Write Club Chicago, announces its combatants competing in its 17th season launch Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Gman Tavern, in Chicago’s Lakeview East neighborhood, 3740 N. Clark St. Also, to celebrate the kick-off of the 17th season, the cover band Gargamel will perform immediately following the October “bouts.” Tickets are a suggested donation of $25 and are available at the door the night of the event, doors open at 7 p.m. More information available at WriteClubNation.com.
Write Club Chicago returns to Chicago on Tuesday, Oct. 20 with its infamous “bout” format, in which three rounds of combatant writer-performers face off with original, seven-minute essays on competing topics to win prize money and claim the cherished Loving Cup of Deathless F***ing Glory. The October 20 list of combatants are Breon Arzell, Christopher Bigelow, Elizabeth Gomez, Archy Jamjun, Jean Marie Koon and Lawrence “Binkey” Tolefree. Winners are decided by the audience following each “bout.”
Write Club Chicago, initially founded by Ian Belknap and Lindsay Muscato, is the world's foremost competitive reading series, featuring the most audacious and fearsome of writers and performers. The evening offers quick, crafted performed essays: an immediate art form that takes audiences on a seven-minute ride they will not forget. Belknap first described the show as “Live Lit,” a turn of phrase which then became widely applied to the variety of storytelling shows produced throughout the city.
Write Club’s stage represents the full breadth of Chicago’s sharpest writing talent, bringing together contenders from across the city’s diverse range of identities in a lively, entertaining show. Past combatants include Breon Arzell, Sam Bailey, Lily Be, Sydney Charles, McKenzie Chinn, Jacoby Cochran, Scott Duff, Jen Ellison, Nestor Gomez, Ike Holter, Samantha Irby, David Isaacson, Jitesh Jaggi, Carly Oishi, Jeremy Owens, Jennifer Peepas, Katie Rich, Megan Stielstra, Sherman “6 Figga Dilla” Thomas and Binkey Tolefree.
Future “bouts” at Gman Tavern include Tuesday, Nov. 17 and Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m.
ABOUT BREON ARZELL, COMBATANT
Actor. Director. Choreographer. Playwright. Poet. Teaching Artist. Fashionisto. Diva. Creative. Dope human being.
ABOUT CHRISTOPHER BIGELOW, COMBATANT
Christopher Bigelow is a trans writer, educator and publishing professional living in Chicago. He writes fiction and criticism, is a senior fiction editor for the online literary magazine “Arcturus” and tells stories at any mic that’ll have him. His work has appeared in such outlets as the “Chicago Review of Books,” “Collider” and Outspoken.
ABOUT ELIZABETH GOMEZ, COMBATANT
Elizabeth Gomez is a Korean Puerto Rican queer middle-aged lady, writer, storyteller, podcaster and founder of The Windy City Rollers, Chicago’s first all-female roller derby league. She's loud, she's proud and confused if she's in menopause! Check out her newsletter Mixed Race Tape on Substack to read about all the dumb things in her head.
ABOUT ARCHY JAMJUN, COMBATANT
Archy Jamjun is the curator of Outspoken LGBTQ Stories at Sidetrack and a winner of the Moth Grand Slam in Chicago. He coaches storytelling with AIDS Foundation Chicago and is a server at The Gage. You can catch him with 80 Minutes around the World - Immigration Stories at the Shakespeare Theater on Oct. 27.
ABOUT JEAN MARIE KOON, COMBATANT
Jean Marie Koon is thrilled to finally take the Write Club challenge after faithfully attending as a devoted audience member for many years — proof that persistence (and possibly stalking a stage from the seats) pays off.
Lately, she’s been inhabiting the role of a 91-year-old nun advocating for immigrants and refugees in the various incarnations of Sanctuary Stories, a part that has taken her from Northwestern’s School of Journalism to John F. Kennedy High School to the Printer’s Row Lit Fest, with an upcoming stop at the Atheneum this October. (At this point, Sister Joann should really get her own frequent-flyer program.)
Her Chicago theatre credits include Tongue of a Bird (Rosebud Theatricals), Uncle Vanya (New Theatre Project), Richard III (Eclectic Full Contact Theatre), The Good Fight (Babes With Blades), three annual Bechdel Fests (Broken Nose Theatre) and Enemy of the People (Goodman Theatre). She’s also lent her voice to two locally produced audio dramas and one audiobook project — because sometimes the best acting happens when no one can see your face.
ABOUT LAWRENCE “BINKEY” TOLEFREE, COMBATANT
Meet Lawrence "Binkey" Tolefree, the vibrant artist and entertainer from Chicago's southside. With a passion for music, performance and education, Tolefree's global journey as a multidisciplinary teaching artist and music maestro led him to places like Thailand, where he showcased his infectious charm and limitless creativity. From beatboxing, acting, singing, freestyling, looping to standup, you will be captivated!
ABOUT CORRBETTE PASKO, PRODUCER AND HOST
Corrbette Pasko is a Chicago native who hates the cold, so she's already self tortured enough to be a writer and an actor. She now does both of those things full time and therefore consumes the most coffee. She is the host/producer/overbeing at Write Club Chicago, which showcases the best writer-performers in the city in an all-out word brawl we call “Literature as Bloodsport.” She is also the creator of the GenX Update, found on TikTok and Instagram at @Corrbette. She also writes a lot of things with her swell writing partner, Sara Sevigny. They have a web series, because it's required of all citizens now, called "Corri and Sara Are Famous." It won a whole bunch of awards, but they’re proudest of the “making work with your friends and loving it award,” given by their brains. You can watch it here or here. Pasko also appears on stage from time to time as an actor including Northlight Theatre’s production of Birthday Candles, ranked as one of the Best of 2023 by the Chicago Tribune. She records voiceover most of the day and she is very sorry about that time you yelled to speak to an agent and she couldn’t help you. It wasn’t programmed in. She is represented by Big Mouth Talent and also, coincidentally, has a very big mouth.
Write Club Chicago, announces its combatants competing in its 17th season launch Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Gman Tavern, in Chicago’s Lakeview East neighborhood, 3740 N. Clark St. Also, to celebrate the kick-off of the 17th season, the cover band Gargamel will perform immediately following the October “bouts.” Tickets are a suggested donation of $25 and are available at the door the night of the event, doors open at 7 p.m. More information available at WriteClubNation.com.
Top Row (L to R): Breon Arzell, Christopher Bigelow and Elizabeth Gomez,
Bottom Row (L to R): Archy Jamjun, Jean Marie Koon and Lawrence “Binkey” Tolefree