The Better Half
Marriage gets a good going-over in this marriage of clowning and dance from Julia Rhoads’s Lucky Plush Productions. Based on the 1944 film Gaslight, in which a man with something to hide attempts to drive his wife crazy, The Better Half is being created and directed by Rhoads and Leslie Buxbaum Danzig of physical-theater troupe 500 Clown. The story, Rhoads says, is ultimately “about resilience inside of contemporary marriage”—but the road there is filled with humorous digressions and metatheatrical layers. In the devised script by Danzig and the ensemble (which includes Rhoads and Danzig’s own husband, Adrian, very funny as the married couple) an incomplete plot synopsis is mysteriously conferred on five performers, who then try to work out their characters. It ain’t easy, especially when lighting and sound cues drive them in unexpected directions. A work-in-progress preview last February looked improvised but wasn’t; the aim, Danzig says, is “to charge/wake up the whole idea of liveness.” —Laura Molzahn Opens Thu 10/27, 7:30 PM. Then Fri-Sat, 10/28-10/29, 7:30 PM, Thu and Sat-Sun, 11/3 and 11/5-11/6, 7:30 PM, Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago, 312-397-4010, mcachicago.org, $22-$28.
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Also this fall . . .
SEPTEMBER
¡Mujeres! Luna Negra’s program spotlights influential Latinas in works by Asun Noales, Ramírez Sansano, and Michelle Manzanales. 10/1, Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph, 312-337-6882, lunanegra.org, $25-$65.
More More More . . . Future Choreographer Faustin Linyekula leads a small ensemble in a reflection on the struggles of the Congo. Presented with poetry and live Congolese music. 10/20-10/22, Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago, 312-397-4010, mcachicago.org, $15.
The Matter of Origins Liz Lerman Dance Exchange combines physics and poetry for a multimedia dance performance. 11/10-11/13, Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago, 312-397-4010, mcachicago.org, $15.
