1. We’ve talked about Mario Cart as theater, but now for a more obvious twist on video-to-stage: Gleeks and Freaks: A Glee Burlesque Musical is performing one final time tonight. Well, except that Glee airs practically every week in super-long, chock full ‘o Lady Gaga episodes, but I digress. Gleeks and Freaks is at 9:30 pm at the Gorilla Tango Theatre, and is again produced by GTT/Geek Girl Burlesque.

2. Tony Adams, the Artistic Director of the Halcyon Theatre, has some strong ideas about some traditional directing techniques. For example, he hates table work: “I don’t like table work. Actually, I f***ing hate it. I think sitting around a table for a week is one of the worst ways you can use your time.”    And believes traditional texts that tell you how to direct are stupid: “I think William Ball’s A Sense of Direction and Terry McCabe’s Mis-Directing the Play both seemed fairly worthless to me.”

3. In a panel yesterday at The Goodman, Rahm Emanuel discussed the arts, but what he said wasn’t entirely comforting to those concerned about arts funding. He described cultural organizations as no more exempt from budget-cuts than other areas, stating that they did not operate in a “sacrifice-free zone.”  The Mayor-elect went on to say that he intends to charging non-profits for water usage, but was less clear when it came to a question about whether non-profits would have to begin paying property taxes. After indicating that he wouldn’t rule out such a move, his communications staff scrambled to clarify thereafter, stating that Emanuel has no intention of imposing property taxes on non-profit organizations.

4. The book that made you cry as a child can now make you cry on stage. Watership Down opens in previews tomorrow night at the Lifeline Theatre. Scott T. Barsotti plays Fiver, and explains that if you don’t like rabbits, this isn’t the play for you. He says there are rabbits galore: “Killer rabbits. Clairvoyant rabbits. Strange rabbits. Desperate, hungry, soulful rabbits…Rabbits fighting! Rabbits adventuring! Rabbits telling tales! Rabbits using logic!”

5. And looking ahead: the Neo-Futurists are searching for new ensemble members for their show Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, which is the longest running show in Chicago and is described as “an unreproducable living newspaper collage.” Auditions will be held on Saturday, May 14 and Sunday, May 15. If YOU think you have what it takes to speak from a “perspective of absolute honesty”, then this is the show for you.  The Neo-Futurist cast members appear as themselves on stage, “speaking directly from [their] personal experiences.” 

Questions? Tips? Email kdries@wbez.org.