Kokandy Productions Concludes 2024 Season with INTO THE WOODS October 10 – December 22, 2024 at The Chopin Theatre

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar 

Kokandy Productions Concludes 2024 Season with

INTO THE WOODS

Book by James Lapine

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Directed and Choreographed by Derek Van Barham

Music Direction by Nick Sula 

October 10 – December 22, 2024 at The Chopin Theatre

Pictured: (left to right) Evelyn Ryan (piano), Kevin Webb, Sonia Goldberg and Stephanie Stockstill

in Kokandy Productions’ revival of Into The Woods. Photo by Evan Hanover.

Kokandy Productions is pleased to conclude its 2024 season with an immersive production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s classic Into The Woods, the first Chicago storefront production of the beloved musical in over a decade. Directed and choreographed by Producing Artistic Director Derek Van Barham with music direction by Nick Sula, Into The Woods will play October 10 – December 22, 2024 at The Chopin Studio Theatre, 1543 W. Division St. in Chicago. Tickets are now on sale at kokandyproductions.com. 

Journeying Into The Woods are Kevin Webb and Sonia Goldberg as The Baker and The Baker’s Wife, Stephanie Stockstill as The Witch, Madison Kauffman as Cinderella, Kevin Parra as Jack and Anna Seibert as Little Red. Pulling double (or more) duty are August Forman as Narrator/Mysterious Man, Shea Hopkins as Cinderella’s Prince/Wolf, Jonathan Allsop as Rapunzel’s Prince/Steward, Ismael Garcia as Rapunzel/Florinda, Britain Gebhardt as Jack’s Mother/Lucinda and Emily Goldberg as Cinderella’s Stepmother/Mother. The company of players is completed by swings Gabby Koziol, Jackson Mikkelsen, Halli Morgan, Michael Penick, Julie Peterson, Elizabeth Rentfro and Evan B Smith.

Escape into a fantastical fairytale adventure where wishes come true, but not always for free. A trove of storybook characters’ paths intertwine as they chase their deepest desires through an enchanted forest. However, once they receive their happily ever after, the unintended consequences of granted wishes unravel their worlds.

Weaving a euphoric score including the songs “Giants in the Sky,” “On the Steps of the Palace,” “No One Is Alone” and “Children Will Listen” with a darkly humorous book, Into the Woods is a sophisticated musical twist on beloved childhood fables.

“What will we find when we wander into these woods?” asks director and choreographer Derek Van Barham. “A company of players, a beloved musical and a little magic. Our hope is that by re-orchestrating for 2 pianos and a cast of 12 (half of them doubling) we can focus on the intimate and immersive nature of the show, capturing the desperate need to be seen, to be remembered and to gather together to share (and receive) a good story.”

Music Director Nick Sula adds, “Many of the characters in this musical are introduced in pairs - The Baker and The Baker's Wife, Jack and Little Red, the two Stepsisters, the two Princes - so it felt natural to include the music, the musicians and the instruments themselves as a mirror of that. Our team of three pianist/orchestrators collaborated to create a unique sound with a two-piano, four-(or more!)-hand approach that features a duo of acoustic grand pianos. We are delighted to share the full depth and breadth of Stephen Sondheim's music with our audiences in this hauntingly majestic and intimate re-imagination.” 

The production team includes G “Max” Maxin IV, (Scenic Design and Lighting Design), Rachel Sypniewski (Costume Design), Matt Reich (Sound Design), Mike Patrick (Sound Consultant), Jakob Abderhalden (Properties Design), Chels Morgan (Intimacy Choreographer), Syd Genco (Makeup Design), Keith Ryan (Wig Design), Ariana Miles and Evelyn Ryan (Orchestrators), Nicholas Reinhart (Production Manager), Shane Roberie (Casting Associate), Lynsy Folckomer (Sound Engineer), Ryan Stajmiger (Assistant Director), Kendyl Meyer (Stage Manager), Ethan Colish (Assistant Stage Manager).

PRODUCTION DETAILS:

Cast (in alphabetical order): Jonathan Allsop (Rapunzel’s Prince/Steward), August Forman (Narrator/Mysterious Man), Ismael Garcia (Rapunzel/Florinda), Britain Gebhardt (Jack’s Mother/Lucinda), Emily Goldberg (Cinderella’s Stepmother/Mother), Sonia Goldberg (The Baker’s Wife), Shea Hopkins (Cinderella’s Prince/Wolf), Madison Kauffman (Cinderella), Kevin Parra (Jack), Anna Seibert (Little Red), Stephanie Stockstill (The Witch) and Kevin Webb (The Baker).

Swings: Gabby Koziol, Jackson Mikkelsen, Halli Morgan, Michael Penick, Julie Peterson, Elizabeth Rentfro and Evan B Smith. 

Musicians: Ariana Miles (piano) and Evelyn Ryan (piano).

Location: The Chopin Studio Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago

Dates: Previews: Thursday, October 10 at 7 pm, Friday, October 11 at 7 pm, Saturday, October 12 at 7 pm, Sunday, October 13 at 5 pm, Monday, October 14 at 7 pm, Sunday, October 20 at 5 pm, Monday, October 21 at 7 pm, Thursday, October 24 at 7 pm and Friday, October 25 at 7 pm

Press performance: Saturday, October 26 at 7 pm

Regular run: Sunday, October 27 – Sunday, December 22, 2024

Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7 pm; Sundays at 5 pm. Please note: there will be added performances on Wednesday, November 27 at 7 pm and Monday, December 9 at 7 pm; there will not be a performance on Thursday, November 28 (Thanksgiving).

Tickets: Previews $25 (with code PREVIEW). Regular run $45 general admission, $55 reserved seating. Students/Seniors $35. There will be a limited number of $15 tickets (with code ARTIST) available to artists for each performance. Tickets are on sale now at kokandyproductions.com.

 

About the Artists

Derek Van Barham (Director/Choreographer, he/him) is the Producing Artistic Director of Kokandy Productions. Directing credits include Children of Eden in Concert (Broadway In Chicago), Spring Awakening (Flint Rep); Sweeney Todd, American Psycho and Head Over Heels (Jeff Awards and Jeff nomination, Kokandy); The View Upstairs (Circle Theatre); Miracle by Dan Savage, Poseidon (Hell in a Handbag). Choreography credits include Evil Dead (Jeff nomination), Coraline the Musical, Ghost Quartet, Shockheaded Peter and Coraline the Musical (Black Button Eyes). He was previously named one of Windy City Times’ 30 Under 30, and one of Newcity Magazine’s 50 Players 2024. MFA: CCPA/Roosevelt University. derekvanbarham.com | IG @dvbarham

Nick Sula (Music Director and Orchestrations, he/him) is an award-winning pianist, arranger and music director. Music Direction credits include the Jeff Award-winning production of Sweeney Todd with Kokandy Productions, for which he earned the Jeff Award for Outstanding Music Direction; Anything Goes with Porchlight Music Theatre [Jeff nomination]; Ghost Quartet [Jeff nomination], Nevermore, Amour, Coraline (Black Button Eyes Productions); Myths & Hymns, The Glorious Ones [Jeff nomination], Pippin (BoHo Theatre); His & His, Boys in Briefs, Broadway at the Broadway (Pride Films and Plays); Merrily We Roll Along, Head Over Heels, The Pajama Game, The Pirates of Penzance (CCPA). Nick can be heard performing with vocalists at theaters and cabaret venues around Chicagoland such as Davenport’s Piano Bar and Skokie Theater. As a professor of musical theatre he serves as a music director, instructor and vocal coach at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

About Kokandy Productions

Founded in 2010, Kokandy Productions seeks to leverage the heightened reality of musical theatre to tell complex and challenging stories, with a focus on contributing to the development of Chicago-based musical theatre artists, and raising the profile of Chicago's non-Equity musical theatre community.

The company's artistic staff is comprised of Derek Van Barham (Producing Artistic Director), Scot T. Kokandy (Executive Producer) and Adrian Abel Azevedo & Leda Hoffman (Artistic Associates). The Board of Directors includes Preston Cropp, Scot T. Kokandy, Danielle Sparklin and Katie Svaicer. 

For additional information, visit kokandyproductions.com. 

 

Chekhov’s Seagull and Diva Dementia Center Stage in Charming Chayka

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival 

Chayka

Belova-Iacobelli Theatre Company From Belgium/Chile

Recommended for Ages 13+ 

REVIEW:

By Bonnie Kenaz-Mara

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of seeing Chayka at the Chopin Theatre's main stage. This lovely solo show features one puppeteer with a life-sized, half body puppet that shares her feet and one arm. A teddy bear, a book, a scarf stand in for the other main characters in Chekhov’s play, The Seagull. And of course, there's a seagull. 

As Chayka, an aging diva with dementia makes her final appearance on stage as Chekhov’s Arkadina, the 4th wall is broken down, and the audience is privy to both the actress and the character in turn.  The puppetry is exquisite, as the young woman puppeteer and Chayka alternately dialogue, merge and split, and even swap places, in a dance of memories and forgetting. 

English subtitles are projected above, so it was easy to follow the plot and transcend any language barriers. 

On a minimalist, stripped down set, Chayka relives the glory days when she played a host of the younger Seagull characters, bemoans the lack of a lake, and finds her light. It's a poignant piece, and a bold choice. Puppet genre shows dealing with aging and endings are rare. 

Despite the melancholy subject, there's plenty of humor, and the opportunity to run the gamut of emotions, escalating to a set deconstructing, table flipping rage. In the past few years, I've seen both The Seagull and also Stupid F*#@ing Bird, Aaron Posner's irreverent, contemporary remix of Chekhov’s The Seagull. All 3 productions  explore the timeless tussle between young and old, past and present, in search of meaning. If you're a fan of creative puppeteering and particularly Chekhovian explorations of frustration and decline, make a point to experience Chayka. 

Bonnie is a Chicago based writer, theatre critic, photographer, artist, and Mama to 2 amazing adults. She owns two websites where she publishes frequently: ChiILLiveShows.com (adult) & ChiILMama.com (family friendly). 

Chayka

Belova-Iacobelli Theatre Company

Belgium/Chile

Chopin Theatre (mainstage), 1543 W. Division St., Wicker Park

January 26-28

Three shows: Friday and Saturday, January 26 and 27 at 7 p.m.; Sunday, January 28 at 3 p.m.

60 minutes (English subtitles)

Ages 13 and up

Tickets: $30-$40

In the backstage of a theater, an aging actress named Chayka struggles to remember why she is there. A young woman arrives to remind her: tonight she must play the part of Arkadina in Chekhov’s The Seagull. As her memory fades, not knowing quite who she is nor the part she is meant to be playing, Chayka is determined at least to give this last performance. In her struggle and descent, reality and fiction intersect.

 

This multi-award winning production, told in a dreamlike style, is a duo performance for one actress and one puppet, and is the first piece from the Belgo-Chilean company Belova ~ Iacobelli. In 2012, the Chilean actress and stage director Tita Iacobelli met the Belgo-Russian puppeteer Natacha Belova in Santiago, Chile, at the La Rebelión de los Muñecos Festival. In 2015, again in Santiago, they created an experimental theater laboratory for contemporary puppet theater. When the two-month experience was over, they decided to develop a play together. Chayka was the first production, created in June 2018 in Santiago de Chile, followed In September 2021, by LOCO at the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles in Belgium. In October 2022, the performance Sisypholia, by Natacha Belova co-directed with Dorian Chavez, was presented at the International Biennial of Living Arts Toulouse Occitanie in France. belova-iacobelli.com. 

Everything you need to know about the 6th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival January 18-28, 2024

January in Chicago isn't all dreary, cold, and grey. Puppet fest is back to put some color and joy into your January. Here at ChiIL Mama and ChiIL Live Shows, we've covered the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival every year since it's inception. We're elated that they're now an annual fest instead of every other year, and we'll be out to review as much of the fest as possible once again in 2024. Check out the schedule below to save the dates. There'll be plentiful family friendly and adult puppet fun and we'll have the scoop right here. 

Tickets are now on sale for the 6th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, the largest of its kind in North America, returning January 18-28, 2024, at venues large and small throughout the city. 

The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival is the largest event dedicated to the art form in North America. In the heart of winter, the Festival spans 11 days and dozens of Chicago venues, sharing 100+ puppetry activities with 14,000+ guests. The festival includes performances, the Free Neighborhood Tour, a Puppet Hub open throughout the festival on the fourth floor of the Fine Arts Building, a symposium, the Catapult Artist Intensive, workshops, and more. 

Visit chicagopuppetfest.org for tickets and information about the 6th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, and sign up for the festival’s e-news.

Follow the festival on Facebook, Instagram, Vimeo, hashtag #ChiPuppetFest.

Cabinet of Curiosity's The Icicle Picnic Journey for the Sun at Chopin Theatre January 11-15th, 2023

ChiIL Mama’s ChiIL Picks List

Cabinet of Curiosity The Icicle Picnic 

Journey for the Sun

Photo Courtesy of Journey For the Sun initial 2021 producers, presenters, and directors: The Actors Gymnasium (Evanston), Sylvia Hernandez, Kasey Foster, and Lindsey Noel Whiting.

Cabinet of Curiosity, the Chicago-based theater and events company, presents their first annual pageant The Icicle Picnic. This year’s inaugural family-friendly production Journey for the Sun features live music, beat boxing, giant puppets, ridiculous devices, and transforming sets to tell the story of two brothers who embark on a mythological journey to save the earth from an exploding sun. Inspired by the absurd low budget science-fiction films from the 1950s and cartoons of the 60s, Journey for the Sun celebrates coming together across differences while encountering Little Green Men, asteroid showers, space monkeys, giant robots, and more along the way.

5 NIGHTS ONLY, 11 PERFORMANCES 

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11 AT 7:30PM

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12 AT 7:30PM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13 AT 7:30PM

SATURDAY, JANUARY 14 AT 1:00PM, 3:00PM, AND 7:30PM

SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 AT 1:00PM, 3:00PM, AND 7:30PM

LOCATION

Chopin Theater

1543 West Division Street, Chicago

$25 adult / $15 youth (18 and under) 

5 and under FREE

The production kicks off an innovative model for Cabinet of Curiosity where professional actors and artists provide mentorship to emerging artists.

Journey for the Sun is written by veteran Chicago playwright and adapter Seth Bockley and collaboratively directed by Frank Maugeri, Sadie Rose Glaspey, Michelle Billingsley, Alexandra Plattos Sulack, and Yuri Lane.

Seasoned actor and tap dancer Time Brickey leads the first-time Pageant ensemble of young performers, including Avie June Schubert, Selah Herrera Helphand, Delilah Lane, and Theo Maciukenas.

“A CABINET OF CURIOSITY SHOW IS WORTH SEEING AND WORTH SUPPORTING”

— Sandro Miller, Photographer

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW

Showcasing the delightful craft of pageantry, live cartoon, and intimate spectacle, Journey for the Sun is an imaginative devised theater work that follows two brothers, Clem and Buster (Michelle Billingsley and Sadie Roz Glaspey), who run a declining drive-in movie theatre in small town Indiana. Along with their new employee the Cow (Alexandra Plattos Sulack) and the drive-in’s Popcorn machine (Yuri Lane), the brothers receive a strange transmission from outer space that sets off a whirlwind mission to save the planet. Inspired by the absurd low budget science-fiction films from the 1950s and cartoons of the 60s, Journey for the Sun protagonists must prevent the earth’s overheating and destruction, encountering Little Green Men, asteroid showers, space monkeys, giant robots, and more along the way.

In The Icicle Picnic: Journey for the Sun, Cabinet of Curiosity’s Artistic Director Frank Maugeri returns to a theatrical form he crafted during his 25-year tenure at Redmoon Theater, the “Pageant.” Journey for the Sun was originally created and presented in association with Sylvia Hernandez Distasi, Lindsey Noel Whiting, and Kasey Foster at the Actors Gymnasium. For this new edition, Maugeri brings together new artists, designers, engineers, and social innovators to revise the timely story about hope, fearlessness, and the power of community.

Designed as a relief from Chicago’s dark winter weather, the immersive production features sets and props by Caitlin McCloud, video projections and shadow performance by Liviu Pesare, and sound effects by Yuri Lane. Cabinet of Curiosity invites families for interactive post-show opportunities to learn how prop devices and contraptions were developed by the creative team. 

Click here to check out their site for full details and tickets.

World Premiere! A FINE FEATHERED MURDER: A MISS MARBLED MYSTERY Via Hell in a Handbag Productions June 16 – July 31, 2022 at The Chopin Theatre

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

Hell in a Handbag Productions Presents

The World Premiere of 

A FINE FEATHERED MURDER: A MISS MARBLED MYSTERY 

Hell in a Handbag Productions is pleased to conclude its 20th anniversary season with the world premiere of A Fine Feathered Murder: A Miss Marbled Mystery, by Artistic Director David Cerda*, directed by Cheryl Snodgrass. This wild whodunit inspired by everyone’s favorite female British mystery writer will play June 16 – July 31, 2022 at The Chopin Upstairs Theatre, 1543 W. Division St. in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets are currently available handbagproductions.org. I'll be out for the press opening June 19th so check back shortly for my full review. 

PHOTO CREDIT: The cast of Hell in a Handbag Productions’ world premiere of A Fine Feathered Murder: A Miss Marbled Mystery includes (top, l to r) David Cerda, Barbara Figgins, Sydney Genco, Michael Hampton and Caitlin Jackson (middle, l to r) Ed Jones, Max McKune, Nicky Mendelsohn, Michael Rashid and Shane Roberie (bottom, l to r) Elizabeth Rude, Coco Sho-Nell, Tyler Anthony Smith, Maria Stephens and Danne W. Taylor.

Handbag goes posh with Ed Jones* as Miss Jane Marbled, an unassuming spinster with a knack for solving murders. It’s a good thing because people drop dead wherever she goes. Join Miss Marbled as she visits her dear friend, the wickedly and ridiculously chic, Lady Violetta Fowler (David Cerda*) for the annual Fine Feathered Ball at the Fowler Estate, England’s largest poultry farm. All is well until murder shows up, unannounced, and, in the most brutal fashion. Poor unflusterable Miss Marbled is left to contend with a rogues’ gallery of suspects sure to delight audiences in the tastefully intriguing manner they’ve come to expect from Hell in a Handbag Productions.

The production team to date includes Pamela L. Parker* (Scenic Designer), Bill Morey and Beth Laske-Miller (Costume Designers), Liz Cooper (Lighting Designer), Danny Rockett (Sound Designer/Music), Hannah Dains (Props Designer), Keith Ryan* (Wig Designer), Sydney Genco* (Make-up Designer), Jabberwocky Marionettes (Puppetry), Sammi Grant (Dialect Coach), Abby Teel (Production Manager), Spencer Douglas Clark (Assistant Director, Intimacy, Choreographer) and Drew Donnelly* (Stage Manager).

Please note: Handbag will continue to adhere to all city, state and federal COVID safety guidelines in place at the time of performance including, but not limited to, proof of full vaccination and masking at all performances.

 

 

PRODUCTION DETAILS:

Cast (in alphabetical order): David Cerda* (Lady Violetta Fowler), Barbara Figgins (Mrs. Hawk), Sydney Genco* (Gerta Rabe), Michael Hampton (Nigel Drake), Caitlin Jackson* (Vivian Birdsong), Ed Jones* (Miss Jane Marbled), Max McKune (Constable Hatcher), Nicky Mendelsohn* (Chick), Michael Rashid* (Garson), Shane Roberie (Lord Reginald Fowler, Inspector Byrd), Elizabeth Rude (Millicent Lark), Coco Sho-Nell (Treasure Abundance), Tyler Anthony Smith* (Charles Fowler), Maria Stephens (Prudence Peck) and Danne W. Taylor* (The Dowager Countess Edith Fowler).

Understudies: Kelly Bolton, Chad Gearig-Howe, Kristen Secrist, Ben Stacy and Robert Williams*.

*Denotes Handbag Ensemble Member

Location: The Chopin Upstairs Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago

Previews: Thursday, June 16 at 7:30 pm, Friday, June 17 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, June 18 at 7:30 pm

Opening/Press performance: Sunday, June 19 at 7 pm

Regular run: Thursday, June 23 – Sunday, July 31. 2022

Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm

Tickets: $24 advanced general admission, $42 at the door, $62 VIP/reserved seating with drink ticket. Group rates $34 for 10 or more. Tickets are currently available at handbagproductions.org.

 

About the Artists     

David Cerda (Playwright) is a founding member and Artistic Director of Hell in a Handbag Productions, now celebrating its 20th year anniversary. As resident playwright, he has written many Handbag productions as well as acted in them. His play, The Drag Seed was recently produced at LaMaMa Experimental Theater and his Golden Girls Lost Episodes parody shows have been produced around the country and was featured in Golden Con: Thank you for being a Fan, the world’s first fan convention dedicated to all things Golden Girls at Chicago’s Navy Pier. As a Latinx queer individual, he is a proud inductee into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame and recipient of a Jeff Award for lifetime achievement for his 25 years (and counting) of work and service to the community. He lives in Chicago with his partner, Christopher.

Cheryl Snodgrass (Director) has most recently directed the remount of The Drag Seed and its move to LaMama in NYC. She first worked with HIAH as an actor, playing Bigger Lorraine in Caged Dames, but soon transitioned to directing. She has since directed Die! Mommie, Die!, Haywire, Rip Nelson’s Halloween Spooktacluar, SCARRIE The Musical,  L’imitation of Life and The Birds.  Cheryl has also assisted David in developing several scripts. Outside of HIAH, Cheryl has worked with playwright Jeff Goode for 35 years as a director, actor and producer. She directed the premiere productions of Poona the F*ckdog and Other Plays for Children (Trap Door), The Emancipation of Alabaster McGill (Studio Roanoke) and The Eight Reindeer Monologues (Brave Hearts). In the last five years, she’s directed three shows for The Foundlings – To the New Girl, Hoist, and The Eight. She directed two shows for Glass  Glass Apple – Shadows of Birds and Lighthouses in the Desert and, finally, Who’s Holiday, for Penobscott Theatre in Bangor, ME.

 

About Hell in a Handbag Productions

Hell in a Handbag is dedicated to the preservation, exploration, and celebration of works ingrained in the realm of popular culture via theatrical productions through parody, music and homage. Handbag is a 501(c)(3) Not for Profit. For additional information, visit handbagproductions.org.

Holiday Favorite THE HOUSE THEATRE BALLET-FREE ADAPTATION OF THE HOLIDAY CLASSIC THE NUTCRACKER Returns NOVEMBER 8 – DECEMBER 30, 2018

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar: 

THE HOUSE THEATRE OF CHICAGO 

CONTINUES ITS HOLIDAY TRADITION AND ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR THE ANNUAL FAMILY-FRIENDLY, BALLET-FREE ADAPTATION OF THE HOLIDAY CLASSIC 

THE NUTCRACKER, 

NOVEMBER 8 – DECEMBER 30, 

AT THE CHOPIN THEATRE

Tommy Rapley Returns to Direct The House Theatre of Chicago’s 

Annual Performance of The Nutcracker

The House Theatre of Chicago brings back the hit holiday production with its annual engagement of The Nutcracker, an all-original, ballet-free and family-friendly production playing at The Chopin Theatre upstairs theatre, 1543 W. Division, November 8 – December 30. Company Members Jake Minton, Phillip Klapperich, Kevin O’Donnell and Tommy Rapley created the adaptation based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story with original direction and choreography by Tommy Rapley. Previews take place Thursdays, November 8 and 15, Friday, Nov. 10 and Saturday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. The press opening is Friday, Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m. The regular performance schedule is Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. with an added Sunday 6 p.m. performance on December 9, 16 and 23. Note: There are no performances on Nov. 9 or 17 and there are additional added performances on Friday, Nov. 23 at 3 p.m., and Wednesday, Dec. 19.

Preview tickets are $20 with regular run tickets $30 – $50. Student and industry same-day discounted tickets are available for $20 for all dates, based on availability. Tickets may be purchased by calling 773.769.3832 or by visiting www.thehousetheatre.com.

The House’s unique take on this classic story has become an annual tradition for many offering something for everyone during the holiday season. The show is fast-paced, beautifully choreographed, family-friendly and moving for even those who might be on the Grinch’s side from time to time.

This fantastical expansion of the holiday classic centers on Clara’s journey to save Christmas in the face of grief. With the help of a magical nutcracker, the brave girl risks the darkness, fights the Rat King and saves her family. A modern holiday tradition weaving together riveting dialogue, astonishing puppetry, original songs and spellbinding spectacle to tell a heartwarming, darkly moving story of magic and hope — a meaningful outing fit for the whole family.

The House’s production of The Nutcracker is adapted from “The Nutcracker and the Mouse,” a story by E.T.A. Hoffmann by Jake Minton, Phillip Klapperich, Kevin O’Donnell, and Tommy Rapley. The production premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre in 2007 under the Visiting Company Initiative and has enjoyed highly acclaimed runs with The House since 2010, as well as productions in Miami. In 2016, The House revamped the show during a workshop at the Chicago Performance Lab. Repeat fans will notice the addition of new musical pieces and new audience members continued to delight in the production’s creativity and heart 

The 2018 ensemble features many returning faces including Company Members Ben Hertel as Hugo, the Robot, and Johnny Arena as Monkey. Also returning are Desmond Gray as Fritz, the Nutcracker, Rachel Shapiro as Phoebe, the doll, Nicholas Bailey as David and Quite Scary Rat, and Amanda de la Guardia as Martha and Really Scary Rat. New to the cast are Rom Barkhordar as Uncle Drosslemeyer and Really Quite Scary Rat, and in the leading role, actress Hailey Bolithon (recently starring in Hatfield & McCoy) plays Clara. 

ABOUT THE HOUSE THEATRE OF CHICAGO 

The House is Chicago's premier home for intimate, original works of epic story and stagecraft. Founded and led by Artistic Director Nathan Allen and driven by an interdisciplinary ensemble of Chicago’s next generation of great storytellers, The House aims to become a laboratory and platform for the evolution of the American theatre as an inclusive and popular artform.

The House was founded in 2001 by a group of friends to explore connections between Community and Storytelling through a unique theatrical experience. Since becoming eligible in 2004, The House has won 22 Joseph Jefferson Awards, became the first recipient of Broadway in Chicago’s Emerging Theater Award in 2007, and was awarded a 2014 National Theatre Company Grant by the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards. The 17th season of original work is underway and The House will continue its mission to unite Chicago in the spirit of Community through amazing feats of Storytelling.  

OPENING: The Walls of Harrow House Immersive Puppet Haunted House Via Rough House at Chopin Theatre

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

The Walls of Harrow House 

A new genre of puppetry. Immerse yourself in horror. Announcing our world premiere of monstrous fun.

**Recommended for ages 14+**

On October 11th, Rough House unleashes genre-blurring immersive puppet horror upon the Chopin Theater. Tickets on sale now.

708.955.7675

Here at ChiIL Mama and ChiIL Live Shows, we adore Rough House and can't wait to catch their groundbreaking Halloween show, The Walls of Harrow House. We got a sneak peek at a few Harrow House scenes and characters in last month's Nasty, Brutish and Short: A Puppet Cabaret. It's crazy busy review season, so I'm booked solid on opening weekend, but hoping to catch the show by the 19th. There are two shows a night every Thursday through Saturday starting October 11th. Got your tickets yet? This looks to be a Halloween must see, so don't wait till they're sold out. 

Photo Credit for all: Christine Kozol

Part haunted house, part immersive puppet theater, ​The Walls of Harrow House ​opens its doors to visitors this Fall. Starting October 11th, at the Chopin Theatre, audiences will descend into Rough House’s gorgeous, dark, and surreal world where a mad architect’s relentless pursuit of utopia has gone horribly awry.

You are invited to a once-in-a-lifetime tour of Harrow House, the secluded home and studio of Milton Harrow, the world’s most influential and reclusive architect. With no guide but your own instincts, you’ll be set loose in the infamous home to discover its secrets, free to pull on whatever threads you encounter and become entangled in the terrifying tale that unspools around you.

Within Harrow House’s mouldering walls, you will meet its monstrous inhabitants – the architect’s family, assistants, and his most fervent followers. Each one has made an unthinkable sacrifice to the mad architect’s insatiable hunger for a world that conforms only to his design.





Through puppetry, environmental and sonic design, Harrow House will bring you face to face with cosmic horrors, nightmarish to behold and yet...uncannily familiar. Harrow House asks: can we not only face our fears, but meet them? Can we find empathy for those who frighten us?

Creative Team
Conceived and Directed by ​Mike Oleon Lead Puppet Design by ​Grace Needlman Script by ​Mark Maxwell and Claire Saxe Set designed by ​Lauren Nigri
Costumes designed by ​Caitlin McLeod and Anna Wooden Lighting design by ​Becca Jeffords
Sound design by ​Corey Smith



About the Company
Rough House Theater Co. is on a mission to connect individuals and communities through art that celebrates the weird things that make us unique and the weirder things that bring us together. Rough House creates theater that captures the heart through the eye. Their shows use puppetry, music, and human performance to tell intimate stories, as strange as they are sincere.

Through performances, presentations of work by fellow artists, and artist training, Rough House aspires to make Chicago a national hub of contemporary puppet theater, comprising a diverse and ever-growing community of audiences and artists.

The company’s work has appeared in the National Puppetry Festival, The Chicago International Puppet Theatre Festival, punk houses, funeral parlors, a lotion factory, and the woods of Appalachia.

SHOW SCHEDULE​: “The Walls of Harrow House” performs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, October 11th through November 3. Additional shows will be held on Halloween, Wednesday October 31st. Visit ticketing page for exact event details. Press opening Oct 10th.

TICKETS AND INFO:​ Tickets on sale now at ​roughhousetheater.com

TICKET PRICES:​ $25 General Admission. $15 for Students/Industry/Earners of less than $25k per year.

WIN A Pair of Tickets Up To $100 Value (2 available) To House Theatre's World Premiere, BOREALIS 8/30-10/21/18

THE HOUSE THEATRE OF CHICAGO ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR ITS WORLD PREMIERE SEASON OPENER, 

BOREALIS, 

BY BENNETT FISHER, DIRECTED BY MONTY COLE, 

AUGUST 30 – OCTOBER 21 

**ENTER BELOW! TWO OF OUR LUCKY READERS WILL WIN A PAIR (2) OF TICKETS UP TO $100 VALUE TO BOREALIS, GOOD FOR SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH AT 7PM**

Both Playwright and Director Make their Debut with The House in this Epic Adventure Through the Corporate Guts of Big Oil 

Here at ChiIL Mama and ChiIL Live Shows, it's our great pleasure to partner up once again with The House Theatre of Chicago on a ticket giveaway for our readers. The House has a well deserved national reputation for epic productions and amazing feats of storytelling. They've long been favorites of ours and we make it a point to catch every show they mount. Whether you've never seen one of their shows or you're a regular, take a few minutes to enter at the bottom of this post, and you may be one of two lucky winners to enjoy a show "on the house".

The House Theatre of Chicago is proud to announce casting and the production team for the company’s season opener, Borealis. Director Monty Cole helms the professional premiere of playwright Bennett Fisher’s epic adventure through the corporate guts of Big Oil. Borealis runs August 30 through October 21 at Chopin Theatre’s Upstairs Theater, 1543 W. Division St., Previews begin Thursday, August 30 and play through Friday, September 7. Opening/press night is Saturday, Sept. 8 at 8 p.m. 

The performance schedule is Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. (September 23 and October 7) or 7 p.m. (September 9, September 16, September 23, October 14 and October 21). Preview tickets are $20 and regular run tickets range from $30 to $50. $20 same-day tickets for students and industry professionals are available for all dates, seats permitting. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.thehousetheatre.com or call 773.769.3832.

When a redacted and ominous letter arrives from her brother on the oil fields, thirteen-year-old Cozbi sets off for Anwar, Alaska to find him. Armed with a book on corporate communication strategy and a sharp axe, Cozbi battles her way through an Arctic wilderness in pursuit of her missing brother. But she'll have to face more than a multi-tentacled HR rep to learn the truth. Part mythic journey, part workplace satire, Borealis is a dark and funny adventure about family obligation, career aspiration and what we leave behind to make our way to the top. 

Cozbi’s search-and-rescue tale to the inner workings of Big Oil travels between mundane cubicles crawling with monstrous executives to desk-jockeys trapped by the dangerous ice-bound surround and out to the slick, sea-soaked rigging platforms. The House employs an immersive design with huge pipelines traversing up, around and behind the audience creating unique pathways and playing spaces for actors.

Borealis was first developed at the Kennedy Center MFA Playwrights workshop in 2014. It received further development at UC San Diego, the Unicorn Theater, Mixed Blood, Cutting Ball Theater, Custom Made Theater Company, the Alliance Theater (Kendeda Prize Finalist), and The House Theatre of Chicago and the Chicago Performance Lab through the Theatre and Performance Studies Program at the University of Chicago

Borealis_Headshot Block.jpg: (L to R) Johnny Arena+ (Ensemble #1), McKinzie Chinn (Burke), Desmond Gray (Absalom), Ben Hertel+ (Ensemble #2), Paige Hoffman+ (Ensemble #3: McKnight/Langley/Zebedee, Internal Understudy for Burke), Madhura Jugade (Abbot & Cozbi Understudy), Juan Munoz (Absolom & Ensemble #3 Understudy), Karissa J. Murrell Myers* (Abbot), Oly Oxinfry (Ensemble#1 and #2 Understudy), Tia Pinson (Cozbi)

The cast of seven includes three House Company Members: Paige Hoffman+, Johnny Arena+, and Ben Hertel+. Returning guest artists include Desmond Gray (The Nutcracker, Hatfield & McCoy) and Tia Pinson (Hatfield & McCoy) as brother and sister, as well as new guest artists McKinzie Chinn and Karissa J. Murrell Myers*. The understudies are Madhura Jugade, Juan Munoz, and Oly Oxinfry. 

The Production and Design team includes Eleanor Kahn, scenic designer; Izumi Inaba^, costume designer; Lee Keenan+^, lighting designer; Sarah Espinoza, sound designer; Matthew Muñiz+, composer; Ellie Terrell, properties designer; Breon Arzell, choreographer; Gaby Labotka, fight choreographer; Abhi Shrestha, assistant director and Amalie Vega*, stage manager. 

*Member Actor’s Equity Association
+Company Member of The House Theatre of Chicago
^Member of United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829 


ABOUT BENNETT FISHER, playwright
Bennett Fisher is an artistic associate and former Shank Fellowship Playwright in Residence at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago and a company member of Campo Santo and People of Interest and the Cutting Ball Theater. His other plays include Damascus (recently presented by Strawdog in Chicago, Samuel Goldwyn Award, O'Neill Conference finalist), Don't Be Evil, Candlestick, Campo Maldito, and the dialogue for the immersive theater experience The Speakeasy, currently running in San Francisco. His work has been presented and produced by the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Strawdog Theater Company, La Jolla Playhouse's WOW Festival, the Alliance Theater, the Kennedy Center MFA Playwrights Workshop, Florida Repertory Theater, the Martin E. Segel Center, Burbage Theater Company, People of Interest, Ubuntu Theater Project, Theater Emory, the Unicorn Theater, Sleepwalkers Theater, New Conservatory, the Cutting Ball Theater, Custom Made Theatre Company, and others. Fisher has been commissioned by The House Theater of Chicago, Theater Emory, Campo Santo, and others. His screenplay version of Damascus was optioned by Bill Mechanic and Pandemonium and he is currently developing work with e1 based on the experience of the former CIA officer-turned-whistleblower John Kiriakou. As an actor, dramaturg, and director, he has collaborated with California Shakespeare Theatre, Stanford Summer Theatre, Just Theater, Crowded Fire, Pear Ave Theatre, Adirondack Shakespeare Company, Marin Shakespeare Company, and many others. He received his MFA from UC San Diego in 2016.           

ABOUT MONTY COLE, director
Monty Cole is a director based out of Chicago and Los Angeles. Cole has directed for The Goodman Theatre, The Alley Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, American Theatre Company, Definition Theater Company/ALTA, The House Theatre of Chicago, the Chicago Theater Marathon, California Institute of the Arts and others. Cole directed the critically acclaimed and Jeff Award winning production of The Hairy Ape for Oracle Productions. Cole is working with collaborator and choreographer Breon Arzell on revitalizing In Dahomey, the first black written and performed Broadway musical from 1903 for the Center for New Performance. Recently, Cole directed William Shakespeare's Hamlet at The Gift Theatre and Kiss by Guillermo Calderon at the Haven Theatre Company. Cole is currently finishing his MFA Directing degree at the California Institute for the Arts.



ABOUT THE HOUSE THEATRE OF CHICAGO 

The House is Chicago's premier home for intimate, original works of epic story and stagecraft. Founded and led by Artistic Director Nathan Allen and driven by an interdisciplinary ensemble of Chicago’s next generation of great storytellers, The House aims to become a laboratory and platform for the evolution of the American theatre as an inclusive and popular artform.
The House was founded in 2001 by a group of friends to explore connections between Community and Storytelling through a unique theatrical experience. Since becoming eligible in 2004, The House has been nominated for 70 Joseph Jefferson Awards (22 wins), became the 
first recipient of Broadway in Chicago’s Emerging Theater Award in 2007, and was awarded a 
2014 National Theatre Company Grant by the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards. The 17th season of original work will begin with Borealis in the fall of 2018 and The House will continue its mission to unite Chicago in the spirit of Community through amazing feats of Storytelling.   

ENTER HERE! TWO OF OUR LUCKY READERS WILL WIN A PAIR (2) OF TICKETS UP TO $100 VALUE TO BOREALIS, GOOD FOR SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH AT 7PM

Winners will be chosen at random and announced here and via our social media outlets on September 7th. Winners will also be e-mailed. Enter early and often through midnight September 6th.

**ENTER HERE**

Disclosure: Thanks to House Theatre for providing tickets for our giveaway and for review purposes. As always, all opinions are my own.

OPENING: A Fool’s Journey, a Misfit Circus Cabaret! at Chopin Theatre

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

A Fool’s Journey, a Misfit Circus Cabaret!

Beginning with the fool’s card in the tarot deck, this circus cabaret style show exposes our unconscious thoughts and desires.

As both a long time tarot reader and circus arts lover, I'm beyond jazzed about this show. Add to that, two of the performers have taught my kids over the years. My 14yo daughter, Sage, has studied arial silks at Aloft with Natalie Abell, who taught her a handful of harrowing drops that she adores. My daughter and my 16yo son, Dugan, both learned loads about juggling, manipulation, and performance from Brian P. Dailey over several years at CircEsteem. 

We're also quite fond of Molly Plunk as a performer and have seen her work for years (including Burning Bluebeard 4 times). She's a regular at many of the shows we've covered for ages including some of our ultimate favorites like the Neo-Futurists, Aloft Circus Arts, Redmoon Theater, The Actor's Gymnasium, Zoppé Family Circus, The Ruffians, and Bindlestiff Family Cirkus.

Location:
Chopin Theatre
1543 W Division St, Chicago, IL 60642

Show Dates: July 20, 2017 though August 13, 2017
Press Preview: July 20, 2017
Show Times: Thursday-Saturday 8PM; Sunday at 5PM
Ticket Price: $36 for Cabaret Table Seating; $27 General Admission

Tickets available through: www.misfitcircus.com or through Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2989921

Facebook:  facebook.com/misfitcircuschicago/
Instagram: instagram.com/misfit_circus/ 

A Fool’s Journey is a new experimental contemporary circus cabaret that digs into the symbolism and revelatory nature of the tarot deck. Featuring live music by Bret Koontz, the show takes the viewer though a wide variety of acts (tightwire, acrobatics, hand balancing, juggling and more) that investigate the tarot’s major symbols and themes.  A Fool’s Journey is a premiere Misfit Circus production, a circus collaborative founded by Molly Plunk (clown, wire walker) and Natalie Abell (hand balancing, aerial rope). 

A Fool’s Journey will be playing at the Chopin Theatre in Wicker Park July 20th through August 13th.  Tickets are $36 for Cabaret Table Seating; $27 General Admission. Be whisked away to a world where the fool is king and magic is real!

Whether it’s in the anticipation of a tarot reading, or the nervous excitement of standing at the precipice of a tightwire platform; tarot and circus function as mediums to the unconscious world, drawing up raw emotion and secret desires. Each of the acts in the show represent aspects of tarot’s major arcana, or allegories for the rite of passage one must experience if they are to realize wholeness.

Misfit founders, Molly Plunk and Natalie Abell, assure us that we’re not alone on this journey: “At some point, everyone plays the part of the fool and we must all confront our hidden selves,” says Abell.  Plunk follows up, “The Fool is the part of ourselves that is distinctly us, and unadulterated.”

This project is partially supported by a Cultural Outreach Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events and a grant from the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce.

Misfit Circus is a new circus company founded by Natalie Abell and Molly Plunk. After a summer of coaching at Cirkus Smirkus together, Abell and Plunk decided to set their sights on a circus company that embraces a fresh, irreverent, and weird take on traditional circus shows. 

My kids and I can't wait to check out their show! I've been doing readings for a couple years from the Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot, which has colorfully playful yet deliciously dark art work. It begins the deck description with... "Think of yourself as an actor, placed in a theater at the time of your birth." All the cards are theatre characters!

My favorite deck still remains the out of print French Maddonni Tarot. I got that one from Ayun Halliday (also tied in with the Neo-Futurists from waaaaay back in the day) at a moving sale she was having in Andersonville before taking off for New York. I loved the deck so much I tracked down a bunch of new copies of it and gave them to all my favorite theater friends one Christmas in the mid 90's. I'd always hoped to do a full circus arts production with the costumes based on this deck. Maybe some year I still will. In the meantime come check out A Fool’s Journey, a Misfit Circus Cabaret since it's actually happening and imminently opening!

 


Natalie Abell has over two decades of experience as a creative nomad. Her roles have run the gamut from vocal lead in a rock band, to patent holding engineer. She is currently a circus professional, whose recent performances include an original collaboration with beat boxer Yuri Lane, an aerial rope battle with renowned rope artists Emiliano Ron and Terry Crane, and a starring role in Dinner of Our Discontent, (which I've seen and adored!) a show featured in Circus Now: International Circus Exposure showcase in NYC. She is a regularly featured artist for Acrobatica Infiniti: Nerd Circus, cos-playing as Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman for conventions such as C2E2 (which we've covered for years). Abell performs and coaches for Aloft Circus Arts and coaches for Circus Smirkus.

Molly Plunk grew up playing make-believe down a dusty, gravel road on farm in the middle of the great state of Illinois. She has been active member of and contributor to Chicago’s Neo-Futurists for many years, and is currently Artistic Associate of the company. Plunk is best known for her role of Faerie Queen in Jay Torrence's local winter staple, Burning Bluebeard. In addition to her theater work, she is an accomplished tightwire performer, and clown, having performed for Aloft Circus Arts, Redmoon Theater, The Actor's Gymnasium, Zoppé Family Circus, The Ruffians, and Bindlestiff Family Cirkus (all of which we've raved about over the years! I'll have to break out my Bindlestiff jackalope baseball tee). Plunk is a graduate of Columbia College.

Adult Night Out: WIN A Pair of Tickets To The Bardy Bunch, Theatre Y's Macbeth or Dr. Seward's Dracula

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

Here at ChiIL Live Shows, we LOVE to ChiIL out at the theatre. Chi, IL may be called the second city, but our theatre scene is second to none. We have 3 sweet giveaways this week for free pairs of tickets so you can have an adult night out this October! Enter like we vote in Chi, IL... early and often. We're accepting entries for all three through midnight Wednesday 8/12. Feel free to enter all 3 but please read the details and be sure you can attend within the required date choices before entering.

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

The Bardy Bunch, Mercury Theater

The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady, a musical parody by Stephen Garvey that gained cult status during its Off-Broadway run in 2014, is now playing a limited engagement in Chicago at the Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Avenue. It is 1974 and we join the Bradys and Patridges just after the ABC Network ceased airing their chronicles. It was a summer when these beloved TV families, no longer under America's watchful eye, met on a collision course in a blood-soaked, vengeance-fueled, lust-filled crossover episode of Shakespearean proportions. For more information, visit TheBardyBunch.com.

WIN 2 Tickets to The Bardy Bunch (up to $116 value) ENTER HERE through midnight Wednesday 8/12 *Valid for any shows through Oct 31st

First Folio Theatre Presents: October 8 - November 6 Come experience the legend of Dracula anew, as First Folio Theatre (Mayslake Peabody Estate, 31st St. & Rt. 83) presents the Chicago premiere of DR. SEWARD’S DRACULA, opening Saturday, October 8, 2016 at 8:15 p.m., and running through November 6, 2016, with previews October 5-7. This sinful and spooky adaptation by Joseph Zettelmaier is directed by Jeff Award nominee Alison C. Vesely and produced by David Rice, author of The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe and composer, adaptor, and lyricist of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline: A Folk Tale with Music. Tickets may be purchased by calling the box office at 630.986.8067 or online at www.firstfolio.org. WIN 2 DR. SEWARD’S DRACULA Tickets ($58 value) ENTER HERE through midnight Wednesday 8/12  *Valid for Wednesday and Thursday show dates ONLY through October 30th.

Theatre Y Presents: October 19 - December 4 Following a year-long artistic collaboration with French theatre luminary, Georges Bigot, the Theatre Y Ensemble presents William Shakespeare's MACBETH at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 West Division. An iconic figure to Ariane Mnouchkine's Theatre du Soleil and one of France's most lauded contemporary actors, Bigot brings his lifelong experience and hallmark style of highly physical ensemble work to direct MACBETH, featured as part of Chicago Shakespeare 400 International Arts Festival. What's done cannot be undone. www.theatre-y.com.

WIN 2 Macbeth Tickets ($50 value) ENTER HERE through midnight Wednesday 8/12

*Valid for any show dates October 19-November 27th