For the second straight year, the NIU School of Theatre and Dance will host a live reading of works by Ukrainian playwrights to benefit the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund.
“How to Talk to the Dead” is an event of the Ukrainian Play Reading Project, and will be held Sunday, April 2 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the O’Connell Theatre and in the NIU Stevens Building (200 University Circle, DeKalb), home of the NIU School of Theatre and Dance, and the performances will also be streamed live on Zoom.
Chris Anthony, who completed his Master of Fine Arts in Acting at the NIU School of Theatre and Dance last spring recently filmed a role on the NBC series “Chicago PD.”
Anthony appeared in the NIU productions of “Kernel of Sanity,” “The Restistable Rise of Arturo Ui,” Bright New Boise” and “Bike America” while a graduate student.
A movie more than a decade in the making will have its world premiere, Saturday, January 21 at 7 p.m. at DeKalb’s Egyptian Theatre. The NIU School of Theatre and Dance will present the original film production of Mark Twain’s “The $30,000 Bequest.”
Filmed in 2011, the production was a collaboration that included faculty, students and staff from the College of Visual and Performing Arts, School of Theatre and Dance, NIU Media Services and others from around campus, including members of the School of Music who performed on the soundtrack for the movie.
The film stars Josh Anderson, Joel Stanley Huff and Jessica Webb. All three are alumni of the School of Theatre and Dance. Anderson and Huff earned their MFAs in acting and Webb her BFA in acting.
Alexander Gelman adapted the screenplay, costume design was done by Melanie Parks, production design by Terry McClellan, and the film was edited by director of photography James S. Barker.
Rich Holly was dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at the time and executive produced the movie.
The film was shot in the summer of 2011 on campus and in this 1880s era Sycamore home.
In a small town which boasts about 6,000 residents lives a young couple. Saladin and Electra are both practical and diligent in all their endeavors. Their lives are happy. One day, they receive news from a distant relative Tilbury Foster, from a neighboring state, who mentions that he would be leaving $30,000 bequest for them in his will, provided that they make no inquiries about him and do not attend his funeral. So begins our tale, originally told by Mark Twain now retold by DeKalb filmmakers in this full-length motion picture.
Come be the first to see this world premiere event.
The movie was filmed in the summer of 2011 with some scenes shot on the NIU campus and on location in Sycamore in a home built in the 1880s in order to reflect the setting of the film at the turn of the 20th century.
NIU Today reported on the project as it was being filmed.
Tickets can be purchased in advance at egyptiantheatre.org or at the theater the night of the performance. The world premiere of the film is supported in part by the NIU Arts and Culture Fee.
A brand new play that brings together a pair of twentieth century labor icons, also brought together a pair of NIU professors.
Associate Professor Kay Martinovich
“A Table For Two At The Dill Pickle,” written by Irish writer and musician Larry Kirwan will have its world premiere, Sunday, November 13, at 3 p.m. at Chicago’s Irish American Heritage Center. The play is directed by Kay Martinovich, head of performance, head of BFA acting and associate professor in the School of Theatre and Dance. Rosemary Feurer, associate professor in the Department of History, serves as a historian on the project and helped provide context and insights as Kirwan was writing this play that imagines “a powerful conversation” between Mary Harris “Mother” Jones and Big Jim Larkin.
Associate Professor Rosemary Feurer
The production is a perfect fit for the expertise of these two professors. Martinovich earned her Master of Philosophy in Irish Theatre and Film Studies from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Feurer specializes in understanding the political economy of social conflicts and labor movements and is one of the world’s foremost experts on Mother Jones. Over the past 15 years, Feurer has launched a virtual museum on Mother Jones, worked with NIU communications professor Laura Vazquez to produce the film “Mother Jones: The World’s Most Dangerous Woman”; opened a small bricks and mortar museum in Mount Olive; and is researching and writing a biography of Jones.
Kirwan was born in Wexford, Ireland and lives in New York City. He is the co-author of “Paradise Square” a musical that was nominated for 10 2022 Tony Awards including one for Kirwan for Best Book of a Musical. He is the president of Irish American Writers and earned their 2022 Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mary Harris “Mother” Jones
“A Table For Two At The Dill Pickle” is a one-act play set in November 1919 at Chicago’s Dill Pickle Club, which was a Bohemian club on North State Street that operated from 1917 to 1935, and was a popular hangout and forum for free thinkers of the time. Its nearly hidden entrance was marked with a “DANGER” sign and a post on the door read, “Step High, Stoop Low and Leave Your Dignity Outside.”
Kirwan imagines a meeting between Jones, an Irish-American labor activist who co-founded the Industrial Workers of the World, and Irish Labor Party co-founder Larkin. The play touches on many things, including Jones and Larkin’s battles to end child labor and to win rights and fair wages for workers, as well as the sadness felt by both over the absence of their families.
At the time of the play, Larkin’s family is still in Ireland, and the British refuse to allow his return. Mother Jones’ husband and four children died in a yellow fever outbreak in Memphis, Tennessee in 1867. After their deaths, Jones returned to Chicago, where she had worked as a seamstress. She lost everything she owned in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and took up the cause of working people as industrialization led to lower wages, longer hours and increasingly unsafe labor conditions.
The play offers a glimpse of two giants of labor activism, whose devotion to social justice continues to inspire today’s American labor movement.
Proceeds from the performance will be contributed to a fund that continues to raise money for a Chicago statue of Mother Jones. Enough has already been raised that an announcement is expected soon on where in the city it will be located. The statue will stand as a reminder that Chicago is a city built by workers, and a city of immigrants.
What happens when two sets of parents meet up to deal with the unruly behavior of their children? A calm and rational debate between grown-ups? Or a hysterical night of name-calling, tantrums, and tears before bedtime? ‘Boys will be boys’, but the adults are usually worse – much worse.
“God of Carnage” was written by Yasmina Reza and premiered in London in 2008. It began a star-studded Broadway run in 2009 with Marcia Gay Harden winning a Tony Award for Best Actress and both Jeff Daniels and James Gandolfini receiving nominations for Best Actor.
NIU’s production is directed by an alumna of the School of Theatre Dance, Hannah Hamel, who earned her Master in Fine Arts degree in acting.
Written by Yasmina Reza
Directed by Hannah Hamel
Assistant Directors: Carmen Hernandez and Riley Scifo
Stage Manager: Jordan Boyd
Intimacy Coach: Bethany Mangum-Oles
Special Thanks: Dustin Holloway, Nancy Sills, Casey Bradley, Alexander Gelman, Kay Martinovich, Rich Grund and Jeremy Floyd.
Director’s Note
Tenth Birthday
She woke before the sun. She heard the still
Small sounds which whisper when the night is gone.
Though all the curtains of her room were drawn,
She saw the gray light creep across the sill.
This was her day. How would it help fulfil
Her destiny? She looked out at the dawn
Stepping across the velvet of the lawn,
She saw the purple of a distant hill.
In cloak and slippers, she glided through the halls
Softly — she would disturb none still asleep —
Then looked through maple branches to the sky;
Her small heart beating against its delicate walls,
The marvel of ten years too much to keep.
“What is this lovely world, and who am I?”
–Marjorie Knapp
Thumbs Oh the thumb-sucker’s thumb
May look wrinkled and wet
And withered, and white as the snow.
But the taste of a thumb
Is the sweetest taste yet
(As only we thumb-suckers know).
–Shel Siverstein
Cast
Kayla Crispino (Annette Raleigh) is a second-year B.F.A. Acting candidate from Elgin, Illinois. This is her first show here at NIU, and she’s very excited and appreciative for this opportunity. She is thankful for her cast, director, assistant directors, stage manager and tech team for all the work and support they’ve put into this production. She hopes you enjoy the show as much as she enjoyed bringing this story to life.
Zachary Harness (Alan Raleigh) Is a fourth-year B.F.A. Acting candidate. Zachary is fresh off his first professional contract where he was seen this past summer as Betram in All’s Well That Ends Well (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival) and Tybalt/Friar John in Romeo and Juliet (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival). NIU credits include Resten in The Language Archive, Fedotik in Three Sisters, B in Town Hall and Fish/Gaffles in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. He hopes that you enjoy the show.
Rylan Johnson (Michael Novak) is a third-year B.F.A. Acting candidate. Previous notable performances are Tyler in YOU ARE YOU (NIU), Banquo in Macbeth (College of DuPage), Sir Sebastian in Cinderella (CYT Chicago), Santa Claus in Elf the Musical (CYT Chicago) and Mayor Shinn in The Music Man (CYT Chicago). Rylan would like to thank everyone involved in the creation of this show for making it a fun and enjoyable process. He would also like to thank his family for always supporting him. Enjoy the show.
Amanda Ranallo (Veronica Novak) is a fourth-year B.F.A. Acting candidate. Some of her past credits on the NIU stage include YOU ARE YOU (Ana) by Mathew C. Yee, Town Hall (A) by Caridad Svich and Love and Information (Ensemble) by Caryl Churchill. She recently understudied in The Winter’s Tale (Lord one u/s) at Oak Park Festival Theatre. She hopes you enjoy this wild ride.
Production Team Bios
Hannah Hammel (Director) is a Chicago-based actor, producer, director and educator. She is the co-founder and marketing and PR director of Spicy Witch Productions, a feminist theater company based in New York City. She is also the co-founder of Unnecessary Nowledge LLC, with which she produced her first feature film this past July.
As an actor, she has performed with the Walnut Street Theatre, Shakespeare in the Woods, Newnan Shakespeare in the Park, Aftershock Entertainment, Truth Be Told Productions, Ritz Theatre Company, ReVamp Collective, Ignoble Shakespeare, Family Stages, Philadelphia Women’s Theatre Festival, Northern Illinois University and many others. This is her first full-length directing credit.
She earned her M.F.A. degree in Acting from Northern Illinois University, and a B.A. in English from Haverford College. Hannahacts.com
“Immense gratitude to this exceptional cast and creative team for bringing bravery, playfulness and good humor to this process, and to Dustin for bringing bravery, playfulness and good humor to everything.”
Jordan Boyd (Stage Manager) is a senior with a tech emphasis, and pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Studies at Northern Illinois University. She has previously worked on run crew for Kafka’s Castle and scene crew for Troilus and Cressida. God of Carnage is her debut as a stage manager, and she hopes you enjoy the show.
Carmen Hernandez (Assistant Director) is a senior B.A. in Theatre Studies student at Northern Illinois University. God of Carnage is her debut as an assistant director. Her previous credits include: Into the Woods (internship) and Le Nozze Di Figaro at Charlottesville Opera, in Virginia as an assistant stage manager. Her previous NIU credits include: The Walk Across America for Mother Earth as a stage manager, The Importance of Being Earnest and Hamlet as an assistant stage manager. She wishes her team a happy opening and everyone a happy watching.
Riley Scifo (Assistant Director) is a fourth-year B.A. in Theatre Studies student. She is one of the assistant directors for the show. While this is her first time working on an NIU production, she’s very excited to be in the theater for the first time.
Production Team
Scenery Scenic Coordinator – Sahin Sahinoglu Scene Shop Supervisor – Adam Rager Run Crew – Kayla Martin, Yuknia Nguyen
Costumes Costume Director – Lori Hartenhoff Costume Shop Supervisor – Clare Richey-Kaplan Costume Design Advisor – Jeremy W. Floyd
Chris Anthony, who completed his Master of Fine Arts in Acting at the NIU School of Theatre and Dance last spring recently filmed a role on the NBC series “Chicago PD.”
Kayla Crispino (Annette Raleigh) is a second-year B.F.A. Acting candidate from Elgin, Illinois. This is her first show here at NIU, and she’s very excited and appreciative for this opportunity. She is thankful for her cast, director, assistant directors, stage manager and tech team for all the work and support they’ve put into this production. She hopes you enjoy the show as much as she enjoyed bringing this story to life.
Zachary Harness (Alan Raleigh) Is a fourth-year B.F.A. Acting candidate. Zachary is fresh off his first professional contract where he was seen this past summer as Betram in All’s Well That Ends Well (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival) and Tybalt/Friar John in Romeo and Juliet (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival). NIU credits include Resten in The Language Archive, Fedotik in Three Sisters, B in Town Hall and Fish/Gaffles in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. He hopes that you enjoy the show.
Rylan Johnson (Michael Novak) is a third-year B.F.A. Acting candidate. Previous notable performances are Tyler in YOU ARE YOU (NIU), Banquo in Macbeth (College of DuPage), Sir Sebastian in Cinderella (CYT Chicago), Santa Claus in Elf the Musical (CYT Chicago) and Mayor Shinn in The Music Man (CYT Chicago). Rylan would like to thank everyone involved in the creation of this show for making it a fun and enjoyable process. He would also like to thank his family for always supporting him. Enjoy the show.
Amanda Ranallo (Veronica Novak) is a fourth-year B.F.A. Acting candidate. Some of her past credits on the NIU stage include YOU ARE YOU (Ana) by Mathew C. Yee, Town Hall (A) by Caridad Svich and Love and Information (Ensemble) by Caryl Churchill. She recently understudied in The Winter’s Tale (Lord one u/s) at Oak Park Festival Theatre. She hopes you enjoy this wild ride.
Hannah Hammel (Director) is a Chicago-based actor, producer, director and educator. She is the co-founder and marketing and PR director of Spicy Witch Productions, a feminist theater company based in New York City. She is also the co-founder of Unnecessary Nowledge LLC, with which she produced her first feature film this past July.
