The Physical Theater Festival Chicago Returns This July

Physical Theater Festival Chicago has announced the complete lineup for its 11th anniversary celebration, July 13 - 21. The Festival begins Saturday, July 13 with a full day of free family-friendly outdoor shows and continues with free virtual events on Sunday, July 14.  During July 15 - 21, international, national and local performances, workshops and conversations will be held at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. and the Instituto Cervantes, 31 W. Ohio St. In addition to these performances for the second year, the Festival is partnering with the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center in the Hermosa neighborhood to create a residency with the French-English theater company Voloz Collective, July 17 - 20. Tickets for individual performances are $20 (general) and $15 (industry/students/seniors/veterans). Festival passes for all performances are $100 (general) and $85 (industry/students/seniors/veterans). Information, calendar of events, passes and tickets are available at PhysicalFestival.com.

Artists and companies scheduled to perform during the nine-day event include: Chicago-based artists Michael Montenegro, Marvin Tate and Theatre Y's Youth Ensemble; the award-winning Brazilian TV actor Clayton Nascimento; Mexican comedic star Chula the Clown; French and English physical whizz-bang company Voloz Collective; Boston's family-friendly performance group The Gottabees and Chicago's very own flying Chicago Boyz Acrobatic Team.

“I'm very excited with this year's performances. For the 11th edition we made sure to curate a program that embraces a variety of styles and types of entertainment,” said Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director Alice da Cunha. “We're bringing the best of what theater can do – clown, slapstick, social justice, virtuosity – from around the world and right here in Chicago. We can't wait to gather with the community for another year of the Physical Theater Festival Chicago.”

“We're moving into our second decade with joy and humility. The shows this year are incredible. The Physical Theater Festival has been working to bring so many of these artists to Chicago for years now – it's a dream come true,” added Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director Marc Frost. “We're excited to continue building partnerships with local organizations and to even expand into year-round programming. Our goal has always been to flood Chicago's stages with contemporary physical theater every summer and now we're doing it year-round.”