WBEZ | Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

Daily Rehearsal: Mary-Arrchie remounts 'Superior Donuts'

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 12:02:00 -0500

- Remember that Beatbox Comedy is on Thursdays at Strawdog Theater.

- Some investors for the Broadway play Rebecca are actually not real, reports the New York Times.

- If it's not broken and people aren't sick of it and it won a bunch of awards, do it again! Mary-Arrchie Theatre Co. is restaging Superior Donuts with most of their original cast October 31 at the Royal George. In a statement, Artistic Director Carlo Garcia noted that the production was sold out for three months and was the most successful show in the company's 27 year history.

- Steppenwolf Ensemble member Joan Allen was on Afternoon Shift yesterday.

- Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's 35th season starts up at the Harris Theater the weekend of October 18. The evening is notable because it's the opening of their first full-length performance, choreographed by Alejandro Cerrudo, who was inspired by Marc Chagall's "Windows", which you can see at the Art Institute. Hubbard Street is dedicating this piece to Mayor Rahm Emanuel (much like Chagall's windows was dedicated to Mayor Daley in 1977, when Hubbard Street Dance began), who said in a statement, “I am committed to making Chicago a worldwide destination for dance and look forward to celebrating this wonderful cultural institution in our city.”

Questions? Tips? Email kdries@wbez.org.

Daily Rehearsal: Sudeikis to stay at SNL, for now anyway

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 08:43:00 -0500

- Straight off of the recent new Chicago-full line-up at Saturday Night Live, former Chicagoan Jason Sudekis will be with SNL at least through January, reports the New York Times. "He’s a fiercely loyal guy, both to the show and to me,” said Lorne Michaels. Also, they don't have anyone else to play Mitt Romney.

- More options for those trying to find ways to get those kids entertained during the CTU strike. Head to Prop Thtr's Neurokitchen's Curiosity Club Strike Camp which "will nurture kids inquisitiveness and encourage them to take initiative for their own learning" and costs $40 a day. Brain Surgeon's Make a Movie Camp (also at Prop Thtr) teaches kids how to make a movie at $45 a day. Studio BE is doing a variety of things, including dance, and for only $20. Hubbard Street Dance also has dance classes for $60 a day.

Questions? Tips? Email kdries@wbez.org.

Daily Rehearsal: 'SNL' taps three Chicagoans for new season

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:48:00 -0500

- Proving once again that Chicago is your city on the hill for comedy, Cecily Strong, Tim Robinson and Aidy Brant have joined the cast of Saturday Night Live. Buzzfeed catches you up on the talented trio, if you haven't seen them performing in the usual spread of Second City, Annoyance Theater and iO. The new season starts this Satruday night.

- "For the first 35 hours they’re on sale, tickets to Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s 2012–2013 season performances at the Harris Theater are $35." This offer starts on Thursday at 9 am; use the code "35" online.

- Did Open Streets get in your way when traveling downtown this weekend? Open Streets event shuts down traffic in the Loop on Sept. 8

- Some theater companies are offering entertainment options for those affected by this week's teachers strike. Lookingglass is offering drama workshops for 5 to 13 year olds from 9 am to 3 pm, though the classes are $65 a day. “Lookingglass has long been a resource that provides quality arts-based alternatives for students – we have a history of partnering with schools and other non-profit organizations to provide residencies and after-school programs, in addition to our well-known classes and camp programs," said Artistic Director Andrew White in a statement.

If you're interested in free things, Court Theatre lets CPS students (and one parent or guardian) into their production of Jitney this Thursday at 10:30 am. Just bring your CPS ID to the theater -- though its recommended that this activity be fore those above 13. “Every year Court Theatre invites thousands of CPS students to attend our productions as part of its educational outreach programs," said Executive Director Stephen Albert. "Despite the strike, we want Court to remain a place where students, teachers and parents can benefit from and enjoy classic theatre." (This last one is only happening if the strike is still happening Thursday.)

Questions? Tips? Email kdries@wbez.org.

'Harold and the Purple Crayon' returns

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:10:00 -0600

“It’s great to see a six-year-old have their own moment with what’s onstage. Kids are great audience members—when they’re having a wonderful moment of catharis or immersion, they don’t care what they sound like.”

Matt Miller, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s lighting director, is reveling in the vociferous responses to Hubbard Street 2’s Harold and the Purple Crayon: A Dance Adventure, based on Crockett Johnson’s 1955 picture book and set to music by Andrew Bird. After sold-out performances a year ago, when the show debuted in Chicago (it opened first at the Kennedy Center), Harold is being remounted this weekend—with some tweaks Miller made to his own lighting. “The audience probably didn’t care,” he says. “But it didn’t meet my standards.”

“Ryan [Wineinger] did the projections and scenery,” says Miller. “And he drew a lot of wonderful inspiration from the idea of folded paper, with the stage like a big white open book. The projections are the focus of the show, what the kids pay attention to the most. It’s like TV, but they also interact. They stay involved, seeing lines getting drawn, creatures taking shape.”

However, he says, “a white set is sort of a death trap for lighting. When you’re lighting a dance, you usually use black masking—the thing that keeps people from seeing backstage. But with Harold, the masking was brighter than the dancers. It gave me an interesting palette, and there were great moments where it worked, but… the design choices on the dancers were minimal.”

This year, Miller is putting the same scenic elements in a purple frame instead—“still like the book, but also like the crayon. In this business, you don’t often get a second chance! Now the colors are on the dancers, not the background.”

Wineinger says that, in some ways, his “set and projections were easy because they were a re-creation of the children’s book. But they also provided an opportunity to travel through the book, doing it through video. Harold travels through the landscapes, and sometimes draws them. He’s creating all these places, and the dancers are the spark.”

“We wanted the scenic elements to be huge,” Wineinger adds—not only the projections but the oversize bed and window he designed. The result: the six HS2 dancers playing Harold, some of them pretty tall, look child-size.

Miller started out at Hubbard Street as the production manager for Hubbard Street 2. “I was a one-man song-and-dance,” he says. “I did the lighting, the stage management, driving the van, washing the costumes…. ” In his current job, as lighting director for both companies, he estimates that 60 to 70 percent of his work is adapting the lighting designs of pieces that HSDC has acquired. But he will be designing Hubbard Street’s January show at the MCA, “danc(e)volve,” a showcase of new works by HSDC and HS2 dancers.

A self-described art geek, Miller says, “Whether it’s great design or choreography or cinematography, art that can move you is just so fantastic. Everyone can understand it, but we can almost never put our finger on it. Someone once told me, ‘Bad lighting is easy to see, but good lighting is not.’ At the end of the day, the goal is to make art.”