Tonight's the Night for AN EVENING with Eli Van Sickel (and Friends)

Illinois State University alum Eli Van Sickel is directing An Evening full of theatre. And it's in Chicago. Tonight. More specifically, An Evening is tonight at 7 pm at Lifeline Theatre.

Van Sickel has put together a program of short scenes, with selections from newer work like John Logan's Red, Neil Labute's Reasons to Be Pretty, Julia Jordan's Nightswim and Songs for a New World, Jason Robert Brown's heartfelt song cycle, along with classic pieces like Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac and Clifford Odets' Waiting for Lefty.

This is how Eli describes his Evening:

Eli Van Sickel has spent his entire life in the theatre. He holds a BS in Directing from Indiana State University and an MS in Theatre Studies from Illinois State University. He has worked professionally as a freelance sound designer for the last eight years. He has not directed a play since he was in school, five years ago. He has been too afraid to pursue a career as a theatre director...until now. In order to dust off the cobwebs and see if he’s worth a damn, Eli has put together an evening of scenes entitled AN EVENING. The performance will take place on Wednesday, April 13 at 7 pm at Lifeline Theatre.

David F. Meldman and James Martineau will perform the Red scene, with Devon Nimerfroh and Kristen Hughes in Reasons to Be Pretty, Mitch Conti, Gerrit Wilford, and Andrea Williams taking on Cyrano, Alyssa Ratkovich, Kent Nusbaum and Joe Faifer in Waiting for Lefty, Courtney Dane Mize performing part of Songs for a New World, and Gaby Fernandez and Emily Willis in Nightswim. Michael Evans is the Evening's musical director and pianist and Slick Jorgensen is the lighting designer.

Conti, Faifer, Fernandez, Martineau, Nimerfroh, Nusbaum, Ratkovich and Williams all have ISU connections, and you may remember them from work on Bloomington-Normal stages. Meldman has a BA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an MFA in acting from Florida Atlantic University, Willis is a Northwestern grad, Mize has a degree from Ole Miss, Wilford studied at the other Northwestern in Iowa, and Hughes earned her BA from Indiana University in the other Bloomington.

All of which adds up to a lot of talent in one place at one time. If you're wondering why this show now, Eli offers this inspirational program note:

All of us are relatively new to Chicago. We are looking for opportunities. We are looking for artistic homes. We are looking for people to take chances on us. We have devoted our lives to our craft and we are ready to do great things within it.

You have to root for that, right? Let's hope this Evening is the first in a long line of great things for all of them!

Eli Van Sickel Presents: The Dramaturgy of Pro Wrestling

Dramaturgy is one of those words that a lot of people a) sneer at, or b) don't understand, or c) both sneer at and don't understand. I've heard directors say they don't believe in dramaturgy. Laymen don't have a clue what it is. And then there's the job title. Dramaturg. Or possibly dramaturge. Is it pronounced with a hard g or a soft g? Does the last syllable rhyme with dirge or burg?

I'm on the side of "dramaturge" and "dirge," although when I just looked it up in an online dictionary, I found out it comes from the Greek dramatourgos, which certainly looks like a hard g.

Even if you manage to get past that prickly issue, you still have to decide if a dramaturge is a literary manager, selecting scripts and interacting with playwrights, or a researcher, someone who finds out more about a show to fill in the gaps in the script, or the person who writes notes in the program to help audiences understand it better. The first works with the artistic director and playwrights, the second works with the director and cast of a show, and the third is there for the audience. In England, the dramaturg has a playwriting component, throwing yet another possibility in there. So which one is the real dramaturge?

Luckily, we have Eli Van Sickel to explain it all for us. Or at least explain part of it. Van Sickel is offering a lecture and/or presentation -- free of charge -- called "The Dramaturgy of Pro Wrestling" in Centennial West 308 on Saturday, October 13, from 1 to 3 pm. Yes, that's right. Two hours on dramaturgy AND professional wrestling. Who could turn that down?

Eli explains the event thusly:

Eli loves wrestling. 

Eli loves performance studies. 

Eli wants to get better at lecturing. 

Eli thinks there should be more lectures around here that have nothing to do with a class. 

This event will be an exploration of pro wrestling as a theatrical performance and how it is made. If you're interested in wrestling, performance studies, or just learning new things, come check out this lecture/presentation and tell Eli whether his hypotheses are valid. It's gonna be fun! And there is only a 50% chance that there'll be a quiz at the end!

And there you have it. You may come to an understanding of both dramaturgy and professional wrestling in one fell swoop. Or not. You never know.

Happy Birthday Eli Van Sickel...

...and Ingrid Bergman, Elliott Gould, Preston Sturges, Lea Michele and Michael Jackson! That's a lot of talent right there on one day.

Eli Van Sickel, the first person I mentioned whose birthday is today, happens to be a masters degree candidate at Illinois State University, in the same program I'm in (although he's more a lot more advanced). He's also the diabolical mind behind social media for ISU's School of Theatre and Dance, including the recent project to get 500 "likes" on Facebook and then create a video of Connie de Veer showing off ten different dialects on Hamlet's "trippingly on the tongue" speech. That happened. And it's awesome.

So, yes, Eli's birthday is today, and he is celebrating that occasion, as well as the fact that school is back in session, by joining with fellow grad student Jake Wasson, an MFA candidate in scenic design, at Fusion Brew this Saturday, September 1, from 7 to 10 pm, with the intent to play "a wide variety of face-rocking music for your enjoyment."

It's his birthday, but he's only thinking of you. Pretty cool, right?

The Facebook page devoted to this event tells us, "Jake Wasson and Eli Van Sickel have been seen at various open mics and have busked on various streets around town. Their music is well loved by inebriated and sober people alike. This is their first gig together in a legitimate venue. And it's gonna be insane..."

Which makes it perfect for both those back at school and those with birthdays. Or, you know, anybody. And if Lea Michele or Elliott Gould want to show up, I'm sure Eli would be willing to share the celebration.

Connie de Veer and the ISU School of Theatre Facebook Page

I find out all kinds of interesting things at the School of Theatre at Illinois State Facebook page. Right now, there are notices about a staged reading of Dustin Lance Black's Proposition 8 play (it's called "8," which doesn't look like much all by itself, so I added the Prop 8 part) and Dr. Ashley Lucas offering a solo performance called "Doin' Time" about the affect of incarceration on families.

And then I got an inside scoop that Eli Van Sickel, the guy who creates ISU's School of Theatre and Dance Facebook and Twitter presence, is looking for 500 "likes" on that Facebook page. And to get to his magic 500 number (they're sitting at 480 last I looked), Eli somehow convinced the delightful and charming Connie de Veer, Associate Professor who teaches acting, voice and Alexander Technique at ISU and specializes in dialects, to perform some text to be identified later (perhaps Dr. Seuss or a soliloquy from "Hamlet"?) in a dialect or series of dialects if and only if they get over the 500 finish line.

I don't know about you, but I would love to see (and hear) Connie de Veer launch into "To be or not to be" with a Scottish brogue. Or do every line in some new exotic accent. Wouldn't you like to hear "shuffle off this mortal coil" sound like it came from Transylvania? I could totally get behind that.

So, anyway, at least twenty of you need to get over to Facebook and click the LIKE button at the top of the School of Theatre at Illinois State Facebook Page. NOW!