WHAT IS IT?
Part of the Los Angeles CastCAPTURED AURAL PHANTASY THEATER
WHO ARE WE?
Captured Aural Phantasy Theater and its parent, Park Avenue Produce, are a group of ultra-talented artists and performers dedicated to creating art from the detritus of the past, which could be anything - like last Sunday or August 6, 1945. We put on shows, make films, write and do whatever else it takes to entertain you.
We currently are active in Los Angeles, having just completed a two-year residency in the main ballroom of the historic Alexandria Hotel in downtown LA. Our LA crew includes artists, performers and musicians from around the country, including veterans from Captured Aural Phantasy Theater's Chicago days and some native Angelenos. We'll perform anywhere and have recently graced the stages of the Improv Olympic West in Hollywood as well as the WHERE Gallery in Silverlake.
PRE-LOS ANGELES HISTORY
the 2000 Chicago cast, never looking better...
In ancient times, before the dawn of performance art, alternative music, cable TV, YouTube, etc., etc., a callow youth in Omaha, Nebraska, recruited his sister and brother to regale family and friends with staged readings of his favorite comic book stories. A few years later, corrupted my his late-era hippie high school friends, the readings evolved into a party game for his stoned pals. After graduating from high school and paying his dues in local dinner and children’s theater, Ben Ziola, joined by his friend and partner in art Wes Bailey, was lured to the metropolis of Chicago by beloved theater trash acquaintances. Little did they know that they were about to be drawn into the burgeoning performance art scene with their unique, albeit traditional performance sensibility.
Joined by a band of itinerant Chicago performers, the Park Avenue Produce company found themselves performing in the “New Vaudeville” movement of the late 1980’s. Gigs at the late, lamented Club Lower Links, The Randolph Street Gallery, Berlin, Brigid Murphy’s Millie’s Orchid Show and other hot venues in The City of Big Shoulders proved to be popular and well received. Park Avenue Produce’s unique blend of traditional theatrical conventions and way-out comedy appealed to the youthful audiences of the period.
The 1990’s found Park Avenue Produce developing their “Captured Aural Phantasy Theater” concept, drawing on classic American comic books from the Golden (1940’s and 50’s) and Silver (1950’s and early 60’s) ages of the milieu. These dysfunctional family- friendly programs were well recieved at The Museum of Science and Industy, The Prairie Avenue Historical Society and Vaudeville Underground’s community program in Logan Square, leading to long-standing, open runs in the early 2000's at various Chicago dive bars and clubs including the venerable Beat Kitchen, the Darkroom and the legendary Hideout.