The Mixtape New Works Festival Vol. 2 Presents Heel Turn by Eric Matthew Richardson

It's no stretch to compare wrestling and theatre. But this isn't about the goings on within the ring – those poor players who strut and fret their hours upon the stage. It's about the intersection of art and commerce. The structures of power that prey upon desperate artists, using and abusing them in a never-ending game of he-said, she-said. It's about co-opted social movements. It's about the normalization of crypto-fascism and the American theatre's complicity. 

This new rock infused musical challenges the conventions of the stage through the world of professional wrestling in the sort of chaotic, frenzied, and raw way that Chicago storefront theatre does so well.

This is a concert reading of a new musical in development. 

Instrumental Theatre Company is a Chicago based performing arts organization whose mission is to inspire harmony through ensemble storytelling crafted at the intersection of actors and musicians. 

ITC is excited to return to Uncommon Ground this year with a festival celebrating new musically inspired storytelling. This new work development process provides time and space to workshop new musicals and new plays with music, highlighting the talent of Chicago's theatre and music writers.