4-10-09
Good Tidings We Bring
Well, it's been quite a fortnight (picture me drinking tea and eating crumpets while typing that word), what with the big news out of American Theatre Company. But I've decided that this installment of "Behind the Curtain" will, in the spirit of the vernal season, be filled with sweetness and light and harbingers of new things.
Of course, sometimes it's good to go back to the tried-and-true, which is why the announcement that Gail Kalver is taking the reins as interim executive director for River North Chicago Dance Company (RNCDC) is so thrilling. Kalver spent 23 years as executive director for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, leaving that post in 2007. She's been a consultant since then with several arts organizations, including the Auditorium Theatre, Concert Dance Inc., and Ensemble Español, and received the 2007 Ruth Page Award for Lifetime Service. She'll be working with RNCDC artistic director Frank Chaves, an old buddy from Hubbard Street, as she takes over the job held for the last two years by Esther Mallouh. No official announcement has been made as to how long Kalver will be sticking around with the company, but they're performing at Centre East in Skokie on April 18. Tickets are $46 at 847/673-6300 or www.centreeast.org.
Meantime, Chicago Dance Crash presents an all-male concert series, "Movement/Gentlemen," April 17-May 3 at the Storefront. Artistic director/choreographer Kyle Vincent Terry's work will be featured, along with the debut of hip hop choreographer Garrett Jones. Tickets for the showcase of athletic gents are $17-$22 at 312/742-8497.
Cupola Bobber features two more interesting men in motion. The company, comprised of Stephen Fiehn and Tyler B. Myers, return to Links Hall April 17-26 with Way Out West, The Sea Whispered Me, co-commissioned by Links and PS122 in New York in partnership with the National Performance Network. This fourth full-length work by Fiehn and Myers explores the lure of the sea as pictured through British Edwardian resorts and "disappearing" towns both along the sea and in Dust Bowl Kansas. Tickets are $10-$15 at 773/281-0824 or at www.linkshall.org. The piece will then be at the Fusebox Festival in Austin, Texas, April 30-May 2.
World Theatre Day on March 27 also marked Jackie Taylor Day in the state of Illinois. Governor Quinn presented the Black Ensemble Theatre founder and artistic director with the official proclamation. Meantime, former BET board chairman Kareem Dale has added to his Obama administration duties (he is already special assistant to the president for disability policy) by taking on, at least temporarily, the job of overseeing arts policy as well. The administration has yet to name a new chair for the National Endowment for the Arts, though the stimulus package included $50 million for the NEA, with another $10 million in the omnibus spending bill.
Rivendell Theatre Ensemble received the 3Arts Vision Award from the 3Arts Fund, named in honor of the 32 women who crafted the original mission for the woman-focused foundation. In addition to the $32,000 cash award, Rivendell also opens Lisa Dillman's The Walls as part of Steppenwolf's Visiting Company Initiative at the Garage under Megan Carney's direction on May 13.
More News of Theatrical Lasses, or, Scotland Comes to Pilsen: Babes With Blades opens Macbeth on April 27 at Dream Theatre (formerly the home of Teatro Luna) at 556 W. 18th Street. Next Theatre managing director Kevin Heckman directs.
Latino sketch group Salsation! pitches in to fight multiple sclerosis with a comedy benefit on April 17 at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, 777 N. Green Street. The troupe will be joined by comedians Ricky Carmona and Elizardi Castro and fellow sketch comedy artists ESL Players. Tickets are $20 online at http://theaterland.tix.com/Event.asp?Event=182430.
ShawChicago just got back from an excellent adventure in Turkey, where they presented Robert Scogin's world premiere adaptation of Ghosts (yes, we know that's Ibsen, smart asses!) Scogin also directed the piece at Selcuk University in Konya, Turkey, as part of last month's World Theatre Day festivities and it will be remounted as a concert reading at the Cultural Center April 18-May 11. ShawChicago will return their host's hospitality by bringing in Turkish theatre artists later this year.
Late deadline information for site-specific artists: Site Unseen, the Cultural Center's annual exploration of performance, dance, installation art, music, and other assorted intriguing elements, is accepting proposals for next fall's installment, curated by Julie Laffin, through Monday, April 13. Information and application materials at http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/dance/node/19507.
If you're an artist in or near Berwyn and would like to have a voice in how the city can best serve your live/work needs, fill out the Artspace Projects survey at www.ArtspaceBerwyn.org by April 22. The national nonprofit is partnering with the City of Berwyn (home to the 16th Street Theater, selected by someone at the Reader--cough, point to self, cough--as the best emerging theatre company) to figure out how to develop opportunities for artists in the community.
Collaboraction is back with the annual Sketchbook Festival, running April 16-May 10 at the Building Stage in the West Loop. This year's theme is redefining the American fable, and offers several "devised pieces" created in ensemble, as well as the usual array of short plays by local and national writers. Check out the whole schedule at www.collaboraction.org.
Overdue congrats to former Neo-Futurist Dave Awl, whose "Facebook Me!," a guide to all things social network-y, has reportedly entered its second printing with Peachpit Press. Mr. Awl will present another installment of his popular "Partly Dave Show" on April 18 at the Neo-Futurarium, featuring special guests Dan Telfer, John Pierson, Time Out Chicago theatre editor Christopher Piatt, Diana Slickman, and live music by the Maybenauts (love that pun!)
Finally, what better way to close out an Easter weekend column than with happy birth tidings? Set designer Tom Burch and his wife Janna (formerly an administrator with the Goodman) welcomed twin sons, Owen Hampton and Isaac (Ike) Gresham at the end of January (they can be forgiven for getting the announcements out a little late)! Congrats to the newly expanded Burch family--and we predict Tom's next design will involve an efficiency-enhanced nursery!
Play Easter Bunny and deliver toothsome news and notes at kerryreid@comcast.net.