ABOUT THIS SHOW
Three vignettes, two actors, one circus slug, a load of puppets, a bit of clown, a big dance number and a ukulele. LOOK! LOOK! is a celebration of the gross and beautiful, the sweet and creepy, the euphemistic and earnest and (most importantly) the weirdos.
LOOK! LOOK! was partially supported by an Individual Artists Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival. Pieces of the show were originally developed during Vanessa’s time with Le Tigre Tent, a venue that toured the country with New Belgium Brewery’s Tour De Fat. Vanessa completed a residency with The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival in 2024 and premiered three nights of sold out work-in-development showings of LOOK! LOOK! during the 2025 festival. Devised work is always in development. But this production of LOOK! LOOK! is the show’s official premier.
Creative Team
CO-CREATORS AND PERFORMERS: Vanessa Valliere & Lindsey Noel Whiting
PUPPET MAKERS: Carol Trobe, Maddy Low, Lizi Breit & Vanessa Valliere
OUTSIDE EYE: Blair Thomas
COMPOSER: Jon Steinmeier (also the vocalist for Terry’s cover of Wind Beneath My Wings)
LYRICS TO THE DIRTY SONG: Vanessa Valliere, Lindsey Noel Whiting & Katy Amazing Collins
COSTUME DESIGNER: Maddy Low
About Vanessa S. Valliere
Vanessa S. Valliere is a Chicago performer, puppeteer and clown. She has presented her devised solo puppetry/clown work at all six previous Chicago International Puppet Theater Festivals, including its Free Neighborhood Tour in 2019 and its Living Room Tour in 2022. She tours nationally with her own work and in 2024 she was invited by Heather Henson’s Green Feather Foundation and the Puppet Slam Network to bring one of her slam pieces to Skupova Plzen, a puppet festival in the Czech Republic. Valliere was also the recipient of a Green Feather Foundation grant for Gut Feelings, a short puppet film that was screened and awarded at several national and international film festivals. She was in the original cast of Manual Cinema's The End of TV, and toured internationally as Ada in Manual Cinema’s Ada/Ava. In 2022 and 2023, she completed two residencies at Nordland Visual Theater in Stamsund, Norway as assistant director to Neville Tranter on Yael Rasooly's solo puppet show, Edith and Me. Valliere will return with her own work to Nordland Visual Theater in 2026 to develop a new project. Valliere has also performed locally with the Neo-Futurists, The New Colony and Theater Unspeakable. Outside of Chicago, she performed at the National Puppet Slam in 2017 and 2018, and its online streaming version, Slamdemic, in 2020. She remains a proud nerd-cheerleader for Chicago's own 30-piece circus punk marching band, Mucca Pazza, featured on The Conan O'Brien Show and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts. From 2011 to 2016, she was a member of an ensemble of clowns/performers/creative content creators for Tour De Fat, a touring festival sponsored by New Belgium Brewery.
About Lindsey Noel Whiting
Lindsey Noel Whiting is an actor specializing in physical storytelling, spectacle and visceral emotional risk. She was a long-time collaborator with Redmoon Theatre, where she performed in large scale spectacle productions like Sink, Sank, Sunk and The Golden Truffle, as well as more intimate jewel box productions like The Cabinet and The Secret Language of Birds. She is also an Artistic Associate of Lookingglass Theatre, where she has performed in a number of productions such as Mr. & Mrs. Pennyworth, The Great Fire, and perhaps most notably, as the titular character in Lookingglass' Alice in ten productions and seven different cities. Additionally, she is an Associate Artist with Actors Gymnasium where she has written, directed and performed in 15 circuses, and she originated the role of Leonardo in Manual Cinema’s Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster. Most recently, Whiting served as Puppetry Director for the US premiere of Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.
Artist Links: www.vanessavalliere.com, www.lindseynoelwhiting.com
Running Time
Due to the high volume and wide breadth of work we present, we are often not able to proactively offer content advisories for individual performances. However, if you have specific concerns about stage effects (such as strobe lights or fog/haze) that might have a bearing on comfort or well-being, or if you would like to know more about the age appropriateness of the performance, please contact the box office at 312-335-1650.