SPECIAL GUEST EMCEES

May 16 + Mary Fons, nationally recognized slam poet and Neo-Futurist.

May 17 + Kelsie Huff, stand-up comic and co-creator/director of the Muffin Basket Cases

May 18 + Tekki Lomnicki, Artistic Director Tellin' Tales Theatre, solo performer, director, extremely obsessed individual

May 19 + Arlene Malinowski, solo artist and resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists

May 20 + Susan McLaughlin Karp, writer, solo performer and co-owner of The Uptown Writer's Space

May 21 + Sharon Greene, Artistic Director of Neo-Futurists

May 22 + Will Clinger, of The Famous Brothers, fomer host and segment producer of Wild Chicago

May 23 + Tania Richard, actress, writer and teacher from Chicago Dramatists and Second City

May 24 + Diana Slickman, writing and performing in Chicago since 1985

May 25 + Ann Filmer & Joanie Schultz, Estrogen Fest Curators/Artistic Directors

The Cathy Santonies
rock n roll is not dead
Bringing back simple rock n roll... It's about time!

Mojo Santoni bangs out solid, catchy riffs and mindblowing solos in a way that will make you want to run home to mommy. The band's message of girl rock revolution is impossible to ignore thanks to Radio Santoni's powerful and unique voice. And, Mike “Johnny” Swanko beats the shit out of his drums with a passion and energy reminiscent of a time when rock n roll was new and dangerous.

The Cathy Santonies will rock the Prop Thursday, May 24 at 9pm.

www.cathysantonies.com

COURTNEY BERNE
Choice
I'll meet you on the other side of the sheet...

Choice is based on Courtney Berne's personal experiences working in an abortion clinic. By interlacing the intricate stories of nine patients, two abortion providers and one narrator, Choice presents the many faces of abortion, humanizing a politically polarized issue via the entertaining, educational, and visceral mode of theater.

Playwright and performer COURTNEY BERNE is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Theater department, and most recently the University of Chicago's M.A. in Humanities program. As an actress, Ms. Berne has performed for the Thresholds Theater Arts Project, Stockyards Theater Project, the Rhinoceros Festival, New Leaf Theater, the University of Chicago and Hermit Arts.

ERICA BURKHART and MATISS DUHON
Homoneurotic
A comedic interpretation of a dorky juggler's crush on a hot rock and roll girl… who secretly may like him back.

MATISS DUHON is a world-renowned juggler who has mastered the dangerous skills of juggling with fire, knives, and rubber chickens. He has performed at numerous venues ever since his first gig at a local pizza place in Austin, Texas. ERICA BURKHART started playing guitar when she was 12 because she was obsessed with Kurt Cobain, just like everyone else. She has played in such sought after bands as Tea-Time Tragedy and The Sunday Tore Downs. Combining grungy rock and roll with nerdy juggling, Matiss and Erica have entertained crowds since August 2006, performing together at various vaudevillian and burlesque type events. They make the opposites attract thing look easy.

<back to top>

MARILYN CAMPBELL and MARIA MERRIN
Mixing It Up II
The mother/daughter saga of race, feminism and hair returns.

Writers and performers Marilyn Campbell and Maria Merrin continue their mother/daughter saga and share more funny and touching stories about the difficulties and joys of mixing the races, feminism and single motherhood in our time.

Directed by Kimberly Osgood.

Co-founder of the Writers' Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois, MARILYN CAMPBELL is an award-winning actress, published playwright, Jeff Award recipient, producer of Estrogen Fest 2003 and 2005 and the mother of MARIA MERRIN, co-author. After developing the well-received Mixing It Up for Estrogen Fest 2005, Marilyn and Maria were encouraged to write a second installment.

<back to top>

CHANCE OF SHOWERS
Sex, Diversity, and YOU!
Get the FYI on your ROI with the best in office leadership.

As new hires for the fictional corporation, audience members will participate in a Sexual Harassment Prevention Training seminar, Sex, Diversity, and YOU!, designed to integrate them with the goals of the corporation and, simultaneously, the satire of Chance of Showers.

CHANCE OF SHOWERS is a performance collective initially inspired by the movie 9 to 5. As three icons - Blonde, Brunette, and Redhead - they examine the culture and politics of the American work place through their own fictional corporate world.

www.chanceofshowersperform.com

<back to top>

THE CHICAGO MOVING COMPANY
Quirk
Nana Shineflug again represents for the fifth fest!

Developed dancers have a strong sense of themselves (or they would not survive) and we are all definitely quirky in our own clearly individual ways. Back-grounded by the off beat music of Alarm Will Sound, Mindy Meyers, Rachel Bunting and Jeremy Wilson get quirky. It's fun and revealing, and of course…well…quirky.

Nana Shineflug loves dance, loves Chicago, loves her dancers and Est Fest. She is founder and Artistic Director of The Chicago Moving Company (celebrating its 35th year), which is an ArtsPartner with The Chicago Park District, in residence at Hamlin Park. She also teaches at Columbia College Chicago, which is a ton of fun. She likes getting out, most recently teaching in Tianjin, China where she was treated like a "rock star". She loves the capacity of the human body to express what words and thoughts cannot express.

www.chicagomovingcompany.org

<back to top>

CINDY BRANDLE DANCE COMPANY
Can't We All Just Float Along
20 inner-tubes and girls in bathing suits...
what more could you ask for?

Can't We All Just Float Along is a humorous section from the Cindy Brandle Dance Company's evening-length concert "When Water Falls". Utilizing 20 inner-tubes and a recommendation to "just float along" CBDC uses their athletic choreography to drift along this stream of chaos we call life! Girls getting stacked in inner-tubes and cute bathing suits...what more could you ask for?

<back to top>

THE DANCE COLECTIVE
Still as Yet to Be Titled
"...her choreography springs from the groin..."
- The Chicago Reader

Returning to Estrogen Fest, The Dance COLEctive (TDC) continuously challenges assumptions about dance –- who dances, what they dance, where, how and when dance takes place, and why dance happens. TDC's current work examines stereotypes of beauty, creating an atmosphere of power, strength, vulnerability and intimacy.

Dancers: Kaitlin Bishop, Alaina Bomke, Liz Carlton, Nikki DiGioia, Molly Grimm, Maggie Koller, Donnette Kuba, Jessica Post

Currently on faculty at Columbia College, Artistic Director MARGI COLE has taught and set works throughout the country. In Illinois she serves on grant panels, program committees and in public forums as an arts administrator, dancer and choreographer. Awards include two Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowships, a Chicago Dancemakers Forum grant, an American Marshall Memorial Fellowship, and winning a Panoply Festival Choreography Award.

www.dancecolective.com

<back to top>

PHILIP DAWKINS
Saguaro
Think your relationship is complicated? Try dating a cactus.

While drunk at a wedding shower, Wren falls for a desert house plant. Will she be able to navigate this "nontraditional" relationship? Wren must decide how badly she wants to be partnered, even if it means settling for someone outside her scientific Kingdom. Um, it's a comedy.

Directed by Katie Klemme. Cast: Michelle Courvais & Ann Filmer

PHILIP DAWKINS is the ARTS Program Director at Pegasus Players, and teaches playwriting through Chicago Dramatists. Productions: Ugly Baby, Chicago Vanguard/Strawdog; A Still Life in Color, T.U.T.A.; The Man With A Shattered World, Ethington Theatre. Shorts/Readings: Victory Gardens, Strawdog, Collaboratction, Around the Coyote, Chicago Dramatists, Seanachai, New Theatrical Collective, The Side Project, and Metropolis.

<back to top>

LISA DILLMAN
The Curse of the Horned Babby
The women of the wee hamlet of Grunterville have
a story to tell...and it ain't pretty.

LISA DILLMAN is a Chicago playwright. She's worked with a bunch of theatres around town including Steppenwolf, American Theatre Company, the Goodman, Northlight, Rivendell, Collaboraction, Victory Gardens, Prop, and others. She wrote "The Curse of the Horned Babby" with inspiration from (1) the Brothers Grimm and (2) the Estrogen Fest caveat of "NO CRYING," which is, to her mind, the gold standard of submission guidelines. She's currently working on new play commissions for Rivendell Theatre Ensemble and Northlight. She enjoys writing in the third person and spends as much of her free time as possible not crying.

Directed by Noah Simon. Cast: David Bryson, Sara Sevigny, Jennifer Pompa, Marssie Mencotti

<back to top>

DIY TRUNK SHOW
Sat & Sun May 19 + 20 11am – 4pm
What's a women's festival without a little shopping?

Add a female bent to a touch of subversiveness and you get Chicago's coolest and quirkiest crafters. Curated by DIY Trunk Show, featured crafters are listed below. These women will be selling their wares Sat May 19 + Sun May 20 from 11am – 4pm. FREE to browse.

Agent Ladybug: Bike parts and other discards recycled, de-cycled, and retooled as wearable art. www.de-cycled.com

Chel's gloves and aprons make the mundane feel fun. www.cheldomesticgoodies.com

Christine Renee of www.re-conceived.com rescues old damaged and unloved books to make her quirky paper goods and accessories.

ExIconoclast: Guadalupe For All! Reimagining Hispanic Popular Culture

KUU handmade fun for your bath and body

Lotions & Potions Handmade organic & vegan body care with a kitschy flair! www.lotsnpots.com

Megan Lee Designs uses numerous handcrafting techniques to create one-of-a-kind clothing, handbags, sockdogs, collarettes for dogs, and more! www.meganleedesigns.com

MELTY unique jewelry, hair accessories, shirts, pet-toys and more...

moira & obbie creates handmade clothing and accessories from deconstructed recycled materials giving the fibers a second life as a new fangled piece of attire. www.moiraobbie.com

Poise.cc Where the Purse-onal is Political. www.poise.cc

rar rar press creators of postcards and miscellany

Show your soul with Souldier. www.souldier.us

[wired] Jewelry rewired from industry

www.diytrunkshow.com

<back to top>

ecnDANCEWORKS
Loop Detail
"Detached, in your face, intimate: Loop Detail is one interesting train ride…"

Loop Detail is a dance work that lifts daily interactions from city life. Amidst barriers in the space of clear plastic, three women overlap, tangle, relate, and pass on by. The movement landscape brings attention to posture and gesture, distant and intimate human contact, and unreserved and reserved approaches to moving.

Erin Carlisle Norton is Artistic Director of the dance company ecnDANCEWORKS, with evening work presented most recently at Links Hall (Chicago), and Beloit College (Beloit, WI). Working often in conjunction with other artists and mediums, she strives to create work that creates its own world during performance.

www.ecndanceworks.com

<back to top>

ANN FILMER
Estrogen Fest co-Artistic Director and Curator
“No crying and no male bashing since 2000.”

Ann Filmer will step out of her comfort zone and perform for the first time since playing the honorable role of “The Maid” in Private Lives at Writers’ Theatre. She plays Wren in Philip Dawkins’ Saguaro May 18 and 22. Ann collaborates again with playwright/poet Susan Hahn when she directs Hahn’s latest The Scarlet Ibis May 20 and 24.

ANN FILMER founded Estrogen Fest in 2000 as a part of The Aardvark. She has been curating and producing the festival ever since with various collaborators. This year, she is thrilled to be reunited with artistic (and dancing) partner Joanie Schultz (Est Fest 2001, 2003).

www.annfilmer.com

<back to top>

CAREY FRIEDMAN and BANG YOU'RE DEAD
Ferine
RAISE THE TERROR ALERT TO RED!

In this 10-minute modern day adaptation of Aristophanes' Lysistrata, a woman wears a dress that is the BOMB. Literally! It's up to a crackerjack team of FBI agents to "take her out" before she explodes.

Featuring the work of Angela Altenhofen, Marty DiFrisco, Patricia Donegan, Nate Maher, Mike McNamara, Kathleen Powers, Jeremy Sher, Vicky Walden and Nicole Wiesner.

CAREY FRIEDMAN is a writer/director currently residing in Los Angeles. His work has been produced in Chicago, San Diego, New York, Austin and Mexico.

BANG YOU'RE DEAD makes theater that deserves to be seen, heard and shot through a cannon.

<back to top>

MICHAEL JOHN GARCES
kapital
Confrontation is hot.

Yepes irons. Botero folds. Gálvez drinks a beer. When the claustrophobia of friendship piles up like so much dirty laundry, tempers flare and personalities collide. Through his signature use of verbal athleticism, Michael John Garcés investigates the violence, sex, and candor of true camaraderie.

Directed by Joanie Schultz. Cast: Khanisha Foster, David Dempsey, Nancy Friedrick

MICHAEL JOHN GARCES is the artistic director of Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles and a member of New Dramatists. He previously collaborated with Joanie Schultz on Acts of Mercy and audiovideo (Flush Puppy Productions) and tell her that (Collaboraction - Summer Sketchbook). Plays include points of departure (INTAR) and Los Illegals (Cornerstone - upcoming).

<back to top>

CHRISSY GARDNER
WhiskeyHouse
A collection of carnivalesque blues, American rock
and captivating folk ballads.

Singer-songwriter CHRISSY GARDNER will perform songs from her debut album, "WhiskeyHouse". With seductive vocals and honest lyrics, Gardner's album is a collection of carnivalesque blues, American rock and captivating folk ballads. Her music is always soulful, strangely nostalgic, and it won't soon leave your mind.

<back to top>

RACHEL THORNE GERMOND (RTG Dance)
Double Judy
Two Judys. Two dancers. One tragic-comedy.

A tragicomic tribute to Garland, Double Judy presents two Judy Garlands dancing together to renditions of Embraceable You and What Now My Love.

RACHEL THORNE GERMOND (RTG Dance) has presented work in Chicago since 2000, at Links Hall, and with the Chicago Kings, Girlie-Q Variety Hour, Feast of Fools Cabaret, Full Circle Danztheatre Festival, amongst others. From 1986-1998, she lived in New York City, and then she obtained an MFA in dance from UIUC in 2000. She has studied with Barbara Mahler, Mary Anthony, Merce Cunningham, Anna Sokolow, Tere O'Connor, and Nancy Topf.

Choreography by Rachel Thorne Germond (RTG Dance). Performed by Rachel Thorne Germond and Bevin Ross.

www.rtgdance.com

<back to top>

LAURIE GOUX
Saturn Over Sunset
Some would say it's cool.

A solo work that uses ice as a point of departure to create a mystical dance piece nocturnal in mood.  The dance and music, John Cage’s sonata #10, is a water texture study. 

LAURIE GOUX founded Spiritwing Dance Ensemble under the guidance and direction of Dance Masters Tommy Gomez and Jimmy Payne Sr.  A former faculty member of Columbia College Dance Center, Laurie has 25 years experience in mainstream modern dance.

<back to top>

SARAH GUBBINS
Out of Order
A gun. A women's restroom. And a minute and a half alone
with the leader of the free world.

SARAH GUBBINS has been kicking around Chicago theater for a while now in her incarnation as a dramaturg. She has worked Off Broadway and in Chicago at the Steppenwolf, Court Theatre, and the Next Theatre among others. Some of her other short plays you might have heard tales of are: The Vanishing Act as part of Collaboraction's Sketchbook Festival and The First Woman President is Living in LaGrange Wearing Underoos as part of 20% Theater's Snapshots Festival. She wrote the book for Fatty Arbuckle's Spectacular Musical Revue produced by Second City Theatricals and is now hustling up an MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage at Northwestern University.

Directed by Beatrice Bosco with video direction
by Beth Corzo-Duchardt. Cast: Kat McDonnell & Mary Beth Burn

<back to top>

SUSAN HAHN
The Scarlet Ibis
A clever Magician, a wise Bird, and a determined Lady.

In a dramatic sequence of poems the Ibis and the Lady are the disappearing objects of the Magician's tricks. As the three vie to control each other, in humorous and devastating ways, all illusions fall away, forcing them to deal with their assigned roles in time and their own caged mortality.

Directed by Ann Filmer. Cast: Amy Dunlap, Gregory Hardigan, Kathleen Powers.

SUSAN HAHN is the author of eight books of poetry, including The Scarlet Ibis (2007) and the forthcoming The Note She Left (2008). Her first play, Golf, was directed by Ann Filmer in 2005. Among her honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Pushcart Prizes and several Illinois Arts Council Awards.

<back to top>

HIGH PRIESTESS OF FUNK & GALA ORBA
Chicago Hoop Dance
The revival of the Hula Hoop - Yes, we're bringing it back!

Chicago Hoop Dance is dedicated to bringing the joy of the hoop to people all over the world. We live in a society were women are taught to be ashamed of our bellies and our bodies.

Our mission is help women discover the wisdom and beauty that lies within us all. We are dedicated to helping you find comfort and joy in your amazing body. Build community and have fun!

High Priestess of Funk performs Wed May 16. She will teach a yoga workshop Sat May 19 and will be available for on the spot hoop instruction that afternoon.

MERCEDES GOMEZ (aka- High Priestess of Funk) founded Chicago Hoop Dance in 2006. She is certified Yoga Instructor and massage therapist. Born in El Salvador and raised in Las Vegas, Mercedes began perfoming in 1992. She is also a Fire Dancer and has dedicated her life to sharing the arts.

www.chicagohoopdance.com

<back to top>

CHRIS HODAK
The Adventures of Gudrid and Jorunn
Can two 14th century Icelander gals remain pals when one of them becomes a famous globe-trotting adventurer?

Jorunn disapproves of her best friend's seafaring ways, choosing instead to stay home, knitting, dreaming. Actors Gymnasium trained artists/athletes Jill Heyser and Jen Jolls use stilts and globes to comically portray the struggles between the 14th century pals. The piece, written by CHRIS HODAK, directed by Andy Park and choreographed by Jill Heyser, was inspired by an Icelandic saga celebrating Gudrid Thorbjardottir the most widely traveled woman in the world for the better half of a century. The Adventures of Gudrid and Jorunn encourages women of all ages to get up out of their chairs and try something scary.

<back to top>

CAROLYN HOERDEMANN
and VISIBILITY COUNTS
Oh My God I Miss You
A camera. A coke. A desire for the other.

Performed in the style of Japanese Noh theatre, Oh My God I Miss You was inspired by a painting and transformed into text by Carolyn Hoerdemann. Young performers Kimberly Chin and Amaranthia Flores portray two young women, one American and one Japanese, who meet on a bridge. Here they learn something about their missing pieces by the reflection of the other.

VISIBILTY COUNTS is a young womyn's performance collective investigating issues of the female body in visual culture and the future of next feminisms. A resident at Insight Arts in Rogers Park, VC created and performed American Appears, an interactive performance installation investigating Dov Charney of American Apparel, sweatshop labor, sexual harassment in the work place and exploitation in advertising.

www.insightartsliberation.org/ensmbl_vcount.html

<back to top>

JOHNNY KNIGHT
Her Special Day: A Gallery of Elegant Brides
He doesn't do weddings...

This irreverent photo series depicts lovely brides in distinctly unbridelike circumstances. The funny, subversive collection is intended to pull the glamour out from under traditional wedding photography. The series has been featured in TimeOut Chicago, the Andersonville Arts Weekend (2005 and 2006), and the cover of ChicagoPlays magazine.

Johnny Knight has worked as a performing arts photographer in Chicago since 2000. His specialties include theatrical production photography and actors' headshots. For the past four years, he has been an instructor at the Chicago Photography Center. He doesn't do weddings.

www.johnnyknightphoto.com

<back to top>

ROBERT KOON
Solstice
A reclusive weaver wrapped in the consequences
of a youthful decision.

A reclusive weaver finds herself wrapped in the consequences of a youthful decision. When faced with her past, she must navigate the tension between what to expose and what to protect. Loosely based on characters from A Winter's Tale.

Directed by Anna Bahow. Cast: Jacquelyn Flaherty & Jean Marie Koon.

Robert Koon is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists, where he also serves as Director of The Playwrights Network. His plays include St. Colm's Inch, Vintage Red and the Dust of the Road (2003 Joseph Jefferson Citation), and Odin's Horse (2004 National EcoDrama Award).

<back to top>

MASHA KORE and ELEFFANT FOOT
About the Myst…
It is like artsy postmodern Becket really.

What came first – the egg or the chicken? It can be any other bird really, not necessarily a chicken, it can be even a woman – the question will stay. There is an underlying mystery under the thin surface of our existence. What happens when a creature (someone) finds a mysterious object (something) and tries to establish a contact with it? This piece explores and exploits such an incident.

Since 2000 ELEFFANT FOOT has been essentially a duet of two clowns – Masha Kore and Sandro Gvardioshvili. For this piece they have divided their normally collaborative effort in two: they play respectively roles of the creator and of the outside eye. Both were engaged with the theatre world long before they have received any formal training in it. The last has occurred in London, in an international program based on the pedagogy of Jacque Leqoc.

www.eleffantfoot.org

<back to top>

BRANDI LEWIS
Foundations: What lies beneath?
Jutting breasts or rocket weaponry? You decide.

A multimedia examination of the messages 1950's undergarments sent to the public. In 1949, Maiden Form's popular "Chansonette", or the "bullet bra", was a clear example of how women's bodies were shaped by the aesthetics and mindset of the time. After the war, jutting breasts recalled the designs of rocket weaponry and also symbolized society's desire for women to forego their wartime jobs and retreat back into the homes to become capable wives and mothers.

Brandi Lewis is a visual artist who recently co-curated an exhibit of posters dealing with the fight against AIDS in Africa at the A + D Gallery entitled, "Pandemic In Print", 2007.

<back to top>

KRISTY LOCKHART
You too could be an Executive Secretary!
Would you have what it takes to endure the world
of the typical 1950's female executive assistant?

In the 1950's, the top female career choices went like this: Stewardess. Nurse. Teacher.

Or the one my mother and many ambitious career girls chose: The Executive Secretary.

This show asks the question: would you have the strength to endure the world of the typical 1950's female executive assistant? Not to worry, we'll show you how to do that and a whole lot more with "You too can be an Executive Secretary!" Directed by Kristy Lockhart and performed by Kate Teichman.
Adapted from You Too Can Be an Executive Secretary by Lucy Graves Mayo

KRISTY LOCKHART and Kate Teichman are performers who were recently seen together in NonSoFar's Macbeth at Rhinofest 2006. They have both performed with Curious Theatre Branch and numerous other theatres around Chicago.

<back to top>

SUZAN LORI-PARKS
Est Fest does week 28 of 365 Days/365 Plays
Check out our boots!

In November 2002, Pulitzer-winner Suzan-Lori Parks committed to writing a play a day for the next 365 days. The world premiere of this play cycle is being performed as a yearlong national festival simultaneously in major cities and communities around the country. Led by Monica Payne, Estrogen Fest produces week 28, May 21 – 25.

Performances are Monday, May 21 - Friday, May 25 at 7:00pm. All of the plays will be presented each night (before the mainstage show), five of them in live performance and two of them as visual art. FREE

From traditional theatre to dance to photography to a huge, interactive pair of boots, check out these creative interpretations of Suzan-Lori’s work:

Nowhere + Matt Shallenberger, photographer
The Good Cook of Szechuan + Rachel Bunting, choreographer
Fries with That + Monica Payne, stage director
Supersize + Rachel Bunting, choreographer
I Coulda Done That + Monica Payne, stage director
My Father Was a Famous Mother + Alyson Roux, stage director
Boots + Kevin Byrne, visual artist

www.365days365plays.com

<back to top>

KENDALL LOYER
whatever you want It to be
A movement and text feast for the senses investigating
the role of 'The Sex Goddess'!

Beginning in a moody world of solitude and preparation, whatever you want It to be uses a vocabulary of quirky, random movement inspired by pedestrians of the world, and photographs of modern dance icons. The relatable situations keep audiences thinking and the sarcasm keeps audiences laughing. Danced by Erin Fox.

Choreographer KENDALL LOYER has been creating work for about three years. She recently graduated from Columbia College Chicago, so she is free to ponder the question "What is dance?" She currently dances with Khecari Dance Theatre.

<back to top>

THE LUNA BLUES MACHINE
Beyond The Turntable
Taking the beats off the record
and bringing them back acoustic style.

The Luna Blues Machine is a Chicago-based acoustic hip-hop/Latin folk band. Fronted by vocalists Maritza and Belinda Cervantes (also guitar and mandolin), The Luna Blues Machine stands out as the most experimental acoustic music act working in Chicago today. John Germinaro (bass) and Tony Sancho (drums and percussion) provide rhythm for the Cervantes sisters' engaging stories, tight harmonies, and charismatic hooks. Getcha self a little luna love...

The Luna Blues machine performs Wed May 16 (followed by a Bonus Dose concert) & Mon May 21.

www.myspace.com/thelunabluesmachine.com

<back to top>

JENNY MAGNUS
Room
Sit in a Room with Jenny Magnus, and get a fortune told.

Room is a song performance. A performance is a way of exploring space, inhabiting space. The performer is in the space with the audience; and in that moment, something happens between them, something hopefully good and true. A song is a way of exploring space as well, sonic space, an imagined world. Room is an effort to spelunk, down into the space of a moment, into possible spaces, together.

JENNY MAGNUS has been a performer and writer for 24 years. She co-founded The Curious Theatre Branch in 1988 with Beau O'Reilly, and with whom she has performed, written, produced, or worked the door for most of their 75 productions. She has performed her work in many venues in Chicago, and toured the United States and Europe.

<back to top>

ARLENE MALINOWSKI
What Does the Sun Sound Like?
The rites of passage of a 12-year-old brat, her Deaf parents,
a coffee cup and the healing power of the sun.

As actor, educator, storyteller and social activist, ARLENE MALINOWSKI views her solo work as an artistic extension of the social justice work she has been committed to for the last twenty years. She has been performing her critically acclaimed solo shows, about her experiences growing up a hearing daughter in a Deaf family & culture, to sold out houses across the country. She recently became a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists and was a contributing writer for the book "Selling Lemonade for Free". Most recently she was named "Supreme Skald 2006/2007" by the Chicago Cultural Center.

<back to top>

MiLkBabY
BottLe, the album
A strange sort of world music for a new science
fiction-esque post industrial world.

5 sisters, 5 albums, 5th festival… Barry Bennett and MiLkBabY return to the Estrogen Fest after performing for the 2003 fest and acting as its music director. MiLkBabY will celebrate its tenth year as a music making entity in 2007 with the release of MiLkBabY's 5th full-length album, "BottLe" on Uvulittle Records. The album will feature tracks from MiLkBabY’s latest live incarnation, a rocking psychedelic trio with Bennett, Darren Shepherd and Sophie Senard. MiLkBabY's impressive body of work includes numerous theatre and dance scores.

MiLkBabY performs Sat, May 19 at 9:30 PM.

MiLkBabY’s music is strange and unique, but firmly captivating; creating a tribal bond with their audience during their improvised rock shows. People love to see them again and again knowing that each night is a new experience birthed by the little BabY that could. With video accompaniment by The (Kristin) Reeves Machine.

www.milkbaby.net

<back to top>

KRISTEN NEVEU
Mixed media artist
Reflecting the pattern of days and years moving by…

KRISTEN NEVEU’S mixed media paintings examine the passing of time. Fascinated with both nature and the urban environment, she captures the delicate details and cycles of transformation that often occur in everyday moments. Buildings are torn down, branches suddenly bloom, objects are left behind, and people come and go. She’s addressing the fleeting feelings of isolation and comfort that can result in these periods of change and stasis, and the sense of wonder that the world and its movements give her.

www.kristenneveu.com

<back to top>

O•VAD•YA
Black Fire
A powerful ethereal tapestry of some very unique music.

O•VAD•YA performs a post-show concert on Wed May 23 at 9PM.

Neo-psychedelic world-influenced acoustic and rock. The original music of this duo, comprised of songwriter M. Hurley (guitars, effects, mandolin, and vocals) and Linda Wolf (electric violin, sax, bass, and vocals) has received glowing responses from Guitar World to radio play across the US to Israeli media. Come join O*VAD*YA for a powerful ethereal tapestry of some very unique music.

www.ovadya.net

<back to top>

KELLY D. PELKA
What Side of the Fence are You On?
Acrylic paint and mixed media on canvas and wood

Chicago artist KELLY D. PELKA explores a variety of art media in her installation titled "What Side of the Fence are You On?" to imitate the views of society ranging from world issues to personal reflections within their own lives. Throughout the installation, the viewer witnesses recurring images such as the male/female bathroom symbol, a picket fence and a diagram of the digestive tract. When viewing this work, one is reminded of the choices they make and to question their decisions and conclusions as information changes or reveals a new truth.

www.paranoidgirl.com

<back to top>

ERIC PFEFFINGER
Tiny Baby
A woman, a baby, a class reunion. Does size really matter?

Susan's off to the class reunion with her husband, her newborn, and a full complement of anxieties. Does size matter? Who picked this music, anyway? And where did these people go to school--Edward Albee High?

Directed by Kimberly Senior. Cast: John Ferrick, Amy Dunlap, Kathy Logelin

ERIC PFEFFINGER is a playwright whose plays include Accidental Rapture, whose publications include the novel "The High-Impact Infidelity Diet", and whose daily activities include contending with a baby of varying dimensions.

<back to top>

STEPHANIE REARICK
Democracy, the album
Dark. Classical. Cabaret. Pop.

A one-of-a-kind musical extravaganza with piano, voice, loops, and trumpet. Here she plays highlights from her brand-new album “Democracy,” full of spit and vinegar and even a little hope.

STEPHANIE REARICK won the 2006 Madison Area Music Award (MAMA) for Best Unique Album (Star Belly) and the 2004 MAMAs for Best Classical Album (The Bucket Rider) and Best Classical Artist. “Imagine Tom Waits reincarnated as Debussy, playing Joni Mitchell versions of Edgar Allen Poe poems on a 1920s era piano, and you get an approximate sense of the influences singer/pianist Stephanie Rearick channels on the way to making her very unique, idiosyncratic art pop.” – Berkshire Eagle

www.stephanierearick.com

<back to top>

CRISTAL SABBAGH
Say That!
Six women in white confront sexual stereotypes.

The sexual stereotypes of women, and their lasting effects on our-selves and society inspire this interdisciplinary ensemble performance. Experienced against the backdrop of randomly projected stereotypes, the movement is inspired by butoh, improvisation and gesture, which work in tandem with memories, myths, emotions, and reclamations.

Directed and performed by Cristal Sabbagh and Anida Yoeu Ali in collaboration with Rachel Finan, Keiko Johnson, and Andrea Wukitsch.

CRISTAL SABBAGH teaches art at Adlai E. Stevenson High School. She received her B.F.A. in Art Education from the University of Illinois, in Champaign, and her M.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts at Columbia College, Chicago. A visual artist as well as an interdisciplinary performance artist, her work is motivated by film, culture, history, death/rebirth, music, hip hop, yoga, and butoh.

<back to top>

JOANIE SCHULTZ
Pulled to the Bull
There are certain things that you only do at night,
in the dark, so that no one else can see them.

Pulled to the Bull is an investigation of the Greek myth in which Pasaphe lusts after and has a sexual relationship with a white bull. What is this overwhelming desire that allows otherwise sane people to participate in dangerously harmful relationships?

Created in collaboration with designer/director Meghan Raham.

JOANIE SCHULTZ, Co-Artistic Director of the Estrogen Fest, has performed two of her solo pieces: Turned On and Oogenisis in previous Estrogen Fests and around Chicago. She recently finished her Theater Directing MFA coursework at Northwestern University, and is a freelance director in Chicago. Most recent shows include Stone Cold Dead Serious at Circle Theater and Betty's Summer Vacation for Infamous Commonwealth.

<back to top>

MIKE SMITH
The Date
To go or not to go, that is the question.

Shelly has been asked out on a date by a girl in her Art History class. And, to her own surprise, she accepted! But now she is having second thoughts. Shelley's roommate plays devil's advocate and Shelley is even more confused. Resolution comes in unexpected ways.

Directed by Jeremy Wilson. Cast: Deanna Myers, Alice Wedoff, Cynthia White

MIKE SMITH was born and raised in America's heartland, Muncie, Indiana. Mike has been writing creatively for over twenty years. He has been writing plays for the last nine years. He writes daily in his renovated garage and also works several jobs "on the side," managing somehow to put three of his five daughters (as of this writing) through college.

<back to top>

THREAD MEDDLE OUTFIT
Size-affects may include...
Limbs look as though they are tossed by unseen forces...

In Size-affects may include..., feelings of insecurities and self-scrutinization inspire movement alternating from a slow, gestural vocabulary of repression to ferocious maneuvers filled with frustration. Set to the music of Four tet.

A collaboration between Christine Betsill and Johannah Wininsky, THREAD MEDDLE OUTFIT strives to connect two different lives/personalities to create one unique movement voice.

<back to top>

ROSS TRAVIS
Support Group
And you thought your problems were bad...

When A Hole in Her Stomach, Two Babymakers, Butterflies in Her Head and She Hasn't Got a Head meet in a support group, all expectations are broken. What more needs to be said.

Directed by Ilesa Duncan. Cast: Gwynne Crowley, Tina Haglund, Amy Johnson, Ruibo Qian

Support Group was a part of Chicago Dramatists' 10-minute Estrogen Fest workshop, winning first place and a slot here at Estrogen Fest: Back on the Fringe! Ross Travis' play Winter Famine was recently selected as a semi-finalist for the 2007 National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill
Theatre Center. As an actor he has worked with Circle Theatre, Collaboraction, Bailiwick Repertory, Reasonable Facsimile Theatre Company, Thunder and Lightning Ensemble and Urban Theatre Company.

<back to top>

JESSE WEAVER
Do With You
"It would be as if you could never shut your eyes
and the world lay before you lit as harshly as ever.
And you could never shut it out."

Two older women, standing in separate gold frames, stand motionless as one tells the story of an encounter with a man in the hallway of the boarding house they live in. As she tells her meandering tale, the line separating one woman from the other begins to blur.

Directed by Meghan Beals McCarthy. Cast: Andrea Tichy & Kristen Secrist.

JESSE WEAVER is a resident writer and ensemble member at the side project in Rogers Park. His work has been produced as part of four Collaboraction Sketchbooks, Estrogen Fest 2005, and Breadline Theatre Co. Most recently the world premiere of his play Sweet Pretty Love Jam was produced by the side project.

<back to top>