David Kodeski is the creator of David Kodeski’s True Life Tales, an ongoing series of critically-acclaimed solo performances which include Doris (1996), Niagara! (you should have been Yosemite) (1997), Another Lousy Day (1999), The Sycamore Story (2001), I Can’t Explain the Beauty (2002), and And Some Can Remember Something of Some Such Thing (2005). His Niagara! (you should have been Yosemite) inspired a Niagara-based episode of National Public Radio’s This American Life. A radio version of Another Lousy Day was produced by Long Haul Productions and was heard on All Things Considered.
Kodeski has been an ensemble member of the Neo-Futurists since 1991, co-host and creator of The Pansy Kings’ Cotillion and is founding member of BoyGirlBoyGirl. He has performed his work at the Perth International Fringe Festival, The Perth International Arts Festival and the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival. You can learn more about his work (as well as listen to his podcasts) at his website, truelifetales.com
posted 09/22/2009
Chris Schoen is a songwriter, performer, and writer. He is a Theater Oobleck ensemble member, and the co-founder, with Emmy Bean and T-Roy Martin, of the musical trio 80 Foots Per Minute. Since 1999, he has written and performed music for numerous Oobleck productions including There Is A Happiness That Morning Is, The Strangerer, Spukt, Known Unknowns, and Natural History. To date, he has written and performed 30 songs for the Baudelaire In A Box project, and curated 3 episodes.
posted 09/22/2009
Eric Ziegenhagen has performed his spare, offbeat original songs in clubs, coffeehouses, and cabarets around the U.S. and Canada, and recorded his first CD, “You’re Talking to the Wrong Guy,” in 2005. He has directed plays by Beau O’Reilly, Wendy MacLeod, Brett Neveu, Barrie Cole and others at Curious Theatre Branch, The Side Project, and Links Hall, and hosts an occasional variety show, The Goat Show, with Collaboraction.
posted 09/22/2009
BoyGirlBoyGirl is Rachel Claff, Susan McLaughlin Karp, David Kodeski, Stephanie Shaw, Diana Slickman, and Edward Thomas-Herrera, six seasoned writer/performers who, from time to time, pool their respective talents to perform original monologues inspired by a single agreed-upon text. Sometimes that inspiration is direct, sometimes tangential. At BoyGirlBoyGirl, there are no bad responses, only bad monologues.
BoyGirlBoyGirl was born on a hot summer evening in 2002, when Susan McLaughlin Karp, David Kodeski, Stephanie Shaw, and Edward Thomas-Herrera were enjoying margaritas at El Tipico, the now-condo-ized Mexican restaurant on the corner of Foster and Wolcott. While lamenting the state of solo performance in Chicago, they hit upon the idea of writing a quartet of 15-minute monologues inspired by a single text. Together, they could create an hour-long showcase for their work.
But first, some of them had babies, some of them toured Western Australia, and some of them bought a house. Finally, in 2004, they got their act together and produced “The New, More Thrilling Secrets” based on stories taken from a true romance magazine from 1958. Justin Hayford of the Chicago Reader said many kind things about it and the rest is production history.
In 2006, BGBG presented “Zest for Gloom” and welcomed the formation of the BoyGirlBoyGirl Ladies Auxiliary (Rachel Claff and Diana Slickman), two able-bodied performers who agreed to sub for an otherwise unavailable Mrs. Karp and Mrs. Shaw. Little did we realize that once we welcomed them into our fold, we never wanted them to leave
posted 09/22/2009
Jenny Magnus is co-founder of The Curious Theatre Branch, co-curator of The Rhinoceros Theater Festival, co-founder of The Curious School.
She has written 5 plays, 28 performance works, countless songs, has had work produced at Museum of Contemporary Art, Steppenwolf Theater, Chicago Cultural Center, Gallery 37 Storefront Theater, Theater on the Lake, as well as many small theaters in Chicago, and has toured the US and Europe.
She was named among the Artists of the Year by the Chicago Tribune in 1998, has been on the New City Chicago list of 50 most influential artists since 2001.
She received an artists’ fellowship from Illinois Arts Council, and has released 4 CDs.
She is currently Adjunct Professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Arts at Columbia College, has taught at the School of the Art Institute, the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the University of Illinois-Chicago, the University of Chicago, and the Chicago Public Schools.
She was named to her high school’s Hall of Fame in 2006.
posted 09/22/2009
David Shapiro
David Shapiro (Mephistopheles) has acted and directed at theatres in Chicago, New York, Tampa, and Winnipeg. Most recently he played Leo Strauss in Oobleck’s Strauss at Midnight. He played Jack in the American premiere of Wallace Shawn’s The Designated Mourner at Steppenwolf and has been performing Shawn’s monologue play, The Fever, for many years. David played Ragnar in Shawn’s translation of Ibsen’s The Masterbuilder with director Andre Gregory and others from the cast of Vanya on 42nd Street. In Chicago he has also worked with the Neo-Futurists, Big Game Theater, and Stark Raving Ensemble.
Colm O'Reilly
Colm O’Reilly is a Theater Oobleck regular, with whom he’s appeared in Song About Himself, There is a Happiness that Morning Is (NYC and Chicago), An Apology for the Course & Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening, The Strangerer (NYC and Chicago), Letter Purloined (NYC and Chicago), The Hunchback Variations, and Spirits to Enforce. Other credits include Sweet Bird of Youth (Goodman); Trevor (A Red Orchid Theatre), Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Steppenwolf); Elevator Tours (Barrie Cole); Still in Play, The Caretaker, Waiting for Godot, Texts for Nothing, Love Horse (Curious Theatre Branch); The Cabinet (Redmoon). He also played Stanislavski #1 in Mickle’s adaptation of An Actor Prepares at the University of Chicago. He’s received 2 Orgie Theater awards.
Mickle Maher
Mickle Maher plays have appeared Off-Broadway and around the world, and have been supported by grants from the NEA, the Rockefeller MAP fund, and Creative Capital. They include There is a Happiness That Morning Is; Song About Himself; An Apology for the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening; The Hunchback Variations; The Strangerer; Spirits to Enforce; Cyrano (translator), The Cabinet; Lady Madeline; The Pine; and An Actor Prepares (an adaptation of Stanislavsky’s seminal book). He is a cofounder of Chicago’s Theater Oobleck, and has taught playwriting and related subjects at the University of Chicago, Columbia College, and Northwestern University. He currently is writing the book and lyrics for a new musical about basketball commissioned by the Catastrophic Theatre of Houston and Daryl Morey, the General Manager of the Houston Rockets. His plays are published by Hope and Nonthings.
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