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10th Annual Mad Hatter's Ball

*All Photos by Kari Skaflen

The 10th Annual Mad Hatter's Ball

The 10th Annual Mad Hatter's Ball, produced and executed to benefit The Looking Glass Theater, was unveiled to a selective crowd at the Underground. 

One of the theater’s founders, David Schwimmer was on hand
alongside Chicago scenester Billy Dec to welcome guests and theater junior board members. The sought after lads were gracious enough to grant photos and interviews at the soiree’s start.  Both expressed a commitment to raw, genuine theatre that toils to represent the modern human condition and to the importance of youth involvement and a next generation of theater patrons. Schwimmer emphasized the importance and growing rarity of the intimacy of theatre. Such an experience is clearly juxtaposed beside modern, technology-driven society that encourages virtual before actual. To this point, Dec was happy to draw upon his community connections to engage a more youthful crowd and to emphasize the importance of the age-old art.

But let's not forget the event at hand and get back to the party. Beneath the depths of the Underground club, guests sipped fabulous vodka cocktails, courtesy of Grey Goose, and danced the night away to the dj’s stellar 1980’s tunes.

The interior decorum alone would have made Lewis Carroll proud; magenta Chinese lanterns lit the space, while delicious sweets strategically placed upon tables with little signs that said, “Eat Me.”  Stunning small flower displays of brightly colored tulips and sweet grass decorated the club’s tables and ledges. Staff were dressed in theatrical head-to-toe ensembles bearing glitter masks and knightly costumes. Cocktail waitresses sported short, petticoated, powder blue dresses with white aprons reminiscent of Alice herself.

Cocktails flowed and the crowd mingled the night away in the name of the age-old art of theatre which joined forces with a hip Chicago crowd who gathered at the Underground, determined to highlight impactful theater amongst a young, culturally savvy generation.
-Kari Skaflen