Aurora resident mines dating mishaps for laughs for Chicago Fringe Fest show
If you're divorced and single, it can be a tough world out there, Kimberly Witt says.
But there are also many moments of comedy and soul-searching, and the Aurora resident has compiled these memorable experiences into an onstage production.
Her show, “Reel Life Isn't Real Life,” is part of the eighth annual Chicago Fringe Festival, which runs Aug. 30-Sept. 10 in Chicago.
The event, called one of the best performing arts festivals in the city, will feature 47 groups in about 200 performances selected by lottery. The festival, including Kids Fringe, takes place at five venues in the Jefferson Park neighborhood. Low ticket prices (required $5 festival button and $10 per show) help organizers reach out into artistically underserved communities. The event returns 100 percent of ticket sales to the performers. In their first seven years, organizers turned over $200,000 to the artists.
Celebrating an inclusive community of boundary-pushing artists and fans, shows include comedies, dramas, dance theater, musicals, performance art and more. The 2017 fest features performance groups from around Chicago, including the return of Mark Toland, Rally Theatre Company, Spartan Theatre Company, Iris Sowlat, Shut Up!, Kelly Haramis, Transcendent Ensemble Theatre and many more. Other performers hail from Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania as well as Canada, Greece, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Witt's production resembles the plot of a movie, and she's been waiting for her Hollywood happy ending for 23 years. Playing different characters, she explores what it's like to date as a middle-aged woman and along the way, learns the meaning of true love.
Witt, who studied comedy at Second City for five years, calls it a “dream come true” to bring her one-person show to the stage at the Chicago Fringe Fest. She describes her show as uplifting, funny and dramatic with moments of seriousness and poignancy.
“I'm trying to tell a story and be very honest and let people know it's OK to be alone,” she says.
She recalls dates with extremely cheap men, vulgar men and other comedic mishaps.
“The message of my show is that the greatest love of your life is the life you have for yourself and having confidence in your own life,” she says. “If we don't find love, it's OK to be by yourself and have your own journey and adventure.”
Ultimately for Witt, it's about accepting where you are on your current journey and understanding that life isn't a fairy tale.
Writing and performing has been a therapeutic process for her.
“This is very personal, and I don't know how to do writing and comedy when it's not something that I've experienced myself,” she says. “For me, that's the most authentic way to write, and it comes out when you're performing.”
She's had great response to her material, from women in their 50s to gay men in their 20s.
“They have said they know how I am feeling,” she says. “It's a universal experience, trying to find love, to go on dates, to be disappointed, to try to figure out how to infuse your own life with meaning.”
Witt performs her show at 8:30 p.m. Saturdays, Sept. 2 and 9; 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 3; 10 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7; and 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10, at the Windy City Music Theatre Blackbox Studio, 5340 W. Lawrence Ave., Chicago.
Chicago Fringe Festival
When: Wednesday, Aug. 30, through Sunday, Sept. 10
Where: Jefferson Park, Chicago. Venues include The Playhouse at Jefferson Park, 4766 N. Milwaukee Ave.; Windy City Performs — Studio A, 5340 W. Lawrence Ave.; The Gift Theatre, 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave.; Congregational Church of Jefferson Park Meeting Hall, 5320 W. Giddings St.; and Congregational Church of Jefferson Park Gym, 5320 W. Giddings St.
Tickets: $5 admission button (required for all shows); $10 for a single show; $36 for a four-show pass; $80 for a 10-show pass; $175 for an unlimited pass. Kids Fringe: $10 for adults (plus the button), $5 for kids 12 and younger (no button required).
Box office: Fringe Central at Weston's, 4872 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Info: (847) 859-9760 or