Chicago: Reflections on Fire: Extinguishing Old Ideas

by NoPro Newswire
NoPro Newswire
•
July 23, 2019
•
3 min read

When: July 26–28
Where: EXELON OBSERVATORY 1801 N Ridgeway Ave, Chicago, IL 60647
Price: Free
Tags: #ritual, #mystery, #ContactAdvisory (See Below), 6+

Event Link

Not a show, but a ritual experience dedicated to abandoning old ideas.

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Press Release/Official Description Follows

CHICAGO, IL — Cabinet of Curiosity is honored to partner with Blu Rhythm Chicago to create a unique outdoor, installation inspired, device driven, ritual experience motivated by our public invitation to abandon old ideas. Reflections on Fire: Extinguishing Old Ideas is a free ritual event
for a family audience, ages 6 and up.

Our two groups have combined imaginations and skills to devise and present a new experiment in ritual, interactivity, reflection, and hope. The experience is 3 nights only at The Exelon Observatory, 1801 N Ridgeway Ave, Chicago, IL 60647 on July 26, 27, and 28, 2019. Each event rotation begins on the hour at 7pm, 8pm, and 9pm. This is not a show, this is an experience.

Every night, 200 people will have the chance to witness and experience the act of abandon. Masks, dance, song, devices, interaction and exchange lead the evening’s magic. This is a spectacle of the spirit, and not a spectacle of scale. Cabinet of Curiosity’s mission is in part to create a right sized enterprise that can create smartly scaled events that permit true union between people and authentically galvanize community. Following our successful run and
remount of Tabletop Tragedies, we now move into the second element of our mission: to realize ritual for our city.

Partnering with the 606 Trail and Night Out in the Parks, Cabinet will amplify its successfully unique Ritual Training Program, which serves diverse students from across the nation. Cabinet of Curiosity is committed to developing original, modern ritual through the act of collaboration with diverse communities of people devoted to equity, transformation, and
hope.

Made possible by: Chicago Community Trust, The Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation, The Amgis Foundation, The Clayco Foundation, The 606, 2019 Night out in the Parks.
Artistic Director Frank Maugeri on Reflections on Fire

“2019 has been amazing for the Cabinet Collective. We mounted Tabletop Tragedies to sold out audiences, paid our diverse cast equitable wages for rehearsal and performance hours, formalized our Ritual Apprentice Program, and gathered an incredible Board. We have successfully raised the funds to support the dancers of Blu Rhythm to courageously devise a new ritual experience drawing from my decades of work in installation, ceremony and participatory community celebration and their devotion to dance and supporting youth from the west and south sides of Chicago. We are very grateful to have an enterprise of such integrity and ambition.”

Co-directed by: Frank Maugeri and Tanji Harper

Collectively conceived and produced by: Mikey Gray, Camryn Rose Pillay, Tux Turner, Sam Linda, Rebecca Husk, Mary Catherine Daniels, Lonnae Hickman, Sierra Kruse, Abigail Thompson, and Danial Salazar

Text by: Michael Langford

Music composed by: BrittanE

Lyrics and song by: Lea Violet

Dancers and Ritual Guides: Julia Gardziel, Brandy Ford, JC Hopkins, Amir Leonard, Elishama Levi Carrol, Ricketa Davis, Skyy Echoles, Mya Shields, Noah Snyder

Performers and Dream Keepers: Brandon Boler, Sarah Hensley, Kristen Alesia, Toni Maugeri, and Allison Grischow

Masks and objects by: Jillian Gryzlak, Andres Lemus-Spont, Susan Haas, Todd Fletcher, Cecilia Shepperd and Shoshanna Utchenik