THE LONG GAME - Season 27 kickoff celebration
Sunday, September 14, 2025
DOORS @ 5:30PM CT, STORIES @ 6:00PM CT
Haymarket pub & Brewery (737 W Randolph St. Chicago, IL 60661)
What do we mean when we say “I love you?” How do we show care to those who become the most important to us, even when - especially when - we may not agree with them?
This season, 2nd Story examines what is “the shape of courage.” In our season opener, The Long Game, three storytellers grapple with their relationship to others - to the people they love the most, those they’ve known the longest, and even potential neighbors. When the world is telling you to leave, do you have the courage to stay, to play the long game?
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Curated by Liz Rice*
Directed by Brandi Jiminez Lee
Produced by Ema Kester
Music by Jake Sorgen
Featuring Stories by:
CP Chang*, Andrew Reilly*, Reshmi Hazra Rustebakke*
*denotes 2nd Story company member.
A note about ticket sales
In person shows have three ticket levels in order to increase financial accessibility and transparency around what it actually costs to produce a 2nd Story show. All ticket tiers receive the same show experience.
$125 - This ticket level reflects Transparency. It covers the real cost of creating a 2nd Story experience.
$25 - This ticket level reflects Balance. Less than full cost, it helps us grow and share more stories.
$7 - This ticket level reflects Care. It’s here for ease–so everyone can be a part of the story without financial strain.
Livestream
2nd Story streams all of its regular season shows on zoom. The livestream is free, but you do need to register to receive the link. Registration is open until the livestream ends.
Stream Later
Stream later tickets sales now close 24 hours AFTER the event. Example: If a show begins at 6:00pm on Sunday, tickets will remain open until 6:00pm on Monday.
The stream later link is sent out via system email around 12:00pm CT on the day after ticket sales close.
THE RISING TIDE SUMMIT: BUILDING BETTER WORKPLACES
fRIDAY, sEPTEMBER 19, 2025 | 10:00am-4:00pm
Steppenwolf Theatre's Lefkofsky Arts and Education Center
How do we care for our people?
Arts workers hold a lot. We make beauty out of chaos. We build experiences that move people. We connect communities. But so often the people who make it all happen are working in conditions that make it hard to thrive. Arts workers are expected to offer warmth and hospitality while managing tight budgets, navigating complex power dynamics, and making it all look effortless.
Right now, so much feels out of our control - funding is shrinking, systems are strained, and the uncertainty can feel relentless. But one thing we can control is how we care for each other. If we’re the ones holding everything together, who’s holding us? What does it mean to build an arts workplace where people can thrive, not just survive? And how can we show up for each other in ways that are sustainable, equitable, and real?
This full-day gathering invites arts workers at every level - whether you're greeting guests at the box office, drafting donor emails, managing teams, or building budgets - to reflect on the real conditions of arts work and imagine something better.
Together we’ll explore how power, identity, and invisible labor shape our workplaces. Through storytelling, training, and collective reflection, dig into questions like:
What can we make better, even when so much feels out of our control?
What strategies can we use to interrupt harm, even when we’re not “in charge”?
How do we build sustainable internal systems of care?
This summit is for arts administrators, front-of-house staff, managers, artistic leadership, and anyone invested in making the arts a more sustainable place to work.
BACKGROUND
In 2018, 2nd Story began a long, deliberate, and ultimately fruitful journey towards achieving pay equity and increasing arts worker care at our organization. As part of that work, we launched The Rising Tide Project. The Rising Tide Project takes a multi-pronged approach to furthering worker care across the sector, including establishing small cohorts of arts organizations to support their own internal efforts and a series of public events to share learning, cultivate community, and build momentum around pay equity and arts worker care.
WHAT TO EXPECT
The Rising Tide Summit combines storytelling, group conversations, and practical activities to explore workplace power and care. The day will kick off with a full group session, followed by two breakout sessions in the afternoon, where participants will choose their own path for learning, based on their own needs and interests. We’ll end the day with full group work designed to build connection, awareness, and actionable strategies for healthier workplaces.
Lunch and snacks will be provided. Please include any dietary restrictions and access needs via the registration form.
Free parking is available in Steppenwolf’s garage. See https://www.steppenwolf.org/plan-your-visit/location-and-parking/ for more.
Please note that The Rising Tide Summit is in-person. We are not able to offer a hybrid or virtual option, and the sessions will not be recorded.
REGISTRATION
Registration fees help us to offset the cost of food, venue, and paying our facilitators.
2nd Story has created a tiered structure for registration fees in order to increase financial accessibility and transparency around what it actually costs to put together an all-day event.
$250 - This ticket level reflects Transparency. It covers the real cost of creating a 2nd Story experience.
$75 - This ticket level reflects Balance. Less than full cost, it helps us grow and continue our work.
$15 - This ticket level reflects Care. It’s here for ease–so everyone can be a part of the story without financial strain.
Please choose the level that corresponds to your financial ability. If the lowest tier is prohibitive for you, please reach out to us at info@2ndStory.com. We will not turn anyone away for lack of funds!
SINGLE DAY INTENSIVE
Saturday, October 11, 2025
10:00am-4:00pm
2nd STORY (3001 W LAWRENCE AVE)
2nd Story’s Single Day Intensive is our most popular workshop! Led by 2nd Story Collective Members, you’ll work with a small group of story lovers and move from brainstorming and story ideation all the way through skill building and writing. Participants will leave the workshop with multiple story ideas, a few story starts, and a bunch of new friends.
We will be taking a prolonged break halfway through the workshop. For our in-person workshop, we invite you to bring a brown bag lunch. 2nd Story Studio is equipped with a full kitchen, including a stove, microwave, and refrigerator.
A note about registration
Classes have three ticket levels in order to increase financial accessibility and transparency around what it actually costs to produce a 2nd Story show. All ticket tiers receive the same show experience.
$300 - This registration level reflects Transparency. It covers the real cost of creating a 2nd Story experience.
$75 - This registration level reflects Balance. Less than full cost, it helps us grow and share more stories.
$15 - This registration level reflects Care. It’s here for ease–so everyone can be a part of the story without financial strain.
SHOW 2
Sunday, October 19, 2025
DOORS @ 5:30PM CT, STORIES @ 6:00PM CT
Haymarket pub & Brewery (737 W Randolph St. Chicago, IL 60661)
This show is presented as part of 2nd Story's "Point of View'' programming. Given the nature of 2nd Story's work and the diversity of artists with whom we collaborate, we have the unique opportunity to build community among and share the stories of specific communities by building teams for our shows that share a particular point of view. It is our honor to be a conduit for these collaborations. This show is created and produced entirely by all those involved in raising children, whether as parents, guardians, or chosen family.
A MESSAGE FROM CURATOR JULIE GANEY
I've loved being a parent. And I'm passionate about creating a world where the decisions folks make around whether and when and how to be a parent are truly supported - honoring those who choose not to parent, and providing actual, practical support for those who do. We're creating a show that explores how we're changed by deeply investing in others, however we choose to do that, and the joy in making the choices that are uniquely right for us.
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Curated by Julie Ganey*
Directed by Khanisha Foster*
Produced by Kasey Trouba
Music by Lynnette Li
Featuring Stories by:
Stef Coleman, Geneva Norman, Vince Pagán-Hill*
*denotes 2nd Story company member.
A note about ticket sales
In person shows have three ticket levels in order to increase financial accessibility and transparency around what it actually costs to produce a 2nd Story show. All ticket tiers receive the same show experience.
$125 - This ticket level reflects Transparency. It covers the real cost of creating a 2nd Story experience.
$25 - This ticket level reflects Balance. Less than full cost, it helps us grow and share more stories.
$7 - This ticket level reflects Care. It’s here for ease–so everyone can be a part of the story without financial strain.
Livestream
2nd Story streams all of its regular season shows on zoom. The livestream is free, but you do need to register to receive the link. Registration is open until the livestream ends.
Stream Later
Stream later tickets sales now close 24 hours AFTER the event. Example: If a show begins at 6:00pm on Sunday, tickets will remain open until 6:00pm on Monday.
The stream later link is sent out via system email around 12:00pm CT on the day after ticket sales close.
SHOW 3
Sunday, November 16, 2025
DOORS @ 5:30PM CT, STORIES @ 6:00PM CT
Haymarket pub & Brewery (737 W Randolph St. Chicago, IL 60661)
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Curated by Lexi Saunders
Directed by Devin Christor
Produced by Stacey Saunders
Sound designed by Linnaea Groh
Featuring Stories by:
Tiffany Moten, RJ Silva, Scott Woldman*
*denotes 2nd Story company member.
A note about ticket sales
In person shows have three ticket levels in order to increase financial accessibility and transparency around what it actually costs to produce a 2nd Story show. All ticket tiers receive the same show experience.
$125 - This ticket level reflects Transparency. It covers the real cost of creating a 2nd Story experience.
$25 - This ticket level reflects Balance. Less than full cost, it helps us grow and share more stories.
$7 - This ticket level reflects Care. It’s here for ease–so everyone can be a part of the story without financial strain.
Livestream
2nd Story streams all of its regular season shows on zoom. The livestream is free, but you do need to register to receive the link. Registration is open until the livestream ends.
Stream Later
Stream later tickets sales now close 24 hours AFTER the event. Example: If a show begins at 6:00pm on Sunday, tickets will remain open until 6:00pm on Monday.
The stream later link is sent out via system email around 12:00pm CT on the day after ticket sales close.
““There is just something so humane about a 2nd Story show. The emotions from story to story run the gamut—fear, joy, grief, celebration, surprise, insight, irony, humor. But running through all of them is this endearing and enduring sense of humanity, unshaded by a commercial angle or necessity, just civil, thoughtful, and always memorable.””
““We know that 2nd Story events are always going to be good.””
“I don’t know the last time I didn’t look at my phone for two hours.”