Theater Oobleck - The Strangerer
May 4-5, 11-12, 8pm
$10, more if you've got it, free if you're broke

"It is funny, it is beyond brilliant... it's the best piece you'll see this year about American politics, the news business, or existentialism." -WBEZ, critic's "pick of the week"

Following a successful late-winter run at the Chopin Theatre, Theater Oobleck moves to Links Hall for a spring re-mounting of The Strangerer.

One of the books on President Bush's 2006 vacation reading list was Albert Camus' absurdist tale of senseless murder, The Stranger. In hopes that the French philosopher might shed some light on the recent political clime - or vice versa - Mickle Maher's new play The Strangerer collides several of Camus' works with the first Bush/Kerry presidential debate in 2004. The formalities of the debate are overturned as Bush and Kerry struggle with the question not of if or why an innocent man should be killed (the man in question being moderator Jim Lehrer), but rather what is the proper manner in which to go about killing him. The Strangerer is part political satire, part classical drama, and part contemporary debate. A murder mystery with the murderers in plain view, it asks one of the most important questions of our day: Why does our president want to kill a lot of innocent people?

Over the past eighteen years, Oobleck has launched fifty productions of new works, all created and developed by members of the ensemble, working in concert to create a collective vision without an overseeing director. Oobleck has received consistent critical acclaim locally, nationally (Theater Journal, American Theatre, New York Times, Village Voice), and internationally (The Guardian and the Times in London, Maska in Slovenia, and others). Oobleck has had three successful runs at The New York International Fringe Festival, with one production being named "Outstanding Comedy." Revivals of Oobleck's plays have been produced by the Actors Gang and the Zoo District in Los Angeles. Mickle Maher is a co-founder of Theater Oobleck, and has been a playwright/adaptor/translator for twenty years.

Theater Oobleck is dedicated to producing and performing original works of theater at low or no cost to audiences. Three things define the company: New works. No director. Free if you're broke. www.theateroobleck.com

Theater Oobleck is funded through grants from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and through the generous donations of its audiences. The Strangerer is a project of Creative Capital.

"…utterly amazing shows... angry, hilarious, devastatingly precise, wildly bizarre satires on capitalist culture ..." -Tony Adler, Chicago Magazine

Julia Mayer - Coffee Dance
Friday May 4, 9:30am
Free
BYOC (bring your own coffee)

Once a month, Julia Mayer opens her weekly Friday morning solo movement practice to the public. In this ongoing series of engaged, informal performances, her idiosyncratic movement adventures are an invitation to watch, feel, and find creative impulse in unexpected places. Mayer's current movement practice is influenced by her studies with Deborah Hay, her years dancing with Chicago-based improvisation collective FUSE, and qi gong. The performance will last approximately 20 minutes. "[her] movement is refreshingly off the map" - Chicago Reader "a delicately luminous, inquisitive stage presence" - TimeOut Chicago

Fieldtrips
Friday & Saturday, May 18 & 19, 8pm
CANCELLED Sunday, May 20, 7pm
$15

Sponsored by The Field Chicago, Fieldtrips is an interdisciplinary performance festival open to performing artists of all disciplines and stages of development. The Field Chicago is affiliated with the Field Forward Network, a non-adjudicating organization which also sponsors workshops for working artists based in New York City. Applying artists can do a performance lasting up to 20 min. Slots are reserved on a first come, first serve basis for a fee of $35. Application deadline is April 6, 2007. For information and application call Judith Harding 773-338-2516 or email artbusters@sbcglobal.net

Tiffany Bullard - echo chamber
Friday & Saturday, May 25 & 26, 8pm
Sunday, May 27, 7pm
$12 ($8 students)

echo chamber is an autobiographical performance confessional comprising stories, fragments, music, and images resonating from one woman's entrapment in the grips of a lifelong phobia. The artist incorporates text, movement, multiple record players, clothing, video created by Nicholas Monsour, and direction by Dexter Bullard. Tiffany Bullard is a Chicago-based mover, performer, photographer, and costume designer dedicated to process-oriented theatrical research and creation. She is a teaching artist with the Shanti Foundation for Peace, integrating the practice of non-violence with a school curriculum in theater, performance, and improvisation. www.myspace.com/echochamber2007.

There will be an informal feedback session with the artist after every performance.

Links Hall presents

For Public Consumption, April 11-June 3 at Hyde Park Art Center