Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre Announces Second Annual WINTERFEST Of New Works

Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre has announced the shows and creators of its second annual WinterFest, to kick off January 10, 2025.

"After three mainstage seasons of producing a new work in development and last year's WinterFest success, we are thrilled that Theo has become an incubator for artists to hone and develop their new works," says Producing Director Christopher Pazdernik. "With the loss of companies who have supported this kind of work in the past, we are proud to pick up the mantle to champion artists in this way. We are all excited for our audiences to be introduced to some new artists, take a chance on new work, and enjoy bonus theater in January!"

Productions were selected from an open-call submission process and evaluated by a panel of past WinterFest participating artists, with one pick each from Theo's Producing and Artistic Directors.

All eight shows feature new works and works in development curated by local Chicagoland artists. Tickets are $10 (general admission). Performances will take place at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theater at 721 Howard Street, Evanston, IL 60202. Learn more and purchase tickets at theo-u.com/winterfest-25.

WINTERFEST 2025

I'M NOT SAD

FRIDAY, JANUARY 10 AT 7:30PM

One-Person Show written and performed by Juan Muñoz

About the show

They say that tragedy+time=comedy. *Scientists across the world agree. "I'm Not Sad!" explores this idea by examining a variety of seemingly mundane tragedies through a comedic lens. Eventually, the show learns to hold space for conversations about real grief, loss, nostalgia, and the tiny spiders that look at our butts in the tub. This show includes stand-up, storytelling, original music, and much more. Oftentimes, the media aims to examine sadness as something that needs to be solved. "I'm Not Sad!" challenges that notion with the understanding that we can coexist with our sadness and learn to move forward. *Please consult your local scientist.

About the artist

Juan Muñoz is a performer, writer, and comedian based in Chicago. Juan was a 2022 Bob Curry Fellow at The Second City. Acting credits include "The Leopard Play: or Sad Songs for Lost Boys" at Steep Theatre which won a Jeff Award for Best Ensemble. He was also part of "Must Be the Entrance to Heaven" at Vision Latino which was a recipient of the non-equity Jeff award for best short run production. He was a member of the 2021 Intensive Ensemble, instituted by Off-Broadway's Labyrinth Theatre Company. As a storyteller, Juan has performed with Write Club Chicago and Writers Theatre's storytelling night. Additionally, Juan was a part of Jackalope Theatre's Playwright's Lab in 2023, and is a multi-time finalist at Take a Shot Open Mic. Interested parties can follow Juan on instagram @juanwithwords or check out his website: www.juanwithwords.com. Disinterested parties can eat a single rock :)

STAY HUMAN YOU ANIMAL

SUNDAY, JANUARY 12 AT 6:00PM

One-Person Show by Fred Cavair Robinson

About the Show

SHYA is a one-person show featuring Fred Cavair Robinson in a series of short plays in the neo-futurist aesthetic, featuring true stories and original songs about growing up Black, Queer, and Weird in the "wild."

About the Artist

Fred Cavair Robinson writes, performs, and creates visual experiences that stick to audiences like the meat to bones. Sometimes an emotional slut, boldly abstract and dramatic, summoning primordial contemporary worlds, decadent feelings, and lusty prose. But, never above a fart joke. As a Disabled, Queer, BIPOC, their work seeks to involve, engage, perplex, question, and inspire much like that of Marlon Riggs or Essex Hemphill. The nature, condition, and compassion of the Human Animal is what Fred seeks to unveil through their writings, performances, and visual art. Their favorite themes and subjects surround connections and relationships- those we share, our ancestors, nature, astrology, and the mysticism deep within ourselves. Take a field of grass and make it a pop star.

SINGLE-SIDED

TUESDAY, JANUARY 14 AT 7:30PM

Cabaret Musical written and performed by Aaron Jamieson Roberts

About the Show

Single-Sided is a one-man musical, or rather, it's a soloist desperately longing for a duet. AJ is an imaginative young person determined to find a boyfriend within the year. Unfortunately, while he's sitting across from his date, he's already imagining them getting married. A little eager, a little distracted, and increasingly frustrated, AJ unpacks how he got to this point in his life, and why he finds himself stuck in one sided situationships. This solo-show, cabaret style, musical weaves together songs and stories from the artist's life. It examines the frustration of wanting something that is illusive, the ramifications of extreme avoidance, plus dating apps, and daddy issues. Funny, poignant, and vulnerable, the show is a self-portrait that speaks to those who didn't get picked this cuffing season.

About the Artist

Aaron Jamieson Roberts switched places with his twin brother in preschool and ever since has been fascinated by imagining the lives of other people. He studied theater at Ithaca College and is now based in Chicago as a writer / stand-up. He was the literary associate for Underscore Musical Theater, and creative director for the new play development podcast Invited Dress. His play The Pass was a finalist for the International Risk Theater Modern Tragedy Competition. He considers himself to be an Average American Baker and a Professional Dreamer.

LOVE IN THE TIME OF _______

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16 AT 7:30PM

Staged Reading (play) featuring the work of Mantra and Alondra Rios

About the Show

Set in a world of pop songs, dating apps, and coincidences, Mantra's pattern play, "Love in the Time Of _____" interrogates the gap between the idealized notion of love we consume and the messier reality that love entails. When the rose-colored hue of novelty falls away, where do we go from there?

About the Artists

Mantra (she/any) is a Chicago-based playwright, director, and actor from Bangalore, India. A recent graduate from Northwestern University's Theatre/Playwriting program, her work was recently seen Off-Broadway as a part of 24HourPlays, in the Agnes Nixon Playwriting Festival, and produced by Studio 22 Productions (Northwestern University), Vertigo Productions (Northwestern University) and Lovers and Madmen productions (Northwestern University). As an actor, she was recently seen in Radial Gradient (Shattered Globe Theatre), Dance Nation (Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center) and short film George (CineYouth Film Festival). She is a Fulbright Creative Writing semifinalist, an Agnes Nixon Playwriting Award winner, and a playwright currently affiliated with the Road Theatre in LA (Under Construction 5).

Alondra Rios is a Puerto Rican director, actor, and playwright currently based in Chicago. Recent directing credits include: Arts Alliance's In the Heights and Purple Crayon Players' The Little Mermaid. She has also appeared in Tomas and the Library Lady and Water by the Spoonful at the Wirtz Center. She was a proud cast member of The Mee-ow Comedy Group for three years, serving as co-director for the Mee-ow 50th Anniversary show. Her new play, El Hilo del Pastel, recently premiered in the Agnes Nixon Playwriting Festival. She studied at Northwestern University with a B.A. in Theatre and a certificate in Music Theatre and Playwriting.

THE OLIVE TREE

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18 AT 7:30PM

Musical/Concert written and performed by Satya Chávez

About the Show

It's "Over the River and Through the Woods," but instead of meadows and forests, it's "across the abyssal ocean and up the unforgiving heights of the capitalist mountain." The Olive Tree is a spellbinding live-looping musical-a tale of resistance, resilience, and collective liberation. In a world teetering on the brink of annihilation, young Reem embarks on a perilous journey. Her dying father's final command reverberates in her soul: she must recall a forgotten truth, awaken her dormant magic, and stop the world-ending war that threatens everything she holds dear. From the depths of the unknown to the towering peaks of oppression, Reem faces impossible odds, unraveling secrets long buried and forging unlikely alliances. With every step, her magic grows, as does the storm gathering around her. The stakes couldn't be higher: the fate of the world rests in her hands. Will she remember in time, or will the world plunge into endless darkness?

About the Artist

Satya Chávez is a multidisciplinary artist and an inaugural recipient of the Jeff Impact Fellowship. Their compositional work includes, Refuge, produced at (Curious Theatre; True West Award, Theo; Non-Equity Jeff Awards, Unicorn Theatre, and Theatre Lab FAU); TYA musicals Brighter Futures (Paramount Theatre) and Seattle History Remix (Seattle Children's Theater); ¡Bernarda! (Teatro Vista); Corduroy (Chicago Shakes); and Where Did We Sit On The Bus? (Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cleveland Playhouse, Colorado Springs FAC, Marin Theatre Company, and DCPA). Chávez has been commissioned by Goodman Theatre, Paramount Theatre, TheatreSquared, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Seattle Children's Theater, and Curious Theatre.

THE MYSTERIOUS MAGICIAN (AND CHIP)

TUESDAY, JANUARY 21 AT 7:30PM

Clowning & Magic written and performed by Charlie Baker

About the Show

An evening of mystifying magic, wonder, and laughter! The Magician promises to perform his world famous and death defying "The Blindfolded Blade Master" and stun the audience with feats never before imagined! His clown assistant, Chip, will ensure the audience has the best show of their lives, and a truly unforgettable evening!

About the Artist

Charlie Baker is a professional movement artist and silly person. Charlie has been clowning from an early age, and after completing the Actor's Gymnasium pro training program, emphasizing in clown, Charlie began work on Chip's first full length show. While not clowning or performing magic, Charlie works as an excellent intimacy and violence director.www.XploringGender.com 

FAT JOKES

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23 AT 7:30PM

Variety Show from Annie A. and Eileen Tull

About the Show

A production of the Fat Theater Project, Fat Jokes is a new variety show featuring fat comedians of many artistic disciplines. We're inviting stand-up comedians, sketch comics, clowns, improv performers, storytellers, and more, to showcase their talents and unique perspectives. The show seeks to elevate fat people as the tellers of jokes, not the punchlines.

About the Artists

Annie A. is a writer and performer from Chicago. They've written and performed at The Second City, The Annoyance Theater, Otherworld Theater, The Neo-Futurists, and more. Their recent work includes writing, producing, and performing in Hairy Tales, a sketch show featuring queer feminist retellings of fairy tales, doing props and projections for The Curator Presents, a one-woman show about loss and self-discovery during COVID lockdown, and two student showcases at The Neo-Futurists. She was also on the steering committee for The Shrews, an improv team of women and nonbinary folks performing in the style of Shakespeare.

Eileen Tull is a Chicago-based storyteller, theatremaker, poet, educator, and one-woman-show person. She has performed throughout the country, from San Francisco to New York City, including in the SF Fringe, New Seeds Festival, United Solo, the Cincy Fringe, the Minnesota Fringe Festival, and the Dallas Solo Festival. Her work has been seen all over Chicago in theatres, bookstores, art galleries, bars and other non-traditional spaces like Theater Wit, Stage Left, Broken Nose Theatre, Loose Chicks, Chicago Danztheatre, and Fat Theatre Project, a newly formed creative collective. Eileen is a one time marathon runner, a movie fanatic, and a fat liberationist.

NEW LINE

SUNDAY, JANUARY 26 AT 6:00PM

Staged Reading (musical) from Renzo Vicente, Logan Van Lergerghe, Bryce Ranee, and Marcus Bobbit

About the Show

Recent high school graduates Max, Eddie, and Noah spend their days busking in the streets of Chicago as the hip-hop/RNB trio called New Line. Their lives are forever changed after a chance meeting with their muse, Diana Cloud aka Nomad, who takes them under her wing as their so-called hip-hop sensei. After her untimely passing, however, New Line begins to lose their way and make music for the wrong reasons. Uninterested producers and a competing amateur rapper stand in their way of self-improvement. Their dire situation pushes ethereal forces of music to intervene in order to remind the trio of why they chased their passions in the first place. The play has gone through one staged reading workshop through Freestage at Illinois State University.

About the Artists

Renzo Vicente is a Chicago-based actor from ISU. He has experience with musicals and plays starting in 2016 and desires a future in film. He has written since fifth grade but began playwriting during 2022. His valued roles include Dysart (Equus), Clyde (Bonnie and Clyde The Musical), Ken (Red), Gomez Addams (The Addams Family), Dudard (Rhinoceros), and more. He originated roles as The Detective in M. Nance's Scarlet, and Eddie in his original play New Line. He attended KCACTF '22-'24 and became a finalist in 2024. He's ecstatic to work and is grateful to his family for everything.

Logan Van Lerberghe (he/they) is a Chicago-based actor and teacher with a degree in Theatre Education from ISU (5/25). He has professional experience in performance and technical theatre, along with theatre teaching. He was honored to help Renzo develop New Line through originating the character Cadence. His other favorite performances include understudying Quince in Oak Park Festival Theatre's A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as Charlie (In Pieces) and Cedric (Puffs). He has also taught summer camps for all levels through the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. Logan thanks his family, friends, and teachers for their never ending support.

Bryce Ranee is a proud graduate of Illinois State University with a degree in theatre/acting and film studies. She has performed in numerous theatre productions, including standout roles such as Arugula in Space Girl, Aunt Bella in Lost in Yonkers, Sumner in Men on Boats, Medda Larkin in Newsies, and Flounder in The Little Mermaid. She has also participated in various student films and was a 2024 finalist at KCACTF. She has a genuine passion for performing and is deeply grateful for the unwavering support of her amazing friends and family.

Marcus Bobbit is ecstatic to be helping bring New Line to life. He is currently a second-year undergraduate at Illinois State University, training towards a BFA in Musical Theatre. Marcus would like to thank his family, both blood and found, for their unwavering support. Enjoy the show!

ABOUT THEO UBIQUE CABARET THEATRE

Theo was founded in 1997 by Artistic Director Fred Anzevino. Productions were first staged at the Heartland Studio Theatre, and from 2004 to May 2018, at No Exit Café, where the company began focusing on musicals and revues, reigniting the cabaret theatre trend in Chicago. The company moved to the Howard Street Theatre, a venue owned and developed for Theo by the City of Evanston, in fall of 2018. Theo has produced more than 60 shows and won 68 Jeff Awards, having received nearly 200 nominations. Learn more at www.theo-u.com

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