The Encyclopedia Show is a live variety show

Variety show

A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...

 and reading series

Reading series

A reading series is a recurring public literary event featuring writers reading from their work to a live audience. Some reading series are curated, some have themes, and some also feature music or other multimedia collaborations. Others simply focus on the act of listening to the written word,...

 format founded in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 by Robbie Q. Telfer

Robbie Q. Telfer

Robbie Q. Telfer is an American poet and poetry slam performer.He has been a featured performer in dozens of poetry shows throughout North America, including Toronto, Detroit, Oakland, Austin, St. Louis, Honolulu, Boston, and Providence, as well as the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City and the...

 and Shanny Jean Maney in December 2008 at the Chopin Theatre

Chopin Theatre

Chopin Theatre is an American for-profit cultural organization located along Polonia Triangle in Wicker Park within the West Town community area of Chicago...

. Since its founding, it has spread to regular shows in Austin

Austin

Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas.Austin may also refer to:-In the United States:*Austin, Arkansas*Austin, Colorado*Austin, Chicago, Illinois*Austin, Indiana*Austin, Minnesota*Austin, Nevada*Austin, Oregon...

, Oklahoma City

Oklahoma city

Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...

, Providence

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

, Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

, Indianapolis

Indianapolis

Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

, Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

 Canada and Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

, South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

.

The show follows a research conceit that presents a different topic every month. Within each topic, artists are assigned subtopics that they have to present new creative material on. The show also juxtaposes real experts in the field regarding the various topics. Past participants have been Bill Ayers

Bill Ayers

William Charles "Bill" Ayers is an American elementary education theorist and a former leader in the movement that opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is known for his 1960s activism as well as his current work in education reform, curriculum, and instruction...

, Paul Sereno

Paul Sereno

Paul Callistus Sereno is an American paleontologist from the University of Chicago who discovered several new dinosaur species on several continents. He has conducted excavations at sites as varied as Inner Mongolia, Argentina, Morocco, and Niger...

, Marc Smith

Marc Smith

Marc Kelly Smith is an American poet, and the creator and founder of the poetry slam movement, for which he received the nickname Slam Papi....

, Helen Morrison

Helen Morrison

Helen Louise Morrison is a forensic psychiatrist and writer. She was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania and attended Temple University, the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis.-Biography:...

, Roger Bonair-Agard

Roger Bonair-Agard

A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Roger Bonair-Agard is a poet who lives in Chicago. Bonair-Agard was a member of the 1997 Nuyorican Poets Cafe Poetry Slam team and later coached the 1998 Nuyorican Poets Cafe Poetry Slam team, which went on to win the National Poetry Slam Championship that year in...

, and Robert Boone

Robert Boone

Robert Boone is an author and creative writing teacher. He is the founder of Young Chicago Authors, founded in 1991 with the mission of encouraging teenagers to write. The program now serves more than 5000 teens a year...

.

In March 2010, the Chicago Encyclopedia Show won the Orgie (short for Original) Theatre Award for 2009's "Best Creation/Curators."

The Encyclopedia Show is a live variety show and reading series format founded in Chicago by Robbie Q. Telfer and Shanny Jean Maney in December 2008 at the Chopin Theatre[1]. Since its founding, it has spread to regular shows in: Austin, TX; Oklahoma City, OK; Providence, RI; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, IN; Oakland,CA; Vancouver, BC (Canada) and Seoul, South Korea[2][3][4].

The show follows a research conceit that presents a different topic every month. Within each topic, artists are assigned subtopics that they have to present new creative material on. The show also juxtaposes real experts in the field regarding the various topics. Past participants have been Bill Ayers, Paul Sereno, Marc Smith, Helen Morrison, Roger Bonair-Agard, and Robert Boone[5][6][7][8][9][10][11].
In March 2010, the Chicago Encyclopedia Show won the Orgie (short for Original) Theatre Award for 2009's "Best Creation/Curators."[

Sources

External links

• Encyclopedia Show Chicago's Website