Founded as a component of the Bucktown Arts Fest, this annual summer showcase of fringe theater and performance has relocated farther north over the past few years. This year’s edition, which runs August 15 through September 22, is housed at the Lunar Cabaret and Full Moon Cafe, 2827 N. Lincoln, and the Famous Door Theatre Company, Jane Addams Center Hull House, 3212 N. Broadway. Festival director Beau O’Reilly has placed a premium this year on presenting original full-length plays; more than 30 companies and individual performers are featured, among them the Curious Theatre Branch, Retro Theatre, Theater Oobleck, and Cold Chicago Dance Theater as well as Famous Door.
Rhino Fest tickets are priced at $7 per program or $10 for any two programs, except for special events whose prices are noted in the listings. For reservations and information, call 327-6666 for shows at Lunar Cabaret or 409-3884 for shows at Famous Door.
The Reader lists festival schedules (which are subject to last-minute change) on a week-by-week basis; following is the schedule for opening night on August 15.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 15
Opening Night Party
This kick-off event includes performances by Theater Oobleck (with The History of Theatre Theater (sic) in America, featuring Danny Thompson and his usual array of inanimate objects); Larry Jones and Aki Schulz (in Chicago: City on the Make, based on text by Nelson Algren); environmental performance artist Julie Laffin (performing a “quiet outdoor spectacle” called Over); monologuist David Kodeski (with David Kodeski’s True Life Tales: Doris, his one-man show featuring anecdotes about a 93-year-old woman’s eventful life); and Ken Vandermark’s jazz band Steam. Lunar Cabaret, 7 PM till closing. $10.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Photo from “Over”.