This Friday & Saturday: Chicago's celebrated Sweat Girls at The Acorn

THREE OAKS - It's action time! In a monumental feat, Pamela's gone back to school. Cindy's swooped up a sense of adventure. Caroline's inner dwarf thwarts the miseries of motherhood. Clare braves her empty nest, but then her mom might do battle with that. Martie's busting blood vessels while trying too hard, and Dorothy is still trying to figure out who she wants to be when she grows up. Life's tough questions require super powers, super heroes and super SWEAT!

So to the rescue comes "Super Sweat," the latest comedy by The Sweat Girls, coming to The Acorn Theatre June 29-30 at 8 p.m.

It all began in a living room, with a bounty of salty snack foods and eight Chicago actresses trading salty stories. The combination of high spirits, female camaraderie and theatrical daring led to a lot of soul baring. But if there was a level of "too much information," no one cringed and ran from the room. Instead they brought out their notebooks, knowing that the juiciest stuff had to be committed to paper - and then to the stage.

The result of that evening was the show "I'm Sweating Under My Breasts." Debuting at Chicago's Annoyance Theatre in 1993, "I'm Sweating" officially launched The Sweat Girls as a collective of writer-performers and was so enthusiastically received that it ran for eight months. When a reviewer finally attended a performance late in the run, he dubbed The Sweat Girls "one of the small gems in Chicago entertainment circles."

Over the next few years as they developed a series of monologue shows in their own unique style, their burgeoning fan base followed them from dank basement venues to art galleries, and eventually to the gorgeous stage of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier. For 13 years, loyal devotees have kept coming back, bringing friends and parents (and these days their teenagers!) to see their signature shows like "The MotherLode," "Sweat Dreams," and "Cirque du Sweat," as well as our other hits.

At home in Chicago and on tour in San Francisco and New York, their work has garnered coast-to-coast critical acclaim. Some of their favorite stories from a decade of performance can be heard on the spoken word CD, "Sweat Girls: Almost Live!"

To speak with honesty, authenticity and humor about the human condition as they have experienced it - that's the collective Sweat Girls goal. While their work is autobiographical and rooted in the monologue form, they stretch solo performance beyond its traditional structure by collaborating with other artists - filmmakers, musicians, choreographers, and visual artists - in order to give audiences a multitude of ways to connect with each story. Whatever form each Sweat Girl production takes, they try never to lose what's essential to their style - what Chicago's New City called their "emotional power, heartfelt comedy and strong bonding with the audience."

Tickets to "Super Sweat" are $20.

The Acorn Theater is located at 107 Generations Dr., Three Oaks, MI 49128. A full-service bar and other refreshments are available.

For tickets and information, call 269-756-3879 or log on to www.acorntheater.com.

Performance Information

Show times