REMNANTS Returns to Chicago Parks for Free Outdoor Performances This August

Giant puppet spirits, nature guides, and a performance at dusk in Chicago's restored Natural Areas.

REMNANTS, a free site-specific outdoor performance about land, loss, and ecosystem repair returns to Chicago's parklands this August with four performances at Winnemac Park (Aug 21 & 22) and Marian Byrnes Park (Aug 28 & 29).

Audiences are drawn through restored Natural Areas by giant puppet spirits — towering figures built and animated by the ensemble — before gathering at dusk for a performance rooted in the land beneath them. Along the way, local naturalists offer interpretation of the site's ecology, and visitors leave with free native plants to take home.

Over 99.99% of Illinois's original prairies have been destroyed, surviving today only as fragmented remnants. Chicago Park District's Natural Areas are among the city's most ambitious efforts to reconnect what's left. REMNANTS invites audiences to experience this work through new eyes — to witness what survives, reckon with what was lost, and take part in acts of repair.

“Our culture makes it easy to lose sight of the living world,” said Cooper Forsman, the project's creator. “But if you look carefully, you can see the prairies, woodlands and wetlands sleeping under the pavement and bursting through the cracks.”

REMNANTS premiered in 2025 at Horner Park and Humboldt Park, and is presented as part of the Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks series, supported by the Mayor’s Office and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. The Night Out in the Parks program presents cultural events year-round in neighborhood parks throughout the city. The Chicago Park District in partnership with local artists and organizations, presents engaging events and performances that enhance quality of life across Chicago and amplify the artistic and cultural vibrancy in every neighborhood. Through multiple disciplines, which include theater, music, movies, dance, site specific work, nature programs, and community festivals, the series aims to support Chicago-based artists, facilitate community-based partnerships and programs, cultivate civic engagement, and ensure equity in access to the arts for all Chicagoans. For more information, please visit www.nightoutintheparks.com.

Performance Details

● Winnemac Park: 5100 N Leavitt St, Chicago, IL 60625, Friday, Aug 21 & Saturday, Aug 22 at 6:00 PM
● Marian Byrnes Park: 2200 E 103rd St, Chicago, IL 60617, Friday, Aug 28 & Saturday, Aug 29 at 6:00 PM
● Free admission. Bring a chair or blanket.
● Read the REMNANTS virtual zine: www.wendercollective.org/remnants

About Wender Collective
Wender Collective is a decentralized arts collective making devised physical theater and site-specific work. Originally connected through a 2012 residency at Chicago's Links Hall, its artists have spent over a decade creating and touring internationally as one of the city’s premier laboratory ensembles (previously creating under the name Walkabout Theater Company).

Press contact: Cooper Forsman [cooper@wendercollective.org]

Press tags: #InTheParks #NightOutintheParks #MyChiParks @ChicagoParks (IG/X) · @ChicagoParkDistrict (FB)

Production photos by Jewel Tones Photo