House of the Exquisite Corpse, Chicago’s one and only puppet haunted house, returns for its sixth Halloween season with a new, singularly immersive horror experience that’s sure to keep you up at night. Press Opening is Friday, October 9.
House of the Exquisite Corpse VI: LULLABIES runs October 8-November 1 at The Merle at Steppenwolf Theatre. Six teams of Chicago artists will bring life to six unique puppet terror experiences, each tuning into the horrors embedded in lullabies as the unifying theme.
Enter House of the Exquisite Corpse, if you dare. Guests gather in a make-shift foyer, grabbing a drink for some liquid courage if needed (horrifying specialty cocktail TBA). Then, small groups are ushered inside via timed entries, where they encounter a dark and murky expanse. They proceed to visit six “rooms” -- rooms of true puppet theater horror ---- peering through keyholes, cracks, and hidden doors to witness the carnage and gallows humor inside.
Rough House Puppet Arts returns to The Merle at Steppenwolf’s October 8-November 1 with Chicago’s one and only puppet haunted house, its sixth annual House of the Exquisite Corpse. This year’s theme is LULLABIES. Last year’s, BLOOD & PUPPETS, offers omens of what to expect as puppet horror thrill seekers (left) peer through cracks in walls at six different puppet horror installations happening inside, like this eerie moments from last year’s “Blood & Letting.” Photos by Yvette Marie Dostatni
Fans of immersive experiences, haunted houses, literature, puppetry and live theater are the ideal audience for Chicago’s most unique Halloween destination. As the Chicago Reader put it, “if you want to move beyond schlock and shock into an elevated horror experience this October, look no further than House of the Exquisite Corpse.”
"Blood & Miracles" from last year’s House of the Exquisite Corpse: BLOOD & PUPPETS offers omens of what Halloween thrill seekers might see while peering through cracks in the walls. Photo by Yvette Marie Dostatni
Considering this year’s theme, “Who left that baby in a tree? What happens after that cradle falls?” asks director Corey Smith, veteran of House of the Exquisite Corpse and co-director of last year's triumphant BLOOD & PUPPETS. “The lullaby promises motherly comfort, but our explorations uncovered something darker underneath — a plea for control in an uncontrollable world. The truth is that our mothers cannot save us, no matter how deeply we wish they could. We live in a smoke-drenched, waking apocalypse. We have to give our kin a way to process this desperation, this existential terror. What better way than a song at the cusp of a dream?”
Don’t sleep on this opportunity to experience a wildly creative, collaborative installation that blurs the lines between horror, puppetry and theater. House of the Exquisite Corpse VI: LULLABIES runs October 8-November 1: Thursdays through Saturdays, with timed entries starting at 6:50 p.m., continuing every 15 minutes until the last entry at 9:30 p.m. New this year! Sunday matinees, starting at 1:50 p.m.
Tickets are on sale now at roughhousetheater.com/tickets. Sliding scale, Pay What You Can suggested prices are $22 to $47. Note: This production is recommended for ages 13 and over.
Also new this year is an All-Inclusive Package with ALL the perks: the show, a drink ticket, a giveaway at entry and the coveted backstage tour. These are available Thursdays and Sundays only, October 8-October 25, last entry time. Packages are $75 plus $3 booking fee.
Steppenwolf Theatre’s Merle Reskin Space is located at 1624 N. Halsted in Chicago’s Lincoln Park Neighborhood, just steps away from the CTA Red Line stop at North and Clybourn.
Meet the Artists: House of the Exquisite Corpse VI: LULLABIES
House of the Exquisite Corpse VI: LULLABIES is directed by Corey Smith.
The six artistic teams are:
Room 1: Creators Vim Hile and Tanima, performed by Camille Mitchell and Casey Doe
Room 2: Creators Charlie Malave and Caitlin McLeod, performed by Finn Bradley, Eddy Barber-Rozema, Rachel Hartmann and Emilie Wingate
Room 3: Creators madigan burke, Zhen Heinemann and Andy Slater, performed by Lindsey Ball and Candice Conner
Room 4: Creators Leah Lara and Dionne, performed by Samuel J. Lewis II and Tia Pinson
Room 5: Creators Saskia Bakker and Ruby Que, performed by Khalil Smith and Alexander Ferguson
Room 6: Creators J. Felix and Abby Palen, performed by Mallory Kimbrell and Shannon Twenter
The 2026 production team includes director Corey Smith, with lobby immersion by Jacqueline Wade and Sion Silva, environmental design by Melissa Schlesinger, Jackie Berland, Ken Buckingham and Nina D'Angier, and sound design by Mike Meegan. Associate sound designer is Joey Meland. Production stage manager is Kacey Lindeman. Stage managers are Emi Cruz and Tess Duncan.
More about Rough House Puppet Arts
"The Parlor," House of the Exquisite Corpse, 2021. Puppeteers Felix Mayes and Kevin Michael Wesson. Puppet by Grace Needlman. Credit: Evan Barr
Rough House Puppet Arts is on a mission to connect individuals and communities through puppetry-arts that celebrate the weird things that make us unique, and the weirder things that bring us together. Through programs designed to enrich the artist, the art form, and the community, Rough House works towards a vision of Chicago as an increasingly robust, diverse, and inclusive epicenter of contemporary puppet theater.
The company’s work collides puppetry with physical theater, music, visual arts, and an insatiable taste for experimentation. In addition to its own productions, Rough House’s work has performed at the National Puppetry Festival and The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, and in punk houses, funeral parlors, a lotion factory, and the woods of Appalachia.
Each October, Rough House creates an all-new immersive puppet horror production. Beginning with the Harrow House series (2018, 2019), the project is now in its sixth year under the title House of the Exquisite Corpse—a themed anthology of puppetry-performance installations, viewed by audiences through peep-holes in Chicago’s most artful, most haunted pop-up house.
Rough House's House of the Exquisite Corpse III in 2023 featured this puppet by Grace Needlman and Pablo Monterubio, puppeteered by Lindsey Ball. Credit: Yvette Marie Dostatni
Chicago’s beloved Nasty, Brutish & Short: A Puppet Cabaret, named “Best late-night adult-content puppet cabaret” by the Chicago Reader in 2024, is also a Rough House Puppet Arts production. Funded in part by the Puppet Slam Network, this quarterly cabaret doubles as an evening of contemporary short-form puppet and object-based theater for adult audiences, and a low-risk environment for artists to perform new and experimental work and foster artistic exchange between puppet artists of different generations and mediums. Nasty, Brutish & Short is presented at Constellation, 3111 W. Western Ave. in Chicago. The next Nasty, Brutish & Short is Friday, August 14 at 8 p.m. For tickets and information, visit roughhousetheater.com/nbs.
This year, Rough House Puppet Arts also presents Out With It, a wordless performance of movement, performance, clown and puppetry created and performed by Rough House Executive Artistic Director Claire Saxe. Out With It will have one Chicago performance, Monday, August 24 at iO Theater, 1501 N. Kingery St. in Chicago, before heading out on a national tour. For tickets and information, visit roughhousetheater.com/show/outwithit.
In addition to performances, Rough House is active year round fostering and expanding the art of contemporary puppetry with workshops for puppeteers and anyone interested in the form. Up next is Telling Your Own Story through Puppetry led by Chicago puppet artists Samuel J. Lewis and Lindsay Ball, Saturday, August 22 at 2 p.m. at Agitator Artist Collective, 3851 W. Fullerton Ave. in Logan Square. Go to roughhousetheater.com/tickets.
Rough House Puppet Arts’ Board of Directors includes Kacie Smith (President), Jason Estremera (Treasurer), Savannah Rouse (Secretary), Antonio Luna, Karlyn Meyer, Mike Wydrzynski and Mike Oleon, Rough House’s co-founder and former co-artistic director.
The Rough House administrative team includes Claire Saxe, Executive Artistic Director; Marcey Abramovitz, Managing Director; Kimzyn Campbell, Marketing and Communications Director; Samuel J. Lewis II, Manager of Artist Advancement; Kevin Michael Wesson, Community Programs Manager; and Cailtin McLeod and Myra Su, Cabaret Curators.
For more information, visit RoughHousePuppets.org and follow the company on Instagram and Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.
A knife-wielding chef by Grace Needlman and Pablo Monterubio in 2023. Photo by Yvette Marie Dostatni
