What happens at 2nd Story Monthly?
2nd Story’s monthly series performs on the 2nd Sunday of every month at Webster’s Wine Bar and the last Wednesday of every month at Red Kiva, all featuring new stories created in our Storytellers Cycle.
What is the Storyteller Cycle?
Each season, a select number of Chicago's finest writers and performers meet several times a month to tell stories, write stories, rewrite them, and work with directors and designers and composers and musicians to develop the best possible material to feature at 2nd Story.
While all of the stories at Webster’s Wine Bar are developed in the classic 2nd Story model, at Red Kiva we do something a little bit different. Because we believe that music is an integral part of storytelling, all of the stories at Red Kiva are developed as collaborations between storytellers and musicians. During typical evenings, the live band is a continuous presence throughout, with storytellers using the music to help tell their stories. In the past, music has created the atmosphere of Madrid, acted as a guitar-playing love interest and even served as dialogue in a young woman’s call home from college.
Tickets for all of our monthly events are available for advance sale online. 2nd Story tends to sell out quickly, so make sure you purchase your ticket in advance. Box office check-in begins nightly at 6:30pm. Seating begins at 7pm. We ask that all parties who purchased tickets online are complete before we seat them. Seats will be released to standing room guests at 7:30pm. Stories begin at 7:45pm. $10 general admission gets you in the door.
Both locations serve food and have a full bar. Additionally, Webster’s Wine Bar offers wine flights and Red Kiva features select bottles of wine at half the price. All flights are an additional charge and are available from the bar.
Check out our performance schedule.
2nd Story loves to take field trips both near and far!
Are you looking for some live entertainment for your bar/restaurant/lounge/coffee shop? We’ve recently toured to The Stained Glass in Evanston, @mosphere in Andersonville, Sunday Salon in Bucktown and will be at the MCA in December as well as starting another monthly series at Red Kiva on Randolph in September...check it out!
Are you doing a benefit or sponsoring a corporate party and need a one-stop-shop for live music, storytelling, DJ, and all the equipment to make it happen? (We’re currently collaborating with the Emergency Fund for their annual benefit, and would love to come to yours!)
Because of the flexibility of our format and the simplicity of our technical requirements, we are able to provide all sorts of packages for whatever your particular needs happen to be. We can provide storytellers, DJs, live musicians, sound and lighting equipment; we can organize stories around themes for your particular event, there’s lots of room to play...
If you’re interested, please contact Nicholas Ward (email) and we’ll custom fit a performance package just for you!