The acclaimed French troupe Ilotopie gives a free performance August 21-22 and creates waterborne theatrical wonders on Lake Michigan. Audiences of all ages will be enchanted as Ilotopie makes its American debut, transforming Lake Michigan into a world where cars drive on water, heads burst into flames and a 12-foot-tall lady glides by on a penny-farthing.A waterborne theatrical spectacle performed on Lake Michigan, off the east end of Navy Pier.
Free Performances: August 21 – 22, 2009 at sundown (9:15 p.m.) 
In partnership with and with generous support from Étant donnés: The French-American Fund for the Performing Arts and the Cultural Services of the French Consulate in Chicago.
“A beautiful vision… it sets fire to the imagination” –The Guardian (UK)
“Ilotopie transformed a familiar locale into a magical dreamland and made audiences children again.” –The Straits Times (Singapore)
The acclaimed French troupe Ilotopie has created waterborne theatrical wonders on the Thames in London and the River Seine in Paris. Audiences of all ages will be enchanted as Ilotopie makes its American debut, transforming Lake Michigan into a world where cars drive on water, heads burst into flames and a 12-foot-tall lady glides by on a penny-farthing.
Ilotopie is a collective of actors, dancers, sculptors, musicians and builders in residence in Port Saint Louis, a small industrial port town at the mouth of the Rhône River, near Marseille in the south of France. Under the artistic direction of Françoise Léger and Bruno Schnebelin, the troupe has presented artistic interventions among the industrial sites, towns and small uninhabited islands in the area since 1980. In 1992, they designed and built their workshop and studio “Le Citron Jaune,” (“The Yellow Lemon”), so called because of its bright yellow exterior. The company travels worldwide, performing street theater and dreamlike interventions at festivals and cultural events. From the bright, colorful full-body paint of Les Gens de Couleur (People of Color) to the intricate machinery of Les Oxymores d’Eau (The Oxymorons of Water) and the environmental interventions of Réseau Éden Sous-Sol (Underground Nursery Network), the artist of Ilotopie always focus on the human gesture. Their pioneering works, large and small, from the surreal to the magical, create living images, momentary utopias, and poetic events in urban and natural landscapes.
