The Night Vale Glow Cloud Makes Its Way To Chicago

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 12, 2014 7:10PM

If you haven't ben listening to Welcome To Night Vale you are missing out on one of the great series to appear in any medium in recent years. In a media landscape littered with so much visual stimulation via a variety of channels it's surprising that one of the most vibrant sources of storytelling imagery emanates from an audio only podcast.

Welcome To Night Vale is broadcast from an imaginary radio station situated in a town where everything isn't quite right. In fact, things are often quite wrong, with shades of unspeakable horrors a la HP Lovecraft lurking around every corner. The genius of this series is its ability to balance the unsettling with the deep humorous to create the equivalent of a radio serial broadcast from a dimension three shades darker than The Twilight Zone.

The series has only been around for about one year but it's already blown up in popularity and in the last few months the creators have taken the show on the road for occasional live dates featuring the series' key players, most notably Night Vale radio host Cecil Baldwin (oh, and series creators / writers Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor). Of course the downside of such a surge in popularity is that tickets to these appearances tend to sell out quicker than tickets to a major rock concert. (And we suspect the Night Vale fans are more rabid than any girl that chased the Fab Four down an alley back in their day.)

Welcome To Night Vale is coming to Chicago on March 22. The show will be put on at The Athenaeum Theatre (2936 N Southport) in partnership with Schubas and Lincoln Hall. Tickets for the 7 p.m. all ages show sold out quickly so a 10 p.m. 18+ show has been added and $25 tickets for that go on sale via Athenaeum Theatre's website on Friday, Feb. 14. So instead of presenting your loved one with a still beating human heart in the traditional celebration of Valentine's Day, why don't you spend Valentine's Day constantly refreshing your browser to try and buy their real lifelong devotion with tickets to welcome them to Night Vale.

And if upon the publishing of this piece my existence should appear to cease please don't consult the sheriff's secret police. Trust me. It's for your own good.

Good night, Chicago. Good night.

And good luck.