The Magpies: New Biographies of Old Things

past magpies projects |  past projects with other companies

THE ART OF UNBEARABLE SENSATIONS | 2009

A series of sideshow musings on the intricacies of self-torture inspired by Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish and P.T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Hippodrome.
 
Written and directed by Shawn Reddy
Featuring Guy Massey, Kathleen Powers, Diana Slickman, and H.B. Ward
Viaduct Theater
Part of the Rhinoceros Theater Festival
 
PHOTOS 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
PRESS

YOU CAN'T CONTAIN IT: INCREMENTS OF LEVITY AND LOSS | 2008

Meditations on the current state of celebration are offered up on a final evening of a cabaret in a church.
 
Written and performed by Robin Cline
Acme Art Works
Part of THE CABARET MIT TEETH
 
PHOTOS 1 | 2 | 3

THE GREAT GALVANI | 2008

A tinkerer of dead frogs dissects everything from the famed Fiji Mermaid and Tom Thumb, to catastrophic loss and the need for distractions of bewildering beauty.
 
Written, directed, and designed by Shawn Reddy
Featuring H.B. Ward
Prop Thtr
Part of THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ELEPHANT
 
PHOTOS 1 | 2 | 3
PRESS

THE GREAT CICADA LETDOWN | 2007

A coyote in a Quizno's; deer on Lake Shore Drive. The natural world creeps in to and collides with the city, ready or not. These two evenings of monologues, science fair projects, songs, and foraged snacks dig into the strange ways nature emerges from urban soil—and sometimes doesn't.
 
Curated by Martha Bayne, Robin Cline, and Shawn Reddy
Featuring Martha Bayne, Robin Cline, Jeff Dorchen, Nance Klehm, Rick Lazarus, David Kodeski, Bryn Magnus, Shawn Reddy, and Chris Schoen
Athenaeum Theater
Part of the Rhinoceros Theater Festival

TEXTS FOR NOTHING (5) | 2006

The desolate words of Samuel Beckett's monologue are spoken through the wooden mouth of a ventriloquist doll.
 
Written by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Shawn Reddy
Featuring Joe Binder and Kim McKean
Museum of Contemporary Art
Part of the NO DANGER OF THE SPIRITUAL THING: 100 Years of Beckett

THE LASTS | 2005

There is a Madagascar of the mind where isolated memories evolve into unique species and where lullabies provide a fountain of youth.
 
Written and performed by Robin Cline
Directed and designed by Shawn Reddy
Musical accompaniment by Lawrence Peters
Prop Thtr
Part of the Rhinoceros Theater Festival

OUR LADY OF THE UNDERPASS | 2005

"Miracle food" is auctioned off on eBay in an attempt to prove that the quickest way to salvation is through your stomach.
 
Written and performed by Shawn Reddy
Directed by Robin Cline
Featuring Ira Glass of This American Life and others
Prop Thtr
Part of the Rhinoceros Theater Festival

WHITE SUIT SCIENCE | 2004–05

Mark Twain impersonators give their reasons for wearing white suits out of season while simultaneously revealing the whitewashed history of racism in Twain's boyhood hometown of Hannibal, Missouri.
 
Written, directed, and designed by Shawn Reddy
Featuring Joe Binder, Jessie Fisher, Cavan Hallman, Rick Lazarus, Beau O'Reilly, and Steve Walker
Scrolls by Dave Buchen
Athenaeum Theater, Conservatory, Curious Theater Branch
Part of PAC/edge Performance Festival and Rhinoceros Theater Festival
 
PHOTOS 1 | 2
PRESS

IRIS EATS A ROSE | 2004

An investigation into public apologies that involve eating an article of clothing and a rose.
 
Written and performed by Robin Cline
Designed and directed by Shawn Reddy
Live Bait Theater
Part of the Fillet of Solo Series
 
PRESS

FARMER'S DAUGHTER JOKE #231 | 2004

An ethnographic study of dirty jokes, gingham, and what Malaysia has to do with it.
 
Written, directed, and edited by Robin Cline
Video, 35 minutes
Betty Rhymer Gallery and the Gene Siskel Film Center

MY NAME IS MUDD | 2003–04

A tragicomedy that substitutes folklore for history by retracing the steps in the assassination of America's sixteenth president from the perspective of John Wilkes Booth.
 
Written, directed, and designed by Shawn Reddy
Featuring Joe Binder, Rick Lazarus, Guy Massey, Shawn Reddy, Dan Telfer, and Steve Walker
Musical accompaniment by Chris Schoen
Athenaeum Theater, Chicago Cultural Center and Curious Theater
Part of the PAC/edge Performance Festival and Rhinoceros Theater Festival
 
PHOTOS 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
PRESS

RED CIRCLE PRAYERS | 2003

A tour of infant language acquisition beginning with the utterance of "uh-oh."
 
Written and performed by Robin Cline
Directed by Shawn Reddy
Musical accompaniment by Eiren Caffall
No Exit Cafe
Part of the Rhinoceros Theater Festival

FAKE PEAK | 2003

A study of a real man named Frederick Cook who discovered an imaginary mountain.
 
Written and performed by Robin Cline
Directed and designed by Shawn Reddy
The Spareroom
Part of the Around the Coyote Arts Festival

I'VE GOT MY DOG'S NOSE | 2003

Kenyan children's drawings, American Revolutionary War landmarks, and the many ways that people from New Jersey assume to know the unknown.
 
Written and performed by Shawn Reddy and Guy Massey
Directed by Robin Cline
The Spareroom
Part of the Around the Coyote Arts Festival

THE WORLD'S FOURTH LARGEST BALL OF TWINE | 2003

A showcase of poems, monologues, performances, and videos relating to modes of tourism and tourist attractions.
 
Curated by Robin Cline and Shawn Reddy
Featuring Robin Cline, David Kodeski, Michael Martin, Laurie-Jo Reynolds, >and John Starrs
The Spareroom

SUPER-LEARNING WITH GEORGE | 2002

A case is made for why the former heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman named all four of his sons George.
 
Written and performed by Robin Cline
Directed and designed by Shawn Reddy
Lunar Cabaret
 
PHOTOS 1 | 2 | 3

THE ARGUMENT OF ORANGE | 2002

A foray into why a family might paint their front door orange.
 
Written and performed by Robin Cline
Video by Robin Cline
Lunar Cabaret
Part of the Rhinoceros Theater Festival

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