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DATES:
January 06 - 29
PREVIEW:
Friday - Saturday, 8:15 PM
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LOCATION:
Live Bait Theater
3914 N Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60613
TICKETS: $15:00
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Star-crossed or addicted to love?
Tongue-tied or bound and gagged?
Hypersensitive or utterly
desensitized? Boy meets girl
meet 21st century America
in dependent study, the latest
from Big Picture Group, Chicago's
newest multi-media theatre
company. Boy and Girl are
on a collision course with
media culture in this original
performance piece, and the
crash leaves them desperately
trying to sort out the difference
between love and sex, body
and image, reality and virtuality.
dependent study captures the
everyday catastrophes of love
in an expressionistic collage
of poetry and prose, sound,
video, music, and live performance.
Exploring the communication of love at the same time that it explores theatre as communication, dependent study promises to challenge both the traditional narratives that propel our lives and the technological and live means we use to tell them. |
written and directed by: |
andrew schneider |
boy: |
allan aquino |
girl: |
sally bell |
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lights: |
christine shallenberg |
costumes: |
erin liston |
technical direction: |
brendan hendrick |
master electrician: |
margaret hartman |
stage manager: |
stephanie ehemann |
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DEPENDENT STUDY - by Andrew Schneider
A girl meets a boy. A boy
meets a girl. Disaster. Over
and over and over again. Dependent
Study strives to expose our
true motivation for action
in all of our lives through
the archetypal characters
of boy and girl. It is through
this simple device's use that
I hope to critique the larger
relationship we have with
our surroundings and ourselves.
We are all participating in
an incessant daily conversation
using newer and newer technologies.
I think it's important to
look at the content of that
conversation
It's about you. Dependent
Study offers a decided alternative
to the standard fringe comedy
or musical. It is contemplative
while offering a very strong
visual experience. To me,
it's a piece of art that just
happens to employ the stage
as its medium. It employs
a lot of video, but in ways
you might not expect. Very
visceral. Everyone loves themselves!
You'll see some of you in
the show. Everyone loves TV!
I hate it. You'll see some
of that in the show.
Script, sound, video, and
character are all given equal
weight. Video becomes character.
Dialogue fades into sound.
High and low-tech theatrical
devices are employed to further
the idea of the traditional
scene. You'll hear and feel
the theatre as well as see
it. You'll see the lies of
our lives. You'll hear what
a teeming mass of lumbering
ambivalence sounds like. You'll
see masturbation with a meat
cleaver. You'll feel the dull
thud of boy meets girl. You'l
see love explored through
surgery. And of course, you'll
see a big musical finale.
- Andrew Schneider, writer/director |
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| REVIEWS |
...there are probably a fair number of people in this town who would love this show. It's definitely a very Fringe-y experience, about as avant-garde as they come; there's no story to speak of, unless you count the age-old story of male-female communication, which is (we think) the show's theme. Fortunately, though it was really performance art rather than a play, the performers (Kristin Stewart and Gram Watts) are skilled as actors, which isn't always the case in that sort of thing. Through a variety of multimedia vignettes, the two explore some harsh realities of sexual relationships; the dramatic lighting, by Christine Shallenberg, goes a long way toward adding tension and urgency to it all. The less abstract segments, such as when the two are framed in "mirrors" or when one speaks as though to a psychiatrist, are certainly provocative and make you both uneasy and
thoughtful. ...if you're a fan of dense, heavily conceptual art, this may be one of the best shows in the festival; otherwise, unless you need a palate cleanser after the loads of fluff elsewhere in the Fringe, you're likely to be left cold. |
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Romantically situated in Chicago's historic Wrigleyville neighborhood between Wrigley Field and Graceland Cemetery, Live Bait is located at 3914 N. Clark.
Street parking is generally available. (When the Cubs play at home, we have resident parking passes, something those ball fans won't have, but you will!) If you use public transportation, you can take the Clark St. 22 bus or take the Red Line to the Sheridan or Addison stops.
If you take Lake Shore Drive or the Kennedy Expressway, exit at Irving Park Road.
(773) 871-1212 |
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