Return Engagement of Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak's "Ex/Body: de/fame, de/position, de/liberate" October 1-4, 2026

"Everyone should see this show!" Audience member, December 2025

"This concentrated, unflagging curiosity about vulnerability in both performers and their audiences is a hallmark of Shanahan’s choreography and movement language, one she has developed over decades. Her approach is so distinctive that it now bears a registered trademark..." Read Sharon Hoyer's full feature here.

Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak presents
Ex/Body: de/fame, de/position, de/liberate
October 1-4, 2026 at 7:30 PM | The Edge Theater, Chicago

Content advisory: This performance contains references to trauma, sexual assault, and legal proceedings.

Join Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak for the return of Ex/Body: de/fame, de/position, de/liberate.

In this 60-minute piece that premiered in December 2025 to audience acclaim, the performers of Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak dive into urgent questions of how bodies absorb and resist distortion—social, institutional, and personal—while negotiating vulnerability, resilience, and radical presence alone and with others. Shanahan says of the work: "This dance is born of necessity, and of confronting what it means to speak up in environments that feed on silence, fear, and conformity.”

Performed by Shanahan and longtime ensemble members Kristina Fluty, Jeff Hancock, Diana Stewart, Maria DiMarzio, and Jaicee Partridge. Lighting design by Joshua Paul Weckesser. 

"If the body of a dancer is not the thing perceived in a dance performance, then what is? You’ll have to attend a Mad Shak show to experience it. It is unnamed, and comprised of the circulation of energy and the power of attention. Some of the bravest experimental performers attempt to conjure it, but few summon it in performance space as successfully as Shanahan and Mad Shak." Sharon Hoyer, New City Chicago

Performance Details
📅 October 1-4, 2026 at 7:30 PM
📍 The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway, Chicago
🎟️ Tickets: $35 General | $25.00 Student/Senior | $50 Contributor