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Release Date:
November 7, 2007
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| Better hope that Matt Fotis '01
isn't your Secret Santa this year! |
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MONMOUTH, Ill. —
There are people who cherish the upcoming holiday season
–
who think of December and have visions of sugar plums
dancing in their heads, not to mention halls decked with
holly and chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
If that’s you, you might want to stop reading now.
However, if you associate December much more with this
question –
"What’s worse than buying presents nobody wants, getting
homemade gift-cards, going to mandatory office parties and
spending time with your creepy uncle who has been unemployed
since 1973?" –
then read on.
Matt Fotis, a 2001 Monmouth graduate, authored the
question above, as well as much of "No-EL: Or How The
BlagojeGrinch Stole Christmas." The holiday sketch show will
be performed Dec. 7 though 23 at Chicago’s Gorilla Tango
Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave. Performances are Fridays and
Saturdays at 10 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $10
and are available by phone at 773-598-4549 or online at
www.gorillatango.com.
"Heck, nobody really likes the holidays anyway, so why
not laugh about it?" said Fotis, the head writer for "BlagojeGrinch"
and the executive director of Chicago’s Shantz Theatre.
Fotis was also the head writer for last year’s critically
acclaimed "Requiem for a Department Store: Or How Jesus
Taught Me to Shop at Macy’s." He is an improv coach for
London Cabbie and The Jerry Azumah Players, as well as an
improv/acting instructor at Moraine Valley Community
College.
"Shantz Theatre has found the true culprit behind the CTA
(Chicago Transit Authority) crisis," Fotis said of the show.
"Shoddy planning? Inept management? Failure to invest in
infrastructure? Um, yeah, those too, but the real reason is
that somebody with a certain haircut lost that holiday
spirit –
The BlagojeGrinch!"
Fotis is not the only MC link to the production, as his
former schoolmates, Vicki Kunz ’02 and Jeanette Nielsen ’03
are also in the cast. Kunz is returning to the Shantz
Theatre stage, while Nielsen is making her 10th appearance
with the company.
Now in its sixth season, Shantz Theatre is dedicated to
producing original works that explore the human condition
through humor and by stretching the traditional notions of
narrative storytelling.
A veteran of many Fringe Fests across the country, Shantz
Theatre was named a finalist in the Guthrie Theatre’s Fringe
Encore program in 2006, and has been Recommended by The
Chicago Tribune, The Kansas City Star, City Pages, Nuvo, The
Daily Herald, New City Chicago, and Midwestbusiness.com …
that’s right, Midwestbusiness.com. |
