This self-styled “convergence of Chicago artists,” running through April 26, is presented by Performing Arts Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Boasting Chicago first lady Maggie Daley as honorary chair, the avant-garde festival features more than 100 multidisciplinary presentations. All shows take place at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport; the sprawling arts complex is a hive of activity, with simultaneous performances and installations in its four studio theaters as well as lounges, hallways, stairwells, and other spaces. The fest also includes workshops and panels with participating artists at other venues as shown below. Prices for individual events range from $5 to $15, though workshops generally cost more and some events and installations are free; see listings for details. For tickets and more information, and to register for workshops, call Performing Arts Chicago at 773-722-5463. Tickets can also be purchased through Ticketmaster by calling 312-902-1500 or logging on to www.ticketmaster.com.
Sandra Binion’s video installation re-creates the sights and sounds of Venice. Athenaeum stairwell. 7-11 PM; free.
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The Curious Theatre Branch presents a double bill of world premieres. “The fourth in a series of ‘parables’ created since 1987 by Curious cofounders Jenny Magnus and Beau O’Reilly, [Chumpstrap] juxtaposes his relatively unadorned storytelling with her sly musical accompaniment. . . . O’Reilly tells of his struggles to fit into two male enclaves: first as a kid alongside his older, more athletic, more ‘boylike’ brothers, . . . and second as an adult with a pair of fearless, hard-drinking professional movers. . . . An imposing figure known for his larger-than-life performances, O’Reilly here adopts a quiet, gentle persona that lends his uncharacteristically bare-bones stories a refreshing naivete. . . . Chumpstrap is paired with a brief ensemble piece, Refracting Rainbows, created and performed by Marianne Fieber and KellyAnn Corcoran. While they talk and sing about the losses they’ve suffered . . . a choruslike trio of women play various incidental roles. [The] text is pared to the barest essentials. As a result some sections feel sketchy, but others have a poetic resonance,” says Reader critic Justin Hayford. Athenaeum Studio 2. 7:30 PM; $15.
500 Clown Frankenstein
Theater Oobleck presents Mickle Maher’s new reworking of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. “Various schools have viewed The Tempest as an allegory of the end of the Renaissance, the dawn of colonialism, and Shakespeare’s own artistic twilight. Oobleck’s treatment is largely tangential to the play, yet . . . Maher has homed in on a central theme often overlooked: the destruction of identity by time. In a twist on Maher’s signature narrated method, the history of Prospero’s isle following his return to Milan is recounted by 12 of his spirits, recast as superheroes defending Fathomtown, the nightmarish marine city built by Ariel and Caliban in the old man’s wake. When the spirits finally defeat Caliban . . . they attempt a celebratory production of The Tempest. . . . Somehow the spirits’ production is a success–though Ariel is nearly laughed off the stage. Apparently unable to play himself, his crisis of confidence lies at the heart of Maher’s wry drama; if The Tempest is a magician’s farewell to his hall of mirrors, Spirits to Enforce depicts . . . the slow decay of echo and reflection into nothingness. Guy Massey is marvelous as the wistful Ariel, and the other performers–undirected as always, here a supreme irony–aren’t far behind,” says Reader critic Brian Nemtusak. Athenaeum Lookingglass Theatre Company space. 8 PM; $15.
Lucky Pierre performs its response to the car chase from the 1968 movie Bullitt. “With trademark deadpan candor, the five performers spend the first third of the piece alternately scouring their memories for highway adventures–memories that continually morph into cinematic tropes–and chanting enthusiastic litanies of obscenities like doltish frat boys. Gradually these two strains converge; as the performers assemble into a panel to pick apart the Bullitt chase scene shot by shot . . . it’s clear that their ‘memories’ all come from the movie itself. It also becomes apparent that this classic car chase represents the destruction of the original Christian paradise (or ‘the incursion of the machine into the pastoral,’ as the mock panelists put it), leading the performers to manufacture their own Eden complete with inflatable plastic flowers and a Backstreet Boys sound track. The subtle religiosity of the work is ingeniously enhanced by Jeffrey Kowalkowski’s score. . . . With its intricate structure and perfectly articulated arc, How to Manage Fear is about as close as you can get to performance-art heaven,” said Reader critic Justin Hayford of the show’s original run last year. Athenaeum Studio 1. 9:30 PM; $15.
SATURDAY, APRIL 19
