This weekend only!-Guild Complex(trivia hint) stirring it up at Viaduct

July 19, 9:39 AMChicago Literary Scene ExaminerRobert Duffer

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The Guild Compex is taking its Poetry Performance Incubator into The Viaduct Theater this weekend for its inaguaral performace, TOUR GUIDES. Next to the Poetry Foundation, the Guild Complex is the city's preminent poetry supporter and on the cutting edge of the spoken word in Chicago. And Viaduct has a great little bar.  What else do you need?

The pilot project brings together an ensemble of six artists under one director. "The Incubator pushes at the intersection of poetry and theater with the aim of creating a truly hybrid form. Poets and actors auditioned for the Incubator with the criteria of learning the theater or developing their writing..." in collaboration. The idea is similar to what 2nd Story has done with prose performance. Any time you hear of writers collaborating with actors you expect some sort of Blagojevich-Daley-style bickering. The level of professionalism and passion of both director Coya Paz and the Guild Complex's cast, however, will surely transcend our playground politcal scene.

Additionaly, The Viaduct is no stranger to hybrid forms. It brought us human beatbox Yuri Lane, who put on a one-man show of Chicago's neighborhoods through beatboxing in "Soundtrack City Chicago". The 2005 run was like nothing I'd ever heard even if some of the characters he portrayed were blurred together by his cityscape of sounds.

This shouldn't happen with the Guild's distinct cast (Kimberly Dixon, Steven Evans, Stephanie Gentry-Fernandez, Ricardo Gamboa, Tricia Hersey and Rupal Soni).

'"What is Chicago?” The variety of answers includes landmark neighborhood locations like Harold’s Chicken and Moo & Oink. (It’s about so much more than the Sears Tower and the John Hancock for Chicago natives.) The poets will take you on the CTA, on tours of their neighborhoods...and into the heart of how those of us who live here nestle next to and grate against those around us."

It should be interesting and this weekend is its trial run, much like the Examiner trivia post which has yet to get any responses. Hint: The Guild Complex.