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.

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.

Strangeloop gets all Dolled up for Fight Night: X this Friday!

This Friday at the Mayne Stage in Rogers Park, Strangeloop brings it darkly humorous tale of violent sex and silicone to Nothing Special Production's Fight Night: X.


A collector of sex dolls brings his new acquisition home, but too late finds out she isn't quite like the rest. With the help of her glassy-eyed sisters, she exacts her revenge on the man who would keep her on a shelf.  

Doll, written and directed by Company Member Maria Burnham, stars Artistic Associates Jean E. Burr and Miona Lee, as well as guest artists Grace DeSant and Nora Lise Ulrey as the Dolls and Mark Edward Penzien as the collector. The piece is co-directed by Artistic Associate John Morrison. Violence is designed by Artistic Associate Justin Martin Fill. The fight captain is Mark Edward Penzien.


Fight Night is a one-night, violent cabaret celebrating the art of stage combat through original storytelling and violence design. Fight Night: X is a night of theatrical violence. No theme, no rules, just fights. 

The event takes place on Friday, September 4. Music by Barker begins at 8 p.m. Fights begin at 8:30 p.m. 
Tickets are $15 online, and $18 at the door. Purchasing in advance is highly recommended as this show always sells out.

Strangeloop returns to Fight Night in September

Strangeloop is excited to once again be part of Nothing Special Productions' Fight Night!

This go round, the 10th installment of the evening of short plays and punches, Strangeloop brings you Doll, written and directed by Company Member Maria Burnham, co-directed by Artistic Associate John Morrison. Violence is designed by Artistic Associate Justin Martin Fill. The fight captain is Mark Edward Penzien.

A collector of sex dolls brings his new acquisition home, but too late finds out she isn't quite like the rest. With the help of her glassy-eyed sisters, she exacts her revenge on the man who would keep her on a shelf. Doll stars Artistic Associates Jean E. Burr and Miona Lee, as well as guest artists Grace DeSant and Nora Lise Ulrey as the Dolls and Mark Edward Penzien as the collector. 

Fight Night is a one-night, violent cabaret celebrating the art of stage combat through original storytelling and violence design.

Fight Night: X challenges eight Chicago theater companies to each create a 10-minute play focusing on violence. No theme, no rules, just fights. The event takes place at 8 p.m. Friday, September 4, 2015, at the Mayne Stage in Rogers Park.

In addition to Strangeloop and Nothing Special, other companies are: Babes With Blades, Honest Theatre, Live Action Theatre, Otherworld Theatre Company, Reutan Collective and Robert Frosty.

Tickets are $15 online, and $18 at the door.

Things To Do in Chicago Today: Loopshop 8

Loopshop 8 is one of the Red Eye's Things To Do in Chicago Today. And let's be honest, you really DO want to see a play about a potato-powered time machine, don't you?

This is your last chance to catch these five plays! Loopshop 8 begins at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28, 2015, at The Charnel House, 3421 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago. Tickets for the show are $10 at the door or online at Brown Paper Tickets.

Loopshop 8: All The World's An IKEA

To get you in the mood for Loopshop 8 — which happens next week at The Charnel House in Logan Square — we've been sharing some short teasers about all five of our featured plays here and on Facebook. (Like us if you haven't already.)

Our last play is All The World's An IKEA by Strangeloop Company Member Maria Burnham.

The intricate comedy and drama of a relationship unfolds in the unintentionally theatrical setting that is a "living in" display at an IKEA, fueled by cinnamon rolls and environmentally sustainable wood.

Directed by Strangeloop Associate Member John Morrison, All The World's An IKEA stars Strangeloop's Jean E. Burr as Liyah and Mark Lancaster as Andy.

Loopshop is Chicago-based Strangeloop Theatre's annual short play and new works series. This year's production features original short plays on topics ranging from Swedish furniture to time travel. 

Performances for Loopshop 8 will be at 8 p.m. on Monday, July 27, and Tuesday, July 28, 2015, at The Charnel House, 3421 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago. Tickets for the show are $10 and are available at the door or online at Brown Paper Tickets. 

Loopshop 8 Bio: Jean E. Burr

Jean E. Burr (Liyah) is originally from Greensboro, North Carolina, but moved to Chicago in the midst of the 2013 polar vortex. Although always in pursuit of theatrical endeavors, she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with a major in Film Studies and a minor in Japanese. She is an actress, singer and dancer, but she also enjoys costuming and set design/construction. You can find her under the alias Harley Darling, performing with burlesque companies like Gorilla Tango, Vaudezilla! and Plan 9. When not performing or solving problems at her muggle job (customer service), Jean loves superheroes, her cat, mozzarella sticks and trying to live every day like she's Furiosa from Mad Max: Fury Road.