An Interview: Year 10 — Ira S. Murfin at Chicago Dramatists — Rhino Fest 2026
An Interview is an ongoing series of unique encounters between an ever-rotating pair of participants who meet across a table in front of an audience to first revisit the transcript of an interview conducted during the previous installment, and then to conduct an entirely new, unrehearsed conversation before an audience of witnesses. That conversation will then be transcribed and revisited in the next segment, followed by a new extemporaneous exchange, and so on. Every performance in An Interview is unique, and unrepeatable, while each encounter is connected by project’s format and sequence to all the others in its history.
In October of 2026, it will be 10 years since the chain of conversations that comprise An Interview began. To mark one decade of An Interview, Rhino Fest has invited the performance to visit each of this year’s festival venues.
For more information:
www.IraSMurfin.com
www.facebook.com/AnInterviewbyMurfin
Venue: Chicago Dramatists (798 N. Aberdeen)
(Note: This show performs once at each of the three Rhino Fest venues. For tickets to the other dates, see alternate listings below.)
An Interview at Labyrinth Club: https://buytickets.at/curioustheatrebranch/2379371
An Interview at Chicago Danztheater:
Tickets: All Rhino Fest tickets are offered at sliding scale prices in an effort to make theater more accessible to more people in our communities. We say "pay what you can" and we mean it. Rhino Fest is co-produced by the Curious Theatre Branch and the performance venues. Additional donations are always welcome.
About the venue: The building containing Chicago Dramatists is located at 1105 W Chicago Ave, in the River West neighborhood. The venue's entrance is at 798 N Aberdeen Ave (if you see Big Shoulders Coffee, walk around to the other side of the building). Street parking tends to be difficult in the area — plan to take public transit or a rideshare if possible, or plan extra time to find a parking space. (Apps such as ParkWhiz and SpotHero can often help find a paid spot nearby.) The Chicago Blue Line station exits within one block of the venue. The theater space is on the first floor, with a wheelchair-accessible entrance and two accessible bathrooms. Beverages will be available for purchase in the lobby before shows begin.
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 Jenny Magnus and Beau O'Reilly. When the event's founder moved away from Chicago in 1990, he asked a ragtag group of local artists (including Beau O'Reilly and Theatre of the Reconstruction’s Scott Turner) to keep the festival going, and the Rhino Fest was born. The Curious Theatre Branch 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 Avenue space in 2020 and a year off during the height of the pandemic, Rhino Fest is once more itinerant, currently producing more than 30 shows at The Labyrinth Club, Chicago Danztheater, and Chicago Dramatists.
Location
Chicago Dramatists, 60642