Photo from Yoga Lawyers
A still of Ray Hui and Sean Sullivan, filming the “Yoga Lawyers” video for this week’s Radio Television Theater Hour.
The RTTH returns on August 13
We took July off for scheduling reasons, but The Radio Television Theater Hour will be back in August. We write and perform a brand new fictional local talk show every month at The Public House Theatre. This show, as always, will be a lot of fun, so if you’re in Chicago you should check it out.
Details:
Wednesday, August 13 at 8pm
The Public House Theatre, 3914 N. Clark St
Tickets are $10 + free drink
Pornographic Westerns?
Whittling away the hours on WikiPedia as I research a Western stage comedy that I’m writing (did a reading tonight of the first draft with some actor friends and it’s coming along nicely), I came across this choice sentence:
The most rare of the Western sub-genres, pornographic Westerns use the old West as a background for stories primarily focused on erotica.
Accoording to WikiPedia, there are at least 18 subgenres of Westerns. The one I’m writing will fall into the postmodern satirical subgenre, which is something I just made up.
The Radio Television Theater Hour Premieres on Wednesday!
The first episode of The Radio Television Theater Hour will be on Wednesday, April 9th at The Public House Theatre. Everything’s pretty much set (until we do tech tomorrow night) and we’re really excited about how the show is going to play out. If you like quirky comedy, then you’ll like this.
Wes Anderson will be doing a Q&A at the Music Box Theatre this Saturday
Wes Anderson will be doing a live Q&A at the Music Box Theatre this Saturday after a screening of his new film “The Grand Budapest Hotel” as part of their Wes Anderson anthology. Tickets are free and will be available at noon tomorrow (2/25) but you may have to wait in line for a while (I’m hoping it’s not too long) on Thursday. The movie starts at 4pm and the doors open at 3:15pm.
Starting a New Show at The Public House Theatre
A few years ago I did a show with Cleanest Best Pleasure, a now-defunct sketch group, called The Clean Show at The Upstairs Gallery. It was framed as a public access TV show about local events in Chicago and was reasonably successful (notwithstanding the one show that was only attended by my then girlfriend, which if you’re doing comedy in Chicago you’ve experienced at least once or twice).
Anyway, my friend Katy and I have been talking ever since about reviving it in some form and over drinks in November we finally decided to make it happen, not as a revival but as a brand new show with some of the same themes. A few meetings later, pulling in our friend Spencer, and a really solid cast/writing staff with credits from The Onion News Network, Steppenwolf, McSweeney’s, NYTVF, and all the Chicago improv/comedy theaters that everyone in Chicago studies/performs at. (more…)
Great Opening Night for Cut to The Chase
I’m officially a playwright now. I was at the opening last night for Cut to the Chase at The Artistic home last night and all of the plays were fantastic and played to a sold-out house.
Date Night had a lot of positive feedback and it was really satisfying to see a lot of the funny moments and jokes pay off in front of a live audience–rehearsal had been tough at times because it was just me and the director (Kristin Collins) watching and honestly, after watching it a dozen times in an empty theater, the laughs stop happening.
That’s pretty normal for comedy and so I’m really proud of the actors (Cole Millette, Tyler Collins, and Jae Renfrow) for sticking through it and not losing faith and really for just doing such an awesome show last night.
If you’re in Chicago and like theater, and especially if you’re someone that wants to go see more theater but you’ve held off because, well, “serious theater” can be intimidating1, then you should come check it out; it’s an easy way to dip your toes in the water because there’s five short plays so if you don’t like one, then no big deal, the next one starts in fifteen minutes. And there’s a nice range of stuff, from drama to comedy to thriller.
Anway, it’s playing Fridays and Saturdays through the end of January.
I’ve had conversations with a lot of people lately that go something like “I really should go to see more (any) theater because I know there’s a lot of great stuff in Chicago but I just never get around to it or I don’t know what to see.” ↩
Date Night at Cut to The Chase at Artistic Home
Tickets are now available for Cut to The Chase at the Artistic Home in Chicago. My one-act play, Date Night, will be featured along with four other plays. Having seen all the plays last year (and having acted in one myself), I can say that overall the quality of the acting, directing, and writing was quite good and I expect this year to be no different.
Here are the details:
What: Date Night is a dark comedy about a domestic dispute that leads to a hilarious and endearing encounter between a timid philosophy professor and his working-class neighbor. Directed by Kristin Collins and featuring Cole Millette, Tyler Collins, and Jae Renfrow.
When: Fridays and Saturdays, January 10 – 25, 2014 @ 8pm
Where: The Artistic Home, 1376 W Grand Ave, Chicago, IL 60642
Tickets: Available online here ($15)
My One-Act Play, Date Night, To Premiere at The Artistic Home in January 2014
I’m excited to announce that my one-act play, Date Night, will premiere at The Artistic Home this winter as part of their annual Cut to the Chase festival! It’s a comedy about an unlikely encounter between two very different people living in the same apartment building and it will run on Fridays and Saturdays from January 10 to January 25, 2014.
I participated in last year’s festival as an actor and it was a lot of fun with really good crowds. I’ll post more details and ticket information when that becomes available.
Super Stunt Show Launching Soon
Just a quick update on one of my projects from the past year, a comedy web series called Super Stunt Show, about a Norwegian daredevil trying to get famous with his own reality show. I play Francois, a chain-smoking French engineer with a hook hand.