French With Me 6: The Inexhaustible, Unpredictable, Amaranthine Shadow Circus

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages! Welcome to the Inexhaustible, Unpredictable, Amaranthine Shadow Circus. Prepare to be amazed, astounded, mesmerized! 

Here at the circus that always was and always will be, two people walk a dangerous tightrope known as love. Haunted by the circus itself, Edgar (Tim Lee) discovers that to win his beloved's heart, he only has to give up his soul.

Created by Strangeloop Company Member Maria Burnham, The Inexhaustible, Unpredictable, Amaranthine Shadow Circus is: The Ringmistress (Stefanie Johnsen); The Enchanting Empress of Elevation, Eliana (Ellen DeSitter); The Great Bela Ignato (Brian Rohde); The White Clown (Richie Schiraldi); The Red Clown (Orion Lay-sleeper), The Black Clown (Nicole Jordan) and The Clown Possibly Not Appearing In This Production (Casey Kells).

The circus rolls into town as part of French With Me 6: Le Salon at 8 p.m. on Saturday, February 13, at Vagabond School of the Arts (4001 N Ravenswood Ave #504, Chicago, IL 60613). Tickets are $25 in advance or at the door, and are available now through Brown Paper Tickets.  

Strangeloop Season 8 Announced

For those of you who missed the announcement during this summer's Loopshop, Strangeloop has announced our 8th Season lineup. See below for details. And keep your eye out for our fall fundraiser fete.

The 2015-2016 Strangeloop Season

July

Loopshop 8: The company’s annual short play and new works series, with five pieces from up-and-coming playwrights, each performed both nights of this two-night run. This year's production features an array of bite-sized plays on topics ranging from Swedish furniture to time travel.

December

Krampus!: A holiday-themed show written by Company Member Jaclyn Jensen and resident graphic designer Mike Wozniak. It's not enough that a family has to deal with the usual drama that comes with Christmas, but the Murray family has to do it in the isolation of a cabin in the woods, during a snow storm with a holiday devil running amok and only some peppermint schnaps to get them through it.

 

 

February

French With Me: Our popular gala affair returns, revamped and refilled with love — just in time for Valentine’s Day.

 

 Spring 2016

Mήτερα (Mitera): Three, single sisters have their lives turned upside down when they find out their Greek mother is still micromanaging their lives from beyond the grave. Written by Company Member Maria Burnham, Mitera pokes and prods the boundaries of family loyalty and examines the idea that sometimes the people we’ve known our entire lives are the people we know the least.

Thank you from Strangeloop

Thank you to everyone who made it out to French With Me: A Classic Affaire. We had a lot of fun with all of you and the tubas (if you are wondering what that means, you weren't there and we feel very sad for you).

We'd especially like to thank our event sponsors: Finch's Beer Company, Honey Baby Bakery, 525 Executive Sweets and Cafe Bella.

We'd also like to thank our auction donors: Sarah Satre De Reyes at Salon 833, The Mistress, Second City, MAKA Designs, M Henry, Albina Tritina, Universal Wellness Source, Bollywood Groove, Sweets by Meghan McClure, Good & Honest Natural Soaps, Jaclyn Garland, Your Edible Backyard, The Burlington, Starbucks Coffee, Adriatic Cafe and New England Seafood Company.

And thanks to all our volunteers who helped things run smoothly and all the actors, directors, writers and musicians (We're looking at you, Aces of Basses: William Russell, Aden Beery, Ben Darneille and Chris Smith!) who donated their time to put on such a successful event.

If you missed our fundraising gala, but would still like to donate you can do so through our website,  strangelooptheatre.org. Simply click on the donation button and you'll be able to set up the amount you wish to give. Or you can do it the old-fashioned way by sending us a check to made out to "Strangeloop Theatre, NFP" to 2616 N. Spaulding Ave. #2, Chicago, IL 60647.

*Photos from French With Me: A Classic Affair by Jaclyn Garland

French With Me: French With Me (A Mime Love Story)

Mimes in love from 2014's French With Me: French Quarter. 

An inept, but beautiful mime enlists the help of a briliant and charismatic (but nasally afflicted) Mime Master to help her woo a handsome, intellectual mime with whom she has fallen in love. But the Mime Master has her work cut out for her! Further complicating matters, the Mime Master is secretly in love with the mime she's been taxed with helping woo. How will tale of unrequited love, love at first site and love of mime end?

French With Me (A Mime Love Story in Six Parts) stars Enan Heneghan and Stefanie Johnsen as Mimes 1 and 2 and Jean E. Burr as the Mime Master. The piece was conceived and directed by Strangeloop Company Member Maria Burnham.

The title 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.

French With Me: Married Bliss

A woman finds herself unable to cheat on her husband even in her dreams — even when the other man is George Clooney. The less-than-satisfactory dream leads to a less-than-satisfactory answer to the real question of "do you think you could be unfaithful?"

Married Bliss stars Strangeloop Associate Company Member Allison McCorkle as Sylvia and Ben Campana as Ryan. The play was written by Jean Koppen and is directed by James Sparling.

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.

French With Me: OK Stupid

OK Stupid, originally staged in 2013, returns to French With Me.

On the advice of her roommate, Maggie reluctantly joins an online dating service and preceeds to go on a series of increasingly bad dates, which culminate with one guy almost dying. But surprising things can come from the shared experience of near death and bad dates.

OK Stupid stars Maggie Gottlieb as Amy, Bobby Hoffman as Patrick, Charlie Madsen as Mark/Ralph and Noah Applebaum as Pete. The play was written by Strangeloop Co-Artistic Director Letitia Guillaud and is directed by Jessica Kent.

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.

French With Me: Purple Girl Faces Reality

Relationships make people forget about friendships all the time. But what if that friendship is the only thing that makes you visible in the real world? Literally. Lenna has one person who can see her and now she's seeing someone else...

Purple Girl Faces Reality stars Kara Charlton as Lenna and Renee Lynn Jackson as Julie. The play was written by Strangeloop Company Member Keith Gatchel and is directed by Dante Charlton.

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.

French With Me: Kitchen Sink Drama

If you think finding true love is hard when you're a healthy, human male walking around on two feet, imagine how hard it is when you're a dirty knife in a sink with a sponge as your matchmaker.

Kitchen Sink Drama stars Max Ryan as Sponge, Ken Miller as Knife and Melanie Kibbler as Fork. The play was written by Seattle-based playwright John C. Davenport and is directed by Kit Ryan.

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.

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.

French With Us again this year

Poster design by Mike Wozniak

Strangeloop presents 'French With Me 5' on Feb. 10

Strangeloop Theatre is back in February with French With Me, our fifth annual musings on love presented in vignette form just in time for Valentine's Day. 

The gala event will feature short original works by up-and-coming playwrights including our ever-popular mime romance storyline, and it showcases the amazing talents of Chicago storefront actors and directors. This year, we add un peu de romantisme to the romance for French With Me 5: A Classic Affaire.

This year's pieces include a mix of old favorites (it is a CLASSIC affaire after all) and new works:

• French With Me conceived and directed by Maria Burnham*
• Purple Girl Faces Reality by Keith Gatchel*; directed by Dante Charlton
• OK Stupid by Letitia Guillaud*; directed by Jessica Kent
• Violent Femmes by Joe Janes; directed by Chad Wise
• Married Bliss by Jean Koppen; directed by James Sparling
• Kitchen Sink Drama by John C. Davenport; directed by Kit Ryan

Join us at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at the The Charnel House in Logan Square, 3421 W Fullerton Ave. in Chicago, for a reception with food, drink and a silent auction. The performances begin at 8 p.m. with live music from Hollywood's golden age and dessert to follow. 

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

*Denotes Strangeloop Company Member