Duluth’s Rubber Chicken Theater Presents The Return Of “Chicken Hat Plays”

It's been 7 years since the last time Rubber Chicken Theater performed a Chicken Hat Plays. In a press release, the comedy group said they are bringing it back.

How the Chicken Hat Plays works is the RCT group gets together and throws around ideas, then picks the who, what, when, where, and why ideas from various hats (hence the name). The script is written for a ten-minute performance which incorporates all the ideas they picked from the hat. Then the next morning directors and actors show up to Harbor City to start production.

Even the actors are picked from hats. The directors then put together the cast, and pick the script and that's when things start to take shape. The directors and actors rehearse all day, finding props and costumes from anywhere they can along the way, and at 7:30 pm that night, all eight shows are debuted to an audience.

The Chicken Hat Plays. The Chicken Hat Plays will be performed at The Underground, located at 506 West Michigan Street in Duluth, on Saturday, June 11 at 7:30 pm. Seating is general admission and tickets are $20 per person. Audience members are asked to please wear masks.

The Chicken Hat Plays were first presented in 2008 and were very popular. People have asked when they were going to be coming back. With all the COVID stuff that had to be dealt with, the decision had to be made to cancel with the hope of bringing them back soon.

This is quite the production, writers, directors, and actors from groups all over the Twin Ports come together, including Rubber Chicken Theater, Colder by the Lake, UMD Theatre, St. Scholastica Theatre, UWS Theatre, County Seat Theatre, the Duluth Playhouse, the Duluth Central-Denfeld-East-Hermantown-Harbor City high school theater departments...even artists from the Twin Cities have made the trip north to take part in The Chicken Hat Plays.

Chicken Hat Plays will bring together that talent in a unique way. For example, a St. Scholastica Theatre instructor might direct UWS theater students, professional performers from the Twin Cities might get a chance to create theater with area high school students, or a Rubber Chicken actor might be in a play written by the mayor of Duluth. (Which has happened.)

If you would like to go you can buy tickets online, please support our local talent and keep this tradition going. Also, please wear a mask.