march #3: skin!

tuesday evening i had the pleasure of seeing lights out theatre company's SKIN!

what: skin! by...uhhh..?
where: the lincoln lofts in lakeview
accompaniment: babely friends tracie & brittany!
drinkability: top notch. beers, boxed wine, and cocktails for super cheap!
show length: hour and a half? i don't know, i was too busy laughing.
out of four: three/four

this was my first lights out theatre company show as well as my first visit to the lincoln loft space and both were quite a success. the lincoln loft space, if you've never been there, is this rad (see: giant!) space i heard up to nine people live, work, and perform there. you can see hints of cornered off bedrooms here and there, but once you step into the sectioned off performance space, any semblance of this being someone's apartment melts away as you make yourself comfy on the cushy vintage theatre seats.

SKIN! is the hilarious tale of a group of women working and entertaining under the watch of 'meatball', who also serves as an emcee of sorts. dressed in long johns, a huge winter fur coat and black ga-ga-esque glasses, meatball sets the scene with the attitude of this show. skin is essentially a combination of clumsy (in the best sense of the word) burlesque and sketch comedy. each of the girls has their own unique characters and there's even a bit of love drama between a couple of the girls and meatball.

what i loved about this performance was the fact that its a bunch of girls who aren't afraid to be sexy, but also aren't afraid to make fun of girls acting like they're sexy. don't go to this show expecting to see tops taken off and tossed into the crowd, instead expect a lot of lady thrusting, yells and whoops from the audience, and the special addition of chris. oh my, chris.

chris serves as their bartender and chats up the crowd as everyone comes in from the street. during the show he stands on the sidelines and sells beer from a cart and also picks up props, etc. that are used by the ladies during the show. he encourages the yelling and conversation with the performers and even makes an appearance himself. i won't spoil that for you...but...its certainly a highlight.

while i love deep, serious, moving, thoughtful theatre...sometimes you just need some boxed wine and a whole bunch of laughter to light up your tuesday night. get to this show...only a few performances left!

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upcoming march shows:
saturday the 30th 8pm: right brain project's the bacchae

a look into april....shows i'm hoping to catch:
-sideshow theatre company's maria/stuart
-mary arrchie theatre company's the brig
-TBA x2!

join me, will you?

march #2: julius caesar

sunday afternoon i had the pleasure of seeing babes with blades' all-female production of JULIUS CAESAR.

what: julius caesar by william shakespeare
where: the raven theatre center, edgewater
accompaniment: my trusty theatre partner dustin.
drinkability: i saw a sunday matinee so no booze for me. but i did see a snack and refreshment bar!
show length: 2 hrs, 15 minutes + 10 minute intermission
out of four: two and a half/four

after opening my own shakespeare show this past weekend what else was there to do on a sunday afternoon but go see a kick-ass group of ladies come together to present the ever-popular election year pick: julius caesar??

this was my first babes with blades production i've been able to attend, though i've taken part in a couple of workshops with them which rendered me quite sore the following days. (you know, in that good way where you get to say "MAN my hips hurt from swinging around a sword for three hours!") it was also my first trip up to the raven theatre in edgewater which has the cutest little parking lot outside, albeit filled by the time we got there due to a soldier's play opening its run at 3pm.

the set for this babes' production was rather plain, boasting only a few steps, columns, and curtains to set the stage for this historic tragedy. i anxiously awaited the text to begin to see what lengths they had taken to address or ignore the all-female cast. turns out: they ignored it. all of the players were "he" and "him" and "sir" (minus the actual female characters, of course). while i was hoping for a complete transformation of the text to females, i simply forgot about it as the play went on and accepted it as it was.

the other aspect i was most looking forward to was obviously, the sword and fight work. caesar's death scene has an exciting explosion of bodies around him, but you see no actual sword play as the women step back to show a dead caesar, displayed only by a bloody cloth draped over the body. we don't get to see more violence until shortly before the end of the play when the armies of brutus and antony finally clash. the choreographed machete fights were fun to watch, especially with multiple combatants, but i was left wishing that they were a bit tighter and with an element of danger that didn't really feel like it was there. nonetheless, it was exciting to watch and i simply left wishing i could see more!

the actresses in this production were really impressive. i was blown away by antony, played by diana coates, performing with such vocal power and poise. according to the program she's a new transplant to the city and i am sure we'll see her more. brutus, portrayed by kimberly logan (a bwb ensemble member) was also impressive in her lead role. also: the costumes...whew! kimberly g. morris kills it, specifically with the uniforms at the end. when i as an actor sit in the audience wishing i could have a chance to wear those costumes, you know something has been done right.

all in all, i'm glad i finally got to catch a babes performance and look forward to more in the future. i gave it 2 1/2 out of four because i find my mind wandering a bit...as this is a very talk-heavy, action-light production. not necessarily the babes fault, but i certainly look forward to more action heavy shows by them in the future.

**added bonus/shameless plug: if you go see their show you can get a $5 discount on RICHARD III tickets (in which i am playing lady anne) by bringing in your program to any of our productions. i love collaborations!

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upcoming march shows:
tuesday the 26th 8pm: lights out theatre company's skin!
saturday the 30th 8pm: right brain project's the bacchae

join me, will you?

march #1: rich & famous

friday night i saw my first show of my four in four series: jackalope theatre's RICH AND FAMOUS.

what: rich and famous by john guare

where: the den theatre, wicker park

accompaniment: my multi-talented fiance, dustin

drinkability: awesome. there's a bar in the den with affordable drinks. for him: pbr. for me: red wine.

show length: no intermission, 90 minutes (give/take)

out of four: three/four

now, simply put: i'm a big fan of the people over at jackalope. i met a good handful of them shortly after i moved to chicago in the summer of 2009 and we were in a production of baal together at the ep theatre (rip). i've been following their work from afar for the last couple of years and have recently made the decision to not miss a thing these incredibly nice and talented people do because...well, anything they put on always leaves me with just a good feeling. plus, these folks are damn good at giving hugs.

rich and famous is no exception to my enjoyment of jackalope's work. i didn't really know what i was coming in to, and i don't know quite what to qualify this production as (musical? musical comedy? comedy with music?) but either way, it was fun.

we walk in to a preshow that extends rather seamlessly into the opening of the play. pre-show performances are hard to do, and if you have one that relies on the audience its even worse! (try doing a pre show when there's only 5 people in the audience that you're supposed to interact with...for minutes and minutes on end....say it ain't so!). lucky for the r&f cast, no direct audience communication was needed...but it still didn't relieve them of the awkward tension you could feel between the actors not-really-acting while the audience isn't-really-watching. while it was a clever set up with the actors setting up all set pieces in preparation for the show, i found myself cringing for the actors needing to fill the time and look totally natural.

once the show opened all of that flew out the window. the cast of four (andrew burden swanson, baize buzan [sorry, coolest name ever? i think so.], bernard balbot [again, with the cool names, come on guys] and torian miller) had a nice chemistry and interaction with each other throughout the entirety of the show. all but swanson boasted of their 'jackalope debuts' in the programs, and will be, i expect, on the jackalope stage again in the future.

swanson stars as bing ringaling, a playwright on his verge of success (or is he?). he's charming and funny and experiences all of the emotions we humans experience in this gem. it was so fun getting to watch this challenge come alive in him.

my favorite scene in the show (also the longest. like, so long. but luckily it was my favorite, so. i got to enjoy it) was the interaction between swanson and balbot in this scene:

seriously. i don't laugh very hard at much and balbot had me in some uncontrollable giggles. dustin later described it as me "kind of losing it". yeah, i'll admit it. see this show for this scene alone.

overall, jackalope made me laugh and smile with this one. while the script itself is a little wiley and can get out of hand (see: funniest scene also feeling uncomfortably long after a while), the actors were charming and changed seamlessly between the different character challenges that they faced. go see this show for a nice night out. biggest post-show drawback? having to tip toe around between the den's other shows simultaneously happening. so remember to be quiet and hug those jackalope's goodbye.

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upcoming march shows:

sunday the 17th 3pm: babes with blade's (all female) julius caesar

tuesday the 26th 8pm: lights out theatre company's skin!

saturday the 30th 8pm: right brain project's the bacchae

join me, will you?