Off-Nights At The Sometimes Café World Premiere In Chicago – 5 Shows Only!
A campy parody of a noir mystery, Off-Nights At The Sometimes Café is set for a world premiere right here in Chicago. Only five shows to choose from!
Thompson Street Opera Company is kicking off 2026 with a bang! Off-Nights at the Sometimes Café is a campy parody of a noir mystery and a joyful queer cabaret work by non-binary composer Dave Walther. This is the world premiere of the show and features a cast of singing actors, actor-musicians, and professional drag performers.
The “hard-boiled” narrator of Off-Nights is a cabaret pianist (rather than a detective), taking the audience through the murky paths of desire and attraction that draw the characters towards (or away from) each other, resolving just in time for the final bow.
In the role of the Narrator is Chicago stalwart and Jeff Award winner Kingsley Day, accompanying the cast live at the piano each night. The married couple who manage the titular café will be played by local favorites Katherine Petersen and Brian Pember, just weeks after appearing onstage with Chicago Opera Theater in the ensemble of DER SILBERSEE.
Playing a dubiously qualified psychic is mezzo-soprano Jade Dashá, fresh from understudying in KATIE: THE STRONGEST OF THE STRONG with Lyric Opera Unlimited. Baritone Alexander Quackenbush returns to the TSOC stage as Drew, a new cafe patron who catches nearly everyone’s eye. Queens Delta Badhand and Kimberly Summers and kings Mx. O’Lydianand Wes Andy Sims will be featured in the drag roles of Ms. Daffodil & Joe, alternating performances during the run.
Described as “a delightful, poignantly unserious celebration of queer joy and desire,” it sounds amazing. I can’t wait to watch it. I’ll see you there!
Off-Nights at the Sometimes Café is 70 minutes with no intermission. Appropriate for audiences age 13 and up; pervasive suggestive innuendo but no explicit language.
Off-Nights at the Sometimes Café is running Thurs 3/19, 8pm, Fri 3/20, 8pm, Sat 3/21, 2pm* and 8pm, Sun 3/22, 3pm *3/21 matinee features understudy cast. Tickets can be purchased on the Thomas Street Opera Company website. This production is located at the Bramble Arts Loft, Beatrice Stage at 5545 N Clark Street in Chicago.