Created by Iris Sowlat and Allison Fradkin in 2019, Violet Surprise Theatre is a new DIY queer feminist theatre company with the mission to produce new works that vibrantly and valiantly validate the identities and experiences of queer women, with fierce allyship to the non-binary community.
Violet Surprise debuted in August 2019 with Violet Surprise: Fem-slash Fest (co-produced with Otherworld Theatre), a festival of short plays that queered the cannon, profiled in this Chicago Tribune article.. In February of 2020, they mounted Lez Beaus, a festival of new work about queer love. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, they host the monthly Zoom variety show SapphFest. And now, they about to launch their first full production and first devised play, The Icon Project. |
Upcoming: The Icon Project
Thrown into an afterlife resembling a feminist bookstore in 2020 Chicago, 5-7 vastly different queer women from history debate their drastically different beleifs, re-write their narratives, make art, and maybe throw a party. Part time-hopping period fantasy, part interactive cabaret, and all queer - this is The Icon Project.
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SapphFest
SapphFest is Violet Surprise Theatre's monthly virtual variety show over Zoom featuring solo performances by queer women and non-binary performance artists and short plays. SapphFest often includes a potpourri of stand-up comedy, personal storytelling, original music, dance, clown, short experimental film, and other performance art.
Lez Beaus
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Fem-slash Fest
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