Metamorphosis / I'm a Bug???? — Jess Wright Buha — Rhino Fest 2026
"What good is a life knitted together for someone else?"
Explore love, longing, damp hotel rooms, violin strings, and what happens when:
- you sacrifice everything for the people you love, and
- Kafka wrote the ending
...in this immersive staged reading of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis.
Adapted by Jess Wright Buha
Directed by Ashley Laverty
Featuring Caitlin Costello, Bilal Dardai, Clifton Frei, Brynley Halverson, and Shea Lee
Music by John Szymanski
Lights by Becca Jeffords
Produced in conjunction with I'm a Bug????, a micro-mini day camp for children ages 4–14.
Performance Note: Metamorphosis will be performed in the theatre, and I'm a Bug????
will take place in the lobby. Both experiences are 80 minutes long, and will occur simultaneously.
Due to space constraints, I'm a Bug??? is limited to 10 participants (so if you need tickets to the kids show, get 'em early!). And you (of course!) need not bring a child to attend The Metamorphosis. The Metamorphosis is a stand-alone theatrical event best enjoyed by those aged 14+, and we're hoping that, by offering child care in the form of I'm a Bug????, it's easier for families to attend live theatre!
Jess Wright Buha is an internationally-produced, award-winning playwright and audio dramatist. She recently wrote a critically acclaimed audio drama for Marvel (X-Men: Age of Orchis, Radio Mode), and her work also received the BBC Best Podcast Award in 2021 for Unwell: A Midwestern Gothic Mystery. Buha has had over forty stage plays produced, including literary adaptations of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and Joyce’s Ulysses, by such companies as Lifeline Theatre, where she is an ensemble member, Filament Theatre, the Gift Theater, South Africa’s National Children’s Theatre, and many others. She has also written a variety of immersive theatrical experiences, physically spanning areas as small as one room or as large as the entire Portage Park neighborhood. She recently co-created and wrote the Soundlab series, four informational videos produced by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and used by elementary music educators around the world.
Dates: Sundays October 4, 11, 18 and 25 at 11:00am
Venue: Chicago Dramatists (798 N. Aberdeen)
Runtime: 80 minutes
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