Are you scared, America? Is the world looking at you funny?
Better head underground.

Let's go to…

Kyle's Basement

Variety Underground

Strawdog's Late Night Variety Show directed by Anita Deely and featuring Kyle Hamman, Chris Hainsworth, Noah Simon, Tom Hickey, Mike Dailey and Shannon Hoag-Hamman-Hoag.

Music! Sketch! Snacks!
You'll laugh your pants off!

Anderson Lawfer, host of The Game Show Show…and Stuff says, "I took the Broadway bus ALL THE WAY to get there."

Don't miss it…Friday November 9th at 11pm in Hugen Hall at

Strawdog Theatre Company
3829 N. Broadway
www.strawdog.org

NO COVER!!!!

Well yeah, s'pose they do....but this time, they are totally seriously truthy-

Early raves for 'Aristocrats' at Strawdog:

"...Strawdog has tapped Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member Rick Snyder who... elicits both fine ensemble work and exquisitely crafted individual performances. " Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

"Snyder's precise and fine-spun direction of a Strawdog ensemble once again at the top of its game...is clear not just to the eye and ear, but ultimately to the heart." Megan Powell, Timeout Chicago

I've got a couple comp tix for this weekend, if anyone wants them. First come, first serve.

Steppenwolf ensemble member Rick Snyder (director of their recent hit production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal) kicks off Strawdog's 20th Season directing our award-winning acting ensemble in Brian Friel's story of an Irish family living in the shadow of a past that's too glorious to be true, and wrestling with a present too treacherous to navigate. By turns hilarious and heart-breaking, this is the first part of Strawdog's exploration of the theme of dynasty, and it is not to be missed.
In County Donegal in the mid 1970s, the O'Donnell family, a rare example of Irish-Catholic aristocracy, gathers at their family estate on the eve of the clan's youngest daughter's wedding. Haunted by memories and secrets, and pressed by an American academic intent on finding the family's true history, the long-estranged siblings alternately deny and face up to the collapse of their homestead and their personal lives as well.
Brian Friel is one of Ireland's most acclaimed playwrights, with a body of work that includes Dancing at Lughnasa and Faith Healer. Patterned after Chekhov's greatest plays, Aristocrats, is one of if his finest.

At long last....


As you may know, I've been in the Second City Conservatory for the last year and a half. The last two sessions we have created a 45 minute show and it opens tonight!

Yes, the fruits of our labor are ready for the ETC stage. Opening tonight and running for the next four weeks we will be presenting 'Assholes on a Train', our sketch comedy revue.

Here's the details:

Assholes on a Train
Second City, ETC theatre (2nd Floor at Piper's Ally)
$5
7:30pm
Monday
Runs until August 20th.
The ETC serves beer, wine and food.
Get there early for a good seat up front.

Our class and one other graduating class will present their show. I've seen a lot of their material and they are pretty friggin' funny as well.
Hope you can make it out!

ox
mike d

Here's an article in the Daily Herald about the show I'm writing at Strawdog:

http://www.dailyherald.com/timeout/story.asp?id=3922625§ion=theater

***********************************************


Strawdog show challengesradio, theater
By JACK HELBIG
Posted Thursday, May 24, 2007


Tired of a regular diet of classics and last year's
flops from New York? Check out Strawdog Radio Theatre,
Strawdog Theatre Company's occasional foray into the
world of experimental, live, radio plays, opening in
previews May 31.

Performed live at the Strawdog Theatre, each evening's
performance is simulcast at www.live365.com.

Subtitled "Fame: Live Forever," the current and
seventh edition of Strawdog Radio Theatre features
three short radio plays - "Popsong," "Crime on the
Rocks" and one short comic play with an impossibly
long title, "Picklebot and Lawfer: The Last Mission.
For Freedom. For Serious. Four"- all of them by
Strawdog ensemble member Michael Dailey, and each
concerned with some facet of fame.

Dailey keeps busy juggling writing with acting gigs.
He is currently in Shattered Globe's production of
"Hyde in Hollywood." But he is far from a household
name. Strawdog Radio Theatre 7 gives him the chance to
stretch his artistic wings, without the risk of
causing his theater - or himself - any professional or
economic damage.

"The stage looks kind of like a radio studio," Dailey
said, "and over the past (six installments of Strawdog
Radio Theatre) we have acquired what we call 'the
kit,' a cart with all kind of things packed into it,
microphones, a mixing board, etc."

The stage also has room for a live band on a raised
platform, which harkens back to the golden age of
radio when lots of radio shows had their own live
band.

Strawdog Radio Theater 7, though, is not filled with
nostalgia. Rather, Dailey has used the structure of
radio theater to create new works that challenge the
medium - and take the kind of risks theaters hate to
take with larger-budget productions.

"I originally wrote 'Popsong' as a full stage play,"
Dailey says, "but I cut it back to fit in this show.
It is a piece about a one-hit-wonder group, and what
happens when the group gets a second chance at
fame."In contrast, "Crime on the Rocks" came out of a
writers workshop Dailey was part of at the theater.

"Crime on the Rocks" is a noir thriller with a twist;
the detective is a woman, Nelly Quinn.

And "Picklebot and Lawfer: The Last Mission For
Freedom For Serious. Four"?

Dailey laughs when I ask about this one. Then he
explains that it is a very lighthearted sketch, one of
a number of insane sketches he and fellow
ensemble-member Anderson Lawfer have written about a
comedian and his sidekick, a robot pickle. Yes, you
read right, a robot pickle. And not just any robot
pickle, a robot pickle with a penchant for telling
very bad jokes.

The premise of the sketch is that there is a movie out
there called "The Last Mission: For Freedom For
Serious IV," the fourth in a series of increasingly
awful movies. And we are watching a short ad for the
movie.

"The sketch is a kind of send-up of ridiculous
trailers," Dailey says with a laugh, "and how sequels
get worse and worse."

Dailey loves the fact that the folks behind Strawdog
Radio Theatre gave him such a long leash.

"I listen to a lot of BBC radio online," Dailey says,
"and I am impressed by how much they do on BBC radio
and how many kinds of radio stories they broadcast -
news stories, plays, short public interest pieces.
This show gives me a taste of that kind of freedom."

And that is a far cry from the "same old, same old"
served up at all too many Chicago theaters, both in
and out of the Loop.

"Radio 7" opens in previews May 31. The press opening
is June 7. The show runs through June 22 at Strawdog
Theatre Company, 3829 N. Broadway Ave., Chicago. For
tickets and information call (773) 528-9696 or visit
www.strawdog.org

Tickets $10 BUY TICKETS! Win cash playing blackjack, poker, roulette, craps and more ...Purchase your tickets online and receive a $5 chip at the door!
Have fun gambling and help Strawdog Theatre. This night is always a blast and this time it will have a heavy dose of Studio 54, 70's flair.
Don't you dare miss it!

More details at:

http://www.strawdog.org/

Yo everyone, here's the info on the show I'm currently working on:

Everyone has a secret to keep in 1930's Hollywood.and the unrelenting gossip columnist Hollywood Confidential is determined to expose them all. Mr. Confidential especially has it in for Tinseltown's leading director and actor, Julian Hyde. Beneath the veneer of Hyde's celebrity status and fairytale marriage to his leading lady Lida Todd, he is concealing a truth that could destroy his relationship, his reputation and his career. Desperate to keep Confidential from going public with his secret, Hyde draws him into an epic battle in which the glitz of film and fame become deadly weapons.

So the Chicago Tribune came out to see the show and really liked it.

Best quote:
"... in the inventive hands of director Shade Murray ... the hellish world of Depression-era marathon dances comes to sizzling life."
Chicago Tribune

Trib liked it, Suntimes liked it...not so much on the Reader, but hey, can't please everyone and when you take on a challenge like Marathon '33, your bound to have some who doesn't appreciate what your trying to do. If we wanted good reviews we could just do 'All my Sons' and 'Deathtrap' in Rep. :) Ahhhh...theatre is a cruel mistress. Let's Marathon!

Though each marathon promoter had his own requirements, the following list of rules is representative (from Dance of the Sleepwalkers by Frank M. Calabria):

1. Contestants will spend 45 minutes [of each hour] on the dance floor; 11 minutues in rest quarters, 2 minutes to get there; 2 minutes to return to the floor;

2. When dance music starts, floor judge blows his whistle and everyone must be in dance position and remain so until the dance music ends;

3. Any contestant who shall leave the floor without permission from the judges is automatically disqualified;

4. All male contestants must be clean shaven at all times. Regulation clothes for female contestants were as follows: no shorts, no halters or abbreviated covering; no trousers for girls except at late hours;

5. No smoking on dance floor. No gum chewing except at events or late hours. No spitting;

6. Contestants must get an excuse from the floor judge for hygienic purposes. 2 munites is the time limit;

7. Showers are compulsory. The floor judge permits 20 minutes in respective shower rooms every 12 hours under supervision of matrons and trainers;

8. All contestants are forbidden to receive candy, gum, cigarettes, food or anything to be placed in contestant's mouth from any other than regular authorized sources and at designated time;

9. Contestants must behave as ladies and gents at all times;

10. The management reserves the right to disqualify any contestant who is not in good physical condition at any time on the advice of a comptetent physician;

11. Fighting means immediate disqualification;

12. Floor rules will be interpreted by the floor judge on duty and no appeal may be had from his ruling;

13. During any 45 minutes period, if a contestant should touch both knees to the floor, he or she is immediately disqualified;

14. During a dynamite sprint, should a contestant fall, he or she is allowed five counts to be back on their feet and in action. Should they touch both knees in the danger zone, they are automatically disqualified;

15. Should either team member be disqualified, the remaining partner may continue solo.

etc...

Though each marathon promoter had his own requirements, the following list of rules is representative (from Dance of the Sleepwalkers by Frank M. Calabria):

1. Contestants will spend 45 minutes [of each hour] on the dance floor; 11 minutues in rest quarters, 2 minutes to get there; 2 minutes to return to the floor;

2. When dance music starts, floor judge blows his whistle and everyone must be in dance position and remain so until the dance music ends;

3. Any contestant who shall leave the floor without permission from the judges is automatically disqualified;

4. All male contestants must be clean shaven at all times. Regulation clothes for female contestants were as follows: no shorts, no halters or abbreviated covering; no trousers for girls except at late hours;

5. No smoking on dance floor. No gum chewing except at events or late hours. No spitting;

6. Contestants must get an excuse from the floor judge for hygienic purposes. 2 munites is the time limit;

7. Showers are compulsory. The floor judge permits 20 minutes in respective shower rooms every 12 hours under supervision of matrons and trainers;

8. All contestants are forbidden to receive candy, gum, cigarettes, food or anything to be placed in contestant's mouth from any other than regular authorized sources and at designated time;

9. Contestants must behave as ladies and gents at all times;

10. The management reserves the right to disqualify any contestant who is not in good physical condition at any time on the advice of a comptetent physician;

11. Fighting means immediate disqualification;

12. Floor rules will be interpreted by the floor judge on duty and no appeal may be had from his ruling;

13. During any 45 minutes period, if a contestant should touch both knees to the floor, he or she is immediately disqualified;

14. During a dynamite sprint, should a contestant fall, he or she is allowed five counts to be back on their feet and in action. Should they touch both knees in the danger zone, they are automatically disqualified;

15. Should either team member be disqualified, the remaining partner may continue solo.

etc...