The Curious Theatre Branch’s ambitious yearly showcase of experimental theater, performance, and music from Chicago’s fringe began as part of the Bucktown Arts Fest. Over the years it’s mushroomed from a neighborhood happening to an event of citywide significance–especially now that it’s been taken under the wing of the Department of Cultural Affairs as part of a laudable effort to bring an off-off-Loop sensibility to Chicago’s downtown theater district.
The Casual Family
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Idris Goodwin’s “humorous ensemble drama,” set in a blue-collar neighborhood in a midwestern city, is performed by the Hermit theater group. “Sidewalk Etiquette . . . strives toward a gritty sort of reality with its population of street people, small-time merchants, rappers, and drifters. Although it affects one or two mildly surreal contrivances, this tale of yuppie gentrification run amok is sincere urban portraiture with a social point to make. Trouble is, that social point is undercut by Goodwin’s timid narrative,” says Reader critic Tony Adler. Curious Theatre Branch, 7 PM.
The Jazzterpiece
See review in this section. No Exit Cafe, 9:30 PM.
Vato Maldito
