Strangeloop proud to help support Center on Halsted

Strangeloop Theatre is proud to support Center on Halsted, the Midwest's most comprehensive community center dedicated to advancing community and securing the health and well-being of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) people of Chicagoland.

We will be collecting donations during the run of Mitera to support this important organization that provide a safe and welcoming environment with programs and services for the entire community.

Programs range from volleyball, dance performances and cooking classes to rapid HIV testing, group therapy and vocational training. Center on Halsted also serves as an incubator for a number of smaller LGBTQ non-profit organizations. The Center provides operational support, space and resources for organizations that may otherwise find it difficult to interact and grow.

Please email us at loop@strangelooptheatre.org, visit our box office, or talk with any Strangeloop member to learn how you can give. ‪

French With Me 6: Spotlight on Chef Thom Ramirez

Strangeloop is excited to have Chef Thom Ramirez as our French With Me food sponsor! Chef Ramirez has some delectable dishes in store for attendees.

A Chicago native and graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, Ramirez is the executive chef of Four Star Lounge in Lincoln Park and is the executive chef and owner of Chef Thom's Custom Catering.

He is bringing his specialty in upscale urban food to our revamped gala, which will weave the intimate storytelling of Strangeloop seamlessly around the creative cuisine of Chef Ramirez.

French With Me 6: Le Salon takes place 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.

We are elated to have this rising star of the Chicago culinary world join us for French With Me. Come sample his delicious dishes and start your new love affair with food. What you and your hors d'oeuvre do in the dark corners of Vagabond is entire up to you... 

Season 8 fundraiser wrapping up

We are winding up our fundraising campaign for Season 8 next week. This entire season we are focused only on new works, which while exciting are always a challenge to produce and market effectively. Known plays come with a built-in audience, but new plays by unknown or lesser-known playwrights require a bigger leap of faith on the part of companies to produces. But if no one produces these new works, how will your next new favorite play ever be seen?

Help us uncover these hidden gems by supporting their productions. Learn more about our season here and more about our development process here. We chatted with playwright Maria Burnham last weeks to learn more about her play Mitera, which will be our spring mainstage show. Read her interview here and watch a video about her inspiration for the show below.

Thanks to all who attended our 7th Anniversary Party & Karaoke Fundraiser! (There's still time to donate)

A big thank you to everyone who attended our 7th Anniversary Party and Karaoke Fundraiser on Saturday, October 17. We packed the basement of Matilda's in Lakeview and a rockin' time was had by all!

Santa and Krampus were there, as well as a Greek fortune teller reading coffee grounds. There were raffle gifts galore, readings of a few of our 5-Minute Plays written for donors, a preview of our holiday show Krampus! and, of course, karaoke — including a rousing rendition of Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have Fun by our co-Artistic Director Brad Gunter and Company Member Michael Wagman.

If you missed the fun, or just want to relive the evening, a photo gallery of the happenings can be found here. Tag yourself or add your own photos to our Facebook page.

If you weren't able to attend, but still want to help support Strangeloop's 8th Season, there's still time to donate to our Kickstarter campaign. Maybe you attended, saw the 5-Minute Plays or had some biscotti and want more. Both are rewards for donors. Enjoyed that sneak peek at Krampus! and want to pick the brains of its creators over drinks? That's a reward too.

In addition, we have a matching donation challenge from a donor, who wishes to remain anonymous. Our donor is matching every dollar we receive up to $600 beginning now. Help us double your dollars by donating through October 28. And Strangeloop is a 401(c)3 non-profit organization, so your donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

Let's carry the fun throughout the 2015-2016 season!

Mother always knows best...even after she's dead

Strangeloop is in the middle of a capital campaign to raise funds for our 8th Season. Your donations will help support new and exciting works like Mitera — Strangeloop's mainstage production, which will go up in the spring of 2016. We recently sat down with playwright Maria Burnham to chat about her inspiration for the play.

What is Mitera about? Mitera is the story of three, single adult sisters who live at home and have their lives turned upside down when they find out their mother is still micromanaging their lives from beyond the grave. As the play begins, they discover their mother has left their entire inheritance contingent on the youngest sister marrying within a year of her death, otherwise everything goes to their oldest male relative in Greece. But the youngest sister is an unattached romantic who believes in marrying for love.

What does Mitera mean? Mitera, or (ἡ) Mητέρα, means mother in Greek.

Where did you get the idea for this story? There were several different things going on when I decided to write this piece. One was simply that I wanted to write roles for Greek-American actresses because that’s not something that exists. We play a lot of other ethnic groups that are more prevalent in theater – Italian, French, various Middle Eastern nationalities. I have no idea if Greek-American actresses will be cast in these roles, but I wanted to create that opportunity. Then when I started thinking about the actual story that I wanted to write, I kept coming back to my own mother and her desperate desire that my brother or I get married and produce some grandchildren. I wanted to explore how far a mother might go to force that desire onto her children.

Is this a story that will be relatable to people who aren’t Greek? Ultimately it is a story about love. Love between family members, the things people do for love, the bad choices people make in the name of love, the ridiculous lengths we go to out of love. That’s what makes all stories relatable regardless of setting. Audiences relate to Les Miserables despite having no firsthand experience with the French Revolution. It’s not the trappings of a play that make a story compelling or interesting to an audience, it’s the heart of the story being told.  


Can a Greek story be told without a wedding? Ha ha ha! Yes. I’m sure it’s possible, but ceremony and celebrations are a huge part of Greek life, and so it feels like there is always a wedding on the horizon. It seems like for most of my life there’s been talk of someone getting married or babies being baptized or someone’s funeral or memorial service…every time I talk to my parents I get the update on all these points from back home. 

And back home is? Jackson, Mississippi. It’s probably not the first place that pops to mind when people think of Greek-American communities, but there is a small Greek community there with ties to the larger Greek communities in Memphis and New Orleans. You can find us everywhere. 

Because everywhere needs diners? You joke, but that’s pretty true. 

So is this play influenced by your own life? In some ways, yes. I’d say the larger world I’ve set this in is most influence by my own life. The sisters in this play grew up in an insular community, like we have in Jackson, where everyone knows everyone else’s business – where people can be friendly to you, even as they are gossiping about you behind your backs. They are half Greek, like me, which makes you an outsider to two difference communities. Character-wise, Sharon, the youngest sister’s godmother, is definitely modeled on my own godmother, and the Greek cousin has shades of my oldest male cousin back in Greece – though Adonis is not quite as nefarious as Demitrios. The sisters, though, are not based on anyone. They just sort of sprung to life on their own.

Do you want to explain the photograph that is accompanying this interview? That is the playwright at the tender young age of 4 being forced to recite something at a Greek Independence Day celebration at my church. It’s probably the least humiliating of the things Maria was made to do as a child to celebrate her Greek heritage. Most of the others involved funny hats.   

What can people do to support this production? We can always use help raising awareness of the productions we mount. More immediately we have a fundraising campaign going on that will help pay for rehearsal and performance space rentals and costuming, set and prop needs. It’s not a play with a lot of spectacle, but it still costs money to produce. We have a karaoke fundraising party coming up on Saturday, October 17, at Matilda’s in Lakeview. It’ll be a lot of fun and I’ll be there reading futures in coffee grounds if you want a glimpse into one of the more bizarre Greek customs. Plus, of course, karaoke. But if people can’t make that, we also have a Kickstarter campaign going on through October. You can help us out from the comfort of your own home.

Come a little closer...The Krampus is waiting for you

October is a spooky time of year. Ghouls and goblins come out to play. Cold winds blow in. Drunk football fans spill out of bars. And Strangeloop is deep into planning for our upcoming production, Krampus! But this devil isn't meant for Halloween. Oh no. This Christmas demon is as old as Saint Nick himself.

Strangeloop recently sat down with playwrights Jaclyn Jensen and Mike Wozniak to learn a little more about Krampus — the tradition and the script.

Who is Krampus?

Mike: Krampus is the bad cop to St. Nicholas' good cop. He began as an Austrian-German folk tale to frighten children into being good.

Jaclyn: As far as being Santa’s counterpart - You don’t get coal in your stocking if you’ve been naughty. Krampus comes for you if you’ve been naughty. From the lore, he would chain up the naughty children and beat them with reeds. Or put them in a burlap sack to toss in a river and drown them. It’s pretty dark.

Why Krampus and why now?

M: It started with the Christmas song It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. A few years ago I noticed the lyric: “There'll be scary ghost stories, and tales of the glories of the Christmases long, long ago”. Since we love ghost stories, I wanted to know where that came from, and how we could incorporate it into our holidays. Turns out it was a Victorian tradition to tell ghost stories. But when looking for that, I rediscovered Krampus.

J: I seriously didn’t know that until now. That’s awesome.

Where did you get the idea for this script?

J: Mike is the one who introduced me to Krampus. He’s a natural storyteller and always has ideas for great stories. He actually had several other possible Krampus plotlines in mind, including some really complicated period pieces. But we decided we wanted to explore the idea of Krampus terrorizing one family that could be just like ours.

M: We combined a lot of ideas. A story my third grade teacher Sister Clarissa told me, and a lot of campy horror movies, like the Evil Dead series.

Tell us about your love of horror?

J: Some of my earliest movie memories are horror movies. I was raised on it. And I actually find that the older I get, the more horror movies scare me. I love being scared. Haunted places, ghost stories, all of it.

M: I’ve always watched horror movies on Halloween as far back as I can remember. And much to my mother’s chagrin, my grandmother told me ghost stories growing up.

What was the most difficult part about writing this script?

M: For me, it was paring down ideas. I kept bombarding Jackie with ideas, and she’d have to edit me so that we could have a manageable number of things happening.

J: There were lots of difficult parts. But I would say writing actual scary moments was the hardest part. We had a lot of funny ideas, but we hope to actually scare people.

What other writing have you done? 

J: I had a few random projects from when I was a student in high school and college. And I did a bit of sketch writing when I first moved out to Chicago, to try to bring some of my own ideas in to a troupe I was performing with. But my writing projects prior to Krampus! were always “assignments”, and not something I wanted to do for me. I really enjoyed writing this, and Mike was a great writing partner. 

M: Other than helping out a bit on TV and web spots for work, I haven’t done much.

Is this a play that non-horror fans would enjoy?

J: I think so! There is a lot of humor as well, and I think everyone will be able to find characters and moments to identify with.

M: It has something from everyone. To paraphrase Bill Murray, it’s a meatloaf of a play.

What can people do to support this production?

J: So many things – We’ve got a fundraiser party coming up at Matilda’s on October 17th, and a Kickstarter campaign going on right now. Helping fund this project would be a huge help to make sure we can afford to give audiences a proper scare.

M: Come see it as many times as you can, and tell your friends.

What else would you like people to know about this play?

J: There is so much more to know about Krampus than can fit in one play. There is SO much lore that is very interesting. So learn more about Krampus. There are tons of Krampus stories, books, and movies – and every story will be unique.

M: It’s the dark side of Christmas, and we want you to discover it.

Help support Krampus! and all of the unique and original programming that will make up Strangeloop's 8th Season. Come party with us at our Seventh Anniversary Party and Fundraiser, 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, October 17, at babyATLAS (Matilda’s downstairs room), located at 3101 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago, IL 60657. Admission is $10. OR, consider a donation of any amount here, and take home some sweet or scary gifts.

Kickstart Your Heart with our karaoke fundraiser!

Come and sing your hearts out on Saturday, October 17, as Strangeloop hosts a karaoke fundraiser in honor of our seventh anniversary in the downstairs room at Matilda’s.

Your $10 gets you into the event at babyAtlas where you can wow us all with your singing talent and get discovered by The Voice and American Idol!* Karaoke is free with entry, but all the money, including tips, goes to support Strangeloop’s 8th Season. So tip freely! Don’t want to sing, but enjoy the public humiliation of others? For an additional $10 you can select a Strangeloop Company Member to sing a song of your choosing.

Karaoke not your thing? That’s OK, we’ve got a lot more to tempt you to a not-at-all creepy basement in Lakeview where, for example, you can get your photo taken with Krampus or Santa. Like we said, NOT AT ALL CREEPY.

In addition to Krampus (representing our holiday show of the same name), we’ll have a Greek fortune teller reading your coffee grounds (representing our spring show Mitera) and a whole lot of raffle love (representing our Valentine’s Day show – OK that was a bit of a stretch, but it’s a party, just roll with it). Come and mingle with our company members and our artistic collaborators, enjoy drink specials and learn more about our upcoming season.

Our Seventh Anniversary Party and Fundraiser takes place 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, October 17, 2015, at babyATLAS (Matilda’s downstairs room), located at 3101 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago, IL 60657. Admission is $10.

Along with the fundraising party we are running a Kickstarter campaign. Anyone donating more than $10 before October 17 will get free admission to the party. Anyone donating $100 or more will have a five-minute play written about them. And if you donate before October 17, that play will also get a staged reading at the party. There are a ton of other reward levels filled with a variety of season-related gifts.

This online fundraiser runs through the end of October, so if you can’t make the in-person event, you can still help us in our pursuit of the undiscovered.

*These statements are completely fabricated and not likely to happen, and also do not reflect the opinions of Strangeloop Theatre or its individual company members.

Save the Date! HamBingo at Hamburger Mary's

Join Strangeloop at HamBINGO on Sunday, April 19, for fun and frivolity. HamBINGO is Hamburger Mary's weekly charity event that benefits a different nonprofit every week.

Hosted by drag diva Velicity Metropolis, it is an evening of raunchy fun with drink specials and ridiculous prizes. Your $15 donation will help Strangeloop fund programing throughout the year.

The bingo starts at 8 p.m. See you there! Hamburger Mary's is located in the heart of Andersonville, 5400 N. Clark St., Chicago.

http://hamburgermarys.com/chicago/bingo/

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