rhinofest.com :: shows :: by soloist

The Flesh Market

Five of Chicago's favorite monologuists penetrate the subject of sex: cheap, loving, unwanted, unattained, and kinky. Younger or more sensitive viewers are encouraged to get over it.

Alpha-Brick

Interdisciplinary artist Julie Caffey's new solo Alpha-Brick is an elliptical abecedarian in which Caffey channels various characters who weigh in on the architecture of memory in alphabetical order. A brick music ensemble piece will punctuate the evening.

Julie Caffey has created numerous original solo and ensemble works including Simple Circulation, Sacred Geometry, Underwater Football, Alphabet-Obit, Alphabet Report and High Heeled Bricks in Chicago's hallowed fringe scene at venues including Link's Hall, Lunar Cabaret, Shattered Globe, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Terra Museum of Art, the MCA and the Prop Thtr. Caffey has an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from Columbia College Chicago and is a member of WingIt! Performance Ensemble in Oakland. An excerpt of Alpha-Brick premiered at ODC Theater in San Francisco in November 2009.

Write Club: Bare-Knuckled Literature

Two opposing ideas. Two opposing writers. Seven minutes each. Audience picks a winner. Ian Belknap will host and trade hay makers with some of Chicago's toughest writer/performers. Rhinofest will be the launch pad for this gladiatorial reading series. Join him for a card that includes two bouts: Light vs. Dark and Sex vs. Death. Each writer will be given SEVEN MINUTES EXACTLY to advance their idea/deride the opposing idea. At seven minutes, the round is over, the bell sounds and the opponent will weigh in. When both have completed their pieces, the audience will select a winner.

Write Club is the bastard son of pro wrestling and poetry slams. Write Club will splice the genes of the bad-ass and the brainiac. Write Club is what happens when the gloves come off. To the winning idea goes the glory. The losing idea gets to pick its teeth off the canvas.

I Heart Bucky and His Geodesic Dome

A very special Valentine's Day performance in three parts. Warning: this performance may contain a smoking rabbit, an existential crisis, excessive laughter, a "natural" disaster, citrus fruit, a random stranger, high school yearbooks, the origin of longing, a brain in a jar, a poem for Andy Kaufman, a dance party, a panel of experts or a 100-foot rope.

Monologue About the Monologue
Vincent Guacamole
La Dink

Solipsism cubed. A man, a woman, and the shirt that divides them. Nose whistle magic.

Two of the biggest brains in Chicago reunite to share an evening of song and performance. New ideas of what makes music theatrical, what makes theater musical.

Remembrance of Things Pontiac

Remembrance of Things Pontiac is about a late-blooming druggy teenager in Pontiac, Michigan, circa 1969-70. Caddying by day and partying by night, he dreams of going to the Goose Lake Music Festival. His dreams come true, but then something happens.... Remembrance of Things Pontiac is Kestutis Nakas' first new solo show in almost fifteen years. Come watch.

Two Story Animal

Beau tells the tale of 30-year-old Boriley, odd-headed and prone to fits of drinking; 17-year-old Anna, prone to bursts of dancing; and Keith, sullen, sleepless and full of charismastic nastiness. Over the story's three months, acid is taken, baths explored, dancing is the health plan, and art falls out on the floor. Beau does his own acting in this troubling comic monologue, with a new special guest each weekend: Barrie Cole, Vicki Walden, Cecilie O'Reilly and David Isaacson.

Barrie Cole

Performing Rock Pizza

Three new language/story pieces venturing into landscapes of going too far, the sacred and profane, and adventures in Facebook. "Chicago's champion of lyrical oddness. Unique, imaginative flair. A rich and fulfilling evening." (Justin Hayford, Chicago Reader)

David Isaacson

Performing The Current Economic Crisis
in the American Financial Sector, or:
Giacomo Casanova Explains It All for You

Horny nuns. Sleazy gambler. And credit default swaps. Theater Oobleck's David Isaacson, as the reknowned lover Casanova, takes the audience on a tour of economic calamity, from the 18th century to the present.

Mark the Encounter:
A Passion Performance in 12 Acts

A tragedy creates a crack of light, an organ donor: In his chamber, an illegitimate king plots his ascension to the throne. In a studio apartment, a black sheep mourns and celebrates the death of his favored brother. Through psychiatry, growth is detected, a fibroidal twin. A dream with J.K. Rowling: Aggressive treatment is recommended. In Mark the Encounter, Chris Sullivan creates a volatile mix of humor and darkness, sorrow and peacefulness.

I Remember Poppa

A remembrance of the Prop Thtr's patron saint Frankie Conti with Scott Vehill and special guest, Hizzoner's Neil Guintoli.