Adolescent Salvation
by Tim Venable directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos

Chicago Premiere · August 14 – October 4, 2026

Over the course of one night, through a haze of tequila, texting, and Taylor Swift, three teenagers banter, bicker, and push each other to the edge of danger — with consequences that could prove lethal.

A play that lingers long after the curtain, Adolescent Salvation dares to portray adolescence in all its abundance of contradictions: sloppy, raw, and deeply human. Tim Venable's audacious new play is another Theater Wit production guaranteed to spark conversation, making its Chicago debut this summer.

Be advised, Adolescent Salvation contains material that might be challenging for some viewers. For details, please click here (warning: spoilers).

Adolescent Salvation is one humdinger of a stunner.StageScene LA
It lurches, it burns, it contradicts itself. It is alive in ways most new plays are not.Stage and Cinema
Venable's adolescent characters are so well-drawn and so achingly authentic that we accept the outlandishness of the plot and go along for the ride.Stage Raw
The brilliance of Adolescent Salvation lies in its refusal to explain itself.Stage and Cinema
You leave the theater slightly dazed, as if you have seen something half divine and half disastrous.Stage and Cinema

Content Warning

Adolescent Salvation contains material that might be challenging for some viewers.

Content Warnings

Discussion or depiction of sexual situations, sexual violence, pedophilia, eating disorders, and death/dying.

Effects Warning

Non-nicotine vaping.

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Theater Wit is partially supported and funded by generous grants from a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Illinois Arts Council Agency, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Paul M. Angell Foundation, The Morgan-Senior Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and the Saints Volunteers for the Performing Arts.

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