Displaying items by tag: Naperville

BrightSide Theatre will open its 13^th season in October, with a play especially appropriate for the Halloween season. Naperville's only professional theater company will present Steven Dietz's adaptation of DRACULA - Bram Stoker's novel of the legendary vampire of Transylvania. Veteran director and actor Jay Fontanetta will direct this eternally popular thriller, which will feature an original musical score by Paul Scherer. DRACULA will take audiences to the eerie landscapes of Transylvania and the shadowy corners of Victorian England on a spine-tingling journey filled with suspense, passion, and terror as Dracula is pursued by a group of courageous souls determined to stop him. DRACULA will be performed in the Theatre at Meiley-Swallow Hall of North Central University from October 18 through November 3 and is rated PG-13 for adult themes and depictions of violence. 

Fontanetta's cast will feature Danny Parrott of Arlington Heights as Count Dracula. Parrott has played such threatening characters as the murderous Sweeney Todd and HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE's Uncle Peck. Mike Boyna of Bloomingdale, whose credits include such leading roles as Atticus Finch in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and Salieri in AMADEUS, will be Dracula's nemesis Van Helsing. Veteran Chicago actor and three-time Jeff Award winner for directing Greg Kolack from Elmhurst will be the production's Renfield, a man showing signs of psychosis. The psychologist Seward, who is trying to diagnose Renfield's strange behavior, will be played by Adam Bozcar of Carpentersville. Seward's love interest, Lucy, who falls prey to Dracula, will be Julia Hope Budd, who appeared in BrightSide's JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR earlier this year. Lucy's friend Mina, engaged to Jonathan Harker – the young lawyer who meets Count Dracula in Transylvania - will be played by Caitlin Wolfe. Wolfe's credits include THE DROWSY CHAPERONE for Surging Films and WHEN THERE ARE NINE for PrideArts. Also in the cast are Brady MacNeil of Wheaton (Jonathan Harker), Halle Berghoff of Chicago (Maid), Kyle Drexler of Glen Ellyn (Attendant), Erica Harrington of Westchester (Vixen), Austin Jordan of Aurora (Attendant), Daria Koon of Chicago (Vixen), and Kirstin Palatinus of Wayne (Vixen).

The DRACULA production team includes Cheryl Newman (Costume Design), Kurt Ottinger (Lighting and Sound Design), Jenn Martin (Prop Designer), Roberto Puig (Wig Designer), Claire Yearman (Fight/Intimacy Director), Paul Scherer (Original Music), Jeff Sand (Technical Director/Scenic Designer), and Kristin Ripoli (Stage Manager).
 
Director Fontanetta says, "I'm thrilled to work with BrightSide on this production. Dietz's adaptation is somehow both extremely faithful to the novel but also fantastically theatrical in its presentation. While elements of comedy and drama are present, Bram Stoker intended this to be a horror story. The cast and I are having a lot of fun working to bring the suspense and horror of DRACULA to the Brightside stage."
 
DRACULA will be performed in the Theatre at Meiley-Swallow Hall, North Central College, 31 S. Ellsworth, Naperville. Tickets are $37.00 for adults and $32.00 for students and seniors. Season subscriptions and individual show tickets are on sale now at  www.BrightSidetheatre.com or by phone at 630-447-TIXS (8497). 

It was a dark and stormy night (yes, it really was!) – the perfect ambiance for taking in one of theatre’s classic comedic thrillers, Ira Levin’s Deathtrap, staged by BrightSide Theatre at North Central College’s Meiley-Swallow Hall, in Naperville.

For knowledgeable theatre buffs, Deathtrap holds the record for the longest-running comedic thriller on Broadway. It was nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Play, and was later adapted for the screen, starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve.

It’s the story of world-famous playwright Sidney Bruhl, who for the past 11 years has been riding the fading fame of his one and only hit play, The Murder Game. Having to squeak by on his wife’s income and forego his once lavish lifestyle, Sidney is looking for a way to regain his fame – and fortune.

As the play opens, Sidney is reading a manuscript that arrived in the mail from one of his seminar students. Much to his chagrin, the script is brilliant, and in his estimation, bound to be a smash hit. Sidney shares his thoughts with his wife, Myra, and together the pair conspire to make the manuscript their own. While Myra promotes collaboration (with Bruhl’s name taking top billing, of course), Sidney has a more sinister solution to their dilemma in mind.

At Sidney’s invitation, the young playwright, Clifford Anderson, arrives at their secluded Connecticut farmhouse, to discuss the manuscript. What ensues is a series of twists and turns, unexpected and shocking events, that keeps the audience guessing as to what will happen next. Throw in a hilarious neighbor, Helga ten Dorp, who just happens to be a noted psychic whose suspicions are spiked by the strange goings-on at the Bruhl’s house, and you have all the ingredients for an entertaining and lively evening.

Under the skillful direction of Jason Harrington, who directed BrightSide’s The Odd Couple last season, the cast turns in a well-paced and skilled performance. Even for those familiar with the plot, as I was, I found myself jumping and gasping at all the right places and thoroughly engaged throughout the evening.

Scott Kelley stars as Bruhl and turns in a convincing performance as the washed-up playwright looking for an easy way out of his writer’s block. Kelley has appeared in numerous other BrightSide productions, including the 2021 Miracle on 34^th Street, and is a veteran actor on the Chicago theatre scene. His hapless and anxiety-ridden wife, Myra, is excellently portrayed by Marianne Embree, who is appearing in her third BrightSide production.

Tyler Szarabajka, who plays the young playwright, Clifford Anderson, is making his professional debut in Deathtrap. He plays the role with just the right amount of cockiness and youthful assurance that makes him a great foil to his uptight, older mentor and hero. And Lisa Braatz absolutely shines as the quirky psychic, Helga ten Dorp, as she makes one outlandish prediction after another as she “senses” the pain and trauma in the room. The cast is rounded out by John Zimmerman as Porter Milgrim, the staid family friend and attorney for the couple, who brings a modicum of somberness to the proceedings – until the final scene!

Adding to the overall experience of the production is the theatre itself. Located on North Central College’s campus, just a few blocks off downtown, this gem of a theatre offers theatregoers an intimate and cozy interaction with the performers. There’s not a bad seat in the house, and you feel as if you are in on the action because of the proximity to the actors.

BrightSide Theatre, under Artistic Director Jeffrey Cass and Executive Director Julie Ann Kornak, is now in its 13^th season. Billed as Naperville’s only professional theatre performing in the historic downtown district, BrightSide has won “Best of Naperville” Live Entertainment Venue for the past six years. Even though I’ve lived in Naperville for years, this was my first introduction to BrightSide Theatre, and I was not disappointed.

For theatre-enthusiasts, or anyone looking for an entertaining night at the theatre, without the fuss and bother of going downtown Chicago, BrightSide’s Deathtrap production will more than satisfy. Add in its location right off the downtown with access to Naperville’s many and varied dining options, and you have the perfect combination for dinner and theatre.

You can catch Deathtrap at North Central’s Theatre at Meiley-Swallow Hall, 31 S. Ellsworth, Naperville, now through March 24^th. Ticket information can be found at www.BrightSidetheatre.com or by phone at 630-447-TIXS (8497). 

Naperville may be worth seeing just for its portrayal of T.C., a newly installed Caribou Coffee shop manager. When customers repeatedly ask after Nick, his popular predecessor, he replies by the book, “Nick no longer works here.”

We soon see that T.C. is desperate to succeed in his new job, hoping to avoid the fate of Nick, who was sacked for letting customers linger past closing time – the kind of thing that throws a monkey wrench into the central database to which the cash register, lights, locks and ever observant video monitors are linked. Welcome to 1984.

While T.C. is a parody, he is also a parable for our times. In their chain store incarnation, coffee shops are friendly places – within limits. As he warms to the customers, T.C. slips and reveals that “Nick will never work in this or any other Caribou Coffee again.” As closing time nears, these customers have no intention of moving on despite T.C.’s angst-ridden and frantic efforts.

The problem with the rest of Naperville is that the roles are more caricatures than characters. Overweening Howard (Mike Tapeli), home to care for his sight-impaired mother Candice (Laura T. Fisher), is put upon as she needles him to get married. Howard ’s popular high school classmate, Anne (Abby Pierce), sequestered in a corner, broods over her poorly lived life while cobbling together a vaguely worthy history of Captain Joseph Naper. 

Playwright Mat Smart delivers steady laughs and Naperville is somewhat engaging, but toward the midpoint we start hankering for. . .meaning, as do the characters. Instead we have something more like a Seinfeld episode (you know,” nothing happens”) only it’s a bit less edgy.

Not to fault this cast. Abby Pierce has movie star quality. Mike Tepeli projects the protagonist as “everyman.” Charlie Strater as Roy perfectly evokes that untethered born-again character you hope to avoid in social settings. (And he draws our sympathy when he reveals his pain in answer to Howard’s, “What’s your deal?”). Also, the set (Joe Shermoly), props (Amanda Hermann) and costumes (Christine Pascual) are pretty much perfect. Somewhat recommended, Naperville runs through October 16 at Theater Wit.