Once upon a time, in a city far, far away — though close enough to hear the sirens of Chicago — a girl in a red cloak stepped off the path and into a deep, dark wood. Once Upon a Crime: Chicago invites a familiar fairy tale into a world of shadows, secrets, and seductive lies, where Little Red Riding Hood is no longer a bedtime story but a case waiting to be cracked. Film-noir mystery collides with storybook fantasy as innocence blurs, motives darken, and happily ever after starts to emerge as the biggest cover-up of all. Guided by two mesmerizing performers and fueled by the audience’s own choices through interactive voting, the truth shifts with every clue.
In this twisted fairy tale, the mirror won’t save you, the wolf may not be alone, it may well not just be the apple that is poisoned, and the ending is anything but certain.
29 May 2026 18:00 + more dates
What is Once Upon a Crime?
At its core, Once Upon a Crime dismantles Little Red Riding Hood and rebuilds it as a noir-style detective story, one where the audience becomes the jury. Over the course of a 60-minute, adults-only investigation, questions surface, clues appear, and suspicions shift under moody lighting and atmospheric sound design. Sharp dialogue meets dark comedy and a trench-coat-worthy detective in this fairy tale, where judgment is passed in real time and truth is anything but certain.
Little Red Riding Hood: Which story do you know?
The version of Little Red Riding Hood you remember depends on who told it, and what they wanted you to believe. In 1697, Charles Perrault’s tale offered a brutally honest ending: the Wolf wins, Red is devoured, and there is no rescue. It was cruel, closer to noir than nursery rhyme. A century later, the Brothers Grimm rewrote the story with a heroic Hunter and a clean, moral ending, turning a dark warning into a comforting cover-up.
Once Upon a Crime leans into this tension, treating the fairy tale like a cold case file and inviting audiences to interrogate nostalgia itself. Blending immersive theatre with our modern obsession with true crime, the experience moves beyond simply watching a story unfold as guests soak up the evidence and decide the fate of iconic characters together. A social investigation made for curious minds, this experience will shock anyone who’s ever wondered what really happens in the woods.
29 May 2026 18:00 + more dates
Set to unfold in the Copernicus Center, Once Upon a Crime invites Chicago audiences into the shadows on selected upcoming dates. With recurring performances scheduled across a multi-date run, each night offers not only a new ending , but a different tale lead by real-time audience voting, and with limited seating and attendance capped, every place on the jury counts. Whether you’re marking the calendar for a night out or circling dates to debate guilt over drinks, this is an experience where reservations are essential and outcomes are never guaranteed.
29 May 2026 18:00 + more dates