The Ghoul Exhibition, a one-man show by playwright, actor and Theatre Y ensemble member Héctor Alvarez, will be a highlight of the upcoming Fringe Festival in February.
Theatre Y describes the show--
"Since Homer, we’ve been telling stories about how we kill each other. Even before Homer: if theater was born through dance and storytelling around a paleolithic fire, it was to tell stories of the hunt, the fight, the clash, the kill.
In the US, 90 people are shot every day. So far this year, 13,883 lives have been taken by firearms. America’s fascination with guns, the spectacular terror of mass shootings, the bloodletting in its inner cities, and the power over life and death that a gun confers make up the sinews of THE GHOUL EXHIBITION, a show that asks not just how, but why we kill each other.
Created and performed by Héctor Álvarez, THE GHOUL EXHIBITION uses original and pre-existing texts, and a mix of physical theater, song, storytelling and audience participation to craft a dangerously intimate and unexpected dramatic experience that pushes the boundaries of the one-man show form. The result is a gripping and at times painfully funny catalogue of five stories. These include a teenage romance turned high school carnage, a modern day auto-da-fé for a white cop charged with the murder of a black teenager, and a screwball fable where mosquitos wield Beretta blue semiautomatics and orangutans scour the web for ammunition to fashion their deadly legacy.
Amidst all this madness, the gun glows like a talisman, shedding light on larger themes of race, rage and retribution; but ultimately, THE GHOUL EXHIBITION seeks to create community with its audience, heal our hurts, foster forgiveness, and celebrate the resilience of our shared humanity."
About Rhino Fest
The 28th Annual Rhinoceros Theater Festival begins in January at the Prop Thtr. Each year, Curious Theatre Branch curates and produces the Rhinoceros Theater Festival, which provides production and exhibition opportunities to hundreds of artists, drawing thousands in attendance each year. The longest-running multi-arts fringe festival in Chicago, the Rhino features works in theater and performance from Chicago companies and national artists alike. First organized over 25 years ago in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago, the Rhino is unique among national fringe festivals in that artists are never charged a fee to participate, and each year the programs are individually curated rather than selected on a lottery basis.
When:
February 2, 9, 16, 23
Part of RhinoFest
Where:
Prop Theater, 3502-04 N. Elston Avenue Chicago, IL 60618
Tickets:
$15
