January wouldn't seem to be the best time to stage major theater festivals in Chicago, what with the frigid cold weather. But there are three prominent Chicago theater festivals braving the snowy conditions this month, with two featuring LGBTQ components.
The newcomer on the block is the first of what is hoped to be a biennial Chicago International Puppet Theatre Festival. It runs at various Windy City locations Wed., Jan. 14, through Sunday, Jan. 25. Visit www.chicagopuppetfest.org for more information.
But if you're looking for more established and intimate theater festivals, you can't go wrong with the 18-year-old Fillet of Solo Festival sponsored by Lifeline Theatre from Jan. 7-25, and the 10-year-old Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival ( aka Chicago Sketchfest ) at Stage 773 from Jan. 8-18.
The Fillet of Solo Festival focuses on storytelling and living literature, and traces its roots to the now-defunct Live Bait Theater ( Lifeline assumed co-sponsorship of the festival in 2010 ). This year's festival features 16 storytelling collectives including Chicago's oldest LGBTQ sketch comedy troupe GayCo ( which also recently celebrated its 18th anniversary ) and one of the newest ones, OUTspoken! LGBTQ Storytelling which launched this past August at the bar Sidetrack.
"There's great value in people hearing other people's stories—especially since a number of the stories have a historical significance," said David Fink, the curator and co-host of OUTspoken! "We try to have as much diversity in terms of age, proclivity, gender and ethnicity."
Fink was excited to be approached by Fillet of Solo to join the festival this year, especially considering the newness of OUTspoken! Fink hopes that the festival participation will expose OUTspoken! to a broader audience who might not normally be found at a Boystown bar.
For the Fillet of Solo performances, Fink has chosen some of the more memorable storytellers from the past few months of OUTspoken! For instance, Sidetrack co-owner Art Johnson speaks about his pioneering work in getting non-discrimination ordinances passed at the first two Fillet of Solo OUTspoken! performances, while former GayCo ensemble member Jim Bennett of Lambda Legal is featured at the second one.
As for GayCo itself at Fillet of Solo, ensemble member Jamie Newland says that the storytelling themes will be "mating, dating and breaking up." Newland also says there's a strong improvisational aspect to the GayCo performances, so that audiences will see a different GayCo show each time out.
"The Fillet of Solo crowd is very different from our normal crowd," Newland said. "It's more of an outreach to the community up in Rogers Park who may not necessarily be expecting to hear gay stories."
Where GayCo sticks more to their written roots is at the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, where they will be performing a 40-minute cut-down version of their most recent show, Bearly Legal.
"GayCo has been doing Sketchfest since its inception," Newland said. "Originally we were the one gay group, but there have been many others since and there are many troupes that are not gay-specific but may have gay members. One of the things about Sketchfest is it's really a community thing where performers get to see each other—especially people from out of town. So GayCo really brings in other gay performers."
Although Newland says that GayCo wants to present its best foot forward in terms of impressing the many visiting troupes, he also stresses that the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival isn't meant to be competitive. When asked why GayCo only has one performance slot in Sketchfest, Newland said that hometown Chicago groups often only have a single performance to allow visiting troupes more performance opportunities largely because they had to travel further distances to be a part of it.
"It's super-welcoming and everyone is there to see what everyone else is doing," said Newland about Sketchfest. "There's a lot of joy and fun in it."
OUTspoken! LGBTQ Storytelling participates in Fillet of Solo at 4 p.m. Sundays Jan. 11, 18 and 25, at Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave. GayCo performs as part of Fillet of Solo at 7 p.m. Fridays Jan. 9, 16 and 23 at the Heartland Studio Theatre, 7016 N. Glenwood Ave. Fillet of Solo kicks off with a free opening night at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 7, at the Mayne Stage, 1328 W. Morse Ave., and then runs through Sunday, Jan. 25, at Lifeline and the Heartland Studio Theatre. Tickets are $10 for each performance and festival passes are available for $50. Call 773-761-4477 or visit www.lifelinetheatre.com for tickets and a full schedule of performances.
GayCo performs as part of the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10, at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival runs from Thursday, Jan. 8, through Sunday, Jan. 18, in all four spaces of Stage 773. To find out more information about the other 167 international, national and local troupes performing in 188 different shows, call 773-327-5252 or visit www.chicagosketchfest.com .
For more information on GayCo, visit www.gayco.com . Visit www.outspokenchicago.com more information on OUTspoken! Chicago's Monthly LGBTQ Storytelling Event and its regular first-Tuesday-of-the-month performances at Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted St.
