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With Halloween almost here, what better way to get into the Halloween spirit this season than see one of these three shows that will haunt some of the Chicago area theatres.
Ghost Stories: Crucible the Musible!
A wickedly whimsical and delightfully deadly Halloween treat concocted by two of Chicago’s most mischievous performing arts groups. Ghost Stories: Crucible the Musible! features the outstanding aerial choreography of Aloft Artistic Director Shayna Swanson and the humorously macabre scribblings of deviously dark Chicago playwright Emily Schwartz. Riding high on last year’s critical acclaim and string of sold-out performances, Aloft and Strange Tree have come back strong and true with a biting little comedy about what to do when you're most heinously vexed by witchcraft. It's part parody, part complete malarkey with a little bit of actual historical information thrown in on the side.
Welcome to the village of "Little Lesser Salem" in Humboldt Park circa 1692! All is unwell in Humboldt Park. There truly are witches afoot! And overhead! And probably hiding underneath your bed! This town is mightily accursed by black magic and it seems no matter how many witches Giles Corey Feldman chooses to accuse this peaceful hamlet will not become un-hexed! When Gabigale Grayson (and several other utterly hopeless young girls) aims to dance the night away under the stars, they conjure up much more than the ogling eyes of village do-gooder Ron Schlacter could ever imagine!
Ghost Stories: Crucible the Musible! runs October 13 through the 31st at The Aloft Loft located at 937 N. California in Chicago. All shows begin at 8:00pm and doors open at 7:30pm and ‘Pre-Show Activities’ start shortly thereafter.
Individual tickets are $13 and can be purchased in advance at www.strangetree.org. A limited number of RIP passes will be available online for $31 online. RIP passes include front-row reserved seating, popcorn and cider.
Disturbed II
This Halloween, Oracle Productions submits their second installment of horrifying Halloween entertainment. opening October 12th, the warped minds of Oracle’s young artistic collective are at it again with Disturbed II, a 15-minute performance installation whose predecessor broke new ground in Chicago last year. Re-visiting the inverted haunted house theme, Oracle’s intimate space requires the audience to stay stationery, while the action pops out of every unexpected corner in a confined environment.
Once again combining live action, multimedia, sound and special effects Disturbed II bombards participants with a gruesome multi-sensory experience. This year, company member Colby Hanik spearheads the technically stunning endeavor as both writer and director. The performances feature company members David Boren and Julie Potesta on stage, Jorge Madrigal’s always impressive lighting design, Aaron DeYoung’s menacing sound landscape, and Justin Warren’s haunting make-up design.
Oracle’s Brad Jayhan-Little explained of last year’s production, "There is a difference between startle and scare. Haunted houses just startle people. Disturbed will really scare them." Disturbed II, in the same vein, unabashedly closes the proximity between those who love watching a good horror movie, and horror itself. Fresh characters, an all-new ghastly plot, and spectacles worthy of Le Grand Guignol promise to leave this year’s audiences nothing less than...Disturbed.
WARNING: Due to explicit imagery, sexual content, and violent action, Disturbed II is for adults 18 and older ONLY. Disturbed II performances will run every 30 minutes, 8PM to 11:30PM October 12-14, 18-21, 25-31 at Oracle Theatre, 3809 N. Broadway. Tickets are $7 with advanced reservation, $9 donation at the door. Visit www.oracletheatre.org for schedules and reservations, or call the box office at (773) 244-2980.
Splatter Theatre
As a part of the Annoyance’s 20th Anniversary Celebration (and coinciding with Halloween), The Annoyance is proud to once again remount, Splatter Theatre, the first ever Annoyance production!
A parody of Friday the 13th type movies, the characters in Splatter Theatre include such archetypes as a nun, the school jock, the virgin, the class dick, and of course the bumbling old man. Laugh and watch them all die in different ways: Tongue pulled out, drill in the head, intestines being ripped out, slashed throat, and the list goes on. With freshly painted white walls on the stage before each performance, the audience will be horrified and delighted by the end, when the walls are covered in blood!
The Saturday, October 13th performance of Splatter Theatre will feature some of the original cast!
Splatter Theatre will open Friday, September 28th at 10:01 PM and run every Friday through November 2nd. It will run on Saturdays at 10:01 PM from October 13th through October 27th. There will also be two performances on Wednesday, October 31st at 8:01 PM & 10:01 PM. Ticket prices are $15. Tickets can be purchased at the company’s website theannoyance.com or by calling the box office: 773.561.HONK (4665). The Annoyance is located at 4830 N. Broadway in Chicago.