Walkabout Presents Jumpers, Thieves, Cops & Spies

The Janus Theater Company presents the sixth Walkabout: Theater on your Feet in downtown Elgin, running Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 2, 3, and 4.

This year, select plays will be featured, along with additional evening performances. Tour guides will lead groups of people to downtown locations where they will see the plays performed.  The event is sponsored by the Janus Theater Company along with Elgin Public House, Side Studio Arts, Al’s Café and Chooch’s Pizza partnering on the project. The event will run in conjunction with the City of Elgin’s Art & Soul festival in downtown Elgin.

What’s New this year?

“It’s the year of James Bond, copes and spies,” said Walkabout creator and Janus Theater Artistic Director Sean Hargadon. “All the plays bring a touch of fun to genres featuring double-agents, good cop and bad cop and art thieves.”

This year’s Walkabout will feature two new locations: Chooch’s Pizzeria and Side Street Studio Arts. “Both locations recently opened in downtown Elgin and are quickly becoming part of Elgin’s cultural and dining landscape,” said Hargadon. “These locations will be adapted to enhance the plays. Actors will perform in spaces designed to look like an interrogation room, art gallery, building ledge and café,” added Hargadon. Another innovation from last year will be adding evening performances on Friday and Saturday night.

Who’s participating?

The Janus Theater Company will perform all of the plays at the various spaces throughout downtown Elgin this year. “Each piece is different but they are all comedies,” said Hargadon. “After exploring the dark side of Poe last year, we decided to lighten things up a bit.”

What’s coming back this year?

Elgin Public House will be Walkabout Headquarters and act as the starting spot for all tours. Al’s Café will be the final destination of Walkabout this year, where they will once again provide complimentary malts, which is something they’ve been doing since Walkabout began. There will also be a very limited amount of free Walkabout t-shirts available to people who attend the event. Free water will be available as well.

When are the dates and times?

Evening tours run Friday and Saturday, August 2 and 3, starting at 7 p.m. (tours approximately every 15 minutes until 8:00 p.m.).  Day tours run Saturday and Sunday, August 3 and 4 at 2 p.m. (tours approximately every 15 minutes until 3:00 p.m.).