Recommended Theater: DOGS (Red Theater in Chicago)

It is the Fourth of July sometime in the future, and history is about to be made. We are about to witness the annual Hot Dog Eating Contest. The five women invited to this stage have set out to conquer nature, destroy their own limits, and shatter our perception of what the human body is or isn’t capable of. DOGS is a dizzying, anti-plot, high-intensity exploration of capitalism, competition, and consumption that begs the question: how long can we keep all this up?

Red Theater opens its 24/25 season with the world premiere of Chicago playwright Hanna Kime’s DOGS, directed by Becca Holloway, who aims to ask three questions with this production: “What does it mean to be an American? What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to be a hot dog?”

With a veteran director of new work leading an absolutely knockout cast, you don’t want to miss this hilarious, lightning-fast roller coaster of a show.

DOGS
The Edge Off Broadway, 1133 W. Catalpa Ave
Wed-Sat at 7:30; Sun at 3; Sat at 2 (Nov. 26)
November 1 – 24, 2024 (Oct. 30, 31 previews)
for tickets ($30), visit Red Theater

As part of Red’s mission to make theater by putting people first, a limited number of $10 access tickets are available for students, artists, or anyone on a tight budget. Purchasing a ticket at our $50 pay-it-forward tier helps us sustain Red’s accessibility efforts. Use code ACCESS at checkout for $10 tickets.

Hanna Kime said, “I wrote Dogs in an effort to explore the lengths people – and particularly women – will go to in order to be ’˜the best.’ More and more, our culture encourages everyone, everywhere to destroy themselves for the smallest bit of recognition. This play uses the hot dog eating contest to crack open the systems – capitalism, diet culture, nationalism, fame – that pit women against one another, and asks if the sacrifices those systems demand are really worth it.”