LOGAN SQUARE — The Chicago League of Lady Arm Wrestlers is the closest thing to professional wrestling minus all traces of misogyny.
Attendees at this weekend's Halloween-themed throwdown aren't going to find bikini-clad women on stage.
What they will find are the "biggest, baddest lady-identified arm wrestlers" in Chicago.
After the Chicago League of Lady Arm Wrestlers' resident drag queen sings the National Anthem, the matches mixed with a spectacle of theatrics will begin.
The matches "get rowdy," said Brittany "Stone Cold Jane Austen" Meyer. "The later in the night the crazier and more into it they get."
The arm wrestling matches are real. The costumes are elaborate and the personas, much like professional wrestling, are theatrical.
Saturday's eight participants at the Logan Square Auditorium include Cursula, Aphrodykie, Red Malicious, The H-Bomb, The Doctor and Whami Taylor.
"I've been doing lots of pushups. As many as my little arms can do," said Alisa "Marie Armtoinette" Rosenthal, a 29-year-old Lincoln Square resident.
“Aunt Nance,” “Marie Armtoinette” and “Crazy Dukes” rally the crowds at the Chicago League of Lady Arms Wrestlers’ CLLAW XXII match at Logan Square Auditorium. [James Rand]
The mission of the Collective of Lady Arm Wrestlers is to empower women and strengthen local communities through theater.
For Meyer, a 24-year-old East Ukrainian Village resident, it was a chance to live out an alternative to her love of professional wrestling.
"I don't think [wrestling] is a really good environment for a feminist," Meyer said. "Every time I've been to a show it made me somewhat uncomfortable even as an audience member."
Saturday's tournament/show will be an interactive and wild event that takes place partially on a stage in the center of auditorium and partially within the audience.
The matches take place on a table atop a raised platform in the middle of the auditorium. There are refs and an announcer table.
Audience members can buy CLLAWBUX, the official currency of the event, which can be used to bet on wresters and to bribe the referees.
"I love when the audience first comes in because it's really overwhelming," Rosenthal said. "There's live music, people in costumes and a million things going on."
Rosenthal, who works in theater and teaches at the Old Town School of Folk Music, said as much as the event is theater, it is also sport.
"You are really trying to win, but it is really safe," she said.
For this weekend's themed CLLAW-O-Ween, there will also be a costume contest with prizes for audience members.
Doors open at 10 p.m., the first match starts at 10:30 p.m. and the event is expected to run until around 1 a.m.
A portion of proceeds will benefit Ayodele Drum and Dance, an organization that fosters community for feminine perspective through performance of diasporic African drum and dance.
Tickets are $10 and available at www.cllaw.org or at the door, 2539 N. Kedzie Ave.
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