“Read All About It”September 21 / The Dank Haus
We laughed, we cried, we had a grand old time.
“Cabaret Vagabond’s 3rd Birthday Party”June 9th / The Dank Haus
We laughed, we cried, we had a grand old time.
“2nd City: 2.0”March 14th / Martyrs’ on Lincoln
If you've ever seen a hobo shed its skin, you have some idea of the magic we saw on this night. Cabaret Vagabond was midwife to the re-birth of a city, as we left old behind and saw the new emerge, shouting with joy and dripping just a bit. Kunst was made by all, culminating in an astonishing dance party presented by DJs supreme The Ordeal. Truly, if we can live the change we wish to see in the world, then the Earth itself will soon be laughing.
“Christmas of the Future!December 8th / Martyrs’ on Lincoln
Amidst all the Kunst, the Santa Claus action painting, the Hannukah vs. Christmas lightsaber duel, and Michael Bay’s explosive “Miracle on 34th St.”, we learned the meaning of Christmas (of the future):
IN THE FUTURE goodwill is downloadable
IN THE FUTURE we sip apps of iNog
IN THE FUTURE Ignorance and Want have been surgically excised...
and something is growing in their place...
We never found out what that was, but had loads of holiday fun along the way.
“Cabaret Vagabond’s 3rdAnnual Zombie Apocalypse”
November 6th / Flat Iron Arts Building
Just like the zombies we invited to this show, all we want is acceptance. Just like we lost touch with our rootless roots, these ghouls brought about the end of civilization. Live and let whatever, we say. We threw our arms around their rotting shoulders and shambled back to the grand old days of the Cabaret - unstoppable, triumphant, and with bits falling off here and there.
“Cabaret Vagabond Gets the Girl”August 25th / Martyrs´ on Lincoln
It was the dog days of summer and there was a fever in the air. The Dangerous Strangers were blowing back into our life; but could the cabaret be true to just one other? Could we restrain ourselves from the overflowing fountains of Kunst-tastic delicacies parading around us? Of course not. Luckily DangStrang likes to keep an open relationship. Sometimes you really can have your pie and eat it too . . .
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May 24th / Martyrs´ on Lincoln
It was the Cabaret´s 2nd birthday. That may not seem old to us, but in Chicago-performance-company-years it makes us almost 87 years old. Struggling with all the scientifically discredited Stages of Grief, we mourned the passing - and celebrated the rebirth, Pride Rock-style - of our venerable show.
April 14th / Martyrs´ on Lincoln
The next Cabaret was going to be huge. So huge, that we needed this rehearsal to prepare. The prep-bands were ready, the cues were written and everyone - audience included - had scripts in hand. We were filming our behind-the-scenes footage, so we needed big, big smiles and professionalism. Yes, the next show was going to be our big breakthrough... But not this one. This was just a rehearsal.
“New Socialism Ball”February 20th / The Dank Haus
Congratulations, America. A few very successful elections later, and we were living in the New Socialism. Due to our money being successfully redistributed, we were all super rich, and ready to get down. We were hot to Trotsky, putting the social back in socialite, and after some awkward clarification (not National Socialism!) we all witnessed the rise of the faux-letariat.
December 7th / Martyrs´ on Lincoln
Ah, midwinter. The time of snow, slumber, and a number of holidays so overwhelming it´s a bit hard to keep track of them all. We successfully celebrated Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, and New Years (despite the obnoxious interruption of a wayward pregnant virgin and her poverty-stricken husband searching for a warm place to perform their art) but even now I can´t help feeling like we might have forgotten something.
October 24th / Studio BE
The Coalition of Unified Regional Enclaves (C.U.R.E) graciously allowed us to host the first public display of art since the outbreak of the Walking Plague. Is it worrisome that no one has seen a zombie in years? No. As the old song goes, “Beware the plague that rises, eats and runs / have faith in C.U.R.E., for they have all the guns.”
August 24th / Martyrs´ on Lincoln
It´s true that our organization has always had a tension inherent to it. In this show, we finally figured out which would emerge victorious: the fancy-pants Cabaret or the no-pants Vagabond. Admittedly, afterwards we discovered that we had somehow gotten so drunk of a combination of Sauvignon Blanc and moonshine that we couldn´t remember who had won, but a fine time was had by all.
“Full Disclosure”August 1st / University of Chicago
A generous residency at the University of Chicago allowed the Vagabonds the opportunity to develop and showcase performances of their own. A narrative of transition from Texas to Berlin; a revenge fantasy acted out by an embodied puppet; a moving exploration of the costs of excess. We are real artists, too.
July 12th / 117 N Jefferson
Back before we got too big for our britches, just being outside on a beautiful night and watching our friends make music and art was good enough for us.
June 19th / Indigo
While waiting for a lecture on the origins of the art-making Vagabond by a distinguished (but very tardy) guest, we passed the time with our own explorations. Music, poetry, dance, and debauchery served as our sample cases. The difficulty was in finding any group you might call ´control.´
June 1st / The Inconvenience
With the economy in disarray, no one was feeling the pinch more than rock stars. Our nation relies on these paragons of kunst to rock when the rest of us cannot, and in this combination benefit/planning session, we determined through rigorous brackets what is the one thing that can rock hard enough to save us all.
February 20th / The Inconvenience
It was a new year and love was in the air—or, well, something was in the air and it made everybody feel good, one way or another. A conspicuously familiar art loft was the setting for the Orgy of Kunst, where all manner of vagabonds (including an aging hippie and an erstwhile German stand-up comic) joined in to launch a new year of the cabaret and get their faces rocked off by Jon Drake & the Shakes.
“It´s a Wonderful Strife”December 18th / Daily Bar and Grill
In the cozy, crowded upstairs of the Daily Bar & Grill, a festive gathering of vagabonds was well met. Despite the delightful songs sung, the conception of our first action painting, and the NPR Fresh Air version of the holiday classic “Smell Yo Dick”, all and sundry were a bit disenchanted with the traditional Christmas. But a visit from Cubist Claus and Vixen the Melancholy Reindeer helped put everything into perspective. While the snow billowed outside, it was hot and saucy inside the cabaret.
“Zombie Apocalypse I”October 17th / The Chocolate Grape
Crowding into the corner of a fancy restaurant, welcoming an onslaught of people dressed as zombies to whom we had promised to give wine, and generally riding the wave of a cataclysm which we had intended only to simulate, this early show typifies the chaos and charm of our early shows. We've cleaned up since then... BUT AT WHAT COST?
“The BoHoBo Bizarre”August 30th / 117 N Jefferson
The heavens provided a gorgeous night, and the one-and-only Anna Vogelzang provided some gorgeous tunes. We found ourselves once again on the lavish rooftop deck, which really doesn´t need much help. We showed up, doused it in hot sweaty Kunst and the glorious late summer pheremones took care of the rest.
August 30th / 117 N Jefferson
After playing the dark and dingy halls of a Northside speakeasy, we ascended the heights of a sublimely beautiful rooftop garden downtown. This was the big time! An elaborate sculpture garden, gorgeously landscaped terraces, mood lighting and an intimate stage overlooking the skyline. We have no idea how we were able to procure this Garden of Delights, but were all too happy conjure up the Kunst of paradise; culminating in Old Man Campion's Found Art Show & Conga Line. Not bad for our second go-round!
“Big. Hot. Loose.”April 18th / Heart of Gold
Lets start at the very beginning: a crowded art loft tucked away in the rug district of Lakeview, filled to the brim with actors, hipsters, painters, drummers and pupeteers—soon to be Kunst-ers all. The evening vacillated between cheap jokes and high art, opera arias and viral videos, singer-songwriters and madcap puppetmasters, all of whom had gathered to drink themselves blind and make Kunst. And thus the cabaret was born: Big. Hot. & Loose.
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