About Scratch Night

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Scratch Night is a curated showcase of works-in-progress fostering the development of  innovative local theatre makers. Scratch Night features 6 previews of original contemporary, visual, and physical theatre by Chicago artists. Produced by Scott Ray Merchant, Scratch Night aims to provide a social space for community, conversation, and collaboration.

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Scratch Night Line Up: ​

 

Legland

Danny Gadaj, Connor Konz, Mo Less 

 

Daughterboy Collective

Felipe Carrasco & Camilla Frontain with movement direction by Chih Jou Cheng

 

Theatre Nobody

 Lindsey Ball, Leah Lara, Sam Louis, Mak Scheel, Kevin Michael Wesson

 

Sunshine Lombré

 

Tanima

 

Taking Flight

Laura Torres, Carmen Kingsley & Valeria Rosero

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Companies Bios​

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LEGLAND

(Connor Konz, Danny Gadaj, and Mo Less)

Insta: @live.laugh.legs

2024 Winner of The Vivid Award for Visual Theatre (Borderlight Theatre Festival)

 

After a standing ovation in 2023, LegLand returns to Scratch Night with WETTER and

ARTISTIC-ER content than ever before. Leaning on foundations in bouffon, drag, and sketch

comedy, LegLand guides you through a dense and energetic world of bizarre props and

costumes, surreal language, and digital gender. LegLand continues to push boundaries, mock

form, and evade expectations, all while bringing the audience along for the ride.

 

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DAUGHTERBOY

Daughterboy is the creative duo made up of Felipe Carrasco and Camilla Frontain – made official when the Physical Theatre Festival offered them a spot in the 2023 Destinos Scratch Night, with DB’s Deamons at the Bay. Since then, DB has been expanding in their mission to unlock the individual artist to serve the collective whole via training, show programming, and photography. They are thrilled to be back at Scratch Night and working with Chih-Jou Cheng on REGINA - a story that took root at Felipe and Camilla’s graduate school training in 2019 and has been in development since. 

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Chih-Jou Cheng is a Taiwanese physical theatre creator, movement artist, and puppeteer currently based in Chicago. She has performed in productions such as The Dream King (Teatro Vista), The King and I (Drury Lane), and A Chorus Line (Metropolis), also worked with Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Chicago Puppet Studio. Her recent works, including "Above the Water," "Unfinished Island Songs," and "Arriving at Dawn," delve into themes of migration, identity, and healing, aiming to foster compassion and promote collective healing through innovative, interdisciplinary physical theatre. Her work has been supported by Chicago Cultural Center Dance Studio residencies, Ragdale residency, and DCASE. She has been awarded the Chicago Arts & Health Pilot for Creative Workers and the 2024 Princess Grace Honoraria. For more of Cheng’s work: www.chihjou-cheng.com

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THEATRE NOBODY

Theatre Nobody is a radical experimental free theatre outfit based in Chicago. 
The Scratch Night performance will feature Lindsey Ball, Leah Lara, Sam Lewis, Mak Scheel, & Kevin Michael Wesson.

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SUNSHINE LOMBRÉ 

Chicago native Sunshine Lombre is a dancer & poet who specializes in expressing sensuality & emotional authenticity through her words & movements. Sunshine performs poetry and choreography while also curating seasonal artist showcases based around Black heritage. Sunshine strives to share her passion for Spoken Word and choreography while uplifting Black communities worldwide through teaching creative writing classes through “Poetry for Personal Power”, the Chicago Public Library system, Hyde Park Art Center & other Arts Organizations. She has released debut poetry album “Fading Away" & been an opening act for Twista, Parliament Funkadelic and many other greats.

 

 

TANIMA

Straddling Delhi and Chicago, Tanima is an actor, clown, puppeteer and poet, with a special love for ensemble devising, street theatre and choir. In any free time Tanima plots the revolution, though secretly hopes to be a private detective one day.

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TAKING FLIGHT​

Carmen Kingsley (she/her) is a circus artist and educator. She currently teaches aerials and handstands at Aloft Circus Arts as well as her own Pilates and conditioning classes on Zoom. She collaborates with Opera-Matic (bringing moving, music and art to the streets). She has participated in the Chicago International Puppet Lab residency and collaborated with Free Street Theater. Carmen loves creating interactive spaces where children and adults from diverse backgrounds can play together and share joy.

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Laura Torres (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Chicago, IL. She has produced work in sculpture, installation, film, and performance. Her current creative focus is in wirewalking, and was an artist in residence for The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival Puppet Lab. She holds an MFA from School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston at Tufts University.

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Valeria Rosero (she/her) is an Ecuadorian-born, Chicago-based circus, dance, and theatre artist. She graduated from Northwestern University in 2016 as a Theatre major with a BA in Communication. Valeria is a graduate of the Actors Gymnasium Professional Circus Training Program (2021-2022), as well as the Aloft Circus Arts Professional Training Program (2022-2023). When she's not on stage, teaching, or working on commercials and voice-overs, Valeria loves painting and drawing. Valeria is represented by Shirley Hamilton Talent Agency.

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