3rd Annual Physical Festival Chicago to be Held in June

Two actors and a foley artist reenact, shot by shot, one of the greatest movie blockbusters of all time...a storyteller shares her story of growing up in a Jewish family in Brooklyn after World War II...five Brazilian actors bring to life, over a small platform, thousands of years of history, from the Big Bang to that country's military dictatorship...meanwhile, another group of puppeteers and musicians sing murderous ballads as the puppet body count grows around them...and a bag lady builds a world full of puppets with plastic bags.

Five companies and solo artists from Europe, Latin America and the United States will delight you, enthrall you, frighten you and even make you sing out loud during the Third Annual Physical Festival Chicago, June 3rd-11th at the Festival's new home, Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The five companies and artists are: Cia de Teatro Manual (Brazil), Laura Simms (New York), Rough House Theater (Chicago), Malgosia Szkandera/The Bag Lady Theater Company (Poland/Spain), and Recent Cutbacks (New York). The Festival will also feature a Scratch Night, a preview of what's next in Chicago's physical theater scene, and four professional Master Classes with the visiting artists. Festival passes are $45-$60 and tickets for individual shows are $12-$18; they can be purchased online at www.physicalfestival.com.

Physical theater pursues storytelling through primarily physical and visual means to create original and contemporary work. It embraces a wide variety of styles, approaches and aesthetics, including clown, puppetry, mime, mask, dance-theater, vaudeville and circus, among others.

Alice da Cunha and Marc Frost launched the inaugural Physical Festival two years ago through the Artistic Associate program at Links Hall. The inspiration for the Festival drew upon their combined experience in London as physical theater students at the London International School for the Performing Arts (LISPA). Moving from London to Chicago, they were inspired to start a new festival to promote a more progressive, fresh and physical approach to theater making in Chicago. The Festival very much follows in the tradition of the great European theater festivals such as the London International Mime Festival (LIMF) and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, to name a few.

"Our new location allows us to consolidate all of our programs under one roof and create a true festive environment for our visiting artists, the public and students. We are eternally grateful to Links Hall for having provided us the space to plant and nourish this seed that is quickly growing", said Frost. "Alice and I have worked really hard this past year to bring to the city artists and groups that are on the cutting edge of this exciting hybrid called physical theatre."

"We here at Stage 773 are very honored and so so excited to host Physical Festival in our happy home. Stage 773 is home to six other festivals each year and Physical Festival is going to be a perfect match for this festival hub. Their quality and vibe matches ours, and we look forward to hosting such a wonderful group of artists and their patrons," said Jack Short, Director of Tenant Services at Stage 773.

Physical Festival Chicago is lead supported by The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and is also supported by the Chicago Reader, Stage 773 and Theater Unspeakable LLC.