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Too Fat To Run
By Fat Theatre Project
Created by Eileen Tull
Playing at
Show Description
TBD
Genre and Content
Content Warnings
The creators say this show is appropriate for ages 16 and up
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Seat Reservations and Show Tickets
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Video Trailer
Cast and Crew
Eileen Tull
Playwright/PerformerEileen Tull is so excited to return to the Minnesota Fringe Festival after performing with a three woman sketch group in 2015. Eileen is a Chicago-based theatremaker, poet, educator, and one-woman-show person. Her work has been seen all over Chicago in bookstores, art galleries, bars, non-traditional spaces, and sometimes in theaters. She has performed throughout the country, and her solo shows include Too Fat To Run (Redtwist Theatre, Central Virginia Fringe, Elgin Fringe, Fillet of Solo, Inverse Performance Art Festival); Bad Dates, Or… (Abbie Fest, Dallas Solo Festival); Mommy, Give Me Pills (Yippie Fest, Women’s Theatre Festival); I’m Not Making Good Art Anymore (Rhino Fest); and Jesus, Do You Like Me? Please Mark Yes or No (San Francisco Fringe, Cincy Fringe, United Solo). She is a drama instructor with the Chicago Park District, where she has taught solo performance classes since 2017. Through the parks, Eileen has developed and supported solo projects including Mrs. Lincoln, The Curator Presents, and The Importance of Being Cosy, among others. Eileen founded Fat Theatre Project in 2024 where she teaches, produces, writes, and directs.. She is a graduate of Loyola University of Chicago and recently got her MFA in Directing/Playwriting at Randolph College. www.eileentull.com
More Information
In a culture that often equates fitness with thinness, Too Fat To Run by Eileen Tull delivers a powerful, honest, and empowering message: Movement belongs to everyone. Blending personal experience with sharp insight, Tull confronts the mythology of thin supremacy in the world of long distance running. This autobiographical solo show invites audiences to rethink what health and strength truly look like.
After signing up for the 2022 Chicago Marathon, Tull received mixed messages from people in her life. Some were supportive, but some were “concerned” about her fat body being able to finish all 26.2 miles. In collaboration with directing team Jessica Landis and Jules Dreitzer, Tull created a 60 minute, highly physical play for people who want to reconnect with their bodies on their own terms, free from shame, comparison, or unrealistic expectations.
Workshopped and developed with Fat Theatre Project, Too Fat To Run has been performed at the Central Virginia Fringe Festival, Redtwist Theatre, Elgin Fringe Festival, the Inverse Performance Art Festival in Bentonville, Arkansas, and at Chicago’s Fillet of Solo Festival.
Tull has been performing and teaching solo work in Chicago for over ten years, with shows like Bad Dates, Or: What Killed That Monkey in Indiana Jones Only Makes Me Stronger at Abbie Fest and Rhino Fest; Hi, I’m Eileen at the Chicago Fringe and Chicago Solo; and Phone Calls With John Kasich at Collaboraction and Loyola University, among others. Outside of Chicagoland, her solo work has been featured in New York City, San Francisco, and Cincinnati festivals and The Marsh Theatre in San Francisco. She is the founding artistic director of Fat Theatre Project, which tells stories by/about/for/with fat people.
What audiences are saying about Too Fat To Run:
“A perfect solo show that demands your attention. Tull takes you on a run that engages and electrifies. It’s impossible to listen to this frank and loving conversation of her body and not question your relationship with your own.” - Zack Peercy, playwright of Muffed and Kubrickian at The Factory Theatre
“Eileen Tull shines as we jog through her journey to train for and run the Chicago marathon. She redefines who an athlete is - turns out, it’s all of us.” - Tori Rosin Szerkeres of Serving the Sentence
“Too Fat to Run is exactly what I want out of a solo play: a great story, a protagonist I’m eager to root for, and a blend of moving and comic material that Tull so smoothly delivers.” - Ginna Hoben, Author of the solo plays The Twelve Dates of Christmas and No Spring Chicken
