The Understudy Coffee and Books
Coffee shop · Andersonville ·
Theater-themed bookstore & cafe serving Metric coffee, pastries
Theater-themed bookstore & cafe serving Metric coffee, pastries
"The Understudy is a half-cafe, half-bookstore with a focus on acting. Along with pastries and craft tea drinks named after Laurence Olivier, the Andersonville spot sells books about theater and film performance, plus popular new releases. We haven’t been here yet, but want you to know this spot exists." - Nick Allen
"A love letter to Chicago’s unique storefront theater scene, the Understudy serves as both a stylish spot for caffeine and a bookstore featuring scripts, memoirs, historical tomes, and more. Co-owners and spouses Adam Todd Crawford and Danny Fender (an actor and stage manager respectively) unveiled the eagerly-anticipated cafe in 2023. They’ve set the business apart from other coffee shops in the neighborhood with a specialized Ground Control coffee brewer, which creates batch coffee while maintaining the flavor of a pour-over cup. It’s the second of its kind in Chicago, only otherwise seen at Gaslight in Logan Square." - Ashok Selvam
"Located at 5531 N. Clark Street and opening on Saturday, March 25, this theater-focused bookstore and café—created by actor Adam Todd Crawford and stage manager Danny Fender—combines a massive collection of scripts and books with a full coffee bar serving Metric Coffee, pastries from pHlour Bakery and gluten-free offerings from Defloured, and teas from Coffee & Tea Exchange. The owners invested in specialty equipment, including a Ground Control batch brewer (one of only two in Chicago) and a La Marzocco espresso machine, and designed the space for flexibility: central furniture on wheels, a sliding ladder to reach high shelves, a lounge area for meetings or curling up with a script, and a walk-up coffee window set into a playful mural by Joe Kraft. Siren Betty Design translated the founders’ nostalgia for grand performance venues into marble tabletops and Rococo-style wallpaper while retaining the gritty, handmade character of storefront theater; artist Susan Williams wheat-pasted thousands of annotated script pages in a hallway. Divided into a south cafe and a north book-lined store, the venue is intended for readings, performances, community gatherings, and quiet study, and its long opening saga underlines the owners’ philosophy of celebrating the creative process rather than a finished product." - Naomi Waxman
"A long-awaited theater-focused bookshop and cafe run by co-owners Adam Todd Crawford and Danny Fender is finishing staff training and preparing to open soon; the space will stock plays, host performances and serve Metric coffee, with an official opening date to be announced." - Naomi Waxman
"Opening in Andersonville this summer at 5531 N. Clark Street, I’m excited about The Understudy, a 2,500-square-foot, drama-themed bookstore and 45-seat café that will stock plays, host performances, and offer plenty of room for actors, playwrights, and crew to hang out, drink coffee, and talk theater. Co-owned by Adam Todd Crawford and Danny Fender, the space grew out of a desire to recreate the sense of community theaters lost during COVID, and was funded and assisted in part by Crawford’s family while the owners pursue grants and small-business loans. Though a café wasn’t part of the original vision, they embraced it—drawing mentorship from Charmers Cafe and the Coffee Lab—and will highlight local vendors (Metric Coffee for beans, Coffee & Tea Exchange for tea, Phlour bakery for pastries, and discussions with neighbor Defloured about gluten-free options). Architect Keefer Dunn and Siren Betty Design are fitting the interior to look like a library or theater lobby with comfortable chairs, rolling-ladder-lined walls of books, velvet curtains, nods to DIY black boxes, and freestanding shelves on wheels so the space can be rearranged for readings, 10-minute performances, workshops (including Shakespeare practice), book clubs, and educational programming with groups like the Chicago Children’s Theatre and nearby schools. They chose the name Understudy to honor the hardworking, non-famous theater community—people who love the art and each other—and to create a true community-made gathering place for theater folks." - Aimee Levitt
