Women are battering down the Stage Door this month.
The bodacious Annie Sprinkle still is making up her mind about appearing as the closing act of this year's Estrogen Fest. She's
scheduled for May 9 and 10, but co-presenter Prop Thtr Group reports they still are negotiating details. Prop is attempting to put
together a program of events for her, in addition to her Estrogen Fest performances, that would make her participation financially
feasible for them as presenters, and sufficiently remunerative for her. Despite her fame (or infamy in some circles), Ms. Sprinkle
remains an edgy act with specific (vs. mass) audience appeal.
By the way, this weekend's Estrogen Fest performance should be a doozey: The Yellow Wallpaper, adapted and directed by
Jessica Thebus, features 50 women—count 'em!—50, all dressed in yellow. Place: the City's Storefront Theatre on Randolph Street,
April 17-19 and 24-26. The work is based on an 1890 short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, forced into a rest cure by her physician
husband when she suffers severe Post-Partum Depression.
But hang onto your hats, boys and girls! There's another production of The Yellow Ribbon in town: a dance version created by
Adler Danztheatre Project, to be presented April 25-May 17 at the Belle Plaine Studios, 2014 W. Belle Plaine. The world premiere
dance version, performed to music by Tim Hort, will be on a double bill with Ever Your Own, Edgar, based on the mysterious death of
Edgar Allen Poe. Details: (773) 486-8261.
More women kick out the jams on April 17 with 30 Girl Bands in 60 Minutes at the Metro, in honor of the 15th anniversary of the
Neo-Futurists. A partial list of the female-fronted groups to perform is: Chicago Kings, Vanessa Davis, Tallulah, Fareed Haque, Suzy
Brack with the New Jack Lords, Kelly Hogan, Weird Sisters, Patchouli, Urban Twang, and Panda Panda. The battle of the bands
begins at 7:30 p.m., doors open at 6 pm. Tickets are $15, and it's an all-ages event.
The guys get to even the score just a little bit on April 27 at 2 p.m., when NewTown Writers presents Solo Homo, an afternoon of
monologues, at Bailiwick. Featured monologists are Mike Rogers, Timothy Rey, Angel Abcede, Michael Van Kerckhove, Sapna
Kumar and Anthony Guererro. Tickets are $5.
Meanwhile, the PAC/edge Performance Festival continues great guns through April 26, offering up the cream of Chicago's
cutting-edge theater, dance, music and performance troupes and artists. There's 500 Clown performing their world premiere, 500
Clown Frankenstein, April 18 and 25, for example, and Curious Theatre Branch with one more performance (April 19) of their well-
received Chumpstrap: A Madras Parable. Also slated to perform in the last two weeks are Theater Oobleck, the Albany Park Theatre
Project, Leslie Buxbaum-Danzig and DOG, Lucky Pierre and Plasticene Physical Theater with their highly applauded The Palmer
Raids. No ticket is more than $15. There also are a number of workshops and panel discussions. For details on PAC/edge—
presented by Performing Arts Chicago and the School of the Art Institute—call (773) 722-5463, or go on line: www.pachicago.org
The Museum of Contemporary Art offers a rare chance to see contemporary dance from China, with April 25-27 performances of
the Living Dance Studio, Beijing, in Report on Body, a multi-media dance work described as a mediation on women's bodies as both
a vehicle and metaphor for the contradictions in a changing society. The creators, Wen Hui and Wu Wenguang, intend the work to
acknowledge—and accelerate—the break-down of traditional Chinese reticence in matters sexual. Call (312) 397-4010.
Cirque du Soleil has announced its biennial return to Chicago with Varekai, opening July 17. The other-worldly Cirque always
has something for the boys in the form of muscle men and cute, acrobatic guys from Eastern Europe, China or both. But this may offer
even more. 'The sky lets go a solitary young man, and Varekai begins,' the press release informs us. 'Parachuted into the shadows of
a magical forest imbued with fantastical creatures ... a young man takes flight.' The release continues with words about 'pure and
undiluted possibility,' 'a life rediscovered and newly found wonder in the mysteries of the world.' Well, you can knock Jonny down
with a feather if that doesn't sound like a newbie spending his first Saturday night on Halsted Street! We'll see.
