater.
Three-play subscriptions go on sale June 6 at chicagochildrenstheatre.org. Packages start at only $60, or $20 per show to celebrate 20 years, for a limited time only. Or, create your own mix-and-match subscription plan to match your child’s age and interests.
Wait…did you say Natalie Merchant? As in THE Natalie Merchant?
Natalie Merchant in Cabinet of Wonder. Credit joe mazza chicago brave lux inc
That’s right, we said it!
In addition to all the fun on CCT’s own stage in 2025-26, internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter and activist Natalie Merchant, in partnership with Chicago Children’s Theatre and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, will debut Cabinet of Wonder, a delightful introduction to the traditional nursery rhymes by Mother Goose that has been years in the making.
Cabinet of Wonder will be unsealed later this year when the 16-part music video series drops online for free viewing around the world. The videos feature Merchant playing a dual role: a modern-day librarian-teacher figure named Miss Natalie with a passion for nursery rhymes, and an 18th-century fashioned Mother Goose who introduces the children, through song and dance, to the characters in her rhymes. The series is professionally filmed, features a cast of children from CCT’s Education programming, members of the CSO with special guests, a magic cabinet, intricate costumes designed and created by Merchant herself, and shadow puppetry created by Manual Cinema.
Cabinet of Wonder photo courtesy joe mazza chicago brave lux inc
Throughout the 2025-26 season, CCT and CSO teaching artists will engage hundreds of Chicago children through in-school residencies at local schools and Head Start programs. In fact, Merchant’s inspiration, original compositions and costumes for Cabinet of Wonder began eight years ago while she was volunteering as a Head Start visiting artist at an underserved school in her hometown of Troy, New York.
Last month, the National Head Start Association, in honor of its 60th anniversary, announced its partnership with Merchant, who is gifting them the Cabinet of Wonder curriculum to expand early learning arts access for the nearly 800,000 children and families served by Head Start programs nationwide. Read NHSA’s announcement here.
The project peaks next spring when Merchant returns to Chicago to debut her live concert, Mother Goose & The Cabinet of Wonder, Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 11 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. as part of the CSO for Kids series. The hope and intent is that Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall will be packed with hundreds of Chicago children ready to sing their favorite Mother Goose rhymes along with Miss Natalie. Single tickets to the concerts, $5-$35 for children ages 3 and up, $15-$55 for adults, go on sale on August 6. To purchase, visit cso.org.
Chicago Children's Theatre also will host a 20th Anniversary fundraiser and reception in connection with the May 9 concerts. Tickets will include VIP seating. Stay tuned for details.
Cabinet of Wonder is a co-production of Natalie Merchant, Chicago Children’s Theatre and the Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. To learn more, visit cabinetofwonder.org.
Back on stage at Chicago Children’s Theatre’s West Loop home
Chicago Children’s Theatre’s 2025-26, 20th anniversary season fall opener is Leo Lionni’s Frederick, based on his classic, much-loved Caldecott Award-winning book celebrating the artist as hero, and the idea that there is a place for all of us in this world.
While other mice are gathering food for the winter, Frederick daydreams the summer away. But when fall weather comes, it is Frederick who has stored up something special for the long cold winter. Originally a world premiere in CCT's 10th birthday season, this charming musical features a book by Suzanne Maynard Miller and a spirited folk and rock blues music score by Sarah Durkee and Paul Jacobs, performed live, on-stage by a talented cast of six actor-musicians. Tommy Rapley directs. Performances are September 27-November 16, 2025. Press openings are Sunday, September 28 at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Ideal for ages 4 and up.
Chicago Children’s Theatre’s Beatrix Potter Holiday Party, a holiday rite of passage for Chicago toddlers, brings four classic Beatrix Potter animal tales to life with an ingenious trunk and puppet show, while bringing families together from all over the city for a communal post-show party with holiday treats. CCT Director of Production Will Bishop directs. Performances are December 6-28, 2025. Press openings are Saturday, December 26 at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. Ideal for ages up to 8.
In February, Chicago Children’s Theatre will present its first-ever Chicago Sensory Summit, celebrating its 20-year commitment to access and marking its role as a national leader in sensory theater.
Left: Chicago Children's Theatre's Red Kite Brown Box, a live theater experience for children with autism, in 2014. Right: Chicago Children's Theatre's X Marks the Spot: An X-Tra Sensory Xperience, a 2019 world premiere for visually impaired audiences.
Theater artists, educators and audiences from Chicago and around the U.S. will gather for this all-access sensory theater Chicago “happening” including industry workshops and presentations, along with a series of non-verbal, sensory theater experiences for the general public.
To curate the summit, Chicago Children’s Theatre Co-Founder and Artistic Director Jacqueline Russell is drawing from the company’s growing body of sensory work, including 17 years of Red Kite Project live experiences for children on the autism spectrum, all-access productions like X-Marks the Spot for visually impaired audiences, and its recent R.O.A.R. (Residencies of Arts and Resilience) program involving trauma-informed teaching and multi-sensory integration. Stay tuned for the full line-up.
It’s been more than a decade since CCT presented Goodnight Moon, the musical based on Margaret Wise Brown’s beloved children’s book, drenched in primary colors that pay homage to Clement Hurd’s vivid illustrations.
But for CCT’s 20th Anniversary season finale, bunny will be “in the house” in an all-new, immersive setting. Catchy songs, delightful dancing, a technicolor set, the quiet poetry of the original tale, and the humorous antics of one very nocturnal bunny all play a part in this fun, family-friendly celebration of one of the most iconic children’s books of all time.
Chicago director Mikael Burke, who made his CCT debut with Milo Imagines the World in 2024, returns to direct. Performances are April 11-June 7, 2026. Press openings are Sunday, April 12 at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Ideal for all ages.
So if you have children in your life, agree Chicago is the greatest theater city in the world, and that Chicago families deserve an equally great children’s theater, purchase a subscription to Chicago Children’s Theatre’s 2025-26 season, on sale now at chicagochildrenstheatre.org. Packages start at only $60, or $20 per show to celebrate 20 years, for a limited time only. Or, create your own mix-and-match subscription plan to match your child’s age and interests.
Email groupsales@chicagochildrenstheatre.org or call CCT Guest Services, (312) 374-8835, to learn more about subscriptions, single tickets, and discounted group rates for schools, playgroups, birthday parties and scouting groups.
Chicago Children’s Theatre, a “no shushing” theater, is at 100 S. Racine Ave., at Monroe, in the heart of Chicago's West Loop. It’s centrally located just minutes from I-90 and I-290, downtown and Ashland Avenue. Free, onsite parking is available on the south side of the building. Free street parking can be found nearby on weekends, or try the Impark parking lot, 1301 W. Madison St.
For more, visit chicagochildrenstheatre.org, follow the company on Instagram and Facebook, and subscribe to its YouTube channel, CCTv: Virtual Theatre and Learning from Chicago Children’s Theatre.
About Chicago Children’s Theatre
“The Chicago theater scene is legendarily vibrant, so naturally a number of companies tailor productions to younger audiences. The cream of the crop is Chicago Children’s Theatre.” – Chicago Tribune
Chicago Children’s Theatre, 100 S. Racine St. in Chicago’s West Loop, is Chicago’s destination for the best plays, musicals, classes and performing arts camps for young audiences, students and families.
The company was founded in 2005 with a big idea: Chicago is the greatest theater city in the world, and it deserves a great children’s theater. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025-26, Chicago Children’s Theatre is the city’s largest professional theater company devoted exclusively to children and young families.
In 2017, following 11 years of itinerancy, Chicago Children’s Theatre opened its forever home in Chicago’s West Loop community. Formerly the 12th District Chicago Police Station, the building was repurposed into a LEED Gold-certified, mixed-use performing arts, education and community engagement facility. For children, parents, caregivers and teachers, CCT is now a convenient, welcoming community hub, centrally located in the city, with free, onsite parking.
Chicago Children’s Theatre has established a national reputation for the production of first-rate children’s theater with professional writing, performing, and directorial talent and high-quality design and production expertise. In 2017, Chicago Children’s Theatre was the first theater for young audiences to win a National Theatre Award from the American Theatre Wing, creators of the Tony Awards. In 2019, the company won the National TYA Artistic Innovation Award from Theatre for Young Audiences/USA.
In tandem with its live productions, Chicago Children’s Theatre offers a full slate of Access services for patrons with disabilities, including ASL interpretation, open captioning, touch tours and sensory friendly performances. Chicago Children’s Theatre provides live theater experiences, classes and camps for children with autism and other special needs via its Red Kite Project. CCT also provides thousands of free and reduced-price tickets to weekday student matinees to under-resourced schools in partnership with Chicago Public Schools.
In addition to shows, CCT offers a full, year-round roster of performing arts education programs for ages 0 to 14. Visit chicagochildrenstheatre.org/family-programs for information on classes, workshops, winter, spring break and “school’s out” camps, and summer camps. Due to popular demand, in addition to its home in the West Loop, CCT camps and classes have expanded to new locations including Menomonee Club Drucker Center in Lincoln Park.
Chicago Children’s Theatre is supported by Goldman Sachs Gives, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, The Ralla Klepak Foundation for Education in the Performing Arts, Polk Bros Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Culture, Equity and the Arts, Bayless Family Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Camp Out for Kids, Crown Family Philanthropies, PwC, Rivers Gives, US Bank, Thomabravo, Theater League Kansas City, Illinois Arts Council Agency and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE).
Chicago Children’s Theatre is led by Co-Founders, Artistic Director Jacqueline Russell and Board Chair Todd Leland, with Board President Armando Chacon.
For more, visit chicagochildrenstheatre.org.