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The TV Dinner Hour
''The TV Dinner Hour'' is an American sketch comedy review written by Richard O’Donnell, directed by Amy McKenzie, and performed by the New Age Vaudeville theater company in Chicago. History Glidden Lodge resort ''The TV Dinner Hour'', has a book, music, and lyrics by Richard O'Donnell. In the summer of 1986, it was originally produced and staged by Amy McKenzie, and featured the New Age Vaudeville comedy troupe at the Glidden Lodge resort in Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin. Chicago, CrossCurrents On March 10, 1987, It officially premiered at the CrossCurrents' cabaret theater, 3206 N. Wilton St., Chicago, Illinois. ''The TV Dinner Hour'' was one of the cult hits of the Chicago comedy boom of the 1980s. Production Principal creative team ''The TV Dinner Hour'' was performed by the New Age Vaudeville Theater Co., members of Actor’s Equity Association (AEA). The set, props and videos were shot by NAV production designer Peter Neville, and produced by McKenzie and O'Donnell. Koga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sketch Comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is used widely in variety shows, comedy talk shows, and some sitcoms and children's television series. The sketches may be improvised live by the performers, developed through improvisation before public performance, or scripted and rehearsed in advance like a play. Sketch comedians routinely differentiate their work from a "skit", maintaining that a skit is a (single) dramatized joke (or "bit") while a sketch is a comedic exploration of a concept, character, or situation. definition 3b, Merriam-Webster online. Retrieved 5/4/2019 History Sketch comedy has its origins in |
Musical Theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals. Although music has been a part of dramatic presentations since ancient times, modern Western musical theatre emerged during the 19th century, with many structural elements established by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain and those of Harrigan and Hart in America. These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the musical theatre w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Improvisational Theatre
Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script. Improvisational theatre exists in performance as a range of styles of improvisational comedy as well as some non-comedic theatrical performances. It is sometimes used in film and television, both to develop characters and scripts and occasionally as part of the final product. Improvisational techniques are often used extensively in drama programs to train actors for stage, film, and television and can be an important part of the rehearsal process. However, the skills and processes of improvisation are also used outside the context of performing arts. This practice, known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slapstick
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as saws and ladders. The term arises from a device developed for use in the broad, physical comedy style known as ''commedia dell'arte'' in 16th-century Italy. The "Clapper (musical instrument), slap stick" consists of two thin slats of wood, which make a "slap" when striking another actor, with little force needed to make a loud—and comical—sound. The physical slap stick remains a key component of the plot in the traditional and popular Punch and Judy puppet show. Other examples of slapstick humor include ''The Naked Gun'' and Mr. Bean (character), Mr. Bean. Origins The name "slapstick" originates from the Italian ''Batacchio'' or ''Bataccio'' – called the "Clapper (musical instrument), slap stick" in English – a club-like objec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard O'Donnell (playwright)
Richard O'Donnell (born June 17, 1956) is an American playwright, composer, lyricist, poet, actor, and stand-up comic. He has worked and lived in New York City and Chicago, where he has written and performed for the stage and television. O'Donnell co-wrote the ASCAP award-winning Off-Broadway musical comedy '' One & One'', and Radio City Music Hall's ''Manhattan Showboat''. He founded the New Age Vaudeville theatre company, the New Variety cabaret, the Black Pearl Cabaret, and St. John's Conservatory Theater. As a stand-up comic, he was the executive producer and host of the Fox, Chicago comedy variety television show '' R. Rated''. Early life and education Richard O'Donnell began in the entertainment industry as a professional ventriloquist. While in Jr. high school, he ran away with the Sells & Gray 3-ring tent circus at the age of 15, sleeping in the back of a truck that transported their elephants, Bessie and Anna May. O'Donnell was eventually forced to return home to fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amy McKenzie
Amy McKenzie (born August 2, 1959) is an American producer, director, and actress. She is one of the founders of the New Age Vaudeville theatre company and the Third Avenue Playhouse. Biography Career McKenzie has worked and lived in Seattle, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago, where she has produced and performed for the stage and television. She co-founded the New Age Vaudeville theater company as well as co-producing and directing their biggest cult hits, '' An Evening With Elmore & Gwendolyn Putts, The Neighbors Next Door'' and ''The TV Dinner Hour'', both written by Richard O’Donnell and featuring herself, O’Donnell, Megan Cavanagh, Todd Erickson, Bobby McGuire, Peter Neville, Michael Dempsey, Lisa Keefe, Caroline Schless, Tom Purcell (writer for ''The Colbert Report'') and Del Close. Rick Kogan of the ''Chicago Tribune'' hailed both productions as "Among the most polished and clever productions of the season, a pair of devilishly inventive shows that won ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Age Vaudeville
New Age Vaudeville was an American professional theater troupe founded by Richard O'Donnell (playwright), Richard O'Donnell and Amy McKenzie, and was part of the Chicago comedy boom of the 1980s. History Peninsula Players' Comedy Cabaret In New York City, March 1983, Peninsula Players’ producer, James B. McKenzie contracted Amy McKenzie and Richard O'Donnell (playwright), Richard O'Donnell to create, develop and perform in an after-show revue at the Peninsula Players in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. Billed as the Comedy Cabaret, it featured sketch comedy, improvisation, song, and dance performed by members of the Peninsula Players to a late night audience. New Age Vaudeville The Comedy Cabaret returned to Door County the following summer billed as New Age Vaudeville, in its own 75-seat theatre at the summer resort Glidden Lodge in Baileys Harbor, WI. Chicago and CrossCurrents cabaret In the fall of 1986, Richard O’Donnell and Amy McKenzie relocated their theater company to Chicago ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Actors' Equity Association
The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book or through-storyline (vaudeville, cabarets, circuses) may be represented by the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA). The AEA works to negotiate and provide performers and stage managers quality living conditions, livable wages, and benefits. A theater or production that is not produced and performed by personnel who are members of the AEA may be known as "non-Equity". Background Leading up to the Actors' and Producers' strike of 1929, Hollywood and California in general, had a series of workers' equality battles that directly influenced the film industry. The films ''The Passaic Textile Strike'' (1926), ''The Miners' Strike'' (1928) and ''The Gastonia Textile Strike'' (1929), gave audience and producers insight into the effect and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DEL REV THING
Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes the standard derivative of the function as defined in calculus. When applied to a ''field'' (a function defined on a multi-dimensional domain), it may denote any one of three operators depending on the way it is applied: the gradient or (locally) steepest slope of a scalar field (or sometimes of a vector field, as in the Navier–Stokes equations); the divergence of a vector field; or the curl (rotation) of a vector field. Strictly speaking, del is not a specific operator, but rather a convenient mathematical notation for those three operators that makes many equations easier to write and remember. The del symbol (or nabla) can be interpreted as a vector of partial derivative operators; and its three possible meanings—gradient, dive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rick Kogan
Rick Kogan (born September 13, 1951) is a Chicago newspaperman, a Chicago radio personality and a noted author. Early life and education A native of Chicago's Old Town neighborhood, Kogan is the son of longtime Chicago newspaperman Herman Kogan (1914–1989) and longtime Chicago literary and journalism fixture Marilew (Cavanagh) Kogan (1919–2007). His parents named him Rick and not Richard as a tribute to Riccardo's, a legendary Chicago restaurant and watering hole that now is known as Stefani's. On the night that Kogan was born, noted author, historian and broadcaster Studs Terkel came over and took Kogan's father, Herman, out for a celebratory drink. Kogan's first home was in an apartment on the second floor of an old graystone at 1444 N. State Parkway on Chicago's Gold Coast, a building that was demolished in 1959. When Kogan's brother Mark was born several years later, the family relocated to an apartment in Old Town. "Everything swirled around that crazy second-floor a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Del Close
Del Close (March 9, 1934 – March 4, 1999) was an American actor, writer, and teacher who coached many of the best-known comedians and comic actors of the late twentieth century. In addition to an acting career in television and film, he was one of the influences on modern improvisational theater. Close is co-founder of the iO, or iO Chicago, (formerly known as "ImprovOlympic"). Life and career Early life Close was born on March 9, 1934, in Manhattan, Kansas. He ran away from home at the age of 17 to work in a traveling side show, but returned to attend Kansas State University. At age 19 he performed in summer stock with the Belfry Players at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. At age 23 he became a member of the Compass Players in St. Louis. When most of the cast—including Mike Nichols and Elaine May—moved to New York City, Close followed. He developed a stand-up comedy act, starred as the Yogi in the Broadway musical revue ''The Nervous Set'', and performed briefly with an impr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megan Cavanagh
Megan Cavanagh (born November 8, 1960) is an American actress, who is best known for portraying Marla Hooch in ''A League of Their Own'' and the voice of Judy Neutron in '' Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius'' and ''The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius''. Early life and education Cavanagh was born November 8, 1960, in Chicago, the daughter of Jim and Rita. Raised in River Forest along with her four siblings, Cavanagh went to Oak Park and River Forest High School, graduating at 16 in 1977. She attended Rosary College in River Forest (now Dominican University), graduating in January 1982. Career Film Cavanagh made her film debut in Penny Marshall's ''A League of Their Own'' starring Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, and Lori Petty. Film critic Vincent Canby of the ''New York Times'' praised the film writing ""A League of Their Own" is one of the year's most cheerful, most relaxed, most easily enjoyable comedies. It's a serious film that's lighter than air, a very funny movie that manages to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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