Conjured Worlds/ Embodied Terrain; Embodied Composition: movement theatre laboratory

Above an example of a score for a work in progress by the Lisa Fay and Jeff Glassman Duo, who bring a wealth of experience and years of practice in a number of crafts together to lend a seldom seen virtuosity of composition and execution of movement based performances.  A delight leading audiences to euphoric participation in their taking apart "natural looking" behavior and what follows in a moment - subjecting these to contortions, subversions and convolutions, letting 'what's natural' show its socially constructed fa(r)ce.

"...dazzling sophistication, virtuoso level of characterization..." wrote Kyle Gann in The Village Voice


Lisa Fay and Jeff Glassman Duo
A composing and performing movement based theatre duo since 1991, who apply composed structures to ordinary human behavior. Contradictions play out with an air of stubborn continuity.

LINKS HALL has joined with the Prop Thtr to offer two extraordinary workshops led by this Duo, a valuable opportunity to experience the well founded craft they have refined:

1. Conjured Worlds/ Embodied Terrain, a one day workshop on Saturday October 1st which introduces both their compositional and their performance work. They will demonstrate and then allow participants to experiment with, the relationship between score, performer and audience.  Compositional propositions (conjured worlds) and performance techniques (embodied terrain) will coax forth new ground for live performance and present challenges to the performing body.  This workshop is open to all.  Materials provided.  


2. Embodied Composition: movement theatre laboratory, Oct 4th-8th is an intensive which immerses participants in an experimental movement theatre laboratory.  The work is meticulous while open to surprises, counter-intuitively small, analogue, acoustic and on a fine scale - leading to performance pieces by the participants best seen in intimate settings -like that of Links Hall - where what seems impossible, is undeniably live.  Composition and timing of each frame is needed for the whole to work, like with animation.  Then those will be developed into movement theatre pieces: embodied composition.  Participants should be ready for a rigorous hands-on compositional laboratory with an emphasis on the performance of laboratory generated work.  This workshop will culminate in an open performance at Links Hall on October 8th.

See The Lisa Fay and Jeff Glassman Duo perform from their repertoire at the Prop Thtr, 8pm Thursday, September 29th, Friday, September 30th and Saturday, October 1st.  $15 or pay what you can! 

"Surreal Vaudeville, Lisa Fay 

and Jeff Glassman belong in 

some kind of genius category.

One is reminded of silent film

comedians and European circus

clowns, who hone their material

to its essence"

                               David Cuthbert 

                              New Orleans Times-Picayune 

www.lisafayandjeffglassmanduo.org
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October 8th at 10:30pm Prop Thtr presents the second of four nights honoring and looking at the video, film, painting, graphic, photographic work of Tom Pallazzolo, our Lolapalooza. Our lobby is at its historic finest as a gallery of his work and we will show his media work that Saturday night as well as the second Saturdays of November and December.  A gifted Chicago Artist!

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Our October guest Company: the Consortium Project with Den Of Thieves:

What: Den of Thieves 

Why: Maggie is a newly single, junk-food-binging shoplifter looking to change her life and herself-hating ways. Paul is her passionately convicted, formerly four-hundred-poundcompulsive-overeating sponsor in a twelve-step program for recovering thieves. Maggie's jealousex-boyfriend is a charismatic wannabe Puerto Rican small-time thief of uncertain ancestry namedFlaco who spins a grammatically challenged but persuasive yarn about seven hundred and fiftythousand dollars in unprotected drug money sitting in a safe in a downtown disco guarded by aneasily distracted crackhead. This dubious and ragtag would-be criminal crew is rounded out byFlaco's new girlfriend, the fabulous Boochiea malaprop-slinging topless dancer who refuses to lether troubled childhood or her third-grade reading level stand in the way of her inevitable path tofame, fortune and fur. When things don't quite go according to plan, this bickering quartet ofhapless thieves finds themselves at the mercy of Louie "The Little Tuna" Pescatore, a reluctant,

donut-ingesting heir to the criminal empire run by his father"The Big Tuna"who has left him incharge for the weekend. The penalty for stealing from the Tuna is death"Ba Da Bing, Ba Da Boom." ButLouie offers them a break: "I need one body and three thumbs, you can choose the who, whys andwherefores among yourselves." Tied to chairs and able to move only their mouths, they must now fightfor their lives by out-arguing each other as to who deserves to live. Verbal gymnastics and thestruggle for self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-love produce a high-octane battle for survivalthat's not resolved until the last donut falls. - Dramatist Play Service, Inc. 

When: Oct 06, 2011 8:00 PM - Oct 23, 2011 2:00 PM 

Where: Prop Theatre, 3502 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL 

Followed by: Point Of Contention's   "All The Girls Love Bobby Kennedy"  look out for that opening Friday October 28th!

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Coming in 2012:  The longest running fringe festival in Chicago, January 13th - February 12th, 2012.

rhinofest.com

Coming January 13th - - February 12th, 2012

Arizona: No Roosters In the Desert

The highlight of our 30th season, by Kara Hartzler (based upon interviews compiled by Anna Ochoa O'Leary):

In this riveting new American play, four women trek the desert toward the American dream. On their way they push the limits of their physical and emotional endurance, and they establish profound yet fragile connections with each other through the magical storytelling of the youngest of them, an indigenous woman from Chiapas.

we were part of pushing through this controversial first time, the National New Play Network lent its support to a play that, itself, has crossed borders!  A rolling world premier from El Circulo Teatro in Mexico City through Borderlands Theater in Tuscon, Arizona to Chicago - here produced locally with a stellar cast directed by Tanya Saracho (whose wonderful new play, "El Nogalar" is featured at the Goodman's Owen Theater in a Teatro Vista production)- where it will open April 28th (with special previews April 23rd - April 25th at 8pm!) and run through Cinco de Mayo till May 29th!

 A small excerpt from dramaturg Jessica Kadish's work:

"BASIC POLITICAL BACKGROUND - SOUTHWEST BORDER STRATEGY

Cross-referencing a bunch of sources, it's clear that the desert journey takes about 3-4 days through the path that we're looking at. This path seems to be a pretty historically specific one - developed by the Southwest Border Strategy implemented in the early-mid '90s. According to O'Leary's research (which inspired Hartzler's writing), it started in 1993 with Operation Hold The Line (Texas), and continued with Operation Gatekeeper (California in 1994) and Operation Safeguard (Arizona in 1995). This plan has caused major crackdowns on all major border-crossing centers, which is what forces people into the more remote desert areas to make the crossing.

OPERATION SAFEGUARD
-happened last in the sequence because with the success on crackdowns in El Paso and San Diego, migration traffic shifted to Nogales/Tucson. Operation Safeguard was implemented to address that traffic shift.
-new fence built near Nogales
-more border agents assigned to the Tucson region
-government report released 1995 calls it "Biggest Increase Ever" in sending agents to the AZ border (http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/Pre_96/January95/7.txt.html)

It's more dangerous now to cross the border than it used to be - about 200 bodies are found each year (npr.org) regardless of policy shifts. And even though the number of successful crossings is down, this 200-figure is staying the same - which means that a higher percentage of people aren't surviving the journey. Different numbers of deaths come from different sources, though. La Jornada de Michoacán writes that 2 people die every day...which would mean over 700 deaths per year...perhaps this number includes more than just bodies that are found in the desert. (http://www.lajornadamichoacan.com.mx/2010/10/01/index.php?section=municipios&article=013n3mun)

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In June Prop Thtr will host two very special events which highlight our special devotion to expanding the offer of performance beyond our new play specialty:  The first weekend of June,

The Carnival Of Curiosity & Chaos 

produced by Prop Thtr favorite: Artist Tom Hill

"A Tantalizing Spectacle Featuring Acts By: Tom Hill, Jeffrey Pressley, Ammu Nition, Jen Dollface, & Danielle Forrest. They Are Prodigies of Physical Phenomena and Great Presentation of Marvelous Living Human Curiosities.

This 2 Hour Freak Show Demonstrates Acts of: Underwater Escape, Block Head, Trapeze, Burlesque, Fetish Play, Bed of Nails, Sword Play, Poi, Piercings & Brandings, Glass Walking, Belly Dancing, Aerial Chain, Suspended Straightjacket Escape, The Iron Stomach, Sword Swallowing, Hot Coal Walking, Contortionism, Handcuff & Chain Escapes, Adagio, Human Pin Cushion, Tattooed Men & Women, Snake Charmer, and Much More…

The Freaks Display Their Acts For Peoples’ Unquenchable Curiosity For The Outlandish And The Unknown. 

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/139761

www.artisttomhill.com


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The second weekend of June, we are privileged to welcome our mates of yesteryear's Chicago "Practical Theatre"  Victoria Zielinski and Paul Barrosse with their hit L.A. Cabaret show, "The Vic and Paul Show" :

After a 22-year absence from the Chicago stage, Paul Barrosse and Victoria Zielinski, veterans of The Practical Theatre Company, are bringing “The Vic & Paul Show”, their original two-person comedy revue, to The Prop Theatre from June 9-12.

After raising three kids “from diapers to diplomas,” Vic & Paul are back to doing what they were doing before they got married: performing sophisticated comedy sketches and musical numbers in an intimate theatrical setting.

“The Vic & Paul Show” is “An Evening of Comedy, Music, Marriage & Martinis.” It’s somewhere between Nick & Nora and Nichols & May (if those famous couples were over-50 parents with grown-up kids).

Vic & Paul will be joined at The Prop by their musical director, Chicago area Emmy-winner Steve Rashid. Chicago native Shelly Goldstein directed the show.

There will be one preview performance on Thursday, June 9th at 8:00 pm. (Tickets $10.)

Shows are Friday June 10th at 8:00 pm ($20), Saturday June 11th at 8:00 pm ($20), Sunday, June 12th at 2:00 pm ($15) and at 7:00 pm ($20).

For Reservations go to: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/169351


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Join young bands doing good and playing well and artists raffling original art this Sunday APRIL !0th in a benfit for Japan:  http://on.fb.me/hUkkFK

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And, LollaPallazollo! in July, the largest gathering ever of Chicago's Tom Pallazollo's films in one place.  More about that, about Brecht's "Drums In the Night", about Burrough's  "The Last Words Of Dutch Schultz" and lots, yeah lots, more.

Please Visit Prop Thtr this 30th Season and be part of the shows, always live, always really here, always a fresh breath of non-digital entertainment!