Full Moon Vaudeville & Opening Ceremony — Rhino Fest 2026
The Curious Theatre Branch (longtime producer of Rhino Fest) brings you a Full Moon in the afternoon. Rhino Fest's traditional opening event, headlined by folk/art/cabaret act The Crooked Mouth and featuring variety performances from festival shows and beyond, will take place at Facility Theatre (1138 N. California) on Sunday, September 20th at 3pm.
Dates: Sunday, September 20th at 3:00
Venue: Facility Theatre (1138 N California)
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: Facility Theatre is located at 1138 N. California Ave, just south of Division in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. Metered street parking is usually possible nearby, and the California and Division buses also stop close to the building. Facility is a first-floor venue with a wheelchair-accessible entrance and two accessible bathrooms. Beverages will be available for purchase before performances.
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
Facility Theatre, 60622