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Meet our Community Partners

Over the past few months of conducting research and interviews as background for our original play Crime Scene: A Chicago Anthology, we have been priveleged to work with some amazing community organizations that are working on a daily basis to stem the violence.

As artists, we believe in the power of storytelling to make change and create dialogue - but we also know that we cannot operate in a bubble. Theater is just one piece of an enormous effort to reduce violence and provide a better future for our children, and it is only by working together and tackling the problem from its many angles that we can effect lasting change in our city.

The Community Partners listed below have done everything from helping to inform our writing process, to spreading the word about the show and co-facilitating postshow conversations alongside our cast & crew. We are truly grateful for their involvement.

Please check them out, and support their inspiring work!

Crime Scene Community Partners

Alternatives Positive programs defined, developed, and led by youth

Catharsis Productions - Producing artistically innovative and research-supported programming that challenges oppressive attitudes, transforms behavior, and inspires communities to create a world without violence.

Chicago's Citizens for Change - Working to reduce youth violence through programs and partnerships that strengthen communities and promote restorative peace-making by supporting families and youth who have experienced loss due to violence.

Cure Violence - Reversing the spread of violence by using the methods and strategies associated with disease control—detection and interruption, identifying individuals involved in transmission, and changing social norms of the communities where it occurs.

The Faith Community of Saint Sabina - An African American Catholic community of faith, education, and service

Latinos Progressando - Serving immigrants with the highest quality, low-cost legal immigration services, community education and engagement, and advocacy/organizing around policy that affects immigrants.

Lupe Fiasco Foundation - Providing inner city youth ages 14-24 with comprehensive positive youth development programming that embodies educational advancement, service learning and leadership, global capacity building and music education

Now Is The Time - A citywide initiative inspiring Chicago's young people to make positive change in their communities and stop youth violence and intolerance

Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation - Working against violence for peace

Pure Art - Providing under-served and under-privileged communities with arts education outreach programs

 

Purpose Over Pain - Ending gun violence over living with the pain

Stillpoint Theatre Collective - a community of Chicago artists who use theater to educate, inspire, and challenge our communities to action

Storycatchers Theatre -  a youth development arts organization that prepares young people to make thoughtful life choices through the process of writing, producing, and performing original musical theatre inspired by personal stories

Strengthening Chicago's Youth - A group of private and public stakeholders that take a public health approach to violence prevention

 

 

It's here, Chicago! "dark play or stories for boys" starts TONIGHT at 8:00PM in the beautiful Flat Iron Arts Building. 

And since "dark play" begins tonight, that means that Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Rather than just a traditional dinner date, let Collaboraction treat you to a unique romantic package you won't find anywhere else! 

Our exclusive "Dark Play" Date Package* costs only $50 and includes two theater tickets to the most anticipated sensual thriller of the season, "dark play or stories for boys" plus two 30-minute Zen Shiatsu massages with certified massage artist Katarine Stanisavljevic- all at our Flat Iron Arts Bulding, 1579 N. Milwaukee.

BUT HURRY! Only 25 of these exclusive $50 "Dark Play" Date Packages exist. Email BoxOffice@collaboraction.org to claim your special package today!

 

"dark play or stories for boys"

By Carlos Murillo, Directed by Anthony Moseley

January 12-February 26

Tickets start at just $15

 

www.Collaboraction.org

 

*Total Package Retail Value: $130. Massage must be redeemed by February 25, 2012.

Happy Holidays from Collaboraction! We here at the company know how cold the holiday season can be- especially in the Windy City- which is why we are offering our dedicated fans an exclusive ticket offer for our upcoming production, the Chicago premiere of dark play or stories for boys. Can you say perfect, last-minute holiday gift? We can. And we know. Which is why we're with good tidings and cheer.

To get two tickets to the hottest show of the season for just $20, use the promo code "SANTA" when ordering at www.Collaboraction.org! But exclusives like this don't stick around long, so we're giving our fans until December 25 at 12:00PM to get in on the deal.

"dark play or stories for boys".  

Written by Chicago's own Carlos Murillo and  

directed by Collaboraction Artistic Director Anthony Moseley.   

Performances run January 12-February 26, 2012.  

 

"Provocative and sensual"- The Chicago Tribune

 

"A lurid and provocative mind-tease of a play that is alternately irresistible and horrifying."
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution

 

Set in 2004, "dark play or stories for boys" invites the audience into a fantasy universe
of online imagination full of young love, yearning and true pain when virtual chat room conversations lead to real world consequences.  When Nick creates a fictional female internet identity to befriend Adam, the two young boys are suddenly caught up in a
"game" that ultimately proves love is blind, and can also be blinding.  

    

dark play or stories for boys will perform at Collaboraction's new home
in the Flat Iron Arts Building, 1579 N. Milwaukee Ave., #336

2011 was our first full year in Wicker Park’s Flat Iron Arts Building, where we built a theater from the ground up. We christened this space with Sketchbook Reverb, and staged exciting plays like Be a Good Little Widow by new voice Bekah Brunstetter and the remount of Jason Grote’s 1001. We have been able to construct a theater suiting Collaboraction’s signature style of experimental multimedia theater. Donations from people like you were instrumental in making this happen; you helped us acquire the lights, the seats, the tools, and all the other pieces that make our home a theater.   

Now that we’ve built a house for Collaboraction, our goal is to take it to the next level. We want everyone who comes to Wicker Park’s Six Corners to know that Collaboraction is the neighborhood’s premiere performing arts hub. This includes having a more luxurious lobby area, improved seating, and a light-up marquee letting everyone on Milwaukee Avenue know about our creative work in 2012: The Chicago premiere of dark play or stories for boys by Carlos Murillo, a reimagined Flat Iron SKETCHBOOK festival, our spring production Sixty Miles to Silver Lake (winner of the 2010 New York Times Outstanding Playwrighting Award) by Dan LeFranc and events like After Dark at the Art Institute and our 10th annual CARNAVAL.  

We are setting a goal of raising $10,000 by January 1^st to push our theater forward. We must depend on individual donations to help us meet this goal. So far we have already raised $1,328.00. Please support us in this journey to help build upon our foundation of  creativity, collaboration and community by making a tax-deductible contribution today.

                                                                        

As an added bonus, the first 100 people who give $20          
or more will receive a SKETCHBOOK t-shirt and an
invitation to our special Donor Happy Hour on
December 30^th from 5:00-7:00. Thank you for your consideration.

 

 DONATE TODAY! online or call us at 312.226.9633 

 

Annual Appeal 2011 Donors: As of 12/7/11              

Paul Levy

John Wislon

 

"Here's an excellent reason why Collaboraction Theater should be supported, nurtured and cherished: they've helped to bring a whole new generation of Chicago theatergoers into the fold with their innovative, challenging and inspired body of work.

-Will Clinger, performed as Coach Siddhartha in The Siddhartha Project and Steve Lurker in the Lurker Radio Hour at the 8^th annual SKETCHBOOK Festival

 

“One of the city's most intriguing off-Loop companies. SKETCHBOOK...has become a must-see annual event.”

-New City

 

“Collaboraction has an amazing ability to get the ultimate big bang out of every buck that goes in.”

-Guy Massey, performed in JON and the 7^th annual SKETCHBOOK

 

 

 

BLACK FRIDAY DEAL at Collaboraction!

It's Black Friday soon! (Friday, Friday...gotta get down on Friday. You know you still love it.) And that means ninja shoppers, moms, grandma and Aunt Sally are getting ready for one of the biggest shopping days of the year in the good ol' U.S. of A.

While most theatre companies frequently close their doors as Macy's and Saks prep their chunky sweater tables for an early morning opening, COLLABORACTION is bringing you a can't-miss Black Friday Bundle!

Your friends at COLLABORACTION are giving you a mere two days to grab the best offer of the season: 4 tickets to use at any of our two upcoming shows and a $25 gift certificate to our exclusive restaurant sponsor, Rodan. No, we're not crazy- and yes, you did read that correctly- For only $20 you get a total of 4 tickets to an upcoming show at Collaboraction. You can choose to split them between the shows or use them for a group of 4 to attend one production.

Trust us- it's the best night out at the theatre you'll have all year. But we are only offering 50 of these special Holiday bundles, so act fast and get yours today!

-Alissa N

"dark play or stories for boys"
by Carlos Murrillo, directed by Anthony Moseley
Jan. 12 - Feb. 26

"60 miles to Silver Lake"
by Dan LeFranc, directed by Sarah Moeller
April 19 - May 27

Director’s Notes - 200 Funny Things

Let’s face it. You can’t name a show 200 Funny Things and than claim that it’s not about getting laughs. It is about getting laughs. But, it’s also about “how” you get those laughs. In this case, the “how” is a kind of free association that occurs between actor and audience. On stage, the actors are free-associating on every level: physical, vocal, verbal, cerebral, etc. The audience free-associates off of what the actors are doing. In the middle of this free associative mayhem, flashes of abstract communication occur, that results in laughs. No one really knows why
the thing was funny. It just was. It’s the classic “you had to be there” sort of a situation.

You may be wondering why I created this festival of bizarre behavior. Well, I’ve got my reasons and here they are.

Most theatre, including classic improvisation, is language driven. It plays out in the realm of socially acceptable behavior. It presupposes recognizable characters and linear story lines. That seems to work pretty well, but I thought to myself, what if I didn’t use any of that stuff? What would that be like? I liked the answer that came back. It would be like a waking dream. It would be like “live” abstract art, a kind of theatrical Dadaism that would liberate actor and audience to interact with each other in a purely abstract way.

I decided this waking dream should play by the same rules as a REM sleep dream. Anything can happen and you go with whatever shows up. That’s exactly what the actors are doing in 200 Funny Things. Essentially, they are spilling the full expressive range of what they are experiencing into the performance space where the audience can experience it. Through the rehearsal process the actors have created these things called “entities”. An entity goes well beyond the concept of a character. It is derived from what the actor is experiencing on a moment-to-moment basis. Essentially, the entity is a continuously evolving chain of experiencing. Each time the actor evokes an entity it will be different, because what they are experiencing at that moment is different. The entity can experience itself as human, or subhuman, or superhuman, or not human it all. It's really an experiential universe that continuously unfolds in the consciousness of the actor.

I also wanted to find out what happens between actor and audience when you eliminate the usual formal distance that exists in most productions. The show had to be comedic in nature so we could gage audience response. There’s no mistaking a laugh or a lack there of. Also, it’s impossible to get a laugh unless your audience is really engaged. Bored people don’t laugh. The absurdity of not quite knowing what you’re laughing at seems to eliminate any sense of distance and bonds actor and audience into a singularity of abstract communication. You can’t explain it any more than you can explain an abstract painting, but you can experience it. Once again, “you had to be there”.

The inspiration for doing 200 Funny Things is kind of personal. Throughout my adult life I have had laughing dreams. I’m asleep. I’m dreaming. Then something happens in the dream that sets me off. I can’t stop laughing. I laugh so hard that I wake up but I still can’t stop laughing. Sometimes it takes several minutes for the laughter to subside. In the aftermath I feel wonderfully liberated. The irony is that when I think back to the thing that set me off in the dream, I have no idea why it was funny. It just was. I’m trying to capture that same experience in the waking
dream that is “200 Funny Things”.

Hello! I’d like to introduce myself formally to the internet. My name is Kristin Idaszak, and this fall I came aboard Collaboraction as Associate Artistic Director. The first thing I set about doing in my new position was figure out exactly what an associate artistic director does. It turns out, a little of everything.

The first project I embarked on in this new role was producing Workbook, a quarterly cabaret-style evening of short works from all media. Workbook's underlying principle is that in order to create truly great art, you have to push yourself to the point where failure is a possibility. But when a company has invested thousands of dollars in a production or a festival you don't really want to realize that possibility. Our hope was to create a platform for our artistic family to come and take those risks in a safe, nurturing environment. And, honestly, the result was just the opposite: a night of sometimes ridiculous, sometimes lovely, and always exciting theatre.

The two highlights of the night for me were Chucha Libre, a burlesque act comprised of two truly empowered women, Carolyn Hoerdemann and Sandra Delgado, do a 1950s-themed piece. Both women were delving into the form of burlesque for the first time. It's the only striptease I've ever seen where there was more putting on clothes than there was taking off, and it was absolutely riveting. It was also pretty wild to see an actor step onstage in a dinosaur costume to explain the meaning of love in my and Sarah Moeller's piece--the first night I was too nervous to watch and hung out backstage during our piece. But the next night I watched: the actors totally committed and the audience accepted it. Of course there was a dinosaur dancing with the main character in her boyfriend's living room. It worked, in a weird, wonderful way. Those pieces for me deomonstrated the rewards of that kind of risk-taking.

Workbook is only the first incarnation of our plans to incubate new work. One of the things that’s so exciting about being at Collaboraction right now is, of course, our new home. We have the ability to totally revolutionize how we program our season, with late-night and secondary programming in addition to our mainstage shows and SKETCHBOOK. My background is in playwriting, dramaturgy and literary management, so developing new works is paramount to my own artistic drive and vision. It’s what allows us to constantly question what theatre itself is. Collaboraction is has the perfect sensibility to incubate works that push the limitations of the theatrical form. Then we're no longer responding to the zeitgeist, we're shaping it.

Stay tuned for more information about SKETCHBOOK 11: Evolution, as well as our other plans for the space, season announcements, guest bloggers, and more!

Kristin

PLEASE VOTE TODAY AND SPREAD THE WORD!!!!!!!

The Chase Community Giving Program launched and we were excited to rally our community and the SKETCHBOOK audiences to get in the top 200 charities and win $20,000. We went to sign up and "HUH!!!!?? They don't show us as a Charity??!?!!" That's right. We searched the database and there was no entry for Collaboraction Theatre Company as a charity eligible for the competition. We then tried to contact Chase and they said we would have to wait for hte next round of competition. Bummer. THEN....., yesterday at 2:30 pm with 5 days to go, Sandra found a company names "COLLABOR  ACTION" from Chicago with 4 votes and in last place. "HOLY COW!!!! Let's get on it". SOOOO, PLEASE vote today and help us catch up!!!! CAN WE DO IT! YES WE CAN!

this youngster just voted for COLLABOR ACTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The CRASH of ASTRAL SWORDS!

The eerie SCREECH of DIVINE AGONY!

The ROAR of BLOOD-DRUNK DEVILS!

The dizzying SPLENDOR of HEAVENLY VENGEANCE!

Who will survive . . .

THE DOME OF DOOM

 

All DIVINE WARRIORS eager to prove their CELESTIAL MUSCLE are invited: murderous ANGELS, ticked-off TREE SPIRITS, immortal BACTERIA, supernatural GLADIATOR DROIDS, mystical VAMPIRE NINJAS, six-dimensional BEASTS OF PREY, chthonic DEATH-OOZE, righteous SERAPHIM clad in armor of HOLY LIGHTNING -- fighters of any kind!

Ritual COMBAT-BY-DANCE shall be judged by the WARRIOR-PRIESTS of COLLABORACTION, based on COSTUME, fighting STYLE, and signature DEATH-BLOW.

The champion shall have the honor of being sacrificed to ICHTHALA, the ALL-DEVOURING MOTHER, in an OCCULT RITUAL of APOCALYPTIC TERROR!

 

James Kennedy, the author of the young adult fantasy The Order of Odd-Fish (Random House Delacorte, 2008) has teamed up with Chicago theater group Collaboraction to pull of a unique art show and costume dance party extravaganza for Collaboraction's annual Carnaval. THE DOME OF DOOM will showcase the strange, wonderful fan art James has received from enthusiastic readers of Odd-Fish. It will also be a costumed dance party in which guests dress up as fighting gods and battle-dance in a raucous competition reminiscent of the climactic scenes of Odd-Fish. For the week after the opening, James and Collaboraction will host field trips from Chicago schools for performances from the book, art viewings, and theatrical writing workshops led by James.

 

Interested in participating?

 We are looking for people to register to participate in the DOME OF DOOM dance battle.

 Please email the following to domeofdoom@collaboraction.org to register:

 

• Your name
• A photo you yourself
  

And if you're really excited send us a 15-30 second video of you doing your signature dance battle move via a YouTube link.  

 

The first 64 people to register are in!

  The first 20 people to register will receive Carnaval Comps!

 

The DOME OF DOOM will take place during The 7th Annual Carnaval on Saturday, April 17, 2010 at 7pm. 

Click here for more information on Carnaval.