Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Act Out-Theatre Low Down: Free Chicago Children's Theatre, Collaboraction, DCA Storefront, Babes With Blades, & BONEdanse

Chi-Town is theatre town.   All the hundreds of great shows going on simultaneously can be daunting.    Here at ChiIL Mama, we do the homework for you and pick a hand full of our ultimate favs for adults and favs for kids/families and feature those.    Here are our present top picks closing, opening and highly recommended.


Kids: 
(highly recommended & chance at free tickets)


CHICAGO CHILDREN’S THEATRE’S GIVING AWAY 500 GOODNIGHT MOON RED BALLOONS, FREE TICKETS AT WIZARD OF OZ SCREENING AUG. 25 AT OZ PARK


Hey parents, Chicago Children’s Theatre is sponsoring the Chicago Park District’s Movies in the Park free screening of The Wizard of Oz, Thursday, August 25, starting at 7:45 pm in Oz Park, located at the intersection of Webster, Larabee and Lincoln Avenue in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.
 
Chicago Children’s Theatre will inflate and distribute 500 free red balloons to kids, first come, first served, to spur anticipation for its upcoming 2011-2012 season opener, Goodnight Moon The Musical, playing Oct. 27-Dec. 23 just a few blocks north at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.  Free ticket giveaways to Goodnight Moon The Musical and a pre-show Wizard of Oz costume contest are also part of the fun.
 
Not your parents' Goodnight Moon:   
Despite being everyone’s favorite bedtime story, with David Kersnar of Lookinglass Theatre at the directorial helm, and all new music arrangements by Mark “Mucca Pazza” Messing, Chicago Children’s Theatre’s technicolor take on Margaret Wise Brown’s beloved tale promises to be an “eyes wide open” show for audiences of all ages.   The entire story takes place in a single green-themed room, but the careful reader will notice numerous details from page to page, notably the book’s signature red balloon that disappears and reappears from page to page.

Chicago Children’s Theatre’s Goodnight Moon The Musical will fill the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater 299-seat mainstage with joy and laughter Oct. 27 through Dec. 23, 2011. Performances are October 27 through December 23:  Tuesday through Friday at 10:15 am; Saturday and Sunday at 11 am and 3 pm.

Audiences are encouraged to wear their pajamas to the theater for two added “Pajama Party” evening performances on Friday, November 11 and Friday, December 9 at 7 pm. There is no performance on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 24.

Single tickets ($25 children; $35 adults) as well as Flex Passes offering a 20% discount on Chicago Children’s Theatre’s 2011-2012 season are on sale now at chicagochildrenstheatre.org.  Phone and in-person sales begin September 1 via the Victory Gardens Box Office, 773.871.3000. For group inquiries, contact GroupTix at (773) 327-3778 or visit GroupTix.net.  



Adult Closing:
Collaboraction 


1001 by Jason Grote - Now at the Flat Iron
Collaboraction’s provocative, funny and fast-paced post-modern retelling of “The Arabian Nights” made its critically-acclaimed Chicago premiere last September. The original cast and crew return for the remount including Director Seth Bockley,an equally thrilling new visionary in American theater, for this explosive production in Collaboraction’s new space.
Thursday 8/25, 8 pm
Friday 8/26, 8 pm
Saturday 8/27, 8 pm
Sunday 8/28, 8 pm

Check out their site for their full upcoming season, tickets and details.   Mark your calendars:

The 10th Annual Beggars' Banquet
Please join us for Collaboraction's 10th Annual Beggars' Banquet at our home in the historic Flat Iron Arts Building!
Saturday 10/15, 7 pm
BE A GOOD LITTLE WIDOW by Bekah Brunstetter
Directed by Anthony Moseley
Sept. 8 - Oct. 23, 2011
Collaboraction at the Flat Iron Arts Building, 1575 N. Milwaukee Ave
Moseley helms the season’s first production with the Midwest premiere of Brunstetter’s dark comedy Be A Good Little Widow.  Stranded in suburbia while her husband globe-trots for work, Melody struggles to win the approval of her supercilious mother-in-law, Hope. But Melody can't figure out the rules of being a good little wife, so when her husband dies she is at a loss to live up to Hope's standards of grieving. In Be a Good Little Widow, Brunstetter crafts a surprisingly funny and moving portrait of love, loss and temptation. "[Brunstetter] writes fresh, unfussy dialogue and characters who earn their laughs and emotional moments by honest means," hailed The New York Times.
Adult Opening:

Mortar Theatre Company Presents

Corazón de Manzana

Written by Dana Lynn Formby
Directed by Jason Boat
August 21 - September 25, 2011
Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30 PM, Sundays at 3 PM
Mixing realism, fantasy, and stylized choreography, Corazón de Manzana intertwines the lives of three mother/daughter pairs living in Canada, the United States, and Mexico to the tragic femicide occurring in Juárez, Mexico. A desperate cry for help reaches across borders to begin an investigation into a mother’s plea to find her missing daughter. As the discovery into the child’s disappearance unfolds, the connections between suffering and privilege in the three countries come into dramatic and heart-wrenching clarity.
Tickets are $20; $15 Students and Seniors; $15 preview (8/21 & 8/25); special ticket price on all Thursday performances of $15.
RELATED EVENTS
Thursday, September 1 at 7 PM, Claudia Cassidy Theater, 2nd Floor, Chicago Cultural Center: Documentary film screening and post-show conversation.

Sunday, September 4 following the 3 PM performance: Post-show discussion with Dana Lynn Formby and local experts.
For more information and to purchase tickets, call (312) 742-TIXS (8497), visit http://www.dcatheater.org/shows/show/corazon_de_manzana/ or "Like" us on Facebook.


by Barbara Lhota
*TICKETS ON SALE NOW: CLICKSPECIAL EVENT/PRICING INFO: CLICK

Screwball comedy meets swashbuckler in this world-premiere tribute to Cyrano de Bergerac and the 1940′s.  

Featuring single sword and unarmed combat, THE DOUBLE promises laughter, love, and derring-do. ”…a madcap love fest of mistaken flirtations…. a triple threat as a comedy, romance, action play.”  Chicago Theater Beat


Runs August 20-September 24Thurs-Sat 8pm (plus Sat 2pm 9/3, 10, 17) The Lincoln Square Theatre 4754 N. Leavitt Street, Chicago 

(in the basement of the Berry Memorial United Methodist Church)



SPECIAL EVENTS

8/25: Theater Thursday Ice Cream Social

9/1-3: Pay What You Can

9/15-17: Collection for Center on Halsted's youth programming

Saturday Matinees: Industry Shows




Check out Babes With Blades main site here.


Donate:
BONEdanse



BONEdanse is one of our favorite Chi-town dance troupes.   Check out their creative and ferocious theatre.   These women are all about being smart AND mighty, and they create some mighty fine, thought provoking pieces of modern dance.   We've been loving their weekly Danse Skitz.   Check 'em all out on YouTube where Danse Skitz #1-10 are all archived.   They were all shot around Chicago from this June through August.   


Like what you see and have some xtra cash on hand to support the arts?   Want to see your name on our donors list!  Any donation amount is important. And now, doubly so.

All donations will be matched dollar for dollar IF, AND ONLY IF, they reach their goal of $2,500 by August 31st.    A HUGE thank you to all who have donated already to get them this far, but they've still got $800 to go!    

DONATION
MADE EASY 
4 REALLY EASY ways to donate:
4) Mail a Check to Us! (Made out to Breakbone DanceCo)


So, ChiIL Out with ChiIL Mama and go see some world class acting.

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