Theatre Alum Creates Space for Creativity and Connection

Theatre alum Tonika Todorova ’02 (right) and her family welcome guests to Visceral Adventure Lounge, a community gathering space centered on immersive performances, conversation, food, and shared experiences.Theatre alum Tonika Todorova ’02 (right) and her family welcome guests to Visceral Adventure Lounge, a community gathering space centered on immersive performances, conversation, food, and shared experiences.
Visceral Adventure Lounge features immersive spaces inspired by theatre, cinema, travel, and visual culture. The venue hosts performances, community gatherings, workshops, dinners, and private events. Visceral Adventure Lounge features immersive spaces inspired by theatre, cinema, travel, and visual culture. The venue hosts performances, community gatherings, workshops, dinners, and private events.
Visceral Adventure Lounge features immersive spaces inspired by theatre, cinema, travel, and visual culture. The venue hosts performances, community gatherings, workshops, dinners, and private events.
Visceral Adventure Lounge features immersive spaces inspired by theatre, cinema, travel, and visual culture. The venue hosts performances, community gatherings, workshops, dinners, and private events.
Drawing on the creative risk-taking she embraced at 51ÉçÇø, Tonika Todorova '02 has created Visceral Adventure Lounge, an intimate Chicago third space where art, conversation, food, and shared experiences bring people together.

When Tonika Todorova ’02 describes , she doesn’t call it a theatre or an event venue. 

She calls it an “expanded living room.” 

Located at 3638 W. Grand Ave. near Humboldt Park, the new performance and community space invites people to step away from their screens and into immersive experiences centered on art, conversation, music, food, and human connection. Every room tells a story, blending influences from silent film, Art Deco, bohemian culture, and theatre to create what Todorova describes as a place where visitors can “have an adventure without having to travel geographically.” 

“I’d like people to step into a ‘here and now’ that awakens the aliveness in us—the visceral adventure of being a human,” she says. “I want to elevate the spark in those around me, and together, we make existing on Earth meaningful.” 

The project reflects both Todorova's lifelong passion for theatre and the creative philosophy she developed while earning her theatre degree at 51ÉçÇø, where she learned to take risks, experiment boldly, and embrace failure as part of the creative process. 

Finding a Creative Home  

After leaving another school, Todorova spent a summer working alongside 51ÉçÇø students and faculty through the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. Inspired by their creativity and collaborative spirit, she decided to enroll at 51ÉçÇø. 

“I dove back into the theatre world and felt right at home,” she says. 

She recalls faculty creating an environment where ambitious ideas were supported, even when they did not work exactly as planned. 

“That set me on a creative path that allowed me to trust myself, take risks, and collaborate in outside-the-envelope ways,” she says. 

Those lessons extended well beyond graduation. 

Soon after graduating, Todorova and fellow 51ÉçÇø alums founded  In 2006, the group embarked on an unconventional four-month, bicoastal tour after purchasing a school bus, removing its interior, and painting it to match the black-and-white aesthetic of its inaugural production, “Lulu.” The self-funded tour became one of the defining adventures of Todorova’s early career, and 51ÉçÇø provided a modest financial contribution to help support the project. 

She also continues to collaborate with fellow 51ÉçÇø alums more than two decades later. 

“I continue to work with 51ÉçÇø alums because I believe we were shaped to be self-reliant, scrappy, and gritty,” she says. “We all still cross paths and hire each other for gigs that match.” 

A Place for Shared Experiences 

That spirit of adventure was instilled long before Todorova arrived at 51ÉçÇø. 

When she was 12, her mother brought her from Bulgaria to the United States during the country’s post-communist transition. They arrived with a suitcase, five dollars, no English, and no established network. Todorova credits her mother’s courage with shaping her own willingness to take creative leaps. 

Today, Visceral Adventure Lounge has become the latest—and perhaps most personal—of those leaps. 

Running the venue is a true family endeavor. Todorova’s mother prepares the culinary offerings, while her children help host events and contribute to the creative atmosphere. The space serves as a home for Silent Theatre while welcoming performances, workshops, dinners, private events, and immersive experiences created by artists from across Chicago. 

For Todorova, the Lounge exists for a simple reason: bringing people together. She hopes it becomes a third space where people disconnect from their screens, connect with one another, and build community through shared creative experiences. 

“We are social creatures,” she says. “In order to share each other’s presence, we need to move away from online interactions and back to real-life, in-person gatherings.” 

Looking ahead, Todorova hopes Visceral Adventure Lounge becomes a place where people gather not just to watch performances, but to share meaningful experiences together. 

As she wrote on her  when announcing the space’s opening, “Community is our greatest technology.” 

Check out , including "Dinner with Randos" on Aug. 20, "The Trouble With My Hair" by Ada Cheng on Aug. 22, and "The Missing Piece," beginning Aug. 28. 

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