Fresh from the Edinburgh Festival, and directed by Jeff Mills, Proboscis Theatre of Chicago brings their unique brand of physical performance and puppetry to PRICK, a new play by Laurie Flanigan Hegge with puppets designed by Madeline Helling. At DKAF, these Chicago and Minneapolis based theatre artists will join forces to develop a new puppet universe for PRICK, a gripping tale of the Scottish Witch Hunts — sanctioned by the state, fueled by the Church, fed by hysteria.. PRICK will have its US premiere in Chicago in March of 2025.

Created and choreographed by Chicago tap sensation Jumaane Taylor, Ugly Flavors embraces classic selections designed to challenge the ear: Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come and Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Choreographing to both genre-shifting sound monuments, dancers deliver a tap interpretation inspired by the original Nijinsky choreography and Pina Bausch’s revolutionary version from the 70s. Coleman’s jazz classics set a standard formula that many master jazz artists live by. That particular rhythm, melody, improvisation, and authentic bebop realized by tap dancers, who know that these stories can be expressed beautifully in perfect timing no matter how ugly, at first, they may seem.

Contemporary Circus artist Benjamin Domask-Ruh returns to DKAF, this year teaming up with his frequent collaborator Thom Wall. In a performance that is at times funny, at times moving, these two performers of an emerging arts genre aim to entertain while expressing something wholly unique about the human condition.

How we deal with grief, loss, honesty, fabrication, and the friendships that bring you so much, and cost you so dearly? These are the questions Stephen Belber ( Laramie Project, Tape, Match ) and his friend, Jennifer Mudge ( Somebody Somewhere, The Irishman, Rocky The Musical) try to answer in this semi-autobiographical narrative. Beginning as a script-on-table Spalding Grey-esque solo “show” —before morphing into a full fledged theatrical experience, What Do We Do With The Dead takes Steve and Jen through some of the most disorienting and meaningful moments of his life, from the hills of war-torn Afghanistan to a boarding school in upstate New York, from Liberia to an apartment in Bat Ridge, tracking the friends he’s loved, lost, and found again. Will Steve find resolution in the friendships that have altered his life? Or will this journey produce more questions than answers?

In collaboration with Door County’s Play Club Discussion, Eric Simonson will join in a talk about his hit Broadway play When Pride Still Mattered, based on the biography by David Maraniss When pride still mattered: a life of Vince Lombardi. Sport produces great human drama and there is no greater sports icon to bring to theatrical life than Hall of Fame football coach Vince Lombardi, unquestionably one of the most inspirational and quotable personalities of all time. Though football’s Super Bowl trophy is named for him, few know the real story of Lombardi the man—his inspirations, his passions and ability to drive people to achieve what they never thought possible. This event will be led by Jacob Janssen of Third Avenue Playworks.

A highlight of past years, the DKAF expertly curated shorts festival offers narratives, documentaries and animated films from filmmakers around the world. With a special deference to films that are about or center around dance, the DKAF festival is uniques among most in that it selects films that resonate with the other creations in other mediums going on around it.

A DKAF favorite 8 years running, Koffeehouse features music, dance and open mic performances by visiting artists.

Featuring James Beard Finalist, Spirits Expert and Mixologist Robert Simonson returns to DKAF to dazzle us with his drinks and the rich stories from which they derived. The Art of the Cocktail has been a signature of the Door Kinetic Arts Festival — there is literally no other festival on Earth the does this — and 2024 is no different.