NON:op's Immersive Platform for Virtual Performance and Participation
volume 6:7, September 2025
Please join us as we investigate alternative futures through
music, art, poetry, performance, research, observation, and activism.
SHARE. INTERACT. COLLABORATE.
AND SUPPORT OUR PROGRAMMING WITH A DONATION.
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New Music Chicago presents
STRESS TEST
A Performance Session by
Christophe Preissing and Matt Bodett
September 16, 2025
Experimental Sound Studio, 5925 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago, IL 60660
STRESS TEST is a controlled, time-limited psycholinguistic exposure designed to examine participant response to escalating semiotic saturation, iterative verbal and sonic repetitions, oppositions, multiplications, proliferations, reorientations, and staged sensory withdrawal.
The TEST will consist of four “Rounds” comprised of a series of micro-aggressions that follow the structure of the Therapeutic Model.
- The Lover Round (check ins among all participants).
- The Warrior Round (accountability and clearings to tighten the container).
- The Magician Round (personal exploration and transformation).
- The King or Sovereign Round (wants—stretches—blessings).
From a psychiatric and cognitive-linguistic standpoint, the session may be understood as a live study in language destabilization, attentional modulation, and the phenomenology of structured verbal saturation, with potential transient induction of quasi-hallucinatory perceptual processing in normative populations.
September 16, 2025 • 7:30 - 9pm
Experimental Sound Studio, 5925 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago, IL 60660
This program is FREE but donations are encouraged.
Experimental Sound Studio is wheelchair accessible.
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UPDATE | Listening Across Neighborhoods
August - September 2025
North Lawndale, West Garfield Park, East Garfield Park
Listening Across Neighborhoods Presentation Class led by Phillip Purkett
 NON:op's 2025 iteration of Listening Across Neighborhoods featured daylong workshops at Theatre Y (August 9), Legler Regional Library (August 16), and Walls Turned Sideways (August23). Teaching artists, Sam Anthem, Mira Simonton-Chao, and Allen Moore, led seventeen youth on soundwalks, listening activities, and learning presentations. Youth came together from neighborhoods throughout Chicago including Garfield Park, North Lawndale, West Pullman, Lincoln Square, Logan Square, Monticello, Chatham, Galewood, Burnside, Belmont Cragin, and East Side. Guest Artist Marvin Tate led the first soundwalk where he took the youth on a journey to his past comparing the sounds of his youth in North Lawndale with the current sounds of neighborhood development. This past weekend, Guest Artist Damon Locks talked about his journey with sound introducing students to his electronic and sampling techniques.The final LAN sound workshop will took place at Walls Turned Sideways and featured Sound Artist Allen Moore who introduced his creative practice and lead students in a DIY cardboard turntable activity. Alex Boutros led the morning soundwalk. Following a week off for Labor Day, youth joined youth leadership trainer Phillip Purkett for public speaking and presentation workshops on September 6 and 13 at Legler Regional Library and St. Ignatius College Prep as they prepared their research presentations for public events at Walls Turned Sideways and the Guanacaste Listening Conference at St. Ignatius College Prep.
Listening Across Neighborhoods Presentation Class led by Phillip Purkett
September 27 • Walls Turned Sideways
2717 W Madison ST, Chicago, IL 60612
Walls Turned Sideways is wheelchair accessible.
For other accessibility requests contact non [at] nonopera [dot] org
October 25 • Guanacaste Listening Conference
St Ignatius College Prep • 1076 Roosevelt Rd, Chicago, IL 60608
St Ignatius College Prep is wheelchair accessible.
For other accessibility requests contact non [at] nonopera [dot] org
For more information about these events contact lan [at] nonopera [dot] org.
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SAVE THE DATE | STN Commission Concert
Saturday, October 11 at 7pm
Theatre Y, 3611 W Cermak Rd
Join us on October 11 at Theatre Y in North Lawndale as we honor and celebrate the 2025 SAY THEIR NAMES commissioned artists, Donna "Dante" Marie Gary, Pugs Atomz, and Dr Tara Betts, with Anthony R. Green.
October 11, 7pm • Theatre Y
3611 W Cermak Rd, Chicago, IL 60623
For accessibility requests contact non [at] nonopera [dot] org
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[ NEW PROGRAM ] Equipment Sharing Program
Do you need AV equipment for your next show or project,
but can't afford to purchase or rent it?
?
NON:op Arts and Humanities is now offering audio and video equipment and services to other small Chicago non-profit organizations and individuals with whom we share a vision and creative aesthetic. This high-quality gear—purchased with funding from DCASE's CARP grant—may be used for both in-person and live-stream productions. Equipment and services will be made available at a very reasonable rate and/or in exchange for equipment and resources that we do not have.
Click HERE or above for more information about this exciting new program
or contact Theo at esp@nonopera.org.
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[ INTERACT ] New Digital Home and...
We are very, very excited to roll out our NEW NON:op Arts and Humanities website. After a year-long development with Designed Advantage (shout out to Greg Denagall!!) it HERE!!! This new interactive website will make it easy to directly participate in multiple NON:op projects. Check it out!
[ INTERACT ] New Physical Home!
We are very, very excited to announce that NON:op Arts and Humanities is moving to the Theatre Y building at 3611 West Cermak Road in North Lawndale. We are thrilled to be welcomed at Theatre Y by Melissa, the Actors, and Staff. At the beginning of 2025 we embraced the humanities programming we have been doing since 2020 by changing our organization's name to NON:op Arts and Humanities, and now we are moving to the Theatre Y building in North Lawndale to be closer to the communities that we serve. While we will not move in until later this year, we will be spending most of our time on Cermak. Come visit us!
Already in the past month, NON:op has provided technical and video support for Theatre Y’s Not To Be, a documentary shot inside Stateville Correctional Center. And NON:op's artistic director, Christophe Preissing, made his Theatre Y debut as a metaphor for police violence in Tortured By Blue by Stanley Howard, for which also created sound.
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[ PARTICIPATE ] 2025 Performances and Events
Mark your calendars for the following 2025 performances and Events:
- August - October: Season two of Listening Across Neighborhoods
- September 16: Performance of STRESS TEST, a new collaborative work by Christophe Preissing and Matt Bodett, Experimental Sound Studio
- September 27: LAN Youth Presentations at Walls Turned Sideways
- October 11: SAY THEIR NAMES commission concert, Theatre Y
- October 25: LAN Youth Presentations at St Ignatius College Prep
- December 11: Christophe Preissing, Liliana Wosko, and Eric Leonardson, Elastic Arts Improv Series
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[ WOW ] Fundraising News!
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IMPACT THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES: JOIN THE NON:op BOARD!
NON:op is growing, and like many organizations coming out of the pandemic, we are growing with projects, installations, and performances. It's quite an exciting time for us! Are you savvy about one or more aspects of running a non-profit? Join our board of directors. Do you have a passion for planning engaging events and projects? Join our programming committee. For more information, contact Christophe at non [at] nonopera [dot] org. And to find out more about NON:op Arts and Humanities and our initiatives visit our WEBSITE.
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Governing and Programming Board Positions
Do you believe in the work we are doing? If so, please contact non [at] nonopera [dot] org to find out how you can support NON:op as a Board member. NON:op is seeking creative, passionate, and inspired individuals to join our board of directors in one of the following roles:
Programming Committee
The programming committee meets monthly with the artistic director and is responsible for supporting current programming and devising and producing future programming and events.
Governing Committee
The governing committee is responsible for finances, governance, and legal matters in support of the organization and its programming. The governing committee meets once per quarter and is joined by members of the programming committee.
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 Volunteer, Intern, and Other OpportunitiesNON:op is seeking volunteers, interns, participants, assistants, artists, and all who have creative ideas and who would like to work with NON:op to implement a shared vision. Please contact Christophe at non [at] nonopera [dot] org if you would like to find out more and join us as we create an alternative future.
Click here to order and support NON:op and its artists. |
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Thank you for taking care of each other by staying indoors and practicing social distancing.
We hope you and yours are well and staying safe as we work to create an alternative future.
SHARE. INTERACT. COLLABORATE.
Christophe, Saba, Theo, Ja Nelle, Jason, and all of NON:op's creatives, staff, volunteers, and interns
NON:op is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Please consider supporting NON:op's program initiatives, creatives, and mission with a donation today.
All donations are tax deductible according to federal guidelines. Thank you.
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NON:op's 2025 iteration of 
Guest Artist 
Volunteer, Intern, and Other Opportunities
