FREE Chicago Theatre: An Extraordinary Rendition Tribute To Chicago-based Goat Island at Chicago Cultural Center Through June 23, 2019

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

Exhibition Opening

World Premiere Performance - 

An Extraordinary Rendition

hancock & kelly (Richard Hancock and Traci Kelly, United Kingdom, now based in Germany)

An Extraordinary Rendition is conceived as a response to Goat Island’s first performance, Soldier, Child, Tortured Man (1986), and explores notions of systemic violence through varied references to militarization, spectacle, fraternity hazing rituals, and abstracted cheerleader routines.

Strobe lighting effects will be used during this performance

Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.

Admission is free and open to the public

Opening this Saturday and running 

March 30th-June 23, 2019

About Goat Island

Throughout the 23 years of its existence (1986–2009), the Chicago-based Goat Island contributed to the conception of nine major performance works, accompanied by publications, film and video projects, workshops, summer schools, lectures and symposia, inventing a complex institution bigger than the individual works. Freed from prescribed narrative and dialog, the work of Goat Island was built slowly in a creative process informed by repetition, chance and individual perception. The company was known for its sustained collaborative production approaches with work developed over multiple years by Goat Island Members Karen Christopher, Joan Dickinson, Matthew Goulish, Lin Hixson, Greg McCain, Tim McCain, Mark Jeffery, Bryan Saner and Litó Walkey. Their shared activations continue to influence generations of artists, theatre makers, cultural theorists, social philosophers and teachers.

In conjunction with the city's Year of Chicago Theatre, nine national and international performance groups and artists have been commissioned to develop and present new work, each inspired by one of Goat Island's original performances. A tenth performance created from fragments of the nine new responses will be presented in June during a week of concluding events.

All exhibitions and performances, including goat island archive–we have discovered the performance by making it, at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., are presented by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). 

Building hours are Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Saturday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; closed holidays. Admission is FREE. For information, visit chicagoculturalcenter.org, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @ChiCulturCenter.

ACT OUT OPENING: 13TH Annual Sketchbook at Collaboraction

Do you like to see creative, thought provoking new works before anyone else?   Hop on board the blue line, green line, brown line, and black line at Collaboraction for a slew of world premiers.   We'll be checkin' out and reviewing the blue and green line shows today.   Last year we did a one day theatre immersion where we saw ALL the Sketchbook plays in one day and it an intense, altering experience.   Highly recommended. 

Flat Iron Arts Building 1579 N. Milwaukee, 3rd Floor Chicago  14 world premiere works of theater    Over 150 participants      Four programs to choose from    Each "line" on the transit map constitutes   a complete mind-blowing theater experience SUNDAY, JUNE 9: THE MARATHON See all 4 Programs in One Day with your Festival Pass! Price Point                            12:00pm  Pentagon   Get Tickets Now! Hospital & WeatherVane 2:00pm Room300   Get Tickets Now! Snapshot & Deadpan Melodrama     5:00pm Pentagon   Get Tickets Now! The Shorts: 9 Destinies with Musical Guest  Antony and the Tramps  7:00pm Room300   Get Tickets Now! Planning on catching the entire festival? Get a Festival Pass and see all 4 programs as many times as you want! Click here to get yours today The Green Line A full-length devised piece   Price Point Co-devised by the ensemble members of Honey Pot Performance:   Felicia Holman, Aisha Jean-Baptiste, Abra Johnson and Meida McNeal Pictured ( clockwise from top left):  Felicia Holman, Abra Johnson, Meida McNeal and Aisha Baptiste-Johnson  Price Point explores notions of fairness and balance, or the lack thereof, in today's economic landscape through a mixture of the tragic and comic. The work combines movement, theater, song and image to examine the state of the American Dream. The Blue Line Two one-act plays with an intermission Hospital Conceived by Sarah Illiatovitch-Goldman and Diana Rose and created by Sarah Illiatovitch-Goldman, Diana Rose and Robin Toller  & WeatherVane devised by Carolyn Hoerdemann, filmmaker Ann Sonneville and Tony Werner, written by Tony Werner, with creative consultant Jess McLeod    Pictured (from left): Sarah Illiatovitch-Goldman, Ann Sonneville, Carolyn Hoerdemann  Hospital A stay at a hospital is a strange and scary theatrical experience. At our most vulnerable moments of losing physical control of our bodies we are asked to surrender emotional and intellectual control, and give our trust to a group of strangers. Hospital brings the audience into the private world of one patient as she journeys through the bizarre and surreal world of the medical system.     Weathervane Christina and Nicole are both outsiders in a system that demands assimilation and loyalty. They married into a powerful family, and Nicole has been guiding her through the process. When Christina's husband goes missing, she goes into hiding. Can she trust the more adapted Nicole and survive the onslaught of the established order?    The Black LIne Two one-act plays with an intermission Snapshot by Brett C. Leonard, directed by Anthony Moseley & Deadpan Melodrama by Bob Glaudini, directed by Scott Illingworth Pictured (from left): Chris Meister, Karl Pontliff, Morgan McCabe, Susan Jamshadi Snapshot The family of a contract killer faces its demons in a battle between amnesia and revenge in this provocative new play by the author of Guinea Pig Solo and The Long Red Road.  Deadpan Melodrama What do parents owe their children? How does a child live up to the expectations of their parents? At 40, Rogers and Trish continue to struggle with who they are and how to live in this world. Their confusion clashes violently with the immobility and inflexibility of their parents.     The Brown Line The Shorts: 9 Destinies Nine short plays of 7 minutes or less Featuring live musical guests every night    Pictured (from left):   Kiley Moore and Aja Wiltshire  The Sorrows of Young Werther  by The Q Brothers, directed by Kimberly Senior featuring Eric Swanson, Torian Miller, Kiley Moore and Mike Hahalyak Young Werther is unlucky in love. He turns from one failed love to pining after an engaged woman. This update on Goethe's classic pokes fun at Werther's misfortune through the lens of his increasingly melodramatic and irrational letters to his friend.    Native American Princess  by Stanley Toledo, directed by Elana Boulos featuring David Seeber, Alex Stage and Aja Wiltshire All relationships start in fantasy. Some fantasies are more extreme than others - as Native American Princess suggests. Believing in fate and true love, Joel follows the signs of the universe, ignoring warnings at every turn.    Everything is Permitted  by Chelsea M. Marcantel, directed by Mignon Stewart featuring Derek van Barham, Ben Gojer, Kanome Jones and Jackie Koester A group of students have constructed their own Dreamachine - a device that can stimulate the brain and induce episodes of lucid dreaming. However, in the hands of these young and inexperienced students, the Dreammachine stimulates greed and obsession as well. Darkness  by Adam Joshua Seidel, directed by Sarah Gitenstein featuring John Crothswaite and Barbara Figgins After 300 years trapped in darkness, Grace is cynical and abrasive. When faced with abandonment by her spiritual advisor, she must determine if her protective outer shell is more important than being honest with herself.    Minus You  by Jennifer Barclay, directed by Paige Riley, featuring Jane Brody and Walter Brody There are those we truly cannot live without, and life without them is distinctly missing something. In the wake of an accident, Lennox and Gracie struggle to reach out for each other and hold on to what they have lost.      Survey No. 5  by Alex Lubischer, directed by John Rooney, featuring Nick Timmons and Lorraine Freund   The audience is polled and drinking games enacted in this sprint across the minefield of breakups and bisexuality.    Shuffle Off  by Gregory Hardigan, directed by Danny Bernardo  featuring Aurora Adachi-Winter, Garrett Lutz, Charlie Oh, Charlie Rasmann, Ray Rehberg, Angelica Roque and Matt Tassell Earl is dying on the side of the highway. His iPod is stuck on shuffle, replaying random moments from his life, trying to find the perfect song to end on, but music can be like life - random and cruel.     Theater McGuiver  co-devised by Jenny Lynn Christoffersen and Jaci Entwistle featuring Jaci Entwistle and Dan Krall Inspired by everyone's favorite TV resourceful Rube Goldberg-esque inventor, one man will enter the theater. Given a task and a box of miscellany he will, through the magic of theater, accomplish his task. The fate of the world is in his hands.    The Most Delicious Little House for Beginners (Clip Her Small to Fit the Boards)  devised and performed by Kelly Rafferty and Heather Warren-Crow Tinkerbell is on uppers, and Wendy is a drunk, desperate housewife who now lives inside the teevee. Together they pine after Peter and sort through the media traces of colonialism that perpetually overwhelm their home in Neverland.

Save the date.   The Decades Project is going to be epic!  June 21 & 22 only.

THE BUNNY THE BEAR PREMIERE “IN LIKE FLYNN” MUSIC VIDEO ON VEVO (4/24)

THE BUNNY THE BEAR have teamed up with VEVO to premiere the music video for "In Like Flynn", the single from their third studio album, Stories. Based loosely on the famous Shel Silverstein tale "The Giving Tree", the video depicts the give and take relationship between a girl and her tree. Featuring master puppeteers Amber Marsh and Lolly Extract, The Bunny and The Bear marionettes are brought to life, providing visual theatrics to an already energetic, hypnotically melodic track. Watch "In Like Flynn" here and be transported into another world.

See THE BUNNY THE BEAR on their headlining tour now as they pass through over twenty-five cities in support ofStories.

For more information on THE BUNNY THE BEAR: http://www.victoryrecords.com/thebunnythebear https://www.facebook.com/thebunnythebear

CLICK HERE FOR TOUR DATES

MUSIC VIDEOS: “Lonely” Music Video “C’est Pas Si Loin” Music Video “Ocean Floor” Music Video

“In Like Flynn” Music Video

“Mixed with an eclectic blend of top heavy guitar riffs, vocal fury, techno dance beats, and the occasional melodic mix of all these elements, Stories is the another colorful notch in The Bunny The Bear’s musical belt.” - Examiner

“Every song is ridiculously addictive.” – Punk Nation

“The Bunny The Bear’s ability to mash the highs with the lows and the screams with the soft melodies is unlike anything you’ve ever heard.” - Alliance Wakeboard Magazine

For fans of: COHEED AND CAMBRIA, BRING ME THE HORIZON, CHIODOS, THE USED

TOUR DATES w/ DECEPTION OF A GHOST: 4/24- Fayetteville, NC. - The Drunk Horse Pub

4/25- Spartanburg, SC. - Ground Zero (w/ Abiotic)

4/26- Douglasville, GA. - The 7 Venue

4/29- Pensacola, FL. - The Handlebar

5/1- Fort Worth, TX. - Tomcats West

5/3- St Louis, MO. - Fubar

5/5- Des Moines, IA. - The Vaudeville Mews

5/7- Sauk Rapids, MN. - Bubbas

5/8- La Crosse, WI. - The Warehouse

5/9- Barrington, IL. - Penny Road Pub

5/10- Portage, IN. - Camelot Bowl

5/11- Kalkaska, MI. -  Kalkaska Recreation Center

5/12- Peoria, IL. - The Brass Rail

5/13- Romeo, MI. - High Octane Lounge

5/14- Toledo, OH. - Frankie's

5/16- Buffalo, NY. - Broadway Joes

 

Cyndi Lauper, Harvey Fierstein Creatives & Cast Members On Kinky Boots #BroadwayinChicago #worldpremier

ChiIL Live Shows shots--Chicago Press Conference 9/28 for World Premier of Musical Kinky Boots (Oriental Theater)

Cyndi Lauper, Harvey Fierstein, creatives and cast members....and some seriously kinky boots and sweet shoes, too!


ChiIL Live Shows was stoked to be invited to a press conference with the masterminds behind Kinky Boots.  We dug hearing Cyndi Lauper, Harvey Fierstein, creatives and cast members at a press conference earlier in the day.   They all raved about how much they dig Chicago and we're universally enthusiastic about the show and the original indie film that sparked the idea for the adaptation.   Check back with ChiIL Live Shows like we vote in Chi, IL...early and often, as we'll have loads of original video clips from the conference up soon.

I was slated to volunteer at Facets Multimedia last night--home of one of the largest video rental sources for indie and multicultural film in the nation.   I've volunteered there for 22 years, this month.   I was elated that they not only carry the original Kinky Boots movie, but it wasn't rented out!  After my volunteer shift I went home and promptly watched it.  The movie was as endearing and edgy as the production staff said.  The message of acceptance, cooperation and understanding is timely and right on in all the right ways.   

After the kiddos are in bed, we highly recommend checking out the film, with it's unlikely bond between England's drag queen scene and a struggling, old school, mens' dress shoe maker.    The sociology, psychology, human nature, and good old fashioned great story telling make this culture clash and ultimate blending, completely compelling.

We'll be reviewing the pre-Broadway world premier here after the show runs in previews for a few weeks.   We'll be checking it out on October 17th.    Want in on cheaper preview tixs?    The show starts the 2nd.