Tag Archives: Profiles Theatre

Review: Profiles Theatre’s The Dream of the Burning Boy

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Yes, another Profile Theatre production, and yes I went to go and see it… why make the trip? Because, first and foremost I am a friend, and as a friend I make sure I support (a select number) my friends in their endeavors…

So since one of my friends happens to be filling in as understudy for one of the leads of Profile Theatre’s current production of The Dream of the Burning Boy… I made sure to squeeze in time in my crazy schedule to make a trip to see him with the original cast (though i suppose I would make the trip to understudy night as well but I digress).

Upon entering the “alley stage” of Profiles Theatre I was struck by the classroom setting and am immediately intrigued by the ambience and environment of a production I am walking in knowing nothing about.

Well considering that this is a matinee show (and as much as it pains me to say it) the pacing felt slow right at the beginning. This isn’t always the fault of the actors or the production team, because I find this to be an issue for professional theatre productions as well as on Broadway… matinee shows just don’t have the same kind of energy as the evening shows. Period.

From the Profiles Theatre website:

Since the sudden death of his favorite student, high-school teacher Larry Morrow has been falling asleep at his desk and dreaming. Steve, the school’s guidance counselor, hangs inspirational posters designed to help everyone “process their emotions” while the student’s sister and friends find little solace in their schoolwork. The Dream of the Burning Boy is a bittersweet story of choices made, opportunities lost, and finding the strength to move on.

That being said…

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Review: Profiles Theatre’s Hellcab

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Last week I had the pleasure to see a friend of mine in Profiles Theatre’s production of Hellcab. The first thing I said to him about his performance was that it took til almost the end of the show for me to be any where close to certain as to which character he played.

However, there was just enough doubt in me that I leaned over to my friend (his wife) after the show and ask, “your husband was the blind man, right?” Typically I am pretty good at playing “spot my talented friend” be it on stage or on film… in this case, not realizing which one was my friend was a feat in itself.

If you don’t already know the general production of Hellcab, it is a slew of scenes of various people and their interactions with the cab driver (the main character who was on stage for the entirety of the production). However, instead of having a small slew of actors playing multiple roles, each individual role was cast with a different actor… making this the largest cast production of Hellcab (that I know of to date).

However, considering the concept of this anniversary season of Profiles Theatre is it really any surprise that they would go all out?

When walking into the theatre for your seats the first thing you notice is that there is a full-sized cab sitting in the middle of the stage. The roof was sawed off and both passenger seats were taken out… but for the most part the cab was all there and in reasonable working condition (well reasonable enough).

What do I mean?

Well the cabbie is able to turn left or right and you can see the tires actually turn. The cab’s headlights were working for some of the scenes set in the middle of the night. (Though being an engineer I am kind of curious if they were run from the cabbie in the scene or from a separate tech crew… I should probably ask my friend but I digress).

Since there are so many characters outside of the cab driver, I won’t be able to run through them all (mainly because I don’t remember who they were, or which actors / actresses played what)… so what I’ll do is just notate the highlights.

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Review: Profiles Theatre’s Sweet and Sad (Understudy Performance)

Earlier this month (Monday, October 1) I went to the soon to be closed production of Sweet and Sad at the Profiles Theatre in Chicago. With this particular production there was a performance on a Monday Night where all the roles were played by the understudies as opposed to the original cast members.

First the cast (original and understudy):

CHARACTER ORIGINAL CAST UNDERSTUDY CAST
Richard Apple Darrell W. Cox Jeff Gamlin
Uncle Benjamin Apple Robert Breuler Scott Stockwell
Marian Apple Kristin Ford Jaimelyn Gray
Barbara Apple Kate Harris Michelle McKenzie-Voigt
Jane Apple Harmony France Angela DeMarco
Tim Andrews Eric Burgher Anthony Venturini

Typically when you have an understudy in the role you can kind of tell where they can improve their performance, particularly when they are with the original cast members and sometimes with other understudies… however with this particular understudy performance, in general, the understudy cast knocked it out of the ballpark.

So why see the understudy performance? Simple… my friends and I came to support a friend of mine for a professional gig that meant a lot to him and his wife. How could you not want to support a friend that spent his lifetime to this point trying to balance building his own theatre company as well as trying to pursue his own professional acting career?

But before I go more into the performances let’s talk about the show itself. First the synopsis from the Profiles Theatre Website:

Profiles Theatre’s Midwest premiere of Sweet and Sad by Richard Nelson opens the company’s 2012-2013 season. Sweet and Sad, directed by Joe Jahraus and featuring Co-Artistic Director Darrell W. Cox, is now playing through October 7, 2012. Performances are held at Profiles newest venue, The Main Stage, 4139 N. Broadway.

With Sweet and Sad, Tony Award-winning playwright Richard Nelson continues his series of plays exploring the immediate present as well as the ever-changing state of the nation. Over Sunday brunch on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the members of the Apple Family finds themselves talking about loss, remembrance and the family struggle to maintain its moral equilibrium in a world that no longer reflects its values.

Wait? “Series of Plays”? Indeed… it would appear that Sweet and Sad is the second of a series of plays by playwright: Richard Nelson (the first being That Hopey Changey Thing). This series of plays surrounds the Apple Family as they get together first for Election Night in the first play and in the current play the anniversary of 9/11.
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