Kermess Bringing Circus Acts And Cabaret To Former Teatro ZinZanni Tent

DOWNTOWN — A new immersive dinner-show venue featuring contemporary circus, cabaret and other forms of live performance is set to open in the former Teatro ZinZanni this fall. 

Kermess — which will pair dining, cocktails and live theatrical entertainment — will stage its debut performance Oct. 15. Kermess is taking over the space on the 14th floor of the Cambria Hotel, 32 W. Randolph St., which Teatro Zinzanni vacated in January due to low ticket sales after more than five years in Chicago.

The 300-seat venue will make use of Teatro ZinZanni’s spiegeltent, which is Dutch for “mirror tent” and is an ornate and portable entertainment hall.

Kermess is operated by production company Circensia Entertainment Group, which launched in 2023 and creates original circus shows performed in cities like Miami, Las Vegas and New York City. Company co-founders Charlie Maréchal and Nicolas Allard said they had attended several Teatro ZinZanni shows and were amazed each time to see a circus tent within a high-rise hotel.

“It’s unique. Even in the U.S., there’s no other place like that,” Maréchal said. “So when we had the opportunity to take over the space, we believed that was a really, really, really cool project.”

The space’s name, “Kermess,” pays homage to the tradition of public celebration in Belgium, where Maréchal, Circensia’s CEO, is originally from. The word initially signified a church mass and feast celebrating a parish’s patron saint, but the annual gatherings outgrew the church to become massive fairs with food, drink, dancing, games and spectacle. 

Kermess will be the first permanent entertainment destination fully operated by Circensia.

Though Kermess is Maréchal and Allard’s first venture in Chicago, the two have years of experience in contemporary circus. Allard, Circensia’s chief operations officer, trained at the National Circus School of Montreal and is a circus performer and trapeze artist. Maréchal spent several years as head of design at Cirque du Soleil in Montreal, where the two met.

They moved to Miami in 2022, where they saw an opportunity to open a high-quality circus company. They held performances at several local venues, including MILA Miami, where they still hold a nightly fire-spinning show. In 2024, they joined the production of the Great Gatsby Party, a traveling circus arts show with fire performers and champagne inspired by the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. They also opened a studio in Miami that year, offering circus-inspired fitness classes.

“This venue, this new project in Chicago, is the next step,” Maréchal said.

Kermess’s first show is called “Premonitions Inc.,” which they plan to run from Oct. 15 until summer 2027. It will be a 90-minute cabaret with an intermission and will include elements of mystery centered on a fortune-telling corporation, Maréchal said. It will feature world-class circus acts and crowd interactions, and be hosted by Sabrina Von B., who has gained internet fame for her portrayal of the Evil Queen at Disneyland. 

Maréchal said the cast will arrive in mid-September to prepare for opening night. The show will include surprises that take it beyond the bounds of a typical circus, Maréchal said. 

“We’re trying to push it to the next level,” Maréchal said. “I’m always trying to see what’s a little bit different than a traditional circus show.”

Tickets start at $69 and top out at $159 for the venue’s VIP section. They can be purchased on the Kermess website.

Kermess is aiming to debut a second, more family-friendly show in November, that will be more uplifting for the holiday season, Maréchal said. That show will run through the beginning of January. 

Maréchal and Allard are still working on developing the menu and signature cocktails, which will be themed in accordance with each show. They’re working with a sous chef who previously worked in Teatro ZinZanni’s kitchen, Maréchal said.

They plan for the menu to be mostly à la carte, but are exploring potentially adding options for pre-purchasing food and drink packages with tickets. 

In addition to updating the menu, Maréchal and Allard are modernizing the former Teatro ZinZanni space, they said, but the configuration of the space with the big circus tent in the middle will stay the same.

Kermess is aiming to bring in other companies to perform their shows there as well, including comedians, contemporary dance groups and additional contemporary circus performers, Maréchal said.

“We want this to become a very unique entertainment space in the theater district, with very eclectic programming,” Maréchal said. 

Opened in 2019, Teatro ZinZanni had a years-long run in Chicago offering an immersive theatrical experience that included a multi-course meal, cocktails and a variety show blending circus, cabaret, comedy and live music. It closed in January, citing a more than 25 percent drop in ticket sales.

Months later, some former Teatro Zinzanni workers are still owed wages after its “sudden” closure, they told Block Club. That includes Rebecca Radziejeski, a former Teatro ZinZanni employee who has since found new gigs, including as a producing associate with Kermess ahead of its debut.

Some former Teatro ZinZanni employees filed missing wage complaints with the Illinois Department of Labor earlier this year and started a GoFundMe to raise money, Radziejeski told Block Club. The fundraiser has raised over $3,500 this year, she said.

Teatro ZinZanni’s former Chicago PR representative also told Block Club she has not been paid wages since its closure. Teatro ZinZanni’s founder Norm Langill couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Arts Coordinator Leen Yassine contributed to this story.