Northbrook, IL Indoor Activities

Victory Gardens Theater, a Tony winner for Outstanding Regional Theatre, produces world premiere productions. Since its multimillion dollar renovation of the Biograph Theater and its surrounding ectoplasm in 2006, Victory Gardens has called the historic landmark its home. One of the theater's 2010 premieres went on to become a Pulitzer Prize finalist. The Theater is devoted to artistic excellence and creating a vital and contemporary American Theater that is accessible to all people through its productions of fresh and challenging plays.

Uncle Fatty’s Rum Resort wards off winter blues with 7,000 square feet of tropical decor, summertime cocktails, and a manmade lava river snaking through the bar. To buttress the beach theme, parties can order a cooler of 12, 24, or 36 brewskies to a table drenched in red and green light. In addition to signature cocktails and fishbowls filled with frozen fruit, ice cream, and chocolate liqueur, the entertainment emporium shelters cover bands that fill audiences’ ears with nostalgia and their mouths with the desire to sing along.

Northside Mixed Martial Arts acquaints all willing students—most of whom have never sparred or grappled—with the proven combat techniques of Gracie jiu-jitsu, submission wrestling, muay thai kickboxing, and MMA in a supportive and secure environment. The center's squad of expert coaches includes Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion and Gracie-trained black belt Misho Ceko, as well as two-time Golden Gloves boxer Ivelin Tzontchev. By showcasing strikes and holds from across the martial-arts spectrum, classes instill a base of knowledge from which guests can improvise and adapt to subdue much larger opponents, such as street toughs, hooligans, and rabid Big Birds. The gym rounds out its class roster with personal-training services and women's self-defense boot camps, and beckons to passersby a mere four blocks away from the Fullerton CTA stop.

The Murder Mystery Company sends temporary detectives down trails filled with clues, laughs, and imaginary murther most foul. During each crime-riddled event, participants work together to solve a perplexing homicide, combining their interrogative skills, keen eyes, and collections of fake mustaches to crack the case and apprehend the culprit. To further set the scene, The Murder Mystery Company encourages investigators to don costumes according to detailed themes, which range from the gangster-run speakeasies of the nineteen-twenties to the totally boss parties of the nineteen-eighties. The company's troupe of actors tailors the show to a wide range of functions, including team-building exercises, private get-togethers, and children's parties, but definitely excluding any of Professor Plum’s candlestick-filled dinner parties.

When Ben Shimon first started S3 Leagues, he envisioned a recreationally competitive league full of people with whom he wanted to be friends. Today, S3 hosts dozens of singles and social leagues year-round, such as 16-inch softball, kickball, and skee-ball at locations throughout the city. After matches, teams meet up at local bars for celebratory sips or to plot their comeback in the next game. Each of the leagues meet once a week for games, with off-field events happening as players' horoscopes dictate.

Recognizing that the desire to dance knows neither the bounds of age nor ability, the instructors at NorthSide tailor their class selection to both adults and children of all levels of experience. They teach various dance styles that run the gamut from classical ballet to jazz and modern dance to hip-hop. Zumba classes supply their sultry rhythms to burn calories, and social partner-dancing classes instruct their attendees in nightclub-worthy moves. The studio space welcomes dancers with vast empty hardwood floors and walls full of mirrored panels, which help dancers hone techniques and foster a healthy sense of competition with the bizarro versions of everyone that live behind the glass.