Bughouse

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About the Show

New work directed by a visionary on outsider artist Henry Darger.

Bughouse brings the audience inside the mind and world of Henry Darger, a reclusive janitor and one of the 20th century’s most significant outsider artists, whose extensive body of work was fully discovered only after his death. The narrative explores the vast, fantastical universe Darger created within his small Chicago apartment, a reality populated by child warriors, monumental battles, and hauntingly beautiful imagery, serving as an escape from his personal life. The production offers an intimate examination of the self-taught artist's intense compulsion to create, regardless of external recognition.

The production is helmed by a visionary director known for her innovative stage work, and the text is adapted from Darger’s own extensive writings by a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. The cast features an Obie Award-winning performance artist.

Critic Reviews (15)

“Bughouse is a beguiling experiment haunted by its restraint in character study, which doesn't quite go deep enough.”
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“The production’s creative elements, however, are remarkable.”
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"The production chases Darger down many dark mental corridors, but in the end, it never really finds him."
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“As the lights dimmed, and perhaps after it was too late, Beckett and Bughouse were, at last, in alignment.”
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"makes lots of room for Darger's imagination and decidedly little for anything else"
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"Bughouse is truly a crafting of art itself, giving the world that surrounded Darger, unreserved honesty and sculpture."
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“With all this rich, strange material… Bughouse still hews disappointingly close to a cookie-cutter autobiographical one-man show.”
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“Henry Darger’s parochial talent and peculiar character would be enough to be featured as a star in the main arena, rather than becoming a mere sideshow attraction.”
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