About Literary Concerts

Literary Concerts Chicago is a female run nonprofit theater company that produces shows based on familiar, popular works of literature paired with music by hit female artists. The company, founded in 2022 by Columbia College Chicago alumni Magnolia Emerson, began the journey of Lit Concerts with a tweet, “rewrite the little women musical but with only taylor swift songs.” 

 

The idea developed into Literary Concert’s first production Little Women (taylor’s version), that performed a sold-out run at Columbia. Following the success of their first show, Magnolia and the rest of the company, produced their next show, The Hunger Games, which performed another sold-out run at The Otherworld Theatre in Wrigleyville. 

 

The niche and nostalgia of both these productions not only brought together a group of theatrical creatives, but a community that bonded over the love of reminiscent stories that are often related with fresh music like Phoebe Bridgers, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Lorde, Olivia Rodrigo, and many more female artists performing today. 

 

The importance of female artists is a capstone of Literary Concerts, along with the female perspective in general, Emerson, prioritizes bringing the queer female perspective into these stories, injecting new life into her adaptations. This outlook allows for actors to be cast as characters they may see themselves as, but are not often given the opportunity to play. Genderbending roles such as Gale Hawthorne, Finnick Odair, and Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games. Not only does this perspective prioritize actors, but, bleeds into current politics and social climates by showing the importance of women in stories. 

 

Though Lit Concerts has just begun telling stories, there is still so much more to come.

 

Words have meaning.