French With Me: Violent Femmes

A scene from the 2011 production of Violent Femmes.

This week, we'll be previewing the plays that make up French With Me: A Classic Affaire. First up is Violent Femmes.

Some women will go to any length to get a man's attention: buy a sexy new dress, practice their yoga moves in the hallway at work, kidnap the girl he's been dating-dating for a year and strap a bunch of dynamite to the chair she's tied up in...but even that doesn't always work.  Dating in the world of superheroes is never an easy thing. Sometimes all you can do is buy a new tin of boot wax and move on.

Originally staged in 2011, Violent Femmes is one of the "classic" pieces making a return appearance in French With Me this year. It stars Maria Burnham as Exile, Juliana Brecher as Purity Jones, Cristiana Barbatelli as Shining Star and Carrie Campana as Tassel. The play was written by Joe Janes and directed by Chad Wise.

The piece is part of French With Me: A Classic Affaire. The gala event begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at the The Charnel House in Logan Square, 3421 W Fullerton Ave., with a reception and silent auction. The performances begin at 8 p.m. with live music from Hollywood's golden age and dessert to follow.

Tickets are $25 and available at the door or in advance at Brown Paper Tickets.

Loopshop 7: Spake

We're previewing all seven of the plays featured in Loopshop 7.

Today we get a peek into Spake by David L. Williams:

A student at Cornell University is the only surviving speaker of a Russian oral language called Ujide after his entire extended family is killed at the funeral of his great-great-grandfather in Siberia when their church collapses. The only people he has left to turn to are an ex-girlfriend and a soon-to-be ex-professor at Cornell who specializes in dead languages.

The Loopshop performance of Spake is an excerpt from a full-length play by Williams, a Pennsylvania-based playwright. Directed by John Morrison, Spake stars Cristiana Barbatelli as Jessica, Michelle Pretorius as Ann and Matthew Dealy as Nicholas.

Loopshop is Chicago-based Strangeloop Theatre's annual short play and new works series. This year's production features a mix of short, original plays and scenes from full scripts in development — all from local playwrights. 

Performances for Loopshop 7 will be at 8 p.m. on Monday, July 28, and Tuesday, July 29, 2014, at Chemically Imbalanced Theatre, 1422 West Irving Park Road, Chicago. Tickets for the show are $10 and are available at the door or online at Brown Paper Tickets.