An exquisite corpse

To get into the Halloween spirit, my ladyfriend and I trekked down to Chicago a week or so before the big day to take in volume VI of Rough House Theater's House of the Exquisite Corpse: Lullabies.

It was a lovely day in Lincoln Park with many homes decorated for the season. It was much warmer than that weekend I spent there a couple January's ago when I walked about a mile to the Steppenwolf in the midst of a polar vortex that took the temps well below zero. We parked and made our way to the Athenian Room for a spot of lunch. Afterwards on our way to the Steppenwolf's side theater in the parking lot, we ambled down Willow Street which took us past the Willow Room.

Some great naming right there, I tell ya.

Inside the theater, there was this neat bit of art.

I am unsure if was in any way connected to the performance but with a trio of disembodied heads, it felt appropriate.

House of the Exquisite Corpse is a horror anthology puppet show featuring six short performances.

The theater had 6 mini-performance spaces and the audience walked from one to the next over the course of the show. These spaces had peep holes for us to peer into and watch each lullaby. Here's a photo I found on the interwebs that shows one group:

"Don't you want to live your dream?" featured a neat triple decker set and a flying bit of manna that the puppets "ate". "Jumping Jack Money" concerned, if I recall, an orphanage for the puppets that lined the walls and that we audience members could control. Inside a life-sized puppet fellow plotted for profit at the expense of the orphans. He came right up to my peephole giving his spiel and it was more than a little disconcerting. Who'd have thought a venture capitalist puppet could be so scary?

"The Moon is So Bright" features a boy dragged to the depths from a fishing boat. It managed to conjure a dream-like feeling very well. The singing was at once beautiful and haunting.

We both enjoyed House of the Exquisite Corpse greatly. It had moments of beauty such as when the drowned boy effortlessly glided through the depths alongside the eerie greed of one who would exploit orphans for financial gain. At least he got what was coming to him.

On our way home we learned that our beloved Zaab Thai in Elgin was not open so we made a detour in Rockford to eat at Thai Hut. Our server was quite friendly and the food was good, if not great.

I was amused that the label on the jar of chili in oil didn't tell the eater what it contained, merely that it was very hot.

Dining at the new Thai place, I pondered whether there was a way to monetize a social media something about the Thai restaurants of northern Illinois.

A fun venture and we'd be doing it all over again the next weekend.