Bellboys, Bears and Baggage at Redmoon
Chi, IL Live Shows on our Radar
This bear has endured a marshmallow firing range and a host of entertaining indignities and adventures! On the bright side, he's working more shows than many Chicago equity actors and he's finally got TOP billing in Redmoon Theatre's new promenade style spring show where he'll be joined by 7 more of his kin. We can "bearly" contain our excitement. Bah dum bum. Sorry... couldn't resist. Come "Wonder Around" indeed!
DO THE MATH: 27 rooms + a cast of 35-40 including 12 masked actors + 8 bellboys/guides + 8 bears/agents of chaos + one bike riding bar tending BEAR = the potential for one heck of a fun night!!
ChiIL Mama's Skelebration Shots -- Redmoon Day of the Dead 2013:
Here at ChiIL Live Shows/ChiIL Mama, we have enjoyed Redmoon's unique vision for decades now. We can't wait to check out Bellboys Bears and Baggage. We'll be there for sure... will YOU?! Redmoon knows how to rock a theme and their quirky, visual, multimedia extravaganzas are must see theatre. All ages.
Bellboys, Bears and Baggage... AND BARDS?!
If that's not enough to entice you... throw in Shakespeare and you've got a deal!
Redmoon’s largest indoor show to-date riffs on some of the stranger and more striking elements of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, including the use of Time as a physical character, the unique mash-up of tragedy and comedy, the contradictory absurdity of a ship landing on the coast of a landlocked nation, and one of Shakespeare’s most well-known but enigmatic stage directions, “Exit, pursued by a bear.”
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Why? Do the Math:
27 rooms. Redmoon is building rooms of various size throughout its cavernous 18,000-square-foot headquarters, each with its own lighting and a vintage record player setting a unique tone.
o One room features a forest, pond and boat.
o Another has a surreal kitchen on a spring morning.
o Another, an elaborate bedroom with some hidden surprises.
35-40 performers overall
o 8 Bellboys, who serve as guides/chaperones for the audience
o 8 Bears, who serve as agents of chaos
o 12 masked actors, portraying two main characters throughout the various scenes
A new mobile device, the “Piano Bar,” that’s part Bear-playing-piano and part functional bar, which will roam the space.
But of course!
Redmoon presents its Spring Spectacle
Bellboys, Bears and Baggage
Epic indoor journey
combining unique masks, movement and richly detailed rooms
in one-of-a-kind, choose-your-own-adventure through Redmoon’s
expansive industrial home
2120 S. Jefferson St, May 18 – June 8
Redmoon, Chicago’s acclaimed Spectacle theater, presents its 2014 Spring Spectacle, Bellboys, Bears and Baggage, bringing the magnitude of its outdoor Spectacle performances indoors to transform its massive 18,000-square-foot Pilsen warehouse studio into a theatrical world of revelry, reflection and revelation. Audiences are given the freedom to move about Redmoon's one-of-a-kind space to encounter scenes, images, dances and music. Bellboys, Bears and Baggage is performed Thursday through Sunday evenings, with staggered entrance times, at 2120 S. Jefferson Street, May 18 – June 8.
Conceived by Jim Lasko (Redmoon Executive Artistic Director) and Blake Montgomery (former Artistic Director of the Building Stage), directed by Montgomery and designed by Frank Maugeri (Redmoon Producing Artistic Director).
Redmoon brings its outdoor large-scale productions indoors. Scenes are played in separate rooms throughout the mammoth home, each richly detailed, using time, space and architecture to explore theatrical dimension. Bears prowl the space, both in and in between the scenes. Character masks provide visual continuity as the audience sees a male and female protagonist in various moments that, collectively, investigate falling in and out of love. A corps of luggage-toting bellboys usher viewers through the space. The story is not linear. Audiences can choose for themselves what scenes, and in what order, they experience during the event. Secrets and magical surprises reward viewers’ curiosity, challenging and encouraging them to create their own journey. Movement, gesture, imagery and music combine for a mostly language-free storytelling experience.
“Normally in the theater, we sit in one place and watch as a series of events are presented to us. Even in the ‘promenade’ style, the order of events is usually pre-determined,” Montgomery noted. “The result is a passive form of entertainment where the audience has little responsibility for their own experience. Bellboys, Bears and Baggage creates a world rich in detail and depth of feeling that exists continuously in looped patterns, of various lengths installed in various rooms and of various scales, throughout the space. No two audience members will share the same experience, but all will begin to see the same patterns and themes emerge. I’m thrilled to create an experience that gets the audience onto their feet and into their heads and using their hearts, changing the role of the audience through a dramatic landscape in four dimensions.”
Dates, Entrance Times and Tickets
Bellboys, Bears and Baggage opens Sunday, May 18 and runs every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening through June 8.
Audiences enter every half hour, 7-9 pm Thursdays, 7-11 pm Fridays and Saturdays, and 6-8 pm Sundays. The experience is designed to take approximately 90 minutes, but may vary depending on each individual’s choices as they craft their own personal journey. A lounge with cash bar opens one hour prior to the first entrance and remains open until 11 pm Thursdays, 1 am Fridays and Saturdays, and 10 pm Sundays.
Tickets are $30 general admission, $25 each for groups of 10 or more, or $15 for students with valid ID ages 16 and up. Tickets are available through Redmoon’s box office at 312-850-8440 x123 or online at www.redmoon.org.
Redmoon Says:
I wanted to share how excited we are for you to join us at Bellboys, Bears, and Baggage.
You are not going to believe our fully transformed space. We've created an entirely new world for you to explore - with 17,000 square feet, multiple installations, interactive amusements, and more - all inspired by Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.
This is our first Spring Spectacle at our home in Pilsen, and it is a mammoth, epic production.
You have three weekends to see this one-of-a-kind show. Click here to buy your tickets now.
Best,
Frank
Producing Artistic Director
Want to learn more about the genius behind the spectacle?
About the Artists
To learn more about Jim Lasko, visit www.redmoon.org/people/jim-lasko.
To learn more about Blake Montgomery, visit www.redmoon.org/people/blake-montgomery
To learn more about Frank Maugeri, visit www.redmoon.org/people/frank-maugeri.
For more information on Redmoon and its programs, visit www.redmoon.org.
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