Speakeasy LARP in Chicago
Aurelia
presents
Speakeasy
A horrific LARP in one act.
Sunday, February 28
2:00-7:00 P.M.
Zhou B. Café
1029 W. 35th St.
Chicago, IL 60609
http://bootleggers.pbworks.com
January 16th, 1920- At the stroke of midnight, America went dry.
Some thought prohibition would lead to a golden age.
Instead, prohibition made alcohol a black market commodity, slingshotting criminal organizations to unparalleled power, while lack of funding for prohibition enforcement led to a period of political and police corruption unequaled in American history.
Chicago, 1923- The city was divided by a sea of gangs- Irish gangs, Jewish gangs, and the ever-present Italian Mafia.
At the same time, there was a cultural renaissance in Chicago, a blossoming of culture and art that was only possible with the presence of an underground counterculture.
Women went uncorseted for the first time in two hundred years. Flappers came to symbolize sensuality, mystery, female power, and, of course, debauchery.
Orientalism was at its height. There was a widespread fascination with the alien, with Oriental and Egyptian fashion, and with the East as a metaphor for sexual and emotional freedom.
Jazz flourished. It was a form of music invented by Blacks- people viewed by scientists of the day as intrinsically primal, bestial, and sexual. It would not have been possible for Jazz to gain prominence in mainstream culture without the existence of speakeasies, places in which conventional morality was put aside.
Welcome to the Speakeasy.
Welcome to Alibi’s.
http://bootleggers.pbworks.com