PNC awards grant for arts and cultural education to Sangamon Auditorium

The PNC Bank Foundation awarded its first Grow Up Great grant in the Springfield area to Sangamon Auditorium, UIS during a May 18, 2011 press conference. The $90,000 grant will be awarded to the auditorium over a three-year period. 

The funded Arts Start program will have three distinct yet integrated goals:

• Involve 36 classrooms of Springfield Urban League Head Start students  (approximately 620 students) in age-appropriate school matinee performances
• Involve 60 Springfield Urban League Head Start teachers in teacher training related to use of the performing arts in pre-school classrooms
• Involve 100 Springfield Urban League Head Start families in family-appropriate evening/weekend performances

Sangamon Auditorium is so pleased to be able to provide these opportunities to such an important segment of our community.  For the UIS news item about this grant and program, please visit the UIS News page.

Monty Python's Spamalot

The cast of “Monty Python’s Spamalot” can always tell if you’re a fan.

“King Arthur and Patsy enter, and they hear the coconuts,” said Glenn Giron, who plays Patsy. “If they go crazy, I imagine they’re going to be a big Python crowd.”

If you’re a fan of Monty Python in general and “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” in particular, you’ll know that the sound of coconuts being banged together indicates characters clippity-clopping about on horseback.

We’ll find out whether Springfield is Python-friendly at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, when the musical comes to Sangamon Auditorium at the University of Illinois Springfield. The show originally was scheduled to be performed at the Prairie Capital Convention Center, but presenter Broadway in Springfield decided to change venues earlier this year.

Story by Brian Mackey
The State Journal-Register
Click here to read full story

Peter & Paul, paying tribute to Mary

"When Peter Yarrow and Noel “Paul” Stookey take the stage this weekend at Sangamon Auditorium, it will be among the last opportunities to see them performing together.

The men — two-thirds of the folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary — are billing the show as a tribute to the late Mary Travers, who died in 2009..."

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By Brian Mackey

THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

Quiet Success Defines Actor Anthony Zerbe's Career

"Hollywood is filled with veteran character actors who have long, solid careers without ever achieving the level of fame that makes them household names.

They’re the actors who, when you’re struggling to describe them to friends, you say, “You know, that guy.”

In scores of movies and TV shows, “that guy” has been Anthony Zerbe....

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By Brian Mackey

THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

FREE Public Lecture with Anthony Zerbe!

A FREE public lecture, titled "True Grit to True Grit", with Emmy Award-winning actor, Anthony Zerbe, will be taking place at the UIS Studio Theatre on Thursday, April 28th at 7 p.m.

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Stage, film and Emmy Award-winning actor, Anthony Zerbe did not appear in the 1969 original TRUE GRIT, but appeared opposite John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn in its sequel, ROOSTER COGBURN. From 1969 to 2011, when the new version of TRUE GRIT claimed an Oscar, Zerbe has witnessed and been part of the evolution of American Theater and Film and in the art, craft and business of being an actor. To spend time listening to and speaking with him is to come away with a deepened connection of one's own relation to art in general and the art of acting in particular.

Call the Sangamon Auditorium Ticket Office for additional information at 217.206.6160!

See YOU there!

Review: Springfield Ballet's 'Cinderella' includes modern overtones

On its surface, the story of "Cinderella" is an old-fashioned fairy tale: a woman freed from her circumstances by a handsome prince.

But there's also a more modern take lurking underneath: Like a lot of young women, it's only when Cinderella realizes the beauty that was within her all along that she will ever truly be free.

That theme of growth and discovery is apparent throughout the Springfield Ballet Company's production of "Cinderella," which opens a two-day run this afternoon in Sangamon Auditoriun, on the campus of the University of Illinois Springfield. (The State Journal-Register was invited to review the final dress rehearsal Friday night.)

Review by Brian Mackey
The State Journal-Register
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Theater Review: Spinning Into Butter

Theater Review: A frank discussion on race — with humor
The question at the heart of “Spinning Into Butter” — the play that opened Friday at the University of Illinois Springfield’s Studio Theatre — is whether we should be judged by our actions or our intentions.
A student may not want to be categorized by his ethnicity, but should he buckle and check a box if it leads to a scholarship? A person may hold racist attitudes, but is it a problem if they’re outwardly polite and do not discriminate?
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BY BRIAN MACKEY

THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

Read more of the review of Spinning Into Butter by clicking HERE!