Human Combat Chess Show

After last year’s highly successful production, Human Combat Chess returns with even more swordplay and sporting energy.  The brain-child of company member Mike Lubke, Human Combat Chess is a staged sport-as-theatre spectacle.  Performers take on the roles of competitors in a modern combat sport framed in a chess structure.  Each player is a piece on a life-sized chess board, with each team's king calling out the moves.  When a piece attempts to capture an opponent's square, the rest of the players leave the board and a choreographed fight ensues, with the winner of the fight gaining (or regaining) control of the square.  

The event is staged as a live sporting event, similar to professional wrestling and other "sports-entertainment."  Audiences are presented with marketing materials stating that they are attending the season championship finals of the fictional Midwest Combat Chess League.  Live announcers provide play-by-play commentary, stadium-themed concessions are sold throughout the event, and attendees are encouraged to root and cheer for their favorite teams and players.

Human Combat Chess serves the Twin Cities theatre community in a number of ways.  It fills a "popcorn summer blockbuster movie" niche, in a sort of action-theatre that takes place during what is most theaters' dark season.  The event also serves as a venue for both performers and choreographers of stage combat, a widely underutilized and under-appreciated discipline within the theatrical arts.  The show gives performers hands-on experience with experienced fight choreographers through the entirety of the process, including key elements of basic skills acquisition, the process of rehearsing a fight, and finally performing it in a professional theatrical setting.  

This year’s production showcases six choreographers: Mike Lubke, David P. Schneider, Mike Speck, Mike Anderson, Max Savage and Chris Sik.  Weapons being used include: multiple sword varieties, hand ax and shield, quarter staff, spear, rapier and cloak, and tonfa (a japanese peasant weapon).

The show plays stadium-style in the gymnasium of University Baptist Church, 1219 University Ave SE  Minneapolis, MN 55414.  Performances are June 22-23 and 27-30, all shows at 7:00pm, with additional 2:00pm matinees on the 23rd and 30th.  Tickets are on a sliding scale: $6-$20.

Contact Mike Lubke with any questions at sixelementstheatre [at] gmail [dot] com or 651-470-7444