Founded as the Goodman Children's Theatre in 1925 and recognized as a pioneer of theatre for families, Chicago Playworks welcomes more than 30,000 students and families to our highly celebrated productions each season. Today we are dedicated to reflecting our audience's experience in an urban, contemporary, and multi-racial environment.
The 2026-2027 Chicago Playworks for Families and Young Audiences Series
The Cunningham Commission for Youth Theatre
The Cunningham Commission for Youth Theatre was created at The Theatre School to honor the memory of the Rev. Donald Cunningham, a Chicago priest, playwright, and lover of theatre. The Cunningham Commission was established by an endowment gift from the Cunningham family and is presented biannually. The purpose of the commission is to encourage the writing of dramatic works for young audiences that affirm the centrality of religion, broadly defined, and the human quest for meaning, truth, and community. The Theatre School intends to produce the plays created through this commission in its award-winning Chicago Playworks for Families and Young Audiences series.
Past recipients have included: Ike Holter, Isaac Gomez, Caro Macon, Gloria Bond Clunie, Ricardo Gamboa, Omer Abbas Salem, Lavina Jadhwani, Jeremy Ohringer, and Alvaro Saar Rios.