Get to Out Here at Court

Court Theatre’s refreshing new musical Out Here is a must see this spring. Stylishly self aware, this meta conscious story breaks the fourth wall entirely and uses the breach to create an innovative way for the audience to become a character.  It also makes the on stage band an active participant in the drama.  

Dawn, played by Becca Ayers, mother of teen Cleo (sparkling Ellie Duffey), wife of salt of the earth Brian (Cliff Chamberlain) has hit middle age hard, and wants a divorce. This seemingly comes out of left field for Brian who offers to open the marriage so Dawn can date women. But Dawn wants a life do-over and she finds her college girlfriend Robin,played by Bethany Thomas in the audience. All of this tale is told with the help of the recently discovered Band in the attic. Brian will start dating Gina played by Amanda Pulcini, also found in the audience.  Each character has to come to grips with life changing in ways they cannot control, and Dawn lives out the maxim Be Careful What You Wish For.  She discovers you can’t put the Genie back in the bottle, and the show ends with an awkwardly joyful blended family which includes Robin's child Jet played by Z Mowry.

There are some true diamonds in the show score including a brilliant explanation of the 2 2 5 5 custody arrangement, and a run down on all the legal pieces of a divorce. Dawn's pal Martin played by Alex Goodrich sits in with the band but is also a singing divorce mediator. This is absolutely a musical of our time.  Andrew Boyce and Lauren M. Nichols have designed a character defining set of a house that tactfully comes apart. Chay Yew’s direction knits this family together and keeps the pacing brisk so the show flies by leaving you aching for more. 

This musical has, as they say, legs! Hat's off to U of C professors Leslie Buxbaum and David J. Levin who came up with the concept and developed it along with Erin McKeown at the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society. When some area universities are making drastic cuts to arts and humanities, a project like this gives hope. This musical is entertaining and real.  Don’t miss your chance to catch it. Out Here is playing at the Court Theatre, 5535 South Ellis Avenue in Chicago, Wednesdays through Sundays through May 10,2026. For tickets and information go to https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2025-2026-season/out-here/

There is a touch tour at 12:30 on May 2nd before the audio described/ASL interpreted show at 2:30pm. There is an open captioned show on Sunday May 3 at 2pm. 

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