Curious Theatre Branch and Prop Thtr are pleased to announce tickets are now on sale for the 36th Annual Rhinoceros Theater Festival, Chicago’s longest running theatre festival. The 2025 Rhino Fest returns September 5 - 28 at Facility Theatre, 1138 N. California Ave. in Humboldt Park, Labyrinth Arts Club, 3658 N. Pulaski Ave. in Avondale and Jarvis Square Theatre, 1439 W. Jarvis Ave. in Rogers Park. For more than three decades, Rhino Fest has endeavored to welcome as many theater and performance companies and artists from Chicago and across the nation.This year’s festival kicks off with a special Full Moon Vaudeville Concert, Saturday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m, at Facility Theater, 1138 N. California Ave., headlined by art/folk/cabaret act The Crooked Mouth and includes show previews and special guests. Information on performances and tickets to the 2025 Rhinoceros Theater Festival, offered as pay-what-you-can pricing, with a $20 suggested price, are available at RhinoFest.com.
Following last year’s 35th Annual Rhinoceros Theatre Festival, the largest in its history, the 2025 Rhino Fest features plays, music and performances from more than 40 companies and solo artists with a focus on new work created in Chicago featuring themes of resistance and rebellion.
This year’s festival includes nearly 30 performances in a variety of media including solo work, plays, multi-media performance, music and post dramatic theater including longtime Rhino favorite BoyGirlBoyGirl, award-winning writer and storyteller Idris Goodwin, award-winning playwright and audio dramatist Jessica Wright-Buha, Chicago storefront founding set designer and theatre maker Rick Paul, filmmaker Wendy Jo Carlton & director/playwright/professor Cecilie Keenan, actor Charles Pike with playwright and digital artist David Hauptschein, poetry and movement artist Maya Odim, theater company Tellin Tales, theater company El Bear and musician Keith Fort with a one-time Country-Western band.
In other Rhino Fest news, Co-Founder Beau O’Reilly recently, with Jackleg Press, released a two-volume set, “98 Puppets in a Revolving Door: Beau O’Reilly Plays, Volume 1” and “We Open Friday:Beau O’Reilly Plays, volume 2,” celebrating O'Reilly’s impressive oeuvre of over 80 plays, meticulously written and produced for Chicago theater. This first collection features 14 of his most distinguished plays, dating from 1991 to 2025, offering a rich tapestry of his creative genius and an unparalleled journey through his artistic evolution.
As the cofounder of the Curious Theater Branch, Maestro Subgum and the Whole, and the Crooked Mouth, O'Reilly has left an indelible mark on the city's vibrant theater scene. His curatorial prowess shines through his co-curation of the Rhinoceros Theater Festival, an event synonymous with avant-garde brilliance. His work was also published in “Curious Plays: Chicago 1988-2022” (JackLeg Press, 2022).
ABOUT RHINO FEST
The event that became the Rhinoceros Theater Festival began in 1988 as an offshoot of the Bucktown Arts Fest and in its first year featured just two days of performances, including work by Curious Theatre Branch co-founders Jenny Magnus and Beau O'Reilly. Curious went on to produce the Rhino across many neighborhoods and venues over the years, with events variously taking place in Wicker Park/Bucktown, Rogers Park, Andersonville and Avondale; at spaces including the Lunar Cabaret and Full Moon Café, the Neo-Futurarium, the Society for New Things, The Garage, The Firehouse, Remains Theatre and Prop Thtr. In the mid-2000s, Rhino Fest settled at Prop Thtr in Avondale as its long-term base and Prop and Curious co-produced the festival among a shifting group of curators for many years. Following the closure of Prop's Elston Ave. space in 2020 and a year off during the height of the pandemic, Rhino Fest has charged forward with its annual festival and featured the largest festival in its history for the 35th season in 2024 producing shows by more than 50 artists at multiple venues.
This year’s festival kicks off with a special Full Moon Vaudeville Concert, Saturday, Aug. 30, headlined by art/folk/cabaret act The Crooked Mouth (pictured above, by Jeffrey Bivens) and includes special guests.
Top Row (L to R): Charles Pike, Keith Fort, David Hauptschein and Cecilie Keenan Bottom Row (L to R): Idris Goodwin, Stephanie Shaw, Jessica Wright-Buha and El Bear