Samuel Beckett's "The End" — The Hauptschein Theater Collective — Rhino Fest 2026
In Samuel Beckett’s The End, an old man is evicted from the institution that has been providing him shelter. He is handed a coat, a pair of boots, and a little pocket change, and he is tossed out alone into the world. Room by room, kindness by kindness, the world slowly takes it all back. Filthy, verminous, and terminally adrift, he is a man most of us would cross the street to avoid.
As he stumbles down his road to nowhere, we are taken into the imaginative mind of this outsider, and are exposed to his grim but hilarious universe of bodily decay and dysfunction. But, in the end, out of a life stripped to nothing, what emerges is a transcendent voice of startling clarity and grace.
This rare staging of Nobel-prize-winning author Beckett's post-war novella, written just two years before Waiting for Godot, is performed by Charles Pike, directed by Julio Maria Martino, and produced by David Hauptschein.
I knew it would soon be the end, so I played the part... —Samuel Beckett
“The End” by Samuel Beckett is presented through arrangement with Georges Borchardt, Inc. All rights reserved.
Dates: Saturday, October 24th at 7:00 and Sunday, October 25 at 5:00
Venue: Chicago Dramatists (798 N. Aberdeen)
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