1. Jason Segel was all over town this weekend; he took Wrigleyville resident Chelsea Gill out on a date after her video requesting it went viral, and performed at Second City. Segel was in town to receive the Commedia Extraordinaire Award from the Chicago Film Critics Association. “I did pretty well but I was an amateur compared to the cast of Second City who are truly great,” Segel tweeted after the performance. “I am so grateful how welcoming they were.” Were you there? Was it good?
2. Messing with a Friend has a great line-up at the Annoyance this month: This Thursday, Tracy Letts; in the coming weeks, Kate James and Michael Patrick Thornton.
3. Speaking of Michael Patrick Thornton, he’ll be performing in Natural Gas with Crip Slam in an improv night at Victory Gardens on January 29. There will be much audience participation, even before the show; email Mike Ervin “a regular day-in-the-life story from your own life. These literary gems will be tossed into the hat and, that night, Michael and Natural Gas will choose one story as the basis for an improv.”
4. RIVERDANCE. For the last time! Tickets on sale Friday. You know what to do. If they move their arms even a little bit, report back.
5. Larry Bommer writes about theater etiquette, a topic we never tire of. This time, the issue at hand is seeing over a tall person in front of you. He writes that “there’s one theater on Southport Avenue (the Athenaeum is aware of the problem) whose rows must have been designed by a misanthropic dwarf.”
Questions? Tips? Email kdries@wbez.org.
