Gina DeLuca is a 32-year-old Chicago-based writer and live lit performer who specializes in wry, personal essays. She has performed readings of her work at CIC Theatre, iO, and Steppenwolf Theatre. She also cocurates and cohosts a monthly open-mike live lit event with writer Sarah Ashley at the Duke of Perth (2913 N. Clark), called Tartle at the Duke, the first Sunday of every month.
So what is the Tartle at the Duke?
That’s been my life [laughs] yeah. I have this story about how in my first apartment here it was just riddled with cockroaches. And I suffered from insomnia for like years. And I had this horrible job. I was just like haunted by these bugs. Day and night. So the picture I paint of my apartment sounds like a war zone. To me it’s very funny—now. I trapped them under glass jars. I would put poison under the jars. Yeah, it was a losing battle. I didn’t have any hot water in that apartment. And I didn’t have any furniture, either. It was bad. [Laughs.] It was a lot. I think to some people it reads like, Oh, she’s a little bit loony. But to me it was like, can you believe this was my life for a while?
Did you study theater at Smith?
And you kept writing and performing. Have you ever tried comedy sketches?
Who were your influences in writing?
The first Sunday of every month, 8 PM, Duke of Perth, 2913 N. Clark, gmdeluca.com, F
