YippieFest 2025
August 15-17 at Chopin Theatre
We return for 2025! Three Days of Theatre and MORE!
$20 gets you a day pass to come and go as you please and see any show. ALL proceeds benefit our three local charities:
Howard Brown Health - LGBT Health CareDeborah's Place - Women's Services
Northwestern Settlement - Food Pantry
Applications are open now and there is no application fee. Apply Now
YippieFest 2024
Thanks to all who performed and/or participated in YippieFest 2024. We raised $2,745 !
-
$915 was donated to Howard Brown Health
At Howard Brown Health, we provide care that respects and values you, just as you are. Our staff is dedicated to helping you live your best life. From pediatrics to geriatrics, we provide expert care to the LGBTQ+ community and their allies. Regardless of your ability to pay. -
$915 was donated to Deborah's Place
Deborah’s Place opens doors of opportunity for women who are homeless in Chicago. Supportive housing and services offer women their key to healing, achieving their goals and moving on from the experience of homelessness.
-
$915 was donated to Northwestern Settlement Food Pantry
Throughout our history, we have provided food and emergency services to the residents of the West Town community. In 1933, Settlement board members began distributing meals to neighborhood schools to feed students whose families were struggling with food insecurity during the Great Depression, serving an average of 4,000 meals per day.
YippieFest 2023
In 2023 we rasied $1,800!
-
$600 was donated to Howard Brown Health
Rooted in LGBTQ+ liberation, Howard Brown Health provides affirming healthcare and mobilizes for social justice. We are agents of change for individual wellbeing and community empowerment. -
$600 was donated to Brave Space Alliance
Brave Space Alliance is the first Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ+ Center located on the South Side of Chicago, dedicated to creating and providing affirming, culturally competent, for-us by-us resources, programming, and services for LGBTQ+ individuals on the South and West sides of the city. We strive to empower, embolden, and educate each other through mutual aid, knowledge-sharing, and the creation of community-sourced resources as we build toward the liberation of all oppressed peoples. -
$600 was donated to Ravenswood Community Services
Ravenswood Community Services (RCS) provides meals, groceries, basic health services, and life-skills education to neighbors in need in the Uptown and Ravenswood communities on the north side of Chicago.
-
What is Yippiefest? A happening
More than 30 groups/artists will gather together at Chopin Theatre in Chicago to provide hours of back-to-back entertainment and raise money for local charities.
There's a wide variety of shows including short plays, improv, monologues, sketch comedy, stand-up, music, performance art, dance, and more. Come early and stay late. You won't want to miss what comes next.
what is a yippie? "Yippies" were members of the Youth International Party, a counterculture movement mixing psychedelic hippies with political activists, that began in 1967. With a flair for theatrics and satirical pranks, the Yippies grabbed media attention in the U.S. protesting war and the criminalization of marijuana, and criticizing institutions of government and greed. Some of their most notable mischief included an attempt to levitate The Pentagon, nominating a Pig for President, throwing pies at politicians, and bringing Santa Claus to the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Pot, politics, music, performance and humor fueled the Yippies. Once referred to as "Groucho Marxists," they aimed to change the system and to provide a means of expression for everyone. According to one of the founders, Jerry Rubin, "We try to bring out the yippie in everybody."
Above all, Yippie! is shout of joy. As Abbie Hoffman, another founder of the Yippies, explained, "What does Yippie! mean? Energy -- fun -- fierceness -- exclamation point."
