The Poetry Brothel Chicago: MONSTERS!
About this Event
Welcome to a shadowy underworld where pulp fiction, creature features, cabaret, and poetry collide.
This October, The Poetry Brothel Chicago invites you into the shadows for MONSTERS, an immersive Halloween literary cabaret and film-noir fever dream of things that go bump in the night.
The city is crawling with crimson-lipped creatures, wolves in suits, and vampires swallowing secrets at the end of the bar. Every femme fatale has an alibi full of holes, and every private eye is one dark alley away from becoming a midnight snack.
Throughout the evening, Chicago's poets and multidisciplinary artists bring this strange world to life through original poetry, live jazz, movement, tarot, visual art, and theatrical characters. Hear poets perform onstage, request a custom typewritten poem, have your fortune read, or meet a featured poet for a personal one-on-one reading in a designated, bespoke reading area.
Lose yourself in performances strange, beautiful, and slightly unhinged. Dress as the darkness you fear, or as the creature you’ve been hiding beneath your skin.
The question isn’t whether monsters are real. It’s whether you’ll recognize one before it gets too close.
Come alone, with an accomplice, or with your whole pack. Come glamorous. Come monstrous.
Doors: 7pm
Show: 8pm - 10pm
Indulge in beastly delights this Halloween...
Event Details
Age Requirement: 21+
Doors Open: 7:00 PM
Show Time: 8:00–10:00 PM
Private Readings: Continue after 10 PM
VIP tickets include priority seating, and a token to get your journey started.
About The Poetry Brothel
“Alongside staged poetry readings, there are burlesque performers, dancers, acrobats, tarot readings, poem-on-the-spot writers and more around the venue. Guests can also get private readings from whichever poet they like upon request.” – Block Club Chicago
At The Poetry Brothel, a “madam” presents a rotating cast of poets, artists, and artisans who operate within self-constructed characters, “erupting into verse in public and luring guests into back rooms for private readings,” as described in The New Yorker. Central to The Poetry Brothel experience is the creation of character, which for each artist serves as a disguise and a freeing device, enabling The Poetry Brothel to be a place of uninhibited creative expression where artists and audience members alike can communicate more authentically.
Artists performing with the Brothel reflect the diverse identities of our great city of Chicago. Cis and trans women, cis and trans men, genderqueer, genderfluid, and nonbinary folks, people of color, queer, straight, emerging, established, local, and international poets make up our cabinet of poets and brothel beauties. Their alter-egos may be faeries, sirens, witches, aliens, divas, royalty, demons, ancient forests, and everything in between. The Poetry Brothel uses its platform to support sex workers and to educate audiences about the sex industry.
On Consent
Behave with beauty, connect with intention. We are, by and large, a no-contact event — here to blow your mind and nothing else! Always ask before touching anyone in our House, and report any discomfort to security, staff, or the Madam Herself without delay.
Our show may include flashing lights, reasonably amplified music, and a startling glimpse of your true self.
On Accessibility
If any special accommodations are needed, including pay-what-you-can tickets for those facing a financial barrier, please contact the madam:
Please see our FAQs for answers to common questions.
Follow us on Instagram: @poetrybrothelchicago for updates and sneak peeks.
Agenda
🕑: 07:00 PM
Doors
🕑: 08:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Show
Where is it happening?
USD 0.00 to USD 172.57
