Fly Honey Show 06/24/2022 Thalia Hall, Chicago
This Saturday, Sleeping Village will be a petri dish for the femme and queer-led performance extravaganza the Fly Honey Show. In the lab will be three mad geniuses of party chemistry: Erin Kilmurray, founder of the Fly Honeys; Hannah Viti, aka Vitigrrl, of Slo ‘Mo party fame; and actor-writer Mary Williamson, another Fly Honey who is attached to some of the most wildly inventive and entertaining theater in the city. (Think Salonathon, The Grelley Duvall Show.) The growing medium: Kilmurray describes, “a homegrown space, an awesome dance floor and a big enough space to house what we’re doing, but with closer proximity.”
The both seasonally and double-entendre-appropriately entitled “SPRUNG” will allow the Honeys to test new material in a setting more intimate than the larger venues that house their annual, multi-night spectacle—most recently Thalia Hall. Bits of “SPRUNG” will doubtless appear in some form at the big show this summer. And of course, it is a highly anticipated party, evidenced by already sold-out advance tickets.
Says Kilmurray, “We have been figuring out a way to scale the project down to fit into smaller music venues while holding on to the vision of the project and the energetic scale,” which, anyone who’s attended a Fly Honey performance knows, is massive. “A goal of ours is to get some raw ideas up there in front of people a little before they’re ready. In a way, we’re opening up our creative process by way of a party.”
Kilmurray describes the concept of “SPRUNG” as a party with a show inside of it, whereas “The Fly Honey Show” is essentially the reverse. Doors are at 9pm, Vitigrrl spins until 1am or later, with performances peppered in throughout the night. These include acts by DJ and drag artist Miss Toto, dancer Aaliyah Christina, poet Mia Vivens and rapper Psalm One.
It sounds like a foolproof recipe for a kickass time, but Kilmurray and collaborators will be taking careful notes on the vibes at every stage of the evening. “The creative task for Mary and Hannah and I is how do we design an event that has the drive and momentum of a typical dance party but also has performance elements within it?” she says. “We can rehearse new ideas in front of each other all we want, but for me the most exciting thing over the years is the audience reflecting back to us what we’re doing.”
“SPRUNG” at Sleeping Village, 3734 West Belmont, (773)654-3971. Saturday, March 18, 9pm. Advance tickets sold out. Tickets at the door $30.
