Entertainment

Nightly Entertainment

We Have A Great Line Up!

Chicago is the home of Blues, Jazz, Improvisation, Theater, and Baseball …

We have a great line up for the week…. The Improvised Shakespeare Company, a Mike Reed’s People Places, and Things jazz band, some of our own very talented AT Teachers from around the world and the band Mississippi Heat for our closing night!

 

  • Opening Reception upstairs at the Damen Center from 5-6:45
  • Opening Night with David Hyde Pierce, the Improvised Shakespeare Company, and Mike Reed’s People Places and Things.

Based on one audience suggestion (a title for a play that has yet to be written) The Improvised Shakespeare Co.® creates a fully improvised Shakespearean masterpiece right before your very eyes! Nothing has been planned out, rehearsed, or written. All of the dialogue is said for the first time, the characters are created as you watch, and if ever you’re wondering where the story is going…so are they! You’ve never seen the Bard like this before!  Get ready for a great one-act play!

SHOW HISTORY

The Improvised Shakespeare Company®, has been performing its critically acclaimed show to sold-out audiences in Chicago since 2005. The ISC also continues to entertain audiences across the US with its national touring company. They have been featured at The Kennedy Center, New York’s 92nd Street Y, Bonnaroo, the Bumbershoot Music, and Arts Festival, Outside Lands, San Francisco Sketchfest, UCB’s Del Close Marathon, and the prestigious Just For Laughs festival in Montreal and Chicago. The ISC has been named Chicago’s best improv group by both the Chicago Reader and the Chicago Examiner and has received numerous awards in LA (Best of LA-LA Weekly), New York (New York Nightlife Awards), and Chicago (The Chicago Improv Foundation).

Mike Reed’s People Places & Things

Lauded as “nimble, progressive, and hard-swinging” by the Chicago Reader and “unpretentiously joyous” by NPR, Mike Reed’s People Places & Things has been recording, touring internationally, and wracking up critical acclaim since 2007. In 2008, the band released its debut recording, Proliferation, the first in a trilogy of releases celebrating the under-recognized creative forces of Chicago’s jazz, blues and improvised music scenes in the late 1950s. On each of these recordings, the band offers insightful modern interpretations of musical gems from Chicago’s past. The group’s fourth record Clean on the Corner (2012) added cornet-work from Josh Berman and incorporated original compositions by Reed, Jason Adasiewicz and Roscoe Mitchell. As Bill Meyer said in Downbeat, People Places & Things doesn’t “simply re-create; they create,” exploiting their carefully selected repertoire for dynamic ensemble interplay and virtuosic solo improvisations.

 

  • Monday Night –  After meeting the ATCA Board enjoy so wonderful entertainment from Alexander Technique Teachers from around the world.
  • Tuesday Night – Come dance after meeting the Authors. We will be in the Damen Den, kicking up our heels and moving to the beat as played by our very own DJ Andreas Dirscherl whose coming all the way from Berlin.
  • Wednesday Night – Dance, Music and more from our very talented AT Community! Come and enjoy!
  • Thursday Night – Join Glenn Swift and others for an evening of ‘Alexander Technique Teachers Got Talent’ night. We will have a panel of judges and door prizes! First prize a free pass to the next Congress (Hotel and Air not included) It’s going to be a lot of FUN! Bring a costume!
  • Friday Night – Closing Gala of appetizers, desserts, and a Bar. We will be selling drink tickets! We have the band Mississippi Heat coming to get us moving on the dance floor! You know we all love to move!