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.

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

Laissez les bons temps rouler

Romance and roux: Love comes a little early this year in Strangeloop Theatre's annual production, French With Me, which takes place Tuesday, February 11, at Signal Ensemble Theatre. The gala-style event features a series of vignettes written by up-and-coming playwrights that center around the theme of love. This year’s production – our fourth – takes on a New Orleans flavor in French With Me 4: French Quarter. The mimes are back again and this year finds them wandering around the French Quarter in their continuing story of love and loss and love again. In addition, the stories include a romance that buds outside a gender reveal party, the awkwardness of first dates and a husband and wife who fall in love with their own reflections. French With Me 4: French Quarter is: Cold Lonely Gaze written by Anthony Ellison; directed by Letitia Guillaud and featuring Peter Robards, Tyler Samples, Ashley Thornton and Michael Houghton Wagman A Date With the Weird written by Keith Gatchel; directed by Zack Florent and featuring Katie Galan, Adrienne Matzen and Mike Mazzocca French With Me conceived and directed by Maria Burnham and featuring Tim Lee and Holly Robison Hey, Good Lookin' written by Rich Orloff; directed by Josh Johnson and featuring Carrie Campana, Rob Grabowski and Dennis Schnell Kieran written by Michael Houghton Wagman; directed by Ben Campana and featuring Maria Burnham and Ken Miller Podemos? written by Georgia Knapp; directed by Juan Castaneda and featuring Gina Laguzza and Sally Wippman The reception begins at 7 p.m. with performances beginning at 8 p.m. Live music will follow from Big Dixie & The Pelican Whisperers, a local Dixieland band featuring the talents of Corbin Andrick on woodwinds, Joe Clark on trumpet, Jeff Livorsi on trombone, William Russell on tuba and David Agee on drums. Signal Ensemble Theatre is located at 1802 W. Berenice Avenue in Chicago. Tickets are $20 and still available at Brown Paper Tickets