Daily Rehearsal: Timeline to produce Jon Conroy’s ‘My Kind of Town’

Daily Rehearsal: Timeline to produce Jon Conroy’s ‘My Kind of Town’
AP PHOTO
Daily Rehearsal: Timeline to produce Jon Conroy’s ‘My Kind of Town’
AP PHOTO

Daily Rehearsal: Timeline to produce Jon Conroy’s ‘My Kind of Town’

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Sorry we missed each other yesterday. I swear, I didn’t look that good.

1. On Sunday, Porchlight Theatre had a brunch, but it was really more of fancy brunch, or a gala, one that they said was “celebrating the past, looking to the future.” Journey On included entertainment by Porchlight performers, including Bethany Thomas, who is currently heating up Porgy and Bess, and hornored Walter Stearns, who is leaving the company. 

2. Timeline Theater 2011-12 has announced their 2011-12 season, which will be their 15th season. The lineup includes several world and Chicago premieres, including ENRON by Lucy Prebble, a British playwright whose projects are often ripped from the headlines; she was also a writer on the show Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Media-inspired plays abound, with John Conroy’s My Kind of Town, which was workshopped in November 2010. Conroy has written extensively about the police torture scandal that occurred in Chicago two decades.

3. Betty Ford and theater? Michael Miner at the Reader has a cute story about the former First Lady. Miner’s brother Peter was in a play at the Kennedy Center, and Ford gave her family seats (President’s box) to Peter after receiving a letter. Peter says: “I’m talking to the White House, and Betty Ford’s assistant is telling me, ‘Mrs. Ford would be pleased to know that your parents will be using her box.’ Of course, I had to request a ticket for you (No problem), and then I had to call back to request another ticket for the friend of a cast member (Again, no problem.) Easily one of the most satisfying moments of my life, and all because of a whim and a very decent woman.”

4. Sondheim’s Follies, going up at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in October, has been cast. Leads include Brent Barrett and Susan Moniz as Benjamin and Phyllis Rogers Stone, and Robert Petkoff and Caroline O’Connor as Buddy and Sally Durant Plummer. Carlotta will be played by Hollis Resnik.

5. Kristen Schmidt is being replaced by Carron Little as Artistic Director of Walkabout Theater. In a statement, Schmidt said, “Carron Little has an amazing inventiveness and passion for exploring ways to create and present new stories for live audiences. I look forward to being part of the new theatrical surprises that Ms. Little and Walkabout Theater bring to Chicago audiences. In celebration of Ms. Little’s new leadership, Walkabout is presenting two new creations this summer/fall.” These creations include a “site - specific performance in a house in Pilsen and a whole series of twelve unexpected encounters throughout the Wicker Park and Bucktown neighborhoods.” 

Questions? Tips? Email kdries@wbez.org.