Blair Thomas' LIVING ROOM TOUR to Bring Live Puppet Shows, Food and Drinks to 3 Chicago Homes

Blair Thomas & Co. announces the 2017 Living Room Tour - a series of intimate performances in some of Chicago's most unique private homes, November 11-13, 2017, to support the upcoming Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival.

In addition to delicious food and drinks, houseguests will be ushered into actual living rooms to enjoy a live, sneak-peek performance by festival artist Magali Chouinard of Montreal. Festival founder and artistic director Blair Thomas will also present his version of Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies.

"We are so fortunate to have Canada's Magali Chouinard make this early visit to Chicago to preview her show The White Woman, a visual narrative full of arresting images, before it tours Chicago neighborhoods in January as part of the 2017 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival," said Thomas.

Thomas's own toy theater staging of Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies, a delightfully dark abecedarian tale told in rhyming couplets, will be performed exclusively this season as part the Living Room Tour.

Dates, times and neighborhood locations are:

Living Room Tour - Logan Square

Friday, November 11, 7 p.m.

Co-Hosts Dorothy Zalewski, Dan Engh and Rick Stoneham will open the 2017 Living Room Tour with a party and performance in a farmhouse with a contemporary renovation where modern design blends with cultural artifacts.

Living Room Tour - Bronzeville

Saturday, November 12, 7 p.m.

Co-Hosts Susan and Phil Hague, Liz Aviles and Colleen Sims will welcome guests to an 1882 Victorian gem built for a Chicago industrialist on property linked to the Civil War.

Living Room Tour - Hyde Park

Sunday, November 13, 11 a.m.

Co-Hosts Sidney Nagel, Young-Kee Kim and Michelle McClennan will serve up a brunch hour Living Room Tour in an expansive 1920's-era "Kenwood Mansions"-area Hyde Park home featuring a beautiful ballroom.

Space is limited. Tickets to Living Room Tour party are $100. For tickets and information, visit ChicagoPuppetFest.org/living-room-tour-2017 or call
(312) 753-3234.

(Note: Ticket buyers will be notified of the actual address of their chosen Living Room Tour location after completing their purchase.)

Living Room Tour proceeds will benefit the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, returningJanuary 19-29, 2017. Arriving in the wake of its runaway success in its inaugural outing in 2015, Chicago residents and visitors can look forward to an even larger, more diverse international pageant of top puppets and puppet artists from Chicago, the U.S. and around the world, all descending on the city to celebrate the full breadth of the art of contemporary puppetry.

Stay tuned for an announcement later this month with the full list of artists and events at Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival presenting partner venues large and small across the city.

In the meantime, bookmark ChicagoPuppetFest.org and sign up for the Festival E-News for first notice and to stay on top of other puppet news and events in Chicago. On social media, like the festival on Facebook, follow the festival on Twitter at @ChiPuppetFest or on Instagram, and track the official festival hashtag, #ChiPuppetFest.

The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival is supported in part by the Alphawood Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Jentes Family Foundation, Reva and David Logan Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, National Performance Network and the Pritzker-Pucker Family Foundation.

The 2016 Living Room Tour Committee Co-Chairs are Eva Silverman, Colleen Sims and Asheley Smith. Committee members include Barbara Abel, Liz Aviles, Susan Hague, Justine Jentes, Michelle McClennan and Jenny Shanks.

The Blair Thomas and Co. Board of Directors includes Claire Rice (Chair), Cheryl Lynn Bruce, Andrea Saenz, Colleen Sims, Asheley Smith, Rick Stoneham, Blair Thomas, Chuck Thurow and Angel Ysaguirre. Blair Thomas is Artistic Director. Sandy Gerding is Managing Director.

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