Redmoon Theater is a Chicago based not-for-profit theatrical company under the direction of Jim Lasko and Frank Maugeri that specializes in site-specific productions, emphasizing visual spectacle, pageantry, elaborate sets, live music, puppetry, and physical theater. Productions are often out of doors, sometimes ticketed, sometimes freely viewable in public spaces. Redmoon also produces shows in traditional venues, and is involved in community projects in Chicago.
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Redmoon was established in 1990, by Blair Thomas and Laurie Macklin. Jim Lasko joined the company shortly after Macklin left, in its incipient stages. Thomas directed Redmoon's first show "You Hold My Heart Between Your Teeth" and established a distinct visual style that remained signature for years. Lasko and Thomas served as co-leaders of the Redmoon, collaboratively creating original theater productions, community collaborative events, and outdoor spectacles until Mr. Thomas left in 1998. Under Jim Lasko's direction the company emphasized free work in public spaces and its aesthetic moved more toward mechanical ingenuity and spectacle. During this period they mounted three signature outdoor events: 'The All Hallow's Eve Ritual Celebration', a community interactive ritual that brought over 10,000 people to Logan Square on a single evening; 'Sink, Sank, Sunk' which culminated on with a viking funeral down the Chicago River, and "Hunchback", an adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel that featured acrobatic performances which played in traditional theaters throughout the United States to critical acclaim. In 2008 Mr. Lasko took leave of the Artistic Director role and longtime associate Frank Maugeri took the healm. Under Mr. Maugeri, Redmoon continued to grow its reputation for creating theater in unexpected places. Characteristic of the scale and ambition of that work was 'The Astronaut's Birthday', a massive projected comic book that transformed the 66' x 33' glass facade of the Museum of Contemporary Art into a huge shadow screen with audience seated in the plaza. In 2011 Mr. Lasko returned to join Mr. Maugeri in order to co-lead Redmoon.
See Redmoon: Production History for further details.
For eight years (1995–2002), Redmoon produced All Hallows' Eve, a ritual performance during Halloween in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood that in its final year brought together an audience of over 10,000 in a single evening.
All Hallows' Eve was followed by a trilogy of outdoor performances located in neighborhoods throughout Chicago from 2004–2006. These were:
In 2007, Redmoon created a large-scale commissioned work for the newly created festival Looptopia, a celebration of culture in downtown Chicago, which featured site installations throughout the Loop with a procession down Washington Street culminating in a performance in Daley Plaza for more than 20,000 spectators.
In 2010, co-produced by Redmoon Theater and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, "The Astronaut's Birthday," a production reminiscent of a graphic novel, was projected onto the west façade of the MCA as audience members watched from the plaza.[1][2]
Recognized as a Special Events Producer, Redmoon has contributed to such projects as The Millennium Park Opening Ceremony, Art Institute Ground Breaking, the City of Chicago’s Looptopia Festival, and the 2009 Halloween celebrations before the First family, their staff and guests at the White House in Washington, DC.
The company has created theatre productions, community projects and large-scale, site-specific performances, that have been experienced across Chicago from Belmont Harbor and the Jackson Park Lagoon to the façade of the Museum of Contemporary Art. Redmoon has also worked in traditional theatre venues from the stage of Harris Theater to Steppenwolf. In addition, the company has produced international projects in Holland, Ireland, France, and Australia.
Redmoon has also established an international reputation with artists recently traveling to Holland and Australia creating large-scale outdoor, site-specific public events in addition to this season’s production of Once Upon a Time traveling to the International Puppetry Festival in France; while continuing its community focused arts education programming to children and teachers in Ireland.
With this unique visual language, Redmoon Theater aspires to transform streets and stages into places of public celebration, capable of speaking across cultural, ethnic, and generational boundaries that focuses on contributing to civic well-being and social exchange.
Highly influenced by contemporary art works and ancient theatrical forms, Redmoon Theater has created a performance style that is equal parts pageantry, gadgetry, acrobatics, and ephemera.
The company has been hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “impossibly inventive” and “full of visual wit,” and described by the Chicago Sun-Times as “one of the only theaters that can keep a 2-year-old and a 50-year-old equally enchanted and filled with wide-eyed wonder.” Working outdoors in public spaces as well as in both established theaters and non-traditional venues, Redmoon blends elements of ritual and symbol, spectacular physical performance and live music with exquisitely crafted objects and machines, producing works of stunning originality that are capable of delighting non-traditional audiences and conventional theater-goers alike.
Since the first Winter Pageant in 1991, Redmoon has received public and critical acclaim for its spectacle productions that tap into the collective memory and imagination of audiences. Through its productions and events Redmoon brings audiences together for transformative experiences.
Through spellbinding original productions and a unique voice that speaks across cultural boundaries, Redmoon draws in Chicagoans like no other theater company. It has gained a national reputation for both its one-of-a-kind visual style and its civic-focused ability to build community through creating unexpected theater events in unexpected places.
Redmoon’s mission extends far beyond its production work, as neighborhood children and community members have been integrated into the artistic process since the company’s early beginnings in Logan Square. Through Neighborhood Arts Programs, Redmoon provides in-depth, art-making experiences to Chicago’s underserved populations via two distinct programs: the Redmoon School Partnership Program, which creates meaningful and effective learning opportunities for students and teachers by integrating spectacle theater into the classroom and the school community; and Dramagirls, which teaches adolescent girls to express themselves through performance and theater-making, enhancing their self-esteem at a critical time in their lives.
It also offers independent classes and workshops in mask making and civic programs for the community, including Dramagirls and the highly successful, nationally recognized Neighborhood Arts Program led by NAP director, Angela Tillges.
Redmoon has always been led by visionary Artistic Director(s) who emphasized a collaborative process of art making. The work is multi-disciplinary and generally includes artists from many fields. Designers, engineers, architects, dancers, acrobats, painters, composers and musicians, videographers, graphic artists, and others make up the collaborative team that create Redmoon's distinct brand of theater.
Redmoon was founded in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago by the performance artist Blair Thomas and choreographer Laurie Macklin. Macklin was soon to leave and Jim Lasko, a theater maker and director, came to join Mr. Thomas. Mr. Lasko become the company's Founding Artistic Director, working alongside Blair Thomas until he left to found Blair Thomas & Company which is committed to "chamber puppet theater". In May, 2009 Mr. Lasko was named Artist in Residence to the City of Chicago's Office of Tourism, Department of Cultural Affairs and he took leave of Redmoon for a two year period during which Mr. Maugeri acted as Artistic Director. As of January, 2011, Mr. Lasko has returned from his stint with The City of Chicago to co-lead Redmoon with Mr. Maugeri.
Redmoon is operated by a 25 member board of directors and is funded through various avenues including ticket sales and a business arm called Redmoon-for-Hire run by Associate Artistic Director Vanessa Stalling, which provides customized party entertainment for corporate events, conventions and private client parties. Corporate funding and grant/foundation contributions also provides the not-for-profit with financial assistance. As a result, Redmoon surpassed $1 million in revenue for the first time in 2002.