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Arachne

Whisper Theatre

Immersive & Interactive Experience, Spoken Word & Storytelling, Theater

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Fresh from its international premiere at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the 2025 Borderlight Fringe Festival, audiences are calling Arachne “relevant, thought-provoking, and laugh-out-loud funny” and “as sexy as it is heartbreaking.”


In Arachne, Greek mythology meets Steel Magnolias and Mean Girls with a touch of body horror. Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom and Handicrafts, is hosting a launch party for her long-awaited memoir... until a mysterious force demands that Athena tell the truth about her relationship with her spidery friend, Arachne. If she doesn't, she’ll be coughing up webs for all eternity. Athena's story dives into issues like justice, accountability, and complexities of female friendships. Award-winning comedian Britt Anderson uses music, multiple characters, and audience interaction to weave this tale about a friendship gone very wrong.


Arachne contains potentially distressing themes of sexual assault and mild body horror. This show contains consensual audience interaction. Audience recommendation: 18+

With over 100 offerings from rebellious circus, delicious dance, fearless theatre and activist art to workshops, parties, and more Cannonball pushes the boundaries of live performance at four different venues this Fringe. Come as you are and stay past bedtime at cannonballfestival.org.

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Details
Run Time: 55 mins
Ticket Price: $25

PWYC Options $5+

Venue: Asian Arts Initiative Black Box Theater

Dates: September 5, 2025 - September 7, 2025

September 5, 2025 6.30pm

1219 Vine Street

General Admission: $25

PWYC Options

September 6, 2025 3.30pm

1219 Vine Street

General Admission: $25

PWYC Options

September 7, 2025 5.00pm

1219 Vine Street

General Admission: $25

PWYC Options


About the Artist

Britt Anderson is a non-binary DIY theatre maker and physical comedy nerd. They were born in South Carolina but have lived in Chicago since 2012, where they have worked with The Artistic Home, Aloft Circus Arts, The Second City Training Center, Theater Unspeakable, and their own company Whisper Theatre. They have toured original performances to Lincoln Center Education, the Kennedy Center, Katapult and Teatrehaus Mitte in Berlin, Germany, and three times to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. They earned their MFA in Devised Performance Practice at Columbia College Chicago/Arthaus Berlin and completed the Professional Circus Training Program at Actors Gymnasium in Evanston, IL. They are one half of the Well-Balanced Dads, a comedy and partner acrobatics duo with Richie Schiraldi. They are obsessed with crochet, their cats Gimli and Dingus, and grotesque femme archetypes.

Whisper Theatre is a Chicago-based collective of artists that supports physical, experimental, and original works of theatre.

  • Writer and Performer Britt Anderson
    Director
    Alex Mallory
    Sound and Lighting design
    Richie Schiraldi
    Collaboration
    Anthony Hudson
  • Michele Stine
    Promotion photos
    Kate Smith (MythosLens)
    Production photos
    Greg Inda

Accessibility & Content Considerations

Contact the Fringe Festival Box Office for up to date accessibility information.

This event is appropriate for ages 18+

Violent Content

Adult Language

Audience Interaction

Distressing sounds, themes of sexual assault and mild body horror

Covid-19 Safety policy

Masks are required during this event


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