Curtis Drake Shepard Brings UNMASKED to Chicago Fringe Festival, Now thru 9/9

Curtis Drake Shepard brings his bold acting style and a fifty-six minute tour-de-force solo performance in UnMasked to the Chicago Fringe Festival, downtown Chicago, Ill., now through September 9, 2012. Playing eight characters whose stories are told with poetic humor and brutal honesty, Shepard, who also wrote the script, will present five performances of UnMasked at Both Sides Art Gallery, 1840 S. Halstead St., Chicago, IL 60608. Performances are tonight, Sept. 1 and 3 at 8:30 PM, Sept. 2 at 4 PM, Sept. 8 at 7 PM, and Sept. 9 at 5:30 PM. Tickets are $15 and available online at www.Chicagofringe.org.

Shepard’s unique brand of dramatic story-telling results in a memorable solo performance style that delights and amazes audiences with his indelible characterizations. “UnMasked has created quite a stir at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival and other Midwest venues,” says Actor/director Bob G. Elkins. Shepard’s bold solo stage performance of UnMasked is a regional premiere for the Chicago Fringe.

An extraordinary actor, writer, spoken word artist and story-teller, Curtis Drake Shepard, AKA ‘Curt from Detox,’ has been entertaining and delighting audiences in the greater Cincinnati, Ohio, area for the past twenty-eight years. Shepard debuted UnMasked to a sold-out, standing room only crowd at the Dukester Jazz and Supper Club in Cincinnati, Ohio, and then later reprised his solo performance at the 2008 Cincinnati Fringe Festival.

Says Shepard, “We all wear masks—at work, at home, at the club or on the street, to ignore the homeless or to keep peace when in-laws visit; always the Mask is there.” Adds Shepard, "It's important that we UnMask and discover that we're all the same!”

For more information about Curtis Drake Shepard, go to www.curtfromdetox.com. For more information about the 2012 Chicago Fringe Festival, visit www.Chicagofringe.org.