Physical Theater Festival Chicago will return for its 12th edition from June. Physical Theater Festival Chicago brings to our city audience-beloved, virtuosic live performances from around the world that inspire theatergoers and local artists to reimagine what a live theater experience can be and do across cultures, languages, and genres.
Schedule:
10:00 a.m - 1:00 p.m: Apphia Campbell Workshop Workshop
3:00 p.m: Rewind by Ephemeral Ensemble (Brazil, Colombia, Iceland and UK) Show
Ephemeral ensemble is a multi-award winning and critically acclaimed international physical theatre collective. We make work driven by a theme or a question, which inspires us to find fact-based stories that shine a light on current hidden social issues. Collaboration between the artistic team, the community and professionals in other fields is vital to our process. Our work is political, visually striking, highly dynamic, thought provoking and moving at heart. We combine the high physicality of the performers, original music and playful interaction with the stagecraft to create a narrative.
7:00 p.m: Un Poyo Rojo (Argentina) Show
Two men and a live radio in a dressing room, face each other, challenge, fight and seduce each other. An interesting cross between dance, sports and sexuality. A work that, based on body language, explores the limits of contemporary language, regarding movement and its subsequent interpretations. A provocation, an invitation to laugh at ourselves, and at the same time, recognize our totality. Un Poyo Rojo, mixes acrobatics and humor. See it as kitch, cliché, or a striking expression of the physical and spiritual possibilities of the human being.
8:00 p.m: Rewind by Ephemeral Ensemble (Brazil, Colombia, Iceland and UK) Show
Ephemeral ensemble is a multi-award winning and critically acclaimed international physical theatre collective. We make work driven by a theme or a question, which inspires us to find fact-based stories that shine a light on current hidden social issues. Collaboration between the artistic team, the community and professionals in other fields is vital to our process. Our work is political, visually striking, highly dynamic, thought provoking and moving at heart. We combine the high physicality of the performers, original music and playful interaction with the stagecraft to create a narrative.
9:00 p.m: Knight Knight by Madeleine Rowe Show
Fresh from their smash hit run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and a sold out New York premiere at Union Hall, Gaulier-trained clown Madeleine Rowe brings their iconic and iconoclastic Medieval romp to Physical Theatre Festival Chicago. "The funniest take on Arthurian legend since Monty Python" (Steve Bennett, Chortle), Knight, Knight is a wild one-person clown show of courage, determination, brotherhood, grief, and most of all, horses. Madeleine Rowe (they/them) is a clown, teacher, and local Medieval knight. They are the creator and performer of solo shows Knight, Knight and Honey, I'm Home. Other theatrical credits include Orpehus in the Underworld (Spymonkey, Vienna Volksoper), as well as shows with Four Humors, Clarence Brown Theater, and Yellow Tree Theater. Madeleine's training includes work with renowned clown teacher Philippe Gaulier, acclaimed British comedy troupe Spymonkey, and MFA actor training from the University of Tennessee.
