Remember house parties after a show?
It’s like that, but digital! Scattered throughout the calendar year, Sideshow will broadcast five readings of plays we love, written by playwrights we love. Every party has to have a theme, darling, and we will not disappoint. A play is an event, and so each play will have a customized party experience to bring us together even when we're apart.
All readings are free, but we strongly suggest RSVPing to secure your seat.
For tickets, please RSVP to tickets@sideshowtheatre.org.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
2021 SEASON
ONCE IN A BLEU MOON
THIN MINTS
A HEAP SEE
FABULOSO!
THE WHISPERER'S APPRENTICE
ONCE IN A BLEU MOON
by Mallory Raven-Ellen Backstrom
directed by Regina Victor
As her stars realign and a fateful blood moon approaches on the eve of her thirty-third birthday, Bleu casts a forbidden spell. To undo the damage Bleu must master her ancestral demons by accepting that, with a dash of magick, she can have it all…If not all at once. Once in a Bleu Moon is a witchy fable about womb magick, self-forgiveness, and breaking generational curses.
Friday, May 21, 2021
7pm
THIN MINTS
by Ellen Steves
directed by Justin J. Sacramone
Thin Mints follows a troop of Bonfire Girls during a five-day woodland jamboree as they prepare for an important election. At the end of the retreat, one scout will be chosen to take over the Troop. The girls use torture, terror, and trauma to claw their way to the top... but who is really pulling the strings? The play scores 100% on the Bechdel Test and offers a warped perspective on the consequences of a community governed by abuse and manipulation.
Friday, March 19, 2021
7pm
A HEAP SEE
by Dawn Renee Jones
Koua is a fast-moving whirlwind. By age 24, she had survived the “American War” in Laos and refugee camps in Thailand. Now, this mother of six is on a quest to better the life of her children in St. Paul Minnesota where she will face her greatest obstacle. Her neighbor Anita witnesses the epic undertaking Koua must face to keep her family together.
Friday, April 23, 2021
7pm
FABULOSO!
by Makasha Copeland
Armed with All Purpose Cleaner and the resilience of that cockroach from Wall-E, three maids and a middle-schooler are tasked with removing the stains from Oak Hill Resort. When their boss is found dead in the master suite, this cleaning crew must launch their own investigation. Who killed whomst, and who gives a shit?
Friday, August 20, 2021
7pm
THE WHISPERER'S APPRENTICE
by Walt McGough
In a world where storytelling is magic, an ancient kingdom is collapsing. Two young siblings flee to the forest to find the one woman who could help stave off chaos, but who now hides away, haunted by mistakes and regrets. Will the tale that shapes the world be left broken, once and for all? The Whisperer's Apprentice is a magical, theatrical story about stories themselves, focused on who wields narrative power, and what it costs them to keep it.
Friday, September 17, 2021
7pm
As a companion event to this reading, playwright Walt McGough will lead a group of hale and hearty Sideshow artists through a weekly, live-streamed and completely ridiculous campaign of Dungeons & Dragons. Capturing a different (and dice-rolling) kind of magic, this campaign will immerse audiences in an excited, serialized new form of collaborative storytelling, and highlight just how much is possible when some of the best artists in the city work together to save the world.
Remember house parties after a show?
It’s like that, but digital! Scattered throughout the calendar year, Sideshow will broadcast five readings of plays we love, written by playwrights we love. Every party has to have a theme, darling, and we will not disappoint. A play is an event, and so each play will have a customized party experience to bring us together even when we're apart.
All readings are free, but we strongly suggest RSVPing to secure your seat.
For tickets, please RSVP to tickets@sideshowtheatre.org.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
THIN MINTS
A HEAP SEE
ONCE IN A BLEU MOON
FABULOSO!
THE WHISPERER'S APPRENTICE
THIN MINTS
by Ellen Steves
directed by Justin J. Sacramone
Thin Mints follows a troop of Bonfire Girls during a five-day woodland jamboree as they prepare for an important election. At the end of the retreat, one scout will be chosen to take over the Troop. The girls use torture, terror, and trauma to claw their way to the top... but who is really pulling the strings? The play scores 100% on the Bechdel Test and offers a warped perspective on the consequences of a community governed by abuse and manipulation.
Friday, March 19, 2021
7pm
A HEAP SEE
by Dawn Renee Jones
Koua is a fast-moving whirlwind. By age 24, she had survived the “American War” in Laos and refugee camps in Thailand. Now, this mother of six is on a quest to better the life of her children in St. Paul Minnesota where she will face her greatest obstacle. Her neighbor Anita witnesses the epic undertaking Koua must face to keep her family together.
Friday, April 23, 2021
7pm
ONCE IN A BLEU MOON
by Mallory Raven-Ellen Backstrom
directed by Regina Victor
As her stars realign and a fateful blood moon approaches on the eve of her thirty-third birthday, Bleu casts a forbidden spell. To undo the damage Bleu must master her ancestral demons by accepting that, with a dash of magick, she can have it all…If not all at once. Once in a Bleu Moon is a witchy fable about womb magick, self-forgiveness, and breaking generational curses.
Friday, May 21, 2021
7pm
FABULOSO!
by Makasha Copeland
Armed with All Purpose Cleaner and the resilience of that cockroach from Wall-E, three maids and a middle-schooler are tasked with removing the stains from Oak Hill Resort. When their boss is found dead in the master suite, this cleaning crew must launch their own investigation. Who killed whomst, and who gives a shit?
Friday, August 20, 2021
7pm
THE WHISPERER'S APPRENTICE
by Walt McGough
In a world where storytelling is magic, an ancient kingdom is collapsing. Two young siblings flee to the forest to find the one woman who could help stave off chaos, but who now hides away, haunted by mistakes and regrets. Will the tale that shapes the world be left broken, once and for all? The Whisperer's Apprentice is a magical, theatrical story about stories themselves, focused on who wields narrative power, and what it costs them to keep it.
Friday, September 17, 2021
7pm
ALSO!
As a companion event to this reading, playwright Walt McGough will lead a group of hale and hearty Sideshow artists through a weekly, live-streamed and completely ridiculous campaign of Dungeons & Dragons. Capturing a different (and dice-rolling) kind of magic, this campaign will immerse audiences in an excited, serialized new form of collaborative storytelling, and highlight just how much is possible when some of the best artists in the city work together to save the world.