This annual showcase of experimental theater, performance, and music from Chicago’s fringe began as part of the Bucktown Arts Fest; now it’s produced by the Curious Theatre Branch. Taking its name from surrealist painter Salvador Dali’s use of the term “rhinocerontic” (it means real big), the Rhino Fest, now in its 11th year, features shows by such local notables as Theater for the Age of Gold, the Billy Goat Experiment, Blair Thomas, Antonio Sacre (now based in LA, but returning for the festival), John Musial, Michael K. Meyers, and Theater Oobleck in addition to the Curious folks.
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The Curious Theatre Branch presents Bryn Magnus’s “action play” about a test of wills between a flamboyant wrestling promoter and a do-gooder trying to legitimize the sport by making it tame. The production, a revised version of one of the troupe’s early, seminal works of more than a decade ago, features puppets and live music by “mock-rock/grunge band” Family Problem. The original show “was one of . . . Magnus’s more confused epics, [but he] has heightened the emotional reality of his main characters and toned down the assaultive energy that overwhelmed his first production,” says Reader critic Justin Hayford. Storefront Theater, 7 PM.
Monologuist Barrie Cole tries her hand at playwriting with this tale of a woman and a man whose worldviews are altered by a book on ventriloquism and a bottle of oregano respectively. Directed by Cole and Eric Ziegenhagen, the production features Julie Caffey and Doug Stapleton. “Cole [offers] an interesting meditation . . . on a couple’s relationship to each other and to reality. . . . Though the production has been well paced and thoughtfully directed, . . . ultimately the play’s comedy, insight, and two top-notch performances don’t quite come together,” says Reader critic Kelly Kleiman. Lunar Cabaret, 10 PM.
See listing for 10 PM Friday, September 15. Lunar Cabaret, 8 PM.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
