Commedia Divina: It's Worse Than That
Event description
A high-energy political satire that’s an expressionistic romp through Dante’s nine circles. Will suburban business heiress from northern Georgia (*ahem*) learn the right lessons?
The Conspirators are a (newfangled) theater & performance collective in Chicago dedicated to provoking thought and action through dynamic, immediate theater art. We work exclusively in a neo-commedia style called The Style. Initially developed by Los Angeles stalwarts The Actors’ Gang and Chicago’s own New Crime Productions, The Style combines the basics of classic Commedia dell’Arte with intense emotional states and influences like Kabuki, Kathakali, Bugs Bunny and a high-energy punk-rock esthetic that a critic once called “a coke-fueled clown nightmare.” Elements of The Style include grotesque makeup and costume, stylized movement punctuated by percussion, audience address and malevolent satire. Fun, right?
Past productions include: The Conspirators' 125th Anniversary Jubilee Feat. "The Ineptidemic" (2022), The Caucasian Inner Circle, or Hooray for Billionaires! (2022), Billy Bullion's Cocktail Hour (virtual, all pandemic long), Ayn Rand's "It's a Wonderful Life" as Performed by The Conspirators Under the Direction of Debbie Wasserman Schultz (2019), Accidental Death of a Black Motorist (2019), Yankee Doodles: Let Treason Ring!(2018), The Deckchairs, or Make the Titanic Great Again! (2018), DIYTOMMY (2017), The Resistible Rise of Herr Helmut Drumpf (2016), and the Jesus Christ Superstar Do-It-Yourself Messiah Complex (2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 [virtual], 2022 [hybrid], and 2023). Clearly, we love very long titles.