Adapted and Directed by Ensemble Member Heidi Stillman
From the Book by Charles Dickens
In Association with The Actors Gymnasium

Lookingglass launches its 30th Season with the return of the award-winning, circus-infused Hard Times.

A Dickensian carnival of characters inhabits the streets of smoke-choked Coketown: grim Mr. Gradgrind’s school churns out joyless students; poor Stephen Blackpool toils in the nearby mines; and mill-owner Mr. Bounderby, full of bluster and bombast, presides over it all. Only when a traveling circus alights nearby, and young orphan Sissy Jupe enters their world, does a ray of hope shine through.

Artistic Director Heidi Stillman adapts and directs this timeless love-letter to the power of beauty, hope, and imagination.

View the Program here.

Click here for the Student Study Guide.

“Captivating in every sense of the word.”
– Chicago Sun-Times

“A chance to escape to the circus.”
– Chicago Tribune

Lookingglass Artists

Lookingglass is an ensemble based company, with a dedicated group of artists composing its roster of Ensemble Members, Artistic Associates, and Teaching Artists.

Media

Sponsors

Production Sponsor

Producer’s Circle

Leigh and Henry Bienen, Abbie Helene Roth and Sandra Gladstone Roth

Opening Night Sponsor