CHF to Present Rainpan 43's ELEPHANT ROOM, 11/2-10

The Chicago Humanities Festival (CHF) presents Rainpan 43's Elephant Room, a comedic tribute to the world of magic, co-presented with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Nov. 2-10, 2013 at the Edlis Neeson Theater.

In Elephant Room, three illusionists live their off-center lives by sleight of hand, in a seminal work of performance art that exposes how people depend on deception. These world-class tricksters--stage names Louie Magic, Dennis Diamond, and Daryl Hannah--hide behind their smoke and mirrors, and through the antics in this off-the-wall comedy, they reveal their vulnerability. All this takes place on a set outrageously decorated as a secret society den in a wood-paneled trailer home in Paterson, New Jersey.

Behind the stage personas, which the creators maintain before, during, and after the show, are the contemporary clowning of Rainpan 43's Geoff Sobelle and Trey Lyford, and the advanced magic skills of their collaborator, illusionist/actor Steve Cuiffo. Elephant Room is directed byPaul Lazar of Big Dance Theater.

Rainpan 43 is the collaboration of actors Geoff Sobelle and Trey Lyford. Together, they create innovative, absurdist plays that are simultaneously deeply profound and utterly ridiculous. Their first work, all wear bowlers, premiered in 2003 and has since toured internationally. Sobelle and Lyford have created previous works for Rainpan 43, Amnesia Curiosa and machines machines machines machines machines machines machines, and have worked with the acclaimed Pig Iron Laboratories.

Tickets to Elephant Room are on sale now and can be purchased at chicagohumanities.orgor through the CHF Box Office at 312-494-9509, Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. One free MCA admission is granted with an Elephant Room ticket stub, valid up to seven days after the performance.