Chicago’s parks are about to turn into stages. From November 7 through November 16, the Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks series presents Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! In the Works and Invitation to the Dance – two special events that bring big-stage talent into neighborhood parks across the city.
The headline is pure Chicago. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, the beloved NPR news quiz recorded at the Studebaker Theater, steps out of the studio and into the parks with In the Works, a behind-the-scenes edition where audiences watch new material take shape and join the fun as the panel plays with the week’s news. If you have ever laughed along on the radio and wondered how the sausage of comedy gets made, this is your night.
The second feature could not be more different – and that is the point. Invitation to the Dance trades punchlines for pirouettes, an evening of dance presented in the same park-hopping spirit, proving that a fieldhouse stage can hold just as much grace as a downtown theater.
Now in its 13th year, Night Out in the Parks is presented by the Chicago Park District in partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and the Chicago Park Foundation, with support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. With support from over 100 local arts organizations, the series activates parks citywide with more than 700 events a year – theater, dance, music, circus, opera and more – most of them free or low-cost and all of them close to home.
Programs are expected to fill quickly, so check the Night Out in the Parks schedule on the Chicago Park District website for venues and ticket details, pick your park, and enjoy a night out that starts right in your own neighborhood.
Photo: David Wilson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
