9-15-06
Saints and Angels
In mid-July, The Saints, Volunteers for the Performing Arts, handed out over $13,000 in grants, with all gifts in memory of Fred Solari. As cash goes these days, it isn’t a huge sum; but it’s not like they don’t do enough, paying dues for the privilege of volunteering their time. They give out money, too. Grants were made to: Acapellago (to commission a new choral work), Chicago Sinfonietta, Circle Theatre, Court Theatre, Collaboraction, The House Theatre of Chicago, Redmoon, Theatre Building Chicago, Thodos Dance Chicago and Timeline Theatre. The Saints also awarded scholarships to two Columbia College Chicago theatre students, one DePaul University School of Music student and one student at The Theatre School of DePaul. Finally, The Saints were among the sponsors of the recent stand by the Dutch National Ballet Project at the Athenaeum, part of Dance Chicago, co-founded by Solari and John Schmitz.
Scarcely hunkered down in their new Andersonville digs, Rogue Theater has launched a cleverly-named junior division, Rascal Children’s Theater. Rogue’s former managing director, Dan Foss, now is Rascal’s artistic director. The little Rascal division opened with A. A Milne’s adaptation of The Ugly Duckling and now has moved on to a very contemporary piece, Cinderella Goes Disco, which encourages rugrat audiences to get up and boogie. In case you missed the news, Rogue/Rascal moved into the former Red Hen/Chicago Jewish Theatre venue at 5123 N. Clark Street.
There will be a benefit next Monday (Sept. 18) for Dan Proctor, who continues his long and slow recovery from a near-fatal gunshot wound to the head more than a year ago. The benefit event is a performance of The Water Coolers, the new musical at the Lakeshore Theater (Broadway at Belmont). The suggested donation is only $10 (more, of course, is welcome). For reservations, call the Lakeshore at 773/472-3492.
Showman turned chef Frankie Janisch is back in business at his old stand on Broadway, just north of Wilson, that originally was known as – what else? – Frankie J’s with a restaurant downstairs and a showroom up top. The reopened location has a new name, The Spot on Broadway, and something the old place didn’t have: a liquor license. It’s still food below and heaven-knows-what upstairs (currently the Flaming Dames and ComedySportz, among attractions rotating nightly).
But Frankie tells a tale of woe: attacked and shut down by the City for fraudulent violations, he lost his building and had to file personal bankruptcy. Yeah, he finally beat City Hall, which acknowledged altered inspection reports in court, but it quite literally cost him everything he had. He’s back where he was, but now he’s renting the building he once owned. The Spot is open seven nights a week and is walking distance to seven theatres (according to Mary Shen Barnidge): Black Ensemble, Pegasus, Profiles, National Pastime, Mary-Arrchie, Strawdog and Steep. So step ‘round to The Spot for a drink and a bite.
The Neo-Futurarium seems to breed long-run shows, as long as they don’t require anything like, oh, scenery. The home company, the Neo-Futurists, have been running Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind approximately since James O’Neill and Edwin Booth played the McVickers. What? You never heard of the McVickers? And now comes word that the Neo-Futurists’ tenant, Barrel of Monkeys, celebrates the fifth anniversary of their show, That’s Weird, Grandma with a gala performance on Oct. 9. The show, which takes stories written by kids and puts them on stage for adults, plays every Monday night. FYI: Saturday Night Live writer Liz Cackowski and Second City mainstage performer Ithamar Enriquez are among the alums of That’s Weird, Grandma who have been invited to the event.
Victory Gardens officially has renamed its old space at 2257 N. Lincoln Avenue the Victory Gardens Greenhouse to distinguish it from the new space, Victory Gardens at the Biograph just up the street a piece. As previously reported in PerformInk, Victory Gardens Greenhouse will be home to five resident theatre companies, About Face, Eclipse, MPAACT, Remy Bumppo and Shattered Globe.
The four theatres involved in the collective effort dubbed the Fall of Durang are disappointed that playwright Christopher Durang will not be coming to Chicago to see any of the productions. Part of the problem is he doesn’t like to travel (he hasn’t been to Chicago in over 25 years), and part of the problem is his teaching schedule at Julliard. The logistics from the Chicago end would be clumsy, too. If Durang had come in to see the Oracle, Chemically Imbalanced and Infamous Commonwealth productions he would have missed Next Theatre doing his latest work, Miss Witherspoon, which opens after the others have closed. Same old sturm und Durang, eh?
Deerfield High School wants to send 100 members of its choral groups to Italy next spring to perform, listen and learn about Italian music and culture. Of course. For my senior trip, I think we went to Milwaukee to see a ballgame, and the game was called on account of fog. To raise money for the trip, DHS is holding a Broadway Night benefit, ‘cause everyone likes show tunes, right? But hold on, DHS is getting a little help from some real, actual Broadway stars, thanks to two angels who just happen to be Broadway producers. Kevin McCollum, a 1980 DHS graduate, has backed Rent, Avenue Q and The Drowsy Chaperone while Doug Meyer – a Deerfield resident and DHS supporter – lists Hairspray, The Producers, Little Shop of Horrors and The Wedding Singer among his credits.
The two have persuaded Kate Loprest (Wicked Chicago), Ben Cohen (Bernadette Peters’ Gypsy and DHS grad), Charlotte Crossley (Hairspray), Matthew Morrison (The Light in the Piazza), Judine Somerville, (On the Town, Crazy for You) and Sharon Wilkins (All Shook Up, The Life) to join the DHS Chorale and Choraliers for Viva la Voce: Stars in Concert From Bel Canto to Broadway at Deerfield High School, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. Alicia Monastero Akers is the DHS choral director. All we can say is “Doe, a Deer(field)!”
A poignant footnote: Hope Abelson wasn’t able to see her grandson, Jamie Abelson, in his starring role in Dorian at Bailiwick Repertory. She made reservations twice, and twice cancelled because she just wasn’t up to it. She made reservations a third time for Sunday, Aug. 27, only to cancel again when Jamie had to miss the performance due to an injury sustained in the highly physical show. But she lived long enough to see the glowing reviews for the show and for Jamie, and to know that the family torch successfully had been passed to a new generation.