Seven Deadly Sins Series Finds Stories That Scintillate

By Staff in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 7, 2014 7:00PM

On the second Tuesday of every month, Cafe Mustache in Logan Square turns into a confession booth of sorts, when the Seven Deadly Sins reading series drops by. This year-old event assigns each of the seven sins to seven different writers and asks them to get creative with it. Sometimes this leads to a lively anecdote from the writer’s life or sometimes merely a cautionary tale, but it always, because the world is full of sinners, leads to something relatable.

The show is produced by Angela Vela who also hosts the God, Sex, Death Variety Hour with Danny Black at The Hideout. Performers are picked to present at random, either by spinning the wheel of sin or having an audience member draw a sin from a box while also sharing something sin-related about themselves.

What follows can be funny or heavy, a full dedication to the assigned sin or a diverging interpretation of it, a well-worn story or a freshly germinated insight. With seven stories on the menu, it’s generally a full buffet of human foible and different thematic approaches.

This was the case with their June show. Rich Seng covered sloth, which led him to reflect on family history. In the spirit of lust, Ray Teresi told a tale of being tricked into shooting an amateur porno that went horribly wrong when a jealous husband destroyed the set. Danny Black was given pride, which led to a story of his mother bonding with a tenant over dirtbag men. Angela Vela interpreted gluttony as overindulgence and told a story from her childhood about her and a friend overindulging in mail theft. Valentine Soposky, covering wrath, told a poignant story about a larger-than-life father whose loud presence was both comforting and intimidating. Lily Be spoke about a greedy friend who sold some of her stuff and how in seeking revenge she was led down the path to indulging in her own greed. To cap the night off on the theme of envy, Janna Sobel told of breaking free of her father’s self-visualization grooming and learning to pay attention to intuition, much to the benefit of her own sanity.

A fresh roster of sinners will do penance tomorrow night, July 8, at Cafe Mustache (2313 N Milwaukee Ave) at 8 p.m., offering up their confessions for audience assessment and empathy.

By: Tamara Matthews