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In Coleridge's enigmatic dream of a poem, Kubla Khan, the River Alph (a/k/a Alpheus) is "the sacred river," nourishing lush Xanadu as its source of imagination and creation. Historically, Alpheus is also of the Muses, unknowable as it runs "Through caverns measureless to man/Down to a sunless sea."
Taking the name as inspiration, the new Voodoo Mystère Lounge is proud to announce its official re-opening and summer schedule of programming with the first installment of its ALPHEUS SERIES, an occasional series devoted to bringing downriver experimental shows from on or near the Mississippi: St Louis, Chicago, Minneapolis/St Paul, Memphis.
We ...Read More
In Coleridge's enigmatic dream of a poem, Kubla Khan, the River Alph (a/k/a Alpheus) is "the sacred river," nourishing lush Xanadu as its source of imagination and creation. Historically, Alpheus is also of the Muses, unknowable as it runs "Through caverns measureless to man/Down to a sunless sea."
Taking the name as inspiration, the new Voodoo Mystère Lounge is proud to announce its official re-opening and summer schedule of programming with the first installment of its ALPHEUS SERIES, an occasional series devoted to bringing downriver experimental shows from on or near the Mississippi: St Louis, Chicago, Minneapolis/St Paul, Memphis.
We couldn't ask for two finer young performers with whom to test these special waters: CHRIS BOWER and MARK CHRISLER. In just two years, each has established himself amongst Chicago's most adventurous and entertaining writer/performers, attracting accolades with every new show. (And both are prolific: They already have genuine bodies of work.) Appearances and productions in Chicago include the Rhinoceros Theater Festival, the Side Project, the Prop Thtr, and Ray's Tap.
Chris will solo, in "Promises to Keep: The Poems of Robert F. Kennedy," a funny/sad and weirdly sensual meditation on mortality, which takes as its premise that RFK was a closet versifier, and tonight will share with us a selection of his poems from beyond the grave. Mark plays the lead in his one-act comedy "Torvald and I," in which the usual feminist deconstruction of the Ibsen classic turns out to pivot on a highly personal revelation from Mark's own past. Both pieces burst with the excitement and fascination of new theater artists stretching both themselves and the limits of their form.
Here are the artist/performers on their shows, in their own words:....
Mark Chrisler's "Torvald and I"...
If rewrites of "A Doll's House" are a dime a dozen, Chrisler's Torvald and I must be worth at least a sixpence. In this attempt to—alternately—pretentiously rewrite the last scene of Ibsen's masterpiece and super-pretentiously rewrite his forward for his pretentious rewrite of the last scene of Ibsen's masterpiece, Chrisler comes up with the best comedic post-feminist construction that 19th-century realism can offer. Caution: Against all efforts to the contrary, there may be nudity. And birds.
To complete the occasion, the closing night of this double bill is June 21st: the summer solstice, and the official re-opening of the Voodoo Lounge as the Voodoo Mystère Lounge.
The Alpheus Series presents
Promises to Keep: The Poems of Robert F Kennedy and Torvald and I
At the Voodoo Mystère Lounge, 718 North Rampart.
$10.
June 13-21, 2008: Friday June 13, Saturday June 14, Monday June 16, Friday June 20, Saturday June 21. 8pm.
Pay what you can industry night Monday, June 16. NO performance Sunday June 22.
For reservations: 504.304.1568 or 504.948.4167
Written by Chris Bower [Promises] and Mark Chrisler [Torvald]
Directed by Chris Bower [Promises] and Kevlyn Hayes [Torvald]
Produced by The Voodoo Mystère Lounge
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