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Elgin Fringe Festival 2026

I am thrilled to be performing my 20 minute show “If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him” in this year’s Elgin Fringe Festival. Tickets are $12 + a $4 button for entry into the festival.

Life’s becoming increasingly untethered from reality, full of false prophets and crypto scams. This show meditates on how technology can disorder attention, undermine authenticity, and erode mental health. It’s not all bad: ChatGPT tells me I’m pretty. Delivered through spoken word and signature smart-assery. Adult language. More info at ChernoffWriting.com

RATED PG-13. Includes: Adult Language.

PERFORMANCES:

Fri 9/25 @ 9:00pm
Sat 9/26 @ 6:00pm
Sun 9/27 @ 1:00pm

VENUE: Habitat for Humanity • $12

Fear No Art 2026

I was once again privileged to perform in the 2026 Fear No Art Festival at College of Lake County. It is so cool to just find community in a bunch of artists from totally different disciplines. There is always a lot of excellent dance and my wife Christine choreographed a beautiful contemporary piece titled “Relinquish”. I got to meet all kinds of cool people, including a jazz trio, a pianist/composer, and someone who sung an ethereal version of “I put a spell on you” along with playing the Q Chord, an instrument I didn’t even know existed. I had one poem in this year’s show, titled “If You Meet The Buddha on the Road, Kill Him”

If you are new to this page, my name is Mike Chernoff. Like many of you, I was stuck at home in 2020, clinging to the things that help keep me sane. For me, that was my wife, Christine, and my love of writing. Chris is a dancer and a writer herself, and while the arts are important in our household, they took on an extra level of importance in 2020.

I majored in creative writing in the mid 90s, and it has remained a passion for me. In 2019, Chris noticed that a local poetry group, Atrocious Poets, was holding poetry workshops, discussing established works of poetry, sponsoring collaborative events, seminars, pub crawls, all sort of interesting activities. I was excited for all of these opportunities so close to home.

Then the pandemic hit and everything went to literal hell, and to virtual space. So I figured that was as good as any to really focus on my writing and put myself out there. I currently have a lot of ideas, and time on my hands so if you like anything on here, check back frequently. There should be a lot more material in the coming days, and I may talk Christine into guest posting as well.