In 1999, Chicago Shakespeare Theater opened its new, $24-million, state-of-the-art facility on Navy Pier. Invited to the Pier by State and City authorities, the world-class Theater has lived up to its reputation. Sir Peter Hall, Founder of Great Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company, calls it “one of the best, if not the best, Shakespeare spaces in the world.”

Two very different, complementary performance spaces in our theater on Navy Pier provide a perfect home for artists and audiences alike. The thrust stage of the 500-seat Jentes Family Auditorium (inspired by the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theatre) necessitates an intimate, immediate relationship between the actors and their audience, who sit around three sides of the stage. By contrast, The Carl and Marilynn Thoma Theater, a 200-seat black box, offers practically limitless versatility to suit the creative choices of an artistic team.

Use the Virtual Tour to explore the facility online.