Cabinet of Curiosity

Cabinet of Curiosity was born from Frank Maugeri's 22 years of design, engineering and event leadership at Redmoon Theater. In 2017, Frank formed a performance and design collective invested in making unexpected participatory devices, large scale celebrations, exquisite installations, and original modern performance objects. Cabinet is particularly unique in its financial model. All profit is dedicated to a one of a kind FREE (highly competitive) Ritual Celebration Program, where diverse student’s from across the nation are taught the art of the event, through Maugeri’s personally developed curriculum. So when a client chooses Cabinet, they are not only getting work by the artist who created many of Redmoon’s best objects and events, but the client invests in the next generation of creative event makers. Cabinet of Curiosity is composed of diverse project-by-project collectives who authentically collaborate on original celebrations and productions. Cabinet uses sophisticated handmade devices to develop unique interactive experiences, productions and events. We focus on creating new types of gatherings, ceremonies, and rituals which promote community and interactivity. Our intention is to support multi-cultural professionals in the field of theatre, visual arts, dance, sculpture and music, while mindfully training college age apprentices to become the future creators of new meaningful events and rituals. All of the objects and devices created by cabinet are engineered to expose their mechanical operations so they are simultaneously educational, informative, and magical. We embrace commissions which require unique elements of ritual, ceremony, procession, and pageantry. We are expert at weddings, grand openings, and public experiences. Cabinet is led by Frank Maugeri, an artist, director, producer, and designer of unique art, education, ceremony and event. Franks creations are highly visual, design-driven, movement-inspired, object-centered and range from intimate miniature-scale to mammoth public spectacle. Throughout his career, he has been an inventor and designer of worlds, events, and objects; choreographer of people and mechanisms; and ritual and ceremony maker. Frank’s life revolves around the arts and how the arts bring people together. When he’s not bringing art to life, he’s bringing art to lives through his work as an expert collaborator, educator, innovator of curriculum and artistic programming, and community builder. For 2 years, he developed the education pedagogy, teaching teams, and civic engagement program’s at the Chicago Children’s Theatre where he increased their revenue by $400,000 in 16 months. Prior to joining CCT as the Community Programs Artistic Director, Frank was a 22-year veteran Producing Artistic Director at Redmoon Theater. As Producing Artistic Director at Redmoon Theater, he mentored hundreds of young artists, sculptors, puppet-makers, set designers, performers, and educators from across the United States, while simultaneously helping to guide the institution's art, education and community engagement. Frank is expert in developing experience and events — from branding to casting to directing to execution. With Redmoon, Frank created art and experiences for The White House, developed original works for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Museum of Contemporary Art, The Los Angeles Music Center, and the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He proudly co-directed a number of public spectacles for the City of Chicago and other Chicago-centered civic events, including: The Art Institute’s groundbreaking of the North Wing, Millennium Park opening evening, Looptopia. His productions, art and events toured to Amsterdam, Charleville-Mézières (France), Brazil, and Japan. In his time at Redmoon Theater, Frank also authored, designed, and created Redmoon's longest running and most acclaimed production, The Cabinet, and created and led Redmoon’s celebrated annual Boneshaker and New Year’s Revolution events, featuring numerous memorable objects of his own creation, including some of Redmoon’s most remarkable inventions- The Momentary Opera, The Monkey Butlers, The Libation Machine and most famously, The Bubble Man. Frank created Redmoon’s first Youth Board which he grew from an idea to over 20 consistently active members. Frank was trained in the discipline of animation and soon found he was drawn to puppetry and material objects, pursuing the desire to realize animation through live theatre experiences. Leadership, motivation, sustaining purpose, creating mission and empowering all participants are great satisfactions for Frank’s spirit and keep service at the center of all his art making and engagement practices. He currently makes his teaching home at the University of Chicago.