oobleck logo 

No director.
New works.
Free if you're broke.
Twenty years.
You can call us at
773-347-1041
or sign up for
our mailing list

Spring 08 History

Soapbox

Multimedia

Donate Now

E-mail
The Hysterical Alphabet
by Terri Kapsalis
Video by Danny Thompson
Sound by John Corbett

Hysterical historia. Historical hysteria.

The ABCs are seized by a convulsive fit in Terri Kapsalis' The Hysterical Alphabet, each letter introducing an episode direct from the annals of medical lore.

Aided by sound maven John Corbett and introducing the cinematic collage wizardry of re-orientationist Danny Thompson, The Hysterical Alphabet tracks centuries of female malady, disproving the theory that time heals all wombs.

Terri Kapsalis Danny Thompson John Corbett
Making a limited return engagement!


If you have Flash, just click the "play" button above for a clip from the show.

Sundays
April 13, 20 & 27 Only.
7 pm
at The Chopin Theatre
1543 W. Division Street (map)

$10 suggested donation
more if you've got it
free if you're broke

Please make reservations by e-mail,
or if it's less than 24 hours before the show,
by phone at
773-347-1041.

Newcity's Rave Review:

Theatre Oobleck’s "The Hysterical Alphabet" is a beautifully nuanced mixture of historical treatise, medical discourse and poetic archive, chronicling the sometimes hilarious, often horrifying saga of the "female malady" that is hysteria throughout the centuries.

Oobleck has remounted its inspired multimedia presentation at the Chopin Theatre, after premiering last fall in a one-night-only showing at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Terry Kapsalis’ remarkable text, an ABC’s of women and their wily wombs (now available in book form with fantastic drawings by Gina Litherland), is the axis material, but accompanied by Danny Thompson’s stunning video "documentary," and John Corbett’s gratifying sound design, the sum transforms into something greater than its (private) parts

The three artists enter quietly, without fanfare, and take seats at a long table before a large projection screen. Aided by microphones, a computer/projector, record player and numerous sound folio devices, the performance/lecture takes off, with Kapsalis reading matter-of-factly, almost demurely, her lyrical chronology of ailment, while Thompson frenzy of found and original video images unfurl to the tunes (and crackles, cries and whistles) of Corbett’s manic soundscape.

The trio packs an astounding amount of information into little more than an hour’s time--delivering a lesson that is wickedly funny, surprisingly heart-wrenching and not to be missed.

- Valerie Jean Johnson