Laura Hawbaker

Scott Lucas from Local H ascends the pulpit. Saints bedeck the walls behind him. He pulls out a leather bible, opens the cracked binding and breaks into the opening verse of "Bela Lugosi’s Dead."

It is Saturday at the Epiphany Episcopal Church, a 120-year-old house of worship that is pounding bass music from within. Lucas is performing with the Final Salvation, one of many music acts at Collaboraction’s fifth annual Carnaval, a fundraiser for the innovative non-profit theater troupe. Bushmills, Solve RGB, Dark Wave Disco and the Blue Ribbon Glee Club all contribute their time, money and talent to the divinity of this ethereal rock party.

Shirtless Lost Boys with punk mohawks and women with sky-high beehives mingle with the crowd, oozing aloof sensuality. They are living gargoyles, black paint morphing their faces into tribal masks. A frenetic light show by Collaboraction’s lighting designer, Jeremy Getz, dances across the vaulted ceiling, creating a spinning stained-glass mosaic.

"We moved a lot of pews!" says Anthony Moseley, the artistic director for the fundraiser. He describes the event’s inspiration, "I was an altar boy. I went to Catholic high school, and I’ve spent a lot of time in beautiful basilicas. I’ve always wanted to do something artistic, experiential and fun in a church."

At the altar, DJ LA Jesus dons his Christmas light crown of thorns and spins pulsating techno. Behind him, strobes illuminate a verse from Revelation 21:3, "They shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them."

(2008-04-01)

Also by Laura Hawbaker

Boarding School
March 20, the five-year anniversary of the Iraq War. Kristen Brooks, a Mother McAuley High School student, is participating in a protest against waterboarding, the controversial interrogation technique that the Bush administration claims is within the limits of the Geneva conventions, but which many condemn as torture
(2008-03-25)

Five Long Years
Within spitting distance of the United Center, a Bush/Cheney ’04 campaign sign hangs askance from a chain link fence; it’s the only indicator a poster revolution is taking place. Inside the otherwise nondescript brick compound, volunteers in ink-splattered jeans use stencils, silk screens and spray paint to create hundreds of anti-war posters. They’ll paste their work in neighborhoods across the city to coincide with the five-year anniversary of the Iraq War on March 19
(2008-03-18)

The Pursuit of Chicagoist
It’s Thursday night and a raucous group from Chicagoist.com gathers in the candlelit back room of Sheffield’s for a Trivial Pursuit smack-down.
(2008-03-05)

Monster Mash
"Ten bucks gets you a credit in the movie!" hawks Jamye Graham, producer. It's Thursday night, and Graham is manning the merchandise table at the wrap party and fundraiser for local indie monster movie, "Hellcat and Tala"
(2008-02-26)

Everyone's Got Issues
(2008-02-12)

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