?Torso Theatre presents Billy Bermingham's long-running comedy about life in a hellish, reactionary future. "What distinguishes [this] satire from mere sophomoric irreverence is the seriousness with which . . . Bermingham and his company present their apocalyptic vision, . . . coupled with a manic energy and agility [that] keeps our attention focused on the message even while holographic strippers are masturbating with office machines, homeless people are being murdered for their organs, privileged citizens are dining on Clorox and third-world babies, and bodily fluids of all descriptions are spurting in fountains all over the stage. Not for the faint of heart--or weak of stomach--Cannibal Cheerleaders on Crack is a two-fisted farce that leaves no cultural taboo unviolated, no hypocritical demon unexorcised," Mary Shen Barnidge. Chicago Reader May 28, 1999

?Eight years ago playwright provocateur Billy Bermingham opened his puerile monstrosity, "Cannibal Cheerleaders on Crack." Depending upon your aesthetic and political leanings, you probably think him either a hoodlum or a genius.

"Cannibals" is an easy play to disdain, what with its drug- shooting, excrement-wielding, baby-eating characters caught up in a series of pubescent fantasies masquerading as a plot. But if Congress and the press can pass off cheap titillation as a constitutional crisis, why dump on Bermingham?

Besides, Bermingham is one of the few writers who can, to paraphrase his own script, cuss in iambic pentameter. Through his ingenious orchestration of obscenities, he offers some of the most blistering social commentary since Alfred Jarry. Try to find an image more exquisitely misanthropic than the President of the United States dining on pickled babies.
"The play is designed to enrage," explains Bermingham. "I wrote the play when I was 25 -- you know, the angry-young-man thing -- when I was ranting and raving at where our culture was headed. People are basically base, cruel, greedy, mean and awful, but through the courageous force of will they manage to stay that way."
In its eight years, "Cannibals" has shrunk from a two-hour, two- act play to its current 75-minute incarnation, a fact which Bermingham takes in his ever-cynical stride. "I've been hacking out most of the intelligent stuff, literary references," he says.
However, a recent production in Rome ran the full two hours, in a sumptuous, 500-seat theater. "It was a $50,000 production or something," Bermingham says with a laugh. "Unreal. The costumes were cutting-edge fashion."

And when the bodily fluids started flying, Bermingham learned just how much a costume designer could hate a playwright. "Hey, they're part of life," Bermingham says. "Bodily fluids will always be around." Justin Hayford, Chicago Tribune January 1, 1999

"Good messy fun! Apocalyptic comedy. A savagley cynical parody of American society. Fearless about vioalting any taboo. The talented cast handles it all with aplomb". - Chicago Magazine. Hilarious! Don't Miss It! Genuinely funny commentary, creative, insightful and on the money!? Chicago Sun Times

?Captivating! A furiously paced hyperkinetic production averaging four jokes per minute! A combination sci-fi porn fest and slapstick improv that concots potions of perversity with mad scientist glee, piled on with literary analysis and barbed social commentary. Admirably gutsy! Classic!? Chicago Tribune