Fillet of Solo Festival

Every year Live Bait Theater produces stellar solo performance, presenting world premiere shows on a wide variety of themes during the Fillet of Solo Festival. This year's lineup for the festival, now in it's 13th year, kicks off in July and will have solo performances exploring spirituality, woodland creatures and suburban sprawl.

The 2008 Fillet of Solo Festival Schedule is:

Potholes On The Path To Englightenment
July 10 - July 27
Presented by Live Bait Theater and Tellin' Tales Theatre
Solo performers: Tekki Lomnicki, Rob Schroeder, Matt Kerns & Maia Morgan

Tellin' Tales Theatre returns to Fillet of Solo for a sixth smash year with present Potholes On The Path To Englightenment, which will feature tales of saints, painful estrangements and 4 am bars. Tellin' Tales has been featured on the Live Bait stage with the critically-acclaimed Blurred Vision, Body Language, Shrink and 2001: A Wedding Odyssey.

A Dreadful Day
July 11 - July 19
Presented by BoyGirlBoyGirl
Solo performers: Susan McLaughlin Karp, David Kodeski, Stephanie Shaw, Diana Slickman & Edward Thomas-Herrera

BoyGirlBoyGirl, Chicago's favorite solo performance ensemble, returns to the Live Bait Theater stage after a three-year hiatus with their new show: A Dreadful Day. OK, let's see... how to explain this... A Dreadful Day is the name of this 19th-century children's book that Kodeski found in a bookstore in Evanston and it's pretty messed up. It tells the story of a single day in the lives of Millicent and Archie, two preternaturally well-spoken orphans whose best intentions have this funny way of paving the road to Hell. Well, not so "funny." More like "ominous." And not exactly the road to Hell inasmuch as a sure-fire way to catch scarlet fever. A cursory reading of the book will lead you to believe it's a warning against random acts of kindness towards others. An in-depth reading confirms it to be a more darkly misanthropic suggestion that we best mind our own business. Nice. BoyGirlBoyGirl responds with six tales of orphans, feline euthanasia, good deeds gone wrong, and all things full of dread. Hilarity ensues.

Strip Mauled! The Musical!
August 1 - August 16
Written and performed by Kristin Garrison

Kristin Garrison returns to Fillet of Solo with a world premiere that begs the following questions: how many Walgreens does one neighborhood actually require? And just how many support groups does a person have to join to make some friends around here anyway? Garrison turns her incisive, comic gaze to the search for community in our increasingly isolated, suburbanized and segmented society.

Sweatilicious
August 8 - August 10
Written and performed by the Sweat Girls
Solo Performers: Cindy Hanson, Dorothy Milne, Clare Nolan, Martie Sanders & Pamela Webster

The Sweat Girls kiss and tell. This crew of cheeky females has been at the crux of the center-stage-soul-baring movement for 15 years. Sweatilicious features tales of fantasy, desire, and hanky panky. From seducing a priest to kissing the whole baseball team, the Sweat Girls truly embrace their hot mama past and present. The Sweat Girls have been creating monologue shows since 1993.

Me And My Dad Stories
July 31 - August 16
Written and performed by Martie Sanders, Tom McNamara & Gerrit O'Neill

Some of Chicago’s best solo artists tell unforgettable stories about a wide assortment of fathers. An Irish boxer (McNamara), an optimistic gambler (O’Neill) and, last but not least, a 79-year-old Charlie Sanders who pulls out his tap shoes after 40 years and joins his daughter Martie on stage. Three striking monologues about three loveable yet complex dads.

Sampler Superstars!
July 25 - August 9
Performed by Joe Steiff, Rohina, Paul Thomas, Gloria Coco & Margot Bordelon

Over the past thirteen years Livebait has had some cool, talented and memorable solo artists perform in their Solo Festival and they bring back some of their favorites (and a few new up and comers) for the best of the best.

For tickets or more information on the Fillet of Solo Festival, call 773-871-1212 or visit www.livebaittheater.org.