August 2010 Shows at Gorilla Tango

It looks like there are a lot of fun and downright quirky shows in Gorilla Tango Theatre's pipeline for next month!

If anybody would like to review any of these, let me know. I've bolded the ones that I will try to try to review, with emphasis on try.

August 2010 Calendar Listing
The Sweet Stuff (CONTINUING)

A world premiere, two act drama by Jayme McGhan! Blue-collar Jerry Ward finds himself and his daughter caught in a high stakes game of cat and mouse after the sudden death of his wife. Jerry's singularly rare blood type is the only thing keeping the son of the powerful, white-collar Walter Joyce alive. The tension swells as Jerry's daughter becomes a pawn in this suspense story that confronts the issues of medical ethics, the real commodities that rule our lives, and begs the question: what are the acceptable moral boundaries a parent can overlook to save their only child?

Produced by Chased by an Elephant Theatre Company.

Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 6pm, July 22 – 31, 2010, and Sunday July 25 (2pm) and August 1 (5pm). Tickets are $20; Rated R.


Christophe The Insultor (CONTINUING)
Christophe The Insultor insults your friends for money!

Christophe The Insultor has been traveling the country insulting people for money for nearly twenty years, mostly at renaissance festivals (you may have seen him at the Bristol Faire), but also at taverns, comedy clubs and casinos. He has written perhaps the largest and funniest collection of original insult comedy in the world, and is bringing his well-honed mercenary mental machinery to bear in an hour-long show right here in Chicago.

Admission price gets you in the door, and $10, $20 or more will get the victim of your choice beautifully shredded by Christophe.

And if your friend is really an a**hole, the crowd just might pick him/her to be the Grand Finale victim, receiving a merciless drubbing financed by all in the crowd who wish to kick in.

This is smart, wicked, pee-laugh funny.

Not for children or nervous persons.

Produced by Shaw Entertainment Group.

Fridays at 11pm, July 23 – September 3, 2010. Tickets are $10; Rated R.


Best Laid Plans: One-Acts by Sheppard and Inge

Brevity Theater - a new company of University of Chicago students and alumni - debuts with two rarely performed one-acts by two of America's most celebrated playwrights. Amanda Fink (BA '12) is directing William Inge's "Margaret's Bed," a brutally honest dialogue concerning a woman's pathological fear of sleeping alone and the misconceptions that surround her situation. In Sam Sheppard's "Icarus' Mother," directed by Will Bishop (BA '12), a group of five friends gather for an Independence Day picnic, but things start to go wrong as the friends begin to vie for power. As the fireworks begin, the group starts to fall apart, asking us what it means to be part of a community in America.

Produced by Brevity Theater.

Sunday, August 1 & 8, 2010 at 8pm, Monday August 2 & Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 9:30pm. Tickets are $10.


Armageddon Dance Party

Apparently the world is ending. Not to be defeated, New York couple John and Michelle face destruction boldly with a dance party--better to actually live while you're dying, right? With more and more of their friends seeking refuge from the coming doom in a full house teetering on the edge of the abyss, the characters of The Armageddon Dance Party find they must confront their lives, their relationships and their fears. Not all of them will make it through the night. But the rest discover that the best way to deal with living on the edge of a volcano is to just dance.

Produced by Jack Dugan Carpenter.

Mondays at 7:30pm, August 2 – 23, 2010. Tickets are $15.


Subdivision

By Rubin Carbajal

A single mother and her two young sons invent fantasies and fabricate lies to cope with the absence of their hardworking, hard-drinking father. When he unexpectedly returns, dreams, deceptions, truth and reality violently collide.

Produced by Kara Karstedt.

Wednesdays at 7:30pm, August 4 – 25, 2010. Tickets are $12.


Edd Fairman, Wizard of Sorts: Magic, Comedy, Mayhem

Edd Fairman, the Wizard of Sorts, is hitting the Gorilla Tango Stage for five nights of magic, comedy and mayhem! A nationally touring magician and an illusionist since the ripe old age of 6, Edd has brought his act home to Chicago and has planned an hour of interactive trickery, mindblowing mischief and new spins on classic illusions that could only come from the man the Chicago Wizard's Club named "Magician of the Year." You might not believe that a show this big can fit into Edd's single, trademark briefcase, but you will. You might even get a chance to peek inside it yourself! And be warned; this show is for audiences 13 and up due to moderate amounts of highly professional immaturity. To find out more about Edd and his magic, visit www.WizardofSorts.com.

Produced by Edd Fairman.

Thursdays at 8pm, August 5 – September 2, 2010. Tickets are $10.


Death and Sex

Death and Sex is a dark, experimental sketch revue that features stand-up comics, musicians, and local celebrities.

Produced by David Elliot.

Thursdays at 9:30pm, August 5 – 26, 2010. Tickets are $12.



W.A.R. (Wake-up. Attack. Repeat.)

Since humans...and puppets began roaming the earth, the world has been sort of, well, disastrous. From yummy land domination to hilarious religious persecution to jovial jabs at discrimination, life truly is a vicious cycle we’ll just never get right. Enjoy! WARNING: Puppets are in the show. Just saying, in case you are prejudice.

Produced by Judd Wachstein.

Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, August 6 – 21, 2010. Tickets are $10.


Low Toner Presents: Managing Vision and Purpose

Description: 50% Office Meeting, 50% Sketch Comedy, 50% Slideshow, 100% Staggeringly Funny. Every few months the folks at the Low Toner assemble "meetings" where they lampoon Six Sigma Business, mock Lominger, hate on the Corporate Office and turn what could be the most boring office meeting into 60 minutes of hysterical workplace and not-so-workplace sketch comedy.

Produced by Low Toner.

Fridays at 9:30pm, August 6 – 27, 2010. Tickets are $10.


The Dionysia

Come and witness the talent of the Dionysus Theatre Society in the seasonal showcase known as The Dionysia. We have selected a series of shows from up and coming playwrights to showcase the range of talent that our members have. Regale in tales of pure love, fear, discovery and desire. Featuring works by Anthony Green, Terry McFadden, Brett Hursey, and Shannon Murdoch. This is one production you shouldn't miss!

Produced by Anthony Green.

Saturdays at 4pm and Sundays at 6pm, August 7 – 15, 2010. Tickets are $10.


The Brand New Shoes

The Brand New Shoes' New Show has begun! If you think we can't make you laugh... Think again. You don't even have to be in the audience. Our hilarity ripples through the earth like a mega earthquake sent from God. But if you want to be hit hard with comedy till your ass falls off get front row seats quick. Be There or your Mama will.

Produced by Shane Murphy.

Saturdays at 6pm, August 7 – 21, 2010. Tickets are $10.



$500 GTT Stand-Up Thing

Do you love voting for things but have no idea what to do with yourself since American Idol is over for the season? Well, you are certainly in luck because Gorilla Tango promises to satisfy your addiction. Stop by Gorilla Tango Theatre every Saturday in August at 9:30 PM to watch stand-up comedians show what they’re made of in 3 exciting rounds of competition. Your votes determine who moves on to the next round! In the Final round you will determine the grand prize winner who gets $500 in cash, three 7Lb 16" long hot dogs from BigHotDog.com and a headlining show at GTT in the fall!

Produced by Katie Johnston-Smith.

Saturdays at 9:30pm, August 7 – 28, 2010. Tickets are $10


America’s Next Top Actor

Love reality show competitions? Then turn off the T.V. and get to Gorilla Tango, where five live contestants will compete for the ultimate title of America's Next Top Actor, and the audience votes the contestants out of the show! New celebrity judges each night and YOU get to decide various elements of the competition!

Produced and Directed by Danielle Holtz.

Produced and Directed by Danielle Holtz.

Saturdays at 11:30pm, August 7 – 28, 2010. Tickets are $12.


Betty Sue’s Hula Hoop Dance Number

The inhabitants of a poor village try to solicit foreign aid by marketing their most valuable natural resource: hot women. This darkly comic satire incorporates puppetry, musical elements, Commedia dell Arte, Theatre of the Oppressed, and a pinata.

Produced by Blunt Objects Theatre.

Sunday, August 8, 2010 at 4:30pm. Tickets are $10.


Sharks On Wheels

Sharks On Wheels! The most bone snapping, neck shattering, blood filled event ever to horrify an audience will be at the Gorilla Tango Theatre beginning August 9th 2010. Murder, Intrigue, Zombies, mischievously cheap costumes and the dark and Satanic powers of VooDoo all await you in this twisted mockery of all that is Holy. Are you ready to have your brain scared out of your head? Are you ready to cry like a little school baby? Are you ready to face what you've most feared since that clown incident in the early 80's?? Then man-up and buy tickets to join our hero Ralph Mutton (pronounced Mut-tahn) face the spine cracking force of the Sharks On Wheels and save the world... well, maybe, maybe save the world. No guarantees.

Written/Directed/Produced by Jason Martin Jablonski

Mondays at 9:30pm, August 9 – 23, 2010. Tickets are $10.


High Five and The Feel Goods

“High Five and the Feel Goods” is a long form improv group. They used to just meet and talk, ya know tell each other stories...for hours. Then they decided they should perform improv together. Words can't describe the chemistry these people have, it's like trying to bottle up the ocean...or tame a pack of wild mustangs in an afternoon - impossible. You'll just have to watch the show.

Produced by High Five and the Feel Goods.

Saturday, August 21, 2010 at 4:30pm. Tickets are $10.


Republic County

by Joe Musso

Directed by: Lauren Hallie Muellner

The unemployment rate for Republic County is at an all-time high, and the poets are to blame. The only solution is to kill them. With a wink and a nod to Plato's Republic, this dark comedy—set in a government employment office—features Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry David Thoreau in their quest to obtain free government cheese.

Produced by Lauren Muellner.

Friday, August 27, 2010 at 7:30pm and Saturday, August 28, 2010 at 5:30pm. Tickets are $12.


Puck Heads

The local dive sports bar is threatened with closing its doors for good when a high-end restaurant opens down the street, and a feud is about to break out between the two owners. Add on top of that the sole employee of the bar is secretly in love with the restaurant proprietor's daughter! Seeking a solution to save themselves, the patrons of the bar turn to two unlikely advisers - Chino and Scapino, two freeloaders who although they aren't the brightest crayons in the box, always have a plan! Done in the style of the Commedia dell'Arte.

Produced by TJ Corbett

Saturday, August 28, 2010 at 4pm and Sunday, August 29, 2010 at 5pm. Tickets are $10.

Midlife Joyride
Don’t call it a Midlife Crisis. Crisis? What Crisis?! "Midlife Joyride" takes a skewed, hilarious look at the crap that arises when men and women move into the second half of life: bald spots, hot flashes, daydream stares, big guts, fast cars, sex drives on life support and “cougar” attacks. This part sketch show, part stand-up performance doesn’t take itself seriously. Instead it embraces the changes and puts a funny, whacked-out spin on what really should be called Adolescence the Sequel.
Produced by Eric Cowgill.
Saturdays at 7:30pm, August 28 – September 18, 2010. Tickets are $15
All performances take place at:

Gorilla Tango Theatre

1919 N. Milwaukee Avenue

Chicago, IL 60647

www.gorillatango.com

Visit www.gorillatango.com or call 773-598-4549 for tickets and more information.

Audience contact: 773-598-4549, info@gorillatango.com



Gorilla Tango Theatre Chicago is conveniently located at the intersection of Western and Milwaukee in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood. Easily accessible by public transportation, GTT is steps away from the Western stop on the O’Hare Blue Line and the #49 Western, #73 Armitage and #56 Milwaukee buses. Street parking is readily available. GTT offers a variety of affordable ($3-$8) beer and wine for purchase.