Ring in December with Cary Grant, Holiday Movies and Spectacularity

You don't have to wait till Christmas to open these gifts. Yes, it's true -- the good stuff in December starts tonight.

It's Cary Grant Month on Turner Classic Movies all during December, and because December 1 is a Monday and Mr. Grant has a monopoly on Monday nights, the celebration begins tonight. TCM begins its Carypalooza with a pile of the early ones -- his feature film debut in This Is the Night (1932), two Mae West vehicles with She Done Him Wrong (1933) and I'm No Angel (1933), a war film called The Eagle and the Hawk (1933) where Grant serves as a rival for flying ace Fredric March, Hot Saturday (1932), a piece about the danger of small-town gossip, Suzy (1936), with Jean Harlow, and by the time it turns into December 2, The Toast of New York (1937), a historical piece about a robber baron in the 19th century, and Night and Day (1946), where he plays a very unrealistic version of songwriter Cole Porter. Things get even better later in the month, when the Cary Grant persona we all expect is on full display, with highlights like The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, Gunga Din, Holiday, The Philadelphia Story, and North By Northwest. Check out the complete listing here.

As if it wasn't enough for TCM to give us all that Cary Grant, they're matching it with Ingmar Bergman movies wall to wall on Wednesday December 3. Bergman movies are in a different universe from the Hollywood fare featuring Mr. Debonair, but serious film buffs need to see Smiles of a Summer Night, the charming film that inspired A Little Night Music, the beautiful and pensive Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal and its exploration of life, death and a medieval game of chess, and the intense psychological dramas Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light and The Silence.

You can also get traditional holiday fare like The Nutcracker ballet, playing from December 4 to 7 in the Tryon Festival theatre at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana. This one is performed by the Champaign-Urbana Ballet with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra with conductor Stephen Alltop.

Also opening December 4 is an "operatic farce" by Charles Mee called Wintertime. This slightly crazy piece about pairs of lovers all descending on the same cabin features a cast of ten, with David Barkley, Wen Bu, Aaron Clark, Nancy Keener, Lincoln Machula, Jeff McGill, Diane Pritchard, Kate Prosise, Deb Richardson and Evan Smith under the direction of Timothy O'Neal at at Urbana's Station Theatre. Wintertime runs through December 20 at the Station.

And on December 5, you can see Live Window Vignettes from members of Playwrights Anonymous as part of First Friday celebrations in downtown Bloomington. These window plays will happen at 5:30 pm on Friday at the Herb Eaton Gallery. Click here to see Playwrights Anonymous's Facebook page.

That Friday is also the day the Holiday Spectacular returns to the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts. It really is spectacular, with a cast of thousands (okay, at least a hundred) including tappers, angels, wooden soldiers, father/daughter numbers and some fantastic voices, like Bob Mangialardi and Joe Penrod. The BCPA promises "all the blockbuster features that long-time attendees have come to love, such as the precision-dancing wooden soldiers, the mass choir nativity and an all-male a capella group" plus a whole bunch of surprises.

If you enjoyed seeing the Battling Gridleys as portrayed by Kathleen Kirk and Jeremy Stiller in October's Discovery Walk at Evergreen Cemetery, you can see Kirk and Stiller back in those roles when the newly restored Gridley Mansion is opened to the public for a holiday tour. You can read about the historic home renovation here. Owners Keith and Diane Thompson have partnered with Easter Seals to offer this mansion tour from 5 to 7 pm on December 11. The cost is $10 per person, with all proceeds going to Easter Seals. The tour of the premises at 301 East Grove Street will include work from local artists, info from Lincoln experts and light refreshments.

And that's just some of the entertainment available to keep you in the holiday spirit.

Playwrights Anonymous Goes to the Circus

We may not have Playwrights Horizons or the Playwrights Lab here in Bloomington-Normal, but we do have Playwrights Anonymous. This group spun off from the Young at Heartland acting troupe for seniors, originally as a way to generate material for that group, but now giving members of Playwrights Anonymous a broader forum for their work.

Bruce Boeck (at left), founder of Playwrights Anonymous, stands with Herb Eaton of the Herb Eaton Studio & Gallery

Earlier this year, Playwrights Anonymous staged It's All About Me and then Rejects, in which they performed work that had been previously rejected in other venues. Both events pulled in good audiences, which can also be expected of their newest collection of short plays on a circus theme. The official title of their October production is Fear, Folly and Finesse: The Circus Plays, and it's scheduled for two shows, one at 6 pm and one at 8 pm, on Wednesday, October 8 at the Herb Eaton Studio & Gallery in Bloomington.

Eaton's circus-themed artwork will accompany the dramatic pieces in this one-of-a-kind event.

Local playwrights and a local artist finding inspiration in the circus seems like a natural when you consider Bloomington-Normal's storied connections to the big tent. Way back when, area barns served as a popular off-season rehearsal space for aerialists and flying trapeze artists, and Milner Library at ISU has an extensive circus collection to celebrate that. Maureen Brunsdale and Mark Schmitt, both of whom work in special collections at Milner, wrote a book about that very topic. And, of course, the Gamma Phi Circus has been a staple at ISU, aerialists have shown up in the Discovery Walk at Evergreen Cemetery, and the McLean County History Museum has done special exhibits on the subject. 

Members of Playwrights Anonymous

Because earlier Playwrights Anonymous shows ended up Standing Room Only, reservations are well advised. Call 309-828-1575 to make sure you have a spot.

Click here for more information on Playwrights Anonymous in general or here to see The Circus Plays' Facebook event page.

Playwrights Anonymous Stages IT'S ALL ABOUT ME Tonight

Playwrights Anonymous, the spin-off writers group from Heartland Theatre's Young at Heartland Acting Troupe, will not be deterred by a little snow. The playwrights are scheduled to perform some of their original pieces tonight at the Eaton Gallery at 411 North Center Street in Bloomington. Snow or no, they report that the show -- called It's All About Me -- will go on tonight at 7 pm. Tickets are $5, and reservations have been brisk, so you are wise to call ahead at 309-828-1575 to make sure there's space before you go. For more information about Playwrights Anonymous, call 309-706-8264.

It's All About Me will include staged readings of eight short plays previously published in the volume "Seniors Still Acting Up: Short Comedies," which is available for purchase at SeniorTheatre.com. Plays include Afternoon Antiquing by Lynda Straw, The Car and the Garage Door by Janet Grub, First Time by Elsie Cadieux, Ladies Who Lunch by Carol Scott, Pink by Joy Schuler, A Promise Kept by Judy Franciosi, Two of  Kind by Bruce Boeck, and What Emergency by Holly Klass.

Playwrights Anonymous will be back at Eaton Gallery with new programs of short plays in May and October. The October program will be centered around the idea of the circus, as inspired by Herb Eaton's paintings.

Playwrights Anonymous founder Bruce Boeck (L) with Herb Eaton