Around the Coyote Festival – Theatre Plays The Madman & The Nun - ETC Theatre It's no surprise that Stanislaw Witkiewicz's aggressively irrational plays were largely unknown when he committed suicide in 1939 (the Nazis were closing in on his native Poland from one direction, the Russians from another). Not only were his absurd scripts several decades ahead of their time, but the author was dismissed as a madman thanks to his devotion to narcotics, his antisocial personality, and his posture as a bohemian sex addict. But these days, given the giddy theatricality and subversive venom of these nightmarish plays, it's hard to fathom why Witkiewicz isn't produced more often. Experimental Theatre Chicago shows just how engaging and disturbing his work is with its spare, compelling staging of The Madman and the Nun, the final event in this year's Around the Coyote Fall Arts Festival. Lunatic and radical poet Alexander Walpurg receives a visit from Sister Anna, a nun brought in by the asylum staff to probe his tortured psyche. Instead the two have a torrid affair and send the play spinning out of control. Monica Lopez and George Ketsios take a measured approach that almost makes this turn of events seem natural" - Justin Hayford, Chicago Reader


As You Like It – the Velvet Willies “There's no getting around it: Shakespeare's comedies are too long for contemporary audiences. So it's heartening to see the Velvet Willies straightforwardly attack the gayest play since gay came to Stratfor-on-Gayvon, focusing on the play's language and ideas rather than high concept adaptation. An excellent cast moving at a good clip pulls off the Bard's potentially most boring work without recourse to gimmick, pretension or ideology. Meredith Bell and Michael Moran are every bit as flexible and charismatic as the roles of Rosalind and Orlando require, plowing through their characters' ludicrous faux romance with utter assurance. Emi Clark and Amelia Rose Lorenz work overtime in glittering supporting parts, and Chritopher Prentice is wonderfully understated as that most modern of Shakespeare's characters, the melancholy Jacques. Credit director Jeff Harnish for making it all click” - Laura Molzahn, Chicago Reader


Shmistory - Fast paced, intelligent sketch ranging through time and space exploring mankind's inability to learn from its mistakes.


From Tel Aviv to Ramallah – A Beatbox Journey Human beatbox and vocal magician Yuri Lane presents a hip hop travelogue of peace. Part hip hop musical, part street wise documentary, this new play brings the daily lives and youth cultures of Israelis and Palestinians to the stage.


God Is Sitting On My Head – Singin Fish Theatricals Set next to a dumpster, outside of a bus station in Canada, GOD IS SITTING ON MY HEAD, introduces audiences to the barely sane world of hobo clown Stinky the Fish and his epic struggles with the man upstairs.


Love, Death & Talking Squirrels – American Myth Theatre American Myth Theatre premieres four short plays: Natural Selection - a killer questions his place in the natural world; American Dreaming - an aging man wants to revisit his youth and his wish is granted by a magical squirrel; 49 stories about Brian Mackenzie - a slideshow with punk music about the kid across the street; and In Starlight-two young lovers face an uncertain future on a blanket beneath the stars


Leaving Phoebe Drawing from J.D. Salinger's A Catcher in the Rye, this piece explores the ways in which we fit into the story of life. Are we minor or major? What influences from childhood do we bring into adulthood and which do we leave behind?


American Cake Enjoy an evening of cake and company with acclaimed soloist Jonathan Pereira as he takes a serio-comedic look at patriotism in a country of contradictions.


Where the Voice Breaks Puppets, poetry, installation, hair, memory, myth and magic are some of the themes explored and media used in the interdiscplinary "Where the Voice Breaks. Recent graduates of Columbia College Interdisciplinary Arts program collaborate on this one hour piece


The Last Corridor The Last Corridor is our opportunity to ask IT why IT seeks our attention, and examine the fear that arises when IT first permeates our awareness.


Sinister Puppetmen of the Fabrication Gallery - Tantalus Theatre A four dimensional political cartoon, poking fun at a period of fear and compacency following Sep 11th and continuing today


uberSweat – The Sweat Girls Using mind over muscle, The Sweat Girl's, Chicago's veterean monologists, return to ATC with their stand up and tell it style.


Prometheus Bound World premiere adaption of the 2500 year old mythological classic by Aeschylus dramatizes the unjust punishment of Promethus at the hands of a tyrant for the crime of giving wisdom to humans


The Cloth Exploring the personal history of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, stories of Jewish and Arab women are given voice in this newly devised movement piece


I, etcetera A fragmented theatrical experiment based on a short story by Susan Sontag which explores the personal and public manifestations of grief


Extraordinary Objects - Brad Weston The family friendly one person show is the circus of our everyday lives. Brad Weston, master juggler, performs theatrical object manipulation with regular household items. Even the kitchen sink!