Third Coast Creatives

Inclement weather and holiday mayhem resulted in a series of scheduling audibles in the week before Christmas.   Completing what tasks I could, I found myself with the choice of battling holiday traffic home or find something else to do until the traffic dissipated.   I decided to treat myself to an off-Loop show.   After a quick internet search, I decided to check out the Otherworld Theatre’s world premiere of Joseph Zettelmaier’s The Winter Wolf .   I’m glad I did. Shariba Rivers and Molly Southgate in Otherworld Theatre's The Winter Wolf Photo by Steven Townshend It’s Christmas Eve in Cora’s house.   She’s visited by her beloved grandfather, a man of high spirits and failing health.   They sit around the fireplace as he tells her the legend of the Winter Wolf, a strange creature who serves as Time’s hunter, stalking those who are in the winter of their lives.   That night, the Winter Wolf comes for Cora’s grandfather, but the young girl ma...

 Although The Blues Brothers movie was released over 38 years ago, it has remained a cult classic throughout the world.  In an online poll conducted by The State Journal-Register, Illinois Bicentennial Committee, and Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum as part of the Illinois Bicentennial celebration, voters chose The Blues Brothers  as the top movie in Illinois history.  Despite opening to mixed reviews, the film has grossed over $115 million worldwide.  Here are some fun facts about this cult classic. ·          The original draft of the screenplay written by Dan Aykroyd was 324 pages, which was three times longer than the standard screenplay.   To soften the impact, Aykroyd made a joke of the thick script and had it bound with the cover of the Los Angles Yellow Pages directory when he turned it into producer Robert K. Weiss.   Director John Landis was given the task of editing the script into a usab...

Mercury Theater Chicago’s revival of their homegrown production of Avenue Q has extended performances for the second time due to popular demand, now playing through December 30, 2018.   A racy cross between South Park and Sesame Street, Avenue Q is a modern musical focusing on a group of unique 20-somethings making their way through the “Big City”, seeking their purpose in life.   This clever 2003 Broadway hit by songwriters Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez and playwright Jeff Whitty, transfers well in a breezy, intimate staging by director L. Walter Stearns at Mercury Theater Chicago. The show is the story of Princeton, a 23-year old college grad with no job, no girlfriend, and no sense of purpose.   After moving to Avenue Q, a fictional slum on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Princeton meets plucky but lonely Katie Monster, a kindergarten teaching assistant with dreams of opening a school for monsters like herself or “people of fur” in her words.   Princeton’s other n...

Reading the pages of Jessica Hopper’s latest book, Night Moves , (University of Texas Press) I found myself reliving my younger days as a creative living and hustling on the streets of Chicago.   As a free lancer working in theater, dance, movies, and anything else I could find, I identified with Hopper’s journey to define her creative self while struggling to make ends meet.   In hindsight, being broke had its benefits.   Being forced to traverse the City by foot or public transportation, Chicago opened up in ways I could never experience being cooped up in a Honda. Through Night Moves, I rediscovered those somewhat faded memories of good times and bad.   The book is a compilation of vignettes of Hopper’s exploration of the City between 2004 to 2008.   It revisits when Hopper fell in love with Chicago, block by block, on a bicycle.   More than that,  Night Moves is a snapshot of Chicago that no longer exists as Hopper and I knew it. A Ch...

Nichelle Nichols smiles when she thinks back to the beginning of her professional career as a teenager in Chicago.   She was recruited by Duke Ellington to dance and choreograph for his upcoming national tour.   By the time the tour ended, Nichols was Duke’s lead singer.   “It was unbelievable,” says Nichols.   “It was like a dream come true and that’s the type of opportunities Chicago offers young folks in the arts.”    Nichols is excited to return to her hometown as part of 2018 Wizard World Chicago.   “It feels fantastic.   I still have a lot of family in Chicago.   It’s great to come home with people I love.” Nichelle Nichols A talented singer/dancer/actress, Nichols is probably best known for her groundbreaking role as Communications Officer (later Commander) Uhura aboard the USS Enterprise in the original Star Trek television series (1966-69) as well as the succeeding motion pictures.   As a bridge officer, she became th...

Sequins, taffeta, and jeweled tiaras filled the Chicago Improv…and that was just in the audience.   On stage Laura Osnes (Cinderella on Broadway), Susan Egan (original Belle in Beauty and the Beast) and Courtney Reed (original Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin) were joined by Music Director/Fairy Godfairy Benjamin Rauhala to host a Broadway Princess Party.   Through two sold-out performances, these talented artists performed the most beloved ‘Princess songs’ of stage and screen, reminiscing about their favorite fairy tales and most cherished characters. The Broadway Princess Party is the brainchild of New York-based music director Rauhala and two-time Tony nominee Osnes.   Returning home from a visit to Disneyworld, Rauhala thought, wouldn’t it be fun to have a Broadway Princess Party?   What about a show composed of songs made famous by all those princesses, a show complete with some gossip and banter about what it would it was actually like to play these charac...

Recently Chicago and the National Hockey League (NHL) lost one of it’s iconic superstars. More importantly, the world lost a true gentleman.   Chicago  Blackhawks legend and Hockey Hall of Fame forward Stan Mikita passed away after a long illness.   Mikita spent his entire storied 21-year NHL career with the Blackhawks. He retired in 1980.     “Stan made everyone he touched a better person,” Blackhawks Team President Rocky Wirtz said. “Stosh will be greatly missed but never forgotten.”   Hockey Hall of Famer Stan Mikita  Mikita is generally regarded as the best center of the 1960s.   He remains the Blackhawks all-time scoring leader and all-time leader in assists.   Mikita is the first player in NHL history to win the Hart (League MVP), Art Ross (League Scoring Leader), and Lady Bing (Sportsmanship & Gentlemanly Play) trophies in one year and the only player to win all three in consecutive years.   Former teammate and fellow ...