Rough House Theatre of Chicago’s annual Halloween seasonal haunt, House of the Exquisite Corpse III, rises from the dead for its third reign of puppet theater terror, October 5-31 on the Chopin Theatre Mainstage, 1543 W. Division St. in Wicker Park.
Chicago’s one and only immersive puppet haunted house returns with an all-new program of immersive acts of puppet horror, guaranteed to shock, scare, astonish and delight.
Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, October 5-29, with closing performances on Halloween night, Tuesday, October 31. Press opening is Friday, October 6. Ticketed entries begin at 7 p.m. and are scheduled every 15 minutes. Shows conclude by 10:30 p.m.
Tickets to House of the Exquisite Corpse III go on sale Monday, August 21 at RoughHouseTheater.com. Tickets are $21-$46. Rough House also offers several Pay What You Want options. This production is recommended for audiences ages 14 and over.
Rough House Theater's House of the Exquisite Corpse 2022 * Puppets by Claire Saxe & Kevin Michael Wesson. Credit: Yvette Marie Dostatni
“If you want to move beyond schlock and shock into an elevated horror experience this October, look no further than House of the Exquisite Corpse,” advised the Chicago Reader, calling last year’s installment “an ambitious and surreal leap into puppet horror.”
This year, Rough House’s Halloween peep show/puppet theater anthology is inspired by the book “Our Homes and How to Keep Them Healthy,” published in 1883 by Robert Brudenell Carter. A team of top Chicago puppet theater artists have each selected different chapters, like “The Evils of the Common Closet” and “The Dangers of Dust,” to unleash and lay open their darkest creative impulses.
Audiences enter House of the Exquisite Corpse, if they dare, in small groups via timed entries. Once inside, they must brave its dark halls for approximately an hour, stopping at each room to spy through keyholes, cracks, and hidden doors to see the horrors happening within.
Through puppetry, physical performance, soundscape, and illusion, each unique room terrifies as it enraptures. Collectively, if you love haunted houses or theater of the macabre, you will be absolutely mesmerized by Rough House’s surreal tour through the horror of domestic spaces and the otherworldly ills that plague each room.
Intestine Man Chandelier, part of House of the Exquisite Corpse in 2022. Credit: Yvette Marie Dostatni
For 2023, House of the Exquisite Corpse III stitches together six all-new puppet peep-shows newly created by Chicago artists who work in multiple disciplines, including Pablo Monterrubio-Benet and Grace Needlman, Tom Lee and Sam Lewis, Corey Smith, Claire Bauman, Chio Cabrera and Jacky Kelsey, Justin D’Acci and Sion Silva, Ken Buckingham, and Felix Mayes and Kevin Michael Wesson. Process directors are Claire Saxe and Mike Oleon.
“Our Halloween production gives these artists the freedom to follow their own visions, create their own visuals, and be presented as individuals,” said Mike Oleon, Co-Artistic Director of Rough House, who conceived House of the Exquisite Corpse.
“They get to work independently, motivated by whatever flavor of horror that freaks that person out the most. Then we all come together to assemble a collaborative anthology that, collectively, blurs the lines between horror, puppetry and theater, beckoning you to gaze into a variety of nightmares you won’t soon forget.”
This puppet by Grace Needlman haunted Rough House's House of the Exquisite Corpse in 2022. Credit Yvette Marie Dostatni
Health and Safety
For the health and safety of our audiences and performers, Rough House strongly encourages all audience members to wear masks during the entire performance, regardless of vaccination status. For details, visit RoughHouseTheater.com.
A sea lamprey puppet designed by Rough House Co-Artistic Director Mike Oleon for House of the Exquisite Corpse in 2022. Credit: Yvette Marie Dostatni
About Rough House Theatre Co.
Rough House Theater Co. is on a mission to connect individuals and communities through art that celebrates the weird things that make us unique and the weirder things that bring us together.
Rough House creates theater that captures the heart through the eye. Their shows use puppetry, music, and human performance to tell intimate stories, as strange as they are sincere.
Through performances, presentations of work by fellow artists, and artist training, Rough House aspires to make Chicago a national hub of contemporary puppet theater, comprising a diverse and ever-growing community of audiences and artists. The company’s work has appeared in the National Puppetry Festival, The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, punk houses, funeral parlors, a lotion factory, and the woods of Appalachia.
For more information, visit RoughHouseTheater.com and follow the company on Instagram and Facebook.
Puppetry by Felix Mayes & Grace Needlman shocked, scared, astonished and delighted those who dared to enter Rough House Theater's House of the Exquisite Corpse in 2022. Credit: Yvette Marie Dostatni