Steppenwolf's LOOKOUT Series 2019/20 Features Dance World Premieres And More

Steppenwolf's LookOut Series is pleased to announce their Fall/Winter 2019/20 lineup. This eclectic season showcases exciting work from many Chicago-based artists and companies working across disciplines. Step out of the cold and into Front Bar for a drink to warm you up, then head into Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre for an unforgettable evening of performance. Since its inception, the LookOut series has featured the work of more than 1,000 artists from across Chicago and beyond in more than 350 performances.

Tickets to Lucky Plush's Rink Life are on sale now; all other Fall/Winter 2019/20 LookOut programming goes on sale October 3 at 11am through Audiences Services (1650 N Halsted), 312-335-1650 and steppenwolf.org. Steppenwolf Red and Black Card Members may use credits towards Rink Life. Full lineup below; prices vary. For information, visit www.steppenwolf.org/tickets--events/lookout.

LookOut Director Greta Honold shares, "Since LookOut began three years ago, we have been lucky enough to play host to hundreds of artists working across performance disciplines - from theater to music, comedy to variety, and everything in between. Our intimate 1700 Theatre, typically set up in a cozy cabaret configuration, is a great fit for most performance, but is not conducive to movement work. This winter, we are reconfiguring the space with movers in mind, and will at long last be able to host a stretch of programming featuring performance that needs to stretch its legs a little."

Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre is an 80-seat flexible and intimate venue connected to Steppenwolf's own Front Bar: Coffee and Drinks at 1700 N Halsted St., an inviting space to grab a drink, have a bite, or meet up with friends and collaborators, day or night. Guests can take drinks into the theater.

 

LookOut Fall/Winter 2019/20 Lineup

Listed in date order. All artists, dates and prices subject to change.

*Doors open 30 minutes before performance time

 

Lucky Plush Productions Presents:

 

Rink Life

Thursday, November 7 - Sunday, November 16; full calendar available online

$40

In Rink Life, Lucky Plush brings its highly integrated approach to dance-theater into a communal space that nods to the visual aesthetics and social dynamics of 1970's roller rink culture, where relationships and storylines are as transient as the world that contains them. Rink Life's staging and choreography are built from the rink's spatial rules and social codes, and its script-turned-libretto-created from passing conversations, distant whispers, pop-song earworms, and found scripts-is entirely spoken and sung live. As the ensemble sings full-throatedly to score their experiences, they demonstrate through effort, risk, beauty, and failure that they-and we-are utterly dependent on one another.

 

Genesis Presents:

 

and you wanna go forever

Conceived & Created by Amanda Dunne Acevedo & Lindsey Barlag Thornton

Thursday, December 5- Saturday, December 7 at 8pm; Sunday, December 8 at 3:30pm

$30

As children we imagine adulthood will set us free; as adults we long for the freedom of childhood. Genesis's new work, and you wanna go forever, digs into the messiness, loneliness, and wonder of our younger years through ridiculous reenactments, earnest recitations, ghostly conjurings, wild dance parties, and our favorite childhood snacks.

 

The Seldoms Presents:

 

Exit Disclaimer: Science & Fiction Ahead

Thursday, December 12 - Saturday, December 14 at 8pm; Sunday, December 15 at 3:30pm

$35 General Admission; $15 Student/Senior/Active Military

Exit Disclaimer: Science & Fiction Ahead is a dance theater work that surveys the divisive national argument about climate change, and divergent positions from outright denial and indifference to innovation and urgency. The Seldoms, a dance company with a reputation for tackling hot-button issues, brings humor, humanity and their signature "brainy, brawny movement" (Chicago Tribune) to this pressing subject.

 

STARTING BEFORE YOU'RE READY...

Po'Chop and Hijo Prodigo

Friday, December 20 - Saturday, December 21 at 8pm

$25

STARTING BEFORE YOU'RE READY... is an improvised sonic and movement performance that explores spirituality, personal mythology, rave, storytelling, ritual and release. Merging practices, dj/sound artist Hijo Prodigo and dance artist Po'Chop join forces as VIRTUE to delve into how one's art practice can serve as a method to both ground and protect.

 

aMoratorium

Created by J'Sun Howard

Friday, January 3 - Saturday, January 4 at 8pm

$20

Charles Wilbert White (1918-1979) was one of the preeminent artists to emerge during the city's Black Renaissance of the 1930s and 1940s. A passionate mural and easel painter and superbly gifted draftsman, White powerfully interpreted African American history, culture, and lives in striking works that transcend racial categorization. First commissioned by the Art Institute of Chicago to respond to the Charles Wilbert White Retrospective, aMoratorium explores black male identity, visibility, temporality and its absence, focusing on death as it relates to the Black church and Black spiritual traditions.

 

Aura Curiatlas Presents:

 

Dream Logic & The Fool and The World

Thursday, January 9 - Saturday, January 11 at 8pm

$25

In their signature style blending acrobatics, dance, and theatrical storytelling, Aura CuriAtlas Physical Theatre performs selections from their DREAM LOGIC repertoire, followed by the Chicago/Midwest premiere of their newest work, The Fool and The World. DREAM LOGIC is a curious collection of magical stories that invite the audience to accompany each quirky character on an exciting journey. The Fool and The World is inspired by the 22 Major Arcana cards of a Tarot deck and is performed to music by Sophia Serghi. The trio of performers takes on the characters and situations depicted in the cards, bringing them to life through acrobatics and dance.

 

Spektral Quartet Presents

 

The Space Between

Friday, January 17 - Saturday, January 18 at 8pm

$30

The Space Between finds the GRAMMY-nominated Spektral Quartet venturing into uncharted territory: a space in which not only their sound, but their bodies and voices interact. Moments of tenderness, solitude, conflict, virtuosity, and discovery abound in this theatrical work - and born from these physical gestures, the sonic landscape spans from the crunch of pure noise to the rapture of ethereal beauty. Composed by Lisa R. Coons and choreographed and directed by Mark DeChiazza, The Space Between unites three of classical music's most intrepid risk-takers in a bold presentation unlike anything string quartet fans have encountered.

 

Family Reunion

Directed by Nora Sharp with the Nor Performance Crew

Friday, January 24 - Saturday, January 25 at 8pm

$20

An improvisation of movement, conversation, soundtrack, and live video documentation, Family Reunion is a space for queer and gender expansive people to activate their own agency and amplify each other's, opening to difference as much as solidarity and bringing all their histories, skills, and specificities along for the ride. Developed from a process of dancing and hanging out together, Family Reunion sets up circumstances for people to get invested in each other and stretch the present moment into a future worth working toward. Family Reunion feels like a mashup of a home video, a family band rehearsal, a portrait painting come to life, and the break room out back of your favorite bar in a not-too-distant queertopia.

 

Get Out Alive

Written & Performed by Nikki Lynette; Directed by Roger Ellis

Thursday, January 30 - Saturday, February 1 @ 8pm, Sunday, February 2 @ 3:30pm

$20

Get Out Alive is a new autobiographical musical by independent artist Nikki Lynette. Using storytelling, song, movement, visual media and a live DJ, Nikki's offbeat approach to sharing her personal mental health journey shows that even when life leads us to a bad place, we can always make it out alive.

 

LookOut is Steppenwolf's performance series that presents the work of artists and companies across genre and form, emerging artists and performance legends, quintessential Chicago companies and young aspiring ensembles, familiar Steppenwolf faces and new friends. Greta Honold and Patrick Zakem are the producers for LookOut, and Zoe Lesser is the 2019/20 LookOut Producing Apprentice. For more information, visit steppenwolf.org/lookout.

 

 

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