October 8, 1871

It has been one of the hottest, driest autumns on record, and now a strong wind blows from the Southwest. At 9:40PM, the Chicago Fire Department gets their first report of a small blaze on the city’s southwest side. Soon there is no stopping the Great Chicago Fire until it finally runs out of things to burn. In one night, the very rich, the very poor, and everyone in between are transformed forever. Ensemble Member John Musial (Our Future Metropolis, Nelson Algren: For Keeps and a Single Day) revisits his acclaimed 1999 production about the disaster that redefined Chicago. Spectacular, spiritual, highly physical and exquisitely emotional, the Chicago Sun-Times praised The Great Fire as “highly original, hugely entertaining” and remarked that “no one who sees this show will be able to look at Chicago in the same way again.”