In the Before Times—before the Moth, before the Stoop, before the phrase “live lit” was even coined, much less a thing—Sharon Evans’s Live Bait Theater was HQ for Chicago storytellers. At least it was for a frenetic month every year, as legions of narrative spinners arrived to the tiny space for the Fillet of Solo Festival.
The diminishment is, obviously, that the real-time live communal thrill is gone. The nightly community Fillet cultivated in previous fests isn’t possible if we’re not all packed into a 40-seat house or the back of some bar, where the collective energy can’t help but ricochet off the walls. There’s no joyful hubbub with the people queued up for wine and Skittles at intermission. That part sucks.
My entry point was Elizabeth Gomez, who is featured in the group show, “I Love Everything!!!” Her segment, “Let the Loneliness Begin,” manages to both nail the all-but-unbearable isolation that results when your world is locked down and the zaniness of an imagination that refuses to stay indoors. And because “stories take more form than spoken words,” Gomez does much of her storytelling while teaching herself to roller-skate in her living room.
Then there’s James Gordon, 32-time Moth Storytelling Slam winner and three-time Grand Slam champ. In “194426,” (also part of “Pandemic Stories”), he begins in 1992, when he was shot by the Vice Lords. He follows the arc of his life through 2020, which includes having a daughter and being sent home from work (the Chicago Fire set) after testing positive there for COVID-19. That alone is enough material for two stories, but Gordon weaves a seamless narrative that also encompasses falling reluctantly in love and the sudden death of the person he’s held dearest for a lifetime. It’s a riveting, inspiring nine minutes.
Through 3/7: available with purchase online anytime, lifelinetheatre.com, $20 single ticket, $45 festival pass.
