Backyard Theatre Company is a Chicago-based, ensemble-driven theatre company making bold, intimate work in storefronts, studios, and unexpected spaces across the city.

Our programming includes full productions, developmental readings, workshops, festivals, and opportunities for artists and audiences to gather around new ideas. We are drawn to plays that take risks with language, form, and structure, especially work that asks difficult questions about power, memory, community, and the world we have inherited.

We believe independent theatre should be artistically ambitious, accessible to audiences, and sustainable for the people making it. That means prioritizing artist compensation, collaborative processes, pay-what-you-can opportunities, and long-term relationships with Chicago artists.

Explore our current and upcoming events below. Whether you are joining us for a finished production, a new play reading, an experimental performance, or a workshop, there is always something happening in the Backyard.

Contact the host of Red Bike by Caridad Svich