Lifeline Theatre can be found in Rogers Park at 6912 N Glenwood Avenue near the Morse red line stop. The theater takes books and adapts them into plays. They split up their plays into main stage and kid series. I’ve seen one play in their actual theater, “The Count of Monte Cristo”, and I loved it so much that I went and saw it again. They use the same stage design for the entirety of the play, and with just slight adjustments an outdoor garden turns into an indoor banquet. The inside of the theater the first time I went was slightly cold, but the seats I had included a blanket to keep me warm. The second time I went I sat further in the back and those seats did not have a blanket. This could be due to several reasons, the first tickets I got were free through a contest, the second seats were probably just general that I bought myself. It could also be that the seats up front are colder.
The first time I went to the theater I was worried I was lost. I hadn’t ever been to Rogers Park before and I was there at night walking along the train track. The Lifeline Theatre is on Glenwood Avenue and the street has a somewhat narrow feel to it, the sign sticks out, but you have to follow the building around and walk up a wooden walkway to the door.
The theater is a small one room theater next to a nice outdoor arts garden.
The other times I’ve seen them is at One Book One Chicago: Neverwhere and at the Glenwood Avenue Arts Festival. For One Book One Chicago the actors did their lines for the performance they had for Neverwhere a couple years ago in the Cindy Pritzker auditorium at the Harold Washington Library. At the Glenwood Avenue Arts Festival they gave a sample of their upcoming kids series “Click, Clack, Boo”. I haven’t been to any other of their kids series, but this one including singing, so I assume their kid’s series performances are at least partially musicals. “Neverwhere” and “The Count of Monte Cristo” were not musicals.
They do at least three main stage performances and three kid series per year. They also do festival events like the annual Fillet of Solo. So you can go to their theater to watch many of the festival’s solo performances. Other performances for the festival can be found at Heartland Studio Theatre which is also on Glenwood Avenue.