PHYSICAL THEATER FESTIVAL CHICAGO ANNOUNCES NEW EVENTS AND WORKSHOPS INCLUDED IN THE 11th ANNUAL EDITION
JULY 13th - 21st
The 2024 Festival Kicks Off with an Opening Night Celebration at Nichols Park and Includes Companies and Performers from Brazil, Mexico, France, the United Kingdom and the United States as well as Recently Announced Workshops Throughout the Festival
Here at ChiIL Mama and ChiIL Live Shows, we've been covering Physical Theater Festival Chicago since its inception. We're so excited to see them return this summer with fabulous in person and streaming shows and workshops too! International companies join home town favorites for this must-see fest. There are plenty of adult and family friendly offerings, so beat the heat and come out and see some shows. Don't miss this!
Physical Theater Festival Chicago, July 13 - 21, announces today an Opening Day Celebration at Nichols Park on Saturday, July 13, from 1 - 7 p.m., as part of Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks series. This series of events is supported by the Mayor’s Office and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. The Festival begins Saturday, July 13, with a full day of family-friendly outdoor shows and continues with virtual events on Sunday, July 14, and a variety of workshops available throughout the Festival.
During July 18 - 21, international, national, and local performances, workshops and conversations will be held at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. and the Instituto Cervantes, 31 W. Ohio St. Tickets for the 2024 Physical Theater Festival are $20 (general) and $15 (industry/students/seniors/veterans) with Festival passes for all performances at $100 (general) and $85 (industry/students/seniors/veterans). All workshops may be purchased individually for $55, or all 5 workshops can be purchased for $220 with a Workshop Pass. Details are available at www.physicalfestival.com/workshops. Information, calendar of events, passes, and tickets are available at PhysicalFestival.com.
LITTLE CARL by Theatre Y photo by Karl Soderstrom
“I’m very excited with this year’s performances. For the 11th edition we made sure to curate a program that embraces a variety of styles and types of entertainment,” said Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director Alice da Cunha. “We’re bringing the best of what theater can do – clown, slapstick, social justice, virtuosity – from around the world and right here in Chicago. We can’t wait to gather with the community for another year of the Physical Theater Festival Chicago.” “We’re moving into our second decade with joy and humility. The shows this year are incredible. The Physical Theater Festival has been working to bring so many of these artists to Chicago for years now – it’s a dream come true,” added Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director Marc Frost. “We’re excited to continue building partnerships with local organizations and to even expand into year-round programming. Our goal has always been to flood Chicago’s stages with contemporary physical theater every summer and now we’re doing it year-round.”
THE MAN WHO THOUGHT HE KNEW TOO MUCH by Voloz Collective, photo by Jake Wakley
11TH PHYSICAL THEATER FESTIVAL CHICAGO CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Saturday, July 13, 1 - 7 p.m.
Physical Theater Festival Chicago Family Event
Nichols Park, 1355 E. 53rd St.
Part of Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks series, supported by the Mayor’s Office and Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events
Performances by local Chicago artists including puppetry from Theater Y’s Youth Ensemble and acrobatics from the amazing Chicago Boyz Acrobatic Team. Pop-up performances from local artists Alexander D’Amazing, Stephanie Diaz and Gabriela Diaz, Eric Robinson and Shuo Wang.
Virtual Offerings
The virtual schedule is available on PhysicalFestival.com detailing events taking place on Facebook and Instagram including “The State of the Performing Arts 5.0” at 10 a.m. CT.
Monday, July 15 at 7 p.m.
Scratch Night
Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.
Scratch Night is a curated theater showcase of works-in-progress featuring innovative local theater makers. Scratch Night features six previews of original contemporary, visual and physical theater by different Chicago artists to foster their development. Produced by local curators, Scratch Night aims to provide a social space for community, conversation and collaboration.
Tuesday, July 16 and Wednesday, July 17 at 7 p.m.
Little Carl by Theatre Y Youth Ensemble (Chicago)
Directed by Michael Montenegro and Marvin Tate
Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.
Fresh off their acclaimed run at the Chicago International Puppetry Festival, Theatre Y’s Youth Ensemble grapples with the difficult issue of gun violence by creating a dream play using puppets, masks and poetry, making beautiful imagery as an antidote to despair.
WORKSHOP
Wednesday, July 17
10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
The Clown and the Silence
Taught by Chula the Clown
Columbia College Chicago, 72 East 11th Street, Studio 202
The workshop focuses on the potency of silence in clowning and the playful experience of the clown with its own poetic vision. This journey involves finding one's own voice, truth, timing and rhythm, allowing for a more meaningful connection with oneself and others.
Wednesday, July 17 at 9 p.m.
“The Cost of Living” by DV8 Physical Theatre (United Kingdom) Directed by Lloyd Newson
Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.
“The Cost of Living” is a British physical theatre dance film made in 2004 by DV8 Films Ltd. and Channel 4. It is an adaptation of a stage production by DV8 Physical Theatre. Directed by Lloyd Newson, the founder of DV8 Physical Theatre, the film uses dance, dialogue and physical theatre to tell the story of two street performers and their interaction with other performers in Cromer, a seaside resort town, at the end of the summer season. The film has won a number of awards at film festivals in various countries and was well received by critics when it premiered.
WORKSHOP
Thursday, July 18
10 a.m.-1 p.m.
CLOWN: Iconoclast, Subversive, Unpredictable, Innocent, Diabolical, Transcendent
Taught by Michael Montenegro
Where: Columbia College Chicago, 72 E. 11th Street, Studio 202
Clowning involves one’s insecurities, vulnerabilities and fears. Those things that we try to hide from society. The Clown accidentally, or unknowingly, reveals these anxieties, and by so doing, releases us all from OUR anxieties. In the process, the Clown/actor experiences magically, the great, potent power embedded in these insecurities.
Montenegro loves exploring this mystery with a group of students and will bring his own insecurities, vulnerabilities and fears to find out how these hidden qualities transform into comedy.
Thursday, July 18 - Saturday, July 21 at 7 p.m.
Perhaps, Perhaps…Quizás by Chula the Clown (Mexico)
Instituto Cervantes, 31 W. Ohio St.
Perhaps, Perhaps…Quizás is a heart-wrenching as well as hilarious clown piece playing with the idea of loneliness and the wait and hope for Mr. Right. In an era where nothing seems to impress one another anymore, the longing for “real love” seems to be the burden of our time. Greta, our protagonist, is a lonely woman who rehearses once a week the arrival of the so-called ‘one.” Will she get lucky tonight? Perhaps, perhaps, quizás…
Thursday, July 18 - Saturday, July 20
Macacos by Clayton Nascimento (Brazil)
Performances on Thursday, at 7 p.m. and Friday, and Saturday, at 9 p.m. Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.
Macacos is a multi-award winning show about how racism and the erasure of black memories and ancestralities are rooted in Brazíl´s history. The performance follows a black man who searches for new spaces to occupy, facing and reflecting about the adjective “macaco,” a slur used against black people around the world.
WORKSHOP
Friday, July 19
10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
BLACK THEATER: SCENIC EXPERIENCES FROM CONTEMPORARY THEATER
Taught by Clayton Nascimento
Columbia College Chicago, 72 E. 11th Street, Studio 202
The workshop aims to discuss the creative processes that have made reports, everyday situations and life stories of Black people become scenic material. The desire here, then, is not only to talk about this experience of the strong Black theatre movement in Brazil, but also to reflect the daily lives of Black people worldwide, and from that, to generate dramatic content interconnecting these experiences with Black people in North and South America.
Friday, July 19 - Sunday, July 21
The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much by Voloz Collective (France/England) Performances on Thursday and Friday, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, at 3 p.m. Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.
Raucously funny and endlessly inventive, this Lecoq-trained theater company delights and stuns with live, original music and virtuosic acrobatics in this fast-paced whodunnit, The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much. Wes Anderson meets Hitchcock meets Spaghetti Western in this multi award-winning, intercontinental, inter-genre, cinematic caper of accusations, accidents and accents. Roger, a Frenchman in 1960's New York, has followed the same predictable routine for years, until a minor delay saves him from an explosion. Throwing his ordered world into chaos, Roger chases his would-be assassins around the globe.
WORKSHOP
Saturday, July 20
10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Cinematic Devising with Voloz Collective
Taught by Voloz Collective
Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.
Learn how to combine Lecoq-inspired physical theatre techniques with Voloz's own contemporary cinematic twist to devise surprising, clear and imaginative narratives. This dynamic workshop introduces participants to the fundamentals of collaborative, cinematic devising.
Saturday, July 20 and Sunday, July 21
Don’t Make Me Get Dressed by The Gottabees (Boston)
Performances on Saturday at 11 a.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.
For every child who has struggled to get into their clothes first thing in the morning (and for every parent who has fought valiantly in the battleground of the morning routine), comes Don't Make Me Get Dressed – a gloriously silly and inventive ode to the feelings we have when we choose our clothes...and to what happens when our clothes come to life and choose us.
WORKSHOP
Sunday, July 21
12 p.m. - 1 p.m.
THE SOUND OF IMAGINATION: THE GOTTABEES’ GUIDE TO MUSICAL COLLABORATION
Taught by The Gottabees
Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.
For ten years, the Gottabees have been sharing rich, complex stories for and with families around the world... all without performer Bonnie Duncan saying a single word. How do they do it? In this workshop, composers Brendan Burns and Tony Leva and performer-creator Bonnie Duncan share their secrets for creating original scores for devised work.
RESIDENCY AT THE SEGUNDO RUIZ BELVIS CULTURAL CENTER July 17 - 21
Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, 4048 W. Armitage Ave.
For the second year, the Festival is partnering with the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center in the Hermosa neighborhood to create a residency with the French-English theater company Voloz Collective. The residency will take place from July 17 - July 21. The company will spend each day teaching the summer camp students theater skills and then invite the students and their families to see the performances at Theater Wit. This partnership builds on last year’s residency, which resulted from years of making connections with relevant partner organizations like Chicago Latino Theater Alliance and connecting with local physical theater artists in previous Festival editions.
ABOUT PHYSICAL THEATER FESTIVAL CHICAGO
Physical Theater Festival Chicago is an annual contemporary, visual and physical theater festival that presents new forms of theater that are being performed around the world. In 2014, Alice da Cunha and Marc Frost launched the inaugural Physical Theater Festival through the Artistic Associate program at Links Hall. The inspiration for the Festival drew upon their combined experience in London as physical theater students at the London International School for the Performing Arts (LISPA). Moving from London to Chicago, they were inspired to start a new festival to promote a more progressive, fresh and physical approach to theater-making in Chicago.
Originally from Brazil, de Cunha is an actress, producer and teacher who has lived and worked in Portugal, the United States and the United Kingdom. While in London, she worked as an actress as well as producing a weekly short film festival, ShortCutz London, and as the marketing director for CASA, London’s Latin American Theatre Festival. de Cunha also serves as artistic consultant to Theater Unspeakable and has acted in various films, TV and theater shows including United Flight 232 (House Theatre of Chicago, Jeff for Best Ensemble and Best Mid-Sized Production). She also does translation and interpreting for various companies including the Chicago Latino Film Festival.
Marc Frost is an actor, deviser, educator and Chicago native who has performed and produced work in Brazil, Ireland, Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom. He created Theater Unspeakable as a platform for original works of devised, physical theater. Based in Chicago, the award-winning company has toured nationally, performing at venues including Lincoln Center Education (NY) and Kennedy Center (DC). He currently teaches at Columbia College Chicago and Roosevelt University. Frost is also a proud graduate of the Commercial Theatre Institute’s 14-Week Training Program for Commercial Theatre Producers in New York City.
ABOUT THEATRE Y, Little Carl and Physical Theater Festival Chicago Family Event
Theatre Y is a Chicago-based international incubator that creates connections between diverse artists and has recently launched a new campus in North Lawndale as part of a revitalization concept that centers cooperative artistic residencies. At the helm of Theatre Y’s reinvention is the multidisciplinary artist, musician and educator Marvin Tate, a North Lawndale native. The company’s youth program encourages multidisciplinary, lateral thinking in young people and teaches the necessary hard and soft skills for successful careers in the arts and social justice fields. For 25 years, Midwestern audiences have enjoyed Michael Montenegro’s solo performances, group projects and puppetry design collaborations including Argonautica (Lookingglass Theatre), directed by Mary Zimmerman; The War With the Newts and The Long Christmas Ride Home (Next Theatre) and The Puppetmaster of Lodz (Writers Theatre), which won a Jeff Award for Puppet Design.
ABOUT CHICAGO BOYZ ACROBATIC TEAM, Physical Theater Festival Chicago Family Event
The Chicago Boyz Acrobatic Team, featured on the NBC hit reality competition series “America’s Got Talent” (season 8), is a professional gymnastics troupe consisting of talented young men and boys from the Chicago area. Founded in 1999 by professional gymnast Tim Shaw, young inner city youth are taught discipline, respect, hard work, integrity and teamwork.
Chicago Boyz Acrobatic Team performances include amazing acrobatic stunts and tricks inside twirling jump ropes, catapulting off mini trampolines and thundering tumbling routines with impeccable timing.
ABOUT DV8 PHYSICAL THEATRE, “The Cost of Living”
DV8 Physical Theatre was a physical theatre company based at Artsadmin in London, United Kingdom. It was officially founded in 1986 by Lloyd Newson (1986–2015), Michelle Richecoeur (1986–1988) and Nigel Charnock (1986–1989, 1992). Lloyd Newson led the company as choreographer and artistic director from its inception, apart from the production My Sex, Our Dance (1986), which was co-created and performed with Nigel Charnock. DV8 officially ended in April 2022 when Lloyd Newson announced his retirement via the company web page.
ABOUT CHULA THE CLOWN, Perhaps, Perhaps…Quizás
Chula the Clown is a creation of Gabriela Muñoz who has a variety of experience in theatre, circus and opera. In 2009 she co-founded the company CLOWN ME IN with fellow colleague Sabine Choucair (Lebanon) and has worked as a volunteer with Clowns Without Borders USA since 2011. She has given clown and storytelling workshops through Mexico, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, India, Indonesia, France, Brazil, Sweden, Colombia, Philippines, England and New York City. Muñoz was part of the documentary “A Fool‘s Idea” by Emmy award-winner Brian Bernhard in New York in 2009. In 2010, she created Perhaps, Perhaps…Quizás, her first clown show, which she has performed in Mexico, United Kingdom, Spain, France, Sweden, USA, New Zealand, Colombia, Brazil and Georgia. In February 2015, with the support of EFI TEATRO, INBA and Co Productions Gabriela premiered her second creation, Limbo, in Mexico City. Limbo has been performed at Teatro Milan and Teatro de la Ciudad Esperanza Iris in collaboration with Latin Grammy winners Natalia Lafourcade and Ernesto García.
ABOUT CLAYTON NASCIMENTO, Macacos
Clayton Nascimento was raised on the outskirts of the South Zone of São Paulo in Jabaquara in the 90s. He is currently a professor of Acting Games and Improvisation at the Escola Superior de Artes Célia Helena, where he graduated. He is the director, writer and performer of Macaos, the multi-award winning play about racism and black genocide in Brazil. Some of those awards are: Shell prize for Best Actor (2023), APCA prize for Best Actor (2023), FestKaos prize for Best Actor and Best Play (2022), FESTIC Caruaru prize for Best Lighting Design (for Danielle Meirelles), Best Playwright and Best Actor (2019), Best Play in the Amazonas Theater Festival (2017), Best Actor in the XX Rio de Janeiro Theater Festival (2016) among others. In 2020, he published the book “MACACOS” with Editora Cobogó.
ABOUT VOLOZ COLLECTIVE, The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much Voloz Collective is a multi award-winning international physical theatre company that reinvents and recharges physical comedy by exploiting the capacities of the human body and blurring the lines between the theatrical and cinematic. Hailing from three different countries, the team of four was brought together by two years of study at L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. With a uniquely non-hierarchical approach to theatre-making, all members serve as actors, directors and writers and have a shared responsibility for all creative decisions. Voloz’s mission is to remove cultural and economic barriers to accessing theatre by bringing international theatre to underserved populations.
ABOUT THE GOTTABEES, Don’t Make Me Get Dressed
The Gottabees are based in Boston and their work has been performed in 19 states, five countries, for over 45,000 people and was awarded an UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence. Their projects have been funded by the Jim Henson Foundation, Puppeteers of America, USArtists International and the Boston Foundation. The Gottabees have been featured at the Center for Puppetry Arts (Atlanta, GA), Detroit Institute of the Arts (Michigan), Casteliers (Montréal), AHA! International Theater Festival for Children (India) and Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival (Illinois) to name a few.
ABOUT CHICAGO LATINO THEATER ALLIANCE (CLATA)
CLATA is a sponsor of Physical Theater Festival Chicago The Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA) is committed to enticing, fostering and showcasing new thought provoking works of emerging Latino playwrights to inspire a cross-cultural audience. CLATA works to showcase existing and new thought-provoking U.S. Latino playwrights, actors and directors primarily in Chicago, along with national and international counterparts. CLATA strives to preserve cultural heritage and serve as a conduit to promote and identify new and exciting works. CLATA’s goals are to create a permanent home for Chicago’s Latino theater groups and companies and to create the country’s leading international Latino theater festival with an emphasis on showcasing local Latino theater artists and companies. CLATA also aims to provide technical and professional support for Chicago’s Latino theater groups and companies.
ABOUT INTERNATIONAL LATINO CULTURAL CENTER OF CHICAGO The International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago is a Pan-Latino, nonprofit, multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to developing, promoting and increasing awareness of Latino cultures among Latinos and other communities by presenting a wide variety of art forms and education including film, music, dance, visual arts, comedy, theater and culinary arts. The Center prides itself for its outstanding multidisciplinary local and international cultural programming which spans Latin America, Spain, Portugal and the United States. Born out of the Chicago Latino Film Festival, The International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago also produces other programs, including the Chicago Latino Music Series (formerly known as the Latino Music Festival), which is celebrating its 17th edition this year; Film in the Parks, also in its 18th season; the monthly Reel Film Club, already in its 15th year and many others.
ABOUT SEGUNDO RUIZ BELVIS CULTURAL CENTER
The Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center (SRBCC) is the longest-standing Latino cultural center in Chicago. Established in 1971, it was named in honor of Segundo Ruiz Belvis, a Puerto Rican patriot and member of a secret abolitionist society that freed slave children under Spanish rule. In that spirit, SRBCC realizes its mission to preserve and promote appreciation of the culture and arts of Puerto Rico and Latin America with a focus on its African heritage. SRBCC also offers weekly and monthly percussion classes, live music events and community workshops that promote cultural understanding through artistic expression, keeping youth and professional teaching artists safe, with meaningful opportunities to create, present and produce art.
ABOUT THEATER UNSPEAKABLE
Marc Frost created Theater Unspeakable in 2010 as a platform for devising new physical theater projects. Based in Chicago, Theater Unspeakable has performed in 20 states and Washington, D.C. in venues including: The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center Education, Palo Alto Children's Theatre, Adventure Stage Chicago, Chicago Children's Theatre and more. The physical theater practiced by the company draws upon the heavy influence of Frost's time at the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA). This two-year theater program based on the teachings of Jacques Lecoq exposed him to many different styles of theater. Since returning and founding the company, he has set a goal for himself and his collaborators to continue experimenting with these styles until they have broken ground on new forms of their own.
ABOUT CHICAGO PARK DISTRICT
Physical Theater Festival is presented as part of the Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks series, supported by the Mayor’s Office and Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. The Night Out in the Parks program presents cultural events year-round in neighborhood parks throughout the city. The Chicago Park District in partnership with 100 local artists and organizations, present engaging events and performances that enhance quality of life across Chicago and amplify the artistic and cultural vibrancy in every neighborhood. Through multiple disciplines, which include theater, music, movies, dance, site-specific work, nature programs and community festivals, the series aims to support Chicago-based artists, facilitate community-based partnerships and programs, cultivate civic engagement and ensure equity in access to the arts for all Chicagoans. For more information, please visit NightOutInTheParks.com.
ABOUT INSTITUTO CERVANTES
Instituto Cervantes is an institution founded by Spain in 1991 to teach and promote the language and culture of Spain as well as the co-official languages of Spain and the Hispanic-speaking countries. The Instituto Cervantes is present in almost over 70 cities from 40 countries spread out in the five continents. The Instituto is the organization of reference around the world for the teaching training of Spanish as a second language, with more than 11,000 enrollments a year. In almost 10,000 Spanish courses and seminars that are held in Spain and in the countries where there are Cervantes centers, the teachers update their linguistic knowledge and teaching techniques. Furthermore, the Institute counts with the Centro de Formación de Profesores en Alcalá de Henares (Training Centre for Teachers) in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), birth city of Miguel de Cervantes. The work of the Instituto Cervantes is guided by representatives of the scholarly, cultural and literary communities of Spain and Hispanic America. In Chicago, the Institute collaborates with museums, galleries, theaters, publishers and other cultural institutions from Illinois, as well as institutions from Spain and Latin America.
The 11th Physical Theater Festival Chicago is made possible through the generosity of major supporters like the Chicago Latino Theater Association (CLATA), the International Latino Cultural Center, the Illinois Arts Council, Physical Theater Festival’s producer's board and the generous contributions of individuals.
