Lifeline Theatre to Open 25th Fillet of Solo Festival

Former Lifeline Theatre Artistic Director Dorothy Milne and former Live Bait Theater Artistic Director Sharon Evans announced the 25th Annual Fillet of Solo Festival, presented by Lifeline Theatre and running virtually January 21-February 13, 2022. Celebrating the breadth of Chicago's enduring storytelling and live lit scene, Lifeline virtually brings 10 storytelling collectives and 28 solo performers together from all over the country in a three-week online gallery of powerful, personal stories.

The 2022 Fillet of Solo Festival will stream January 21-February 13, 2022, online via a password protected website where ticket holders will have access to the full line up of stories until the Festival concludes. Ticket prices are "Name Your Price" (suggested $45) for access to the gallery for the full three weeks PLUS live virtual extras including panel discussions and storytelling workshops with Festival artists. Tickets are now available for purchase by calling the Lifeline Box Office, 773.761.4477, or by visiting www.lifelinetheatre.com.

FEATURED PERFORMERS

The 25th Annual Fillet of Solo Festival will feature solo performances by:

• Anu Bhatt: TBA
• Christina Calvit: "Rats 'R' Us"
• Jimmy Carrane: TBA
• Heather Currie: "It's a Sunny Day"
• Jimmy Doyle: "Sweet Jane"
• Shelby Marie Edwards: "Antidote in Weeping Willows"
• Nona Flores: "I Sleep With Dogs"
• Kevin Gladish: "The Canvass"
• John Hahm: "The Drawing Wall"
• Ayun Halliday: "Japanese Penpal"
• Archy Jamjun: "A Boy & A Diva, Part 2: Love's Lost and Found"
• Bryan Kett: "Grouper"
• Georgia Knapp: "Was möchten Sie?"
• Kristina Lebedeva: "The Edges of the Mind"
• Amanda Link: "Surrender"
• Betsey Manzoni: "Why Not"
• Adam Marcantoni: "Potato Coat"
• Errol McLendon: "Roadside Attraction"
• Janki Mody: TBA
• Victoria Montalbano: "The Princess Strikes Back: One Woman's Search for the Space Cowboy of her Dreams"
• Kim Morris: "Peace of Pi"
• Harrison Ornelas: TBA
• Claudia Reilly: "Bowling in Hollywood"
• Connie Shirakawa: "Connie's Covid Chronicles"
• Mike Speller: "Temptation Twins"
• Francesca Sobrer: "TAXI"
• Jameson Wentworth: "[Out of] Context: Identity War
• Bernard White: "Up, Up and Away"

Plus the work of the following storytelling collectives:

• 80 Minutes Around the World: Immigration Stories (http://www.nestorgomezstoryteller.com/immigration-stories.html): Curated and produced by Nestor Gomez. Celebrated storyteller and 40-time Moth Slam winner Nestor Gomez has assembled a group of local performers to help illuminate the voices of immigrants in our city. Featuring: Nestor Gomez, Miyo Yamauchi, & Mara Menzies.
• AAPI Stories hosted by Archy Jamjun, featuring: Jin-Soo Huh, Eleanor Clement Glass, Emil Guillermo, Archy Jamjun, M.J. Kang, & Anne Shimojima.
• Back Room Stories (https://www.facebook.com/Backroomstories/): The Back Room is a curated show that features voices from across the spectrum of storytelling. Margaret Burk co-produces and co-hosts three monthly storytelling events in Oak Park/River Forest: Back Room Stories at Hamburger Mary's, Illinois Storytelling's series at Dominican University, and Do Not Submit Oak Park at the Eastgate Cafe. Featuring: Margaret Burk, Linda Gorham, Peter LeGrand, Gilo Kwesi Logan, Annalise Raziq, & Megan Wells.
• Is This a Thing? (https://www.facebook.com/isthisathing/): Produced by Jake Cowan, Damian Raszewski, and Suzy Kahn Weinberg. Is this a thing? is a storytelling show that features new and experienced writers and tellers of true personal tales in a welcoming and nurturing space and place. Since 2014, our theme-inspired monthly show happens in the warm embrace of a Northside neighborhood pub, O'Shaughnessy's at Ravenswood and Wilson on the second Monday of the month, February-July and September-December. The stories all benefit from a super helpful and supportive workshop for the performers and producers to listen to each other and share ideas. Is this a thing? Yes. Yes it is. Featuring: David Barish, Jake Cowan, Carissa Letz, Leah Stallone, Suzy Kahn Weinberg, & Joy Wright.
• Serving the Sentence (www.facebook.com/servingthesentencechicago): Serving the Sentence is a live lit show in which different storytellers take the same first sentence -- each in their own direction. At the end of the show, a new sentence is drawn that the next show's storytellers will embark from! Featuring: Israel Antonio, Michael Herzovi, Matt Pavich, Francesca Peppiatt, Kendra Stevens, & Tori Szekeres.
• Survivance: Series 2 (Dear 21 Year Old Me): Survivance is a storytelling partnership between the Henry Williams Love Foundation and The Pisces Life Podcast and Network. Featuring: Mikki Adams, Taneesha Jackson, Kai Love, & Lakeisha Rivers.
• Stir-Friday Night! (www.stirfridaynight.org): A 24-year-old Asian-American comedy group, based in Chicago and performing at Second City, iO, Annoyance, Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre, and at festivals all over the country. Stir-Friday Night! alumni include Danny Pudi from Community, and Steven Yeun from The Walking Dead. Stir-Friday Night! is a nonprofit theater company, specializing in sketch comedy and improvisation, and offers touring shows and workshops for schools, companies, and organizations. Featuring: Erica Geisere & Scott Hanada.
• Story Sessions: Friends With Words (http://storysessionschicago.com/): Friends with Words is a monthly writing group that has been supporting each other's stories since 2012. Produced and hosted by Jill Howe. Story Sessions is a monthly show in Edgewater featuring a collection of curated performers and open mics sharing true personal stories that will tug at your heart strings, tickle your funny bone and take your mind on a wild adventure. Featuring: Anne Beall, Judi Lee Goshen, Jill Howe, Sheri Reda, Stephanie Weber, & Debbi Welch.
• Sweat Girls (www.sweatgirls.org): With 28 years of shared history, the Sweat Girls represent the greying edge of Chicago's Live Lit community. Known for their "contagious gusto" the Sweat Girls have been called "the undisputed tribal elders" of the solo performance scene (Chicago Reader, 2014). Featuring: Caroline Andres, Cindy Hanson, Dorothy Milne, Clare Nolan, Martie Sanders, & Pamela Webster.
• Tellin' Tales Theatre: Rewind (tellintales.org): Tellin' Tales Theatre shatters the barriers between the disabled and non-disabled worlds through personal story - adult solo performances as well as "Six Stories Up," a mentoring program and show featuring kids and adults, with and without disabilities. Featuring: Shane Hendrix, Michele Lee, Tekki Lomnicki, & Shui Sheppard.

The 2022 Fillet of Solo Festival will stream January 21-February 13, 2022, online via a password protected website where ticket holders will have access to the full line up of stories until the Festival concludes. Ticket prices are Name Your Price (suggested $45) for access to the gallery for the full three weeks PLUS live virtual extras including panel discussions and storytelling workshops with Festival artists. Tickets are now available for purchase by calling the Lifeline Box Office, 773.761.4477, or by visiting www.lifelinetheatre.com.

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