1. British actor Simon Callow will be bring the well-reviewed Being Shakespeare to CST (it runs at the Broadway Playhouse as part of World’s Stage, their program that hosts companies from outside Chicago), “a virtuosic solo performance that weaves together excerpts from William Shakespeare’s plays and poems, breathing new life into his unforgettable characters and the real man behind the legend.” Those of you who have Netflix Instant might remember Callow also as that older hilarious gentleman who (spoiler for a movie that came out in 1994) dies suddenly in Four Weddings and Funeral. Being Shakespeare will run for a week only, April 18–29, 2012.
2. Watch Doyle and Debbie on Conan last night:
3. American Players Theatre’s Artistic Director David Frank is retiring (in a few years), and they’ve announced that he will be replaced by Brenda DeVita, current Associate Artistic Director. According to Board of Directors President Barbara Swan, this move has been in the works for awhile. And for DeVita: “I love my job. I love artists. What could be better?” Frank: “Brenda DeVita has been fulfilling ninety percent of a typical artistic director’s job for several years and the results, including the recent lavish praise for APT’s work from the regional and national press, speak for themselves.” So what have you been doing Frank? Kelly Kleiman has praised the Spring Green-based theater in the past, especially last summer’s Crime and Punishment.
4. Dates for upcoming Jeff awards have been announced: Non-Equity is Monday June 4 at the Park West here in Chicago; Equity on October 15 at Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace. Snag an invite early.
5. We must have missed it when three men attempted to live in like hummingbirds at the Lincoln Park Zoo this past summer -- and not for a performance art piece. If you were also spending your hours elsewhere, catch all the action on their new series Live Like An Animal: Human Hummingbird, which airs Tuesday, Jan. 17 on Nat Geo WILD:
“The television hosts Lloyd Buck, Matt Thompson and James Cooper constructed the human-scale bird nest over several days at the zoo... To mimic the hummingbirds’ diet of flower nectar, they subsist on a sickly sweet concoction, triggering a dramatic sugar overload and subsequent wild behavior. Matt attempts to entice ladies at the zoo with a less-than-impressive hummingbird courtship dance, and at the end of their adventure living like human hummingbirds a major threat to the nest rolls in: a storm.”
Questions? Tips? Email kdries@wbez.org.
