Starting out in his career, Frank Maugeri, 45, trained to be an animator and a sculptor. Along the way to his current position at Chicago’s Redmoon Theater, he served as a political activist, social worker, puppeteer, and graphic designer. Today, he draws on elements of those disciplines—yes, it’s feasible—in the role he describes as “spectacle maker.”
Co-artistic director Jim Lasko, 47, says his motto is “anything is possible.” Together, the duo creates improbable spectacles.
Founded in 1990, Redmoon specializes in free, publicly staged performances that employ nearly indescribable machines: a fire-spewing organ, a winged parade mechanism called the “ladder machine,” rooms ripped from apartment buildings that operate as elevators. The company hosts its own fantastical events—the March “Spectacle Lunatique” benefit is its largest—and also has a Redmoon for Hire program that allows events to book performers that include a DJ spinning from a roving booth that emits bubbles.
“I’m terrible at big parties and events,” Lasko says. “I find myself getting smaller and smaller and sneaking into corners seeking one person for a conversation. I think we design events that would bring me out of the corner.”