ACT OUT OPENING: The Last Voyage of Pirate Blackheart and More at Actors Gym #agyouthcircus #CircusinProgress

The Actors Gymnasium has one of the strongest circus arts programs in the region and they're a true treasure. We've been huge fans of their work for years. Their performances are stunningly well produced and there are few locations that teach circus arts for BOTH kids and adults. We highly recommend you check them out. All performances are held in their home space at: Noyes Cultural Arts Center | 927 Noyes Street, Suite 104 | Evanston, IL 60201  (847) 328-2795 | email@actorsgymnasium.com  Click here for loads of our past photo filled features on The Actors Gymnasium then go already! Spring Youth Circus  May 17 - 25, 2014 Saturdays at 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm Sundays at 3:00 pm      $15 for adult tickets $12.50 for children, students and  seniors    Join the fearsome pirate Captain Blackheart as she sails her crew of brigands and scallywags through treacherous dark waters in pursuit of her most valuable treasure yet! Visit mysterious remote isles, and strange aquatic worlds! Hold your breath as Blackheart and her pirates battle fierce fellow pirates, giant sea creatures, and the fragility of their own sanity. Inhale the salty air and exhale sighs of awe as students of The Actors Gymnasium amaze you with aerial acrobatics and nautical know-how unparalleled by any seafaring sea dogs on the North Shore.     Coming Up Next (one day/2 shows only!) #CircusinProgress May 31, 2014 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm Tickets are $15 each Did you enjoy The Magical Exploding Boy and the Invisible Circus? Come to our spring showcase of new work in development. Two Performances Only! Performances include: Spring & Tulga (duo acro), ETC Music School Ensemble (choral music),  Angela Loiacono of Aerial Dance Chicago (solo trapeze), Brett Schneider (magic), Jill Heyser (aerial silks), Regina Meirmanov (lyra), Destiny Vinley (Chinese pole), Mr. Spring (hand balancing), and advanced students from AG's own classes.  Watch the trailer! About The Actors Gymnasium The Actors Gymnasium is dedicated to bringing a new physicality to the American Theatre. Encouraging ground-breaking theatrical exploration, The Actors Gymnasium teaches circus arts, physical theatre and multi-disciplinary performance to children and adults; produces original, daring works of circus-theatre; and serves as a talent resource, providing performance opportunities to our students and innovative professional event entertainment for a wider audience.  At The Actors Gymnasium, people Learn To Fly - physically, emotionally, and creatively.

REVIEW: A'Musing Myths at Actors Gymnasium Highly Recommended #ChiILPicksList #agyouthcircus

A'Musing Myths

Fall Youth Circus

Closing THIS WEEKEND!

ChiIL Mama, Du-Jay and Sagezilla caught opening night and highly recommend checking out A'Musing Myths at Actors Gymnasium.   It's a great, family friendly, all ages show, with a cast completely comprised of kids. The plot does work better if the audience has at least a rudimentary knowledge of Greek Mythology, so young kids might be a bit lost on the story line.   But the colorful, creative circus arts make this a fun production for the whole family.

We're huge fans of shows that have a fleshed out plot instead of just free standing circus skills demos, and The Actors Gym excels at productions like that. A'Musing Myths doesn't have quite as much live music as past shows we've seen there, but it's still well worth checking out.   We were particularly impressed with the multiple simultaneous silks and Spanish Web ropes in some of the bigger group aerial acts!   Don't be surprised if your kids are inspired to enroll in Actors Gym classes once they see how much fun these kids are having and what stellar skills they've developed.

We love the melding of the classics and these familiar character archetypes with circus skills.  The Greek Myths are given a vibrant, new twist with the introduction of aerial arts, unicycle and more.   It's a small space so we highly suggest you get tickets in advance to guarantee seats.   These show are very likely to sell out!

For group reservations and general questions call 847-328-2795.  If online sales are sold out, a limited number of tickets will be available at the door.

  

Final 2 days! 

November 16 & 17, 2013

Saturdays at 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm

Sundays at 3:00 pm  

$15 for adult tickets!

$12.50 for children, students and seniors!  

Have you bought your tickets yet? 

  

A young girl who sacrifices love for the sake of the world.  A fierce seamstress who dares flaunt her talents before the goddess of Arts & Crafts. That angry one with the snakes for hair.  The gift of fire and the origin of man himself. Join us as Prometheus, our favorite Titan, recounts the origins of some of his favorite characters from mythic Greece. 

The Members of The Actors Gymnasium's Fall Youth Circus Ensemble combine skills in circus, dance, clowning, and drama to delight us on adventures that span the heights of Mount Olympus, the depths of the Underworld, and every strange and imaginary place in between.  

  

A'Musing Myths: Fall Youth Circus is written and directed by Chris Mathews with circus choreography by Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi, dance choreography by Topeka Ellis, and assistant directed by David Corlew. Tickets will go quickly - so get yours today!

Tickets are available ONLINE only.  Once online sales are closed, 1.5 hours prior to the show start time, the on-location box office will be open.

Go early.   Things are a bit confusing due to building construction.   Actors Gym tickets are on the far left side of the lobby as you enter and their performance space is on the far right.   They have simplified things with actual tickets now.

Win:

Take part in our hashtag contest!  Whoever has the most #agyouthcircus comments on Facebook and/or Twitter before November 19 will win a free black AG jacket OR $50 off their next session of classes (Your choice!).  Posts must be relevant and on-topic. 

ChiIL November Highlights, Huge Holidaze Giveaways & ChiIL Picks Gift List Details & More

Things have been hoppin' here in Chi, IL.   The weather may be getting chilly, but you can still chiIL out with ChiIL Live Shows and ChiIL Mama this fall & winter.   We're all over the local theatre & music scene, events and giveaways.  Our HUGE annual ChiIL Holidaze Giveaways & ChiIL Picks Gift List will go live November 15th-December 15th with LOADS of great goodie to win and our ChiIL Picks List for unique gifts for all ages.   

Spread the word for more entries and enter like we vote in Chi, IL... early and often!

Disclaimer:   Thanks to all the generous musicians, toy companies, distributors and PR firms that send us products for our giveaways and for review purposes. As always, all opinions are our own.

Highlights:
Here's what we've been up to, what's already posted, what you can look forward to seeing right here in the near future, and so much more. 

Read me at:  ChiIL Mama, ChiIL Live Shows, CNN, 

The Local Tourist,Technorati, Green Parent Chicago, Dug Sound, 

ChiIL Travel Kids, CBS

ChiIL Mama's Channel YouTube

Facebook:  ChiIL Live Shows & ChiIL Mama

Twitter:  ChiIL Live Shows & ChiIL Mama

Pinterest   

Instagram

Keep up with the latest:    

Fam Friendly photo & video features, giveaways, recaps & reviews will be at ChiIL Mama.  

Theatre, music, art,  giveaways, events, & reviews for adults will be at ChiIL Live Shows.

November:
We gave away a sweet 3d Willis Tower Puzzle, Pacific Rim Blu-Ray & loads of local concert tickets & our huge holidaze giveaways begin the 10th.  

We're also back again for the 3rd year as press sponsor for Beat Kitchen's popular weekly Sunday noon Concerts for Kids, which means we give away free tickets EVERY week.  We also have free kindie tickets for shows at Schubas like the award winning Mister G, Baby Loves Disco at Lincoln Hall & more.

**Highlight:  

 

Yes there IS a SANTA CLAUS!!   ChiIL Mama was elated to be invited to The Annual Kenmore Blogger Summit with 24 top bloggers flown in from all over the country.   It was a fun filled, informative weekend and we'll have a full photo recap up soon.   

During the Kenmore Blogger Summit, here's an actual Tweet I sent out:

10/26  Dear santa.. I've been really good this year.  Your cookies n milk would look rockin' awesome in a new grab n go @kenmore fridge #testedtales 

Within a half hour I WON a $2,500 Kenmore French Door Fridge/Bottom Freezer in a blind gift grab bag!!  This has been a high point of my fall for sure.   

Even better... the rules were you could pick 1 from under the tree or snag one from someone else & the final 10 seconds were a swapping free for all.   I had a different bag, that had been stolen from others several times before, and at the last second another blogger snagged it from me and swapped in a sweater print box.   What I lost?...A garlic press!



What I won:

SANTA LIVES!!!!   Don't tell me there's no such thing as holiday magic.

The other blogger was a good sport about it.   I hugged her and thanked her profusely. 

**Upcoming Special Features: 

• Kenmore Blogger Summit where I WON a $2500 FRIDGE!!!!   If you follow us on FB/Twitter you're already aware of my rockin' awesome win.   If not, you'll hear the whole story shortly... complete with humorous anecdotes, photos and holiday miracle

• Blueman Group photo recap press event--unveiling of garden art/artist video interviews

• Lyle Cogen-feature/CD review/original interview with NYC's own nationally acclaimed Bullying Prevention Maven.   We wrapped up anti-bullying month with an great phone interview with Lyle which we're presently editing for a full feature.

• Hamming it up with Hemmert--CircEsteem Circ Soiree Benefit Show with MC Terri Hemmert from WXRT--full video footage coming/photo recap up already

• Breakfast with Bayless--THE RETURN OF RICK BAYLESS IN CASCABEL--our original photo & video Frontera breakfast press conference recap.

LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE, FRONTERA GRILL AND SILVERGUY ENTERTAINMENT PRESENT
THE RETURN OF RICK BAYLESS IN CASCABEL 

DINNER – DARING – DESIRE

WITH NEW MENU ELEMENTS IN A NEW VENUE

Four week limited run in the Goodman Theatre’s Owen Bruner Theatre

July 30 – August 24, 2014

*November 15-17 Win 6 tickets to Aquatic Experience Chicago traveling shark show/aquarium show-6 ticket giveaway/advance press/ photo recap

*Opening November 21 Illumination at Morton Arboretum-ticket giveaway/photo recap

*last weekend:

Ringling Brothers And Barnum & Bailey Circus Present Built to Amaze--full photo recap coming/advance features & discount ticket code still posted/4 ticket giveaway (ended)

Redmoon-Boneshaker--behind the scenes photo feature up/full photo recap coming

Redmoon Skelebration (fam friendly)--full photo recap coming

Chicago International Children's Film Festival--video footage, recap & reviews coming

Holiday Inn/photo tour/travel feature

FREE Birds Movie Advanced Sneak Peek/Review


ACT OUT:
Fall Theatre Reviews For

• That's Weird Chicago-Barrel of Monkeys
• 7th Love-Harris Theatre
• Lord of the Flies at Steppenwolf
• Once Upon a Dream (Rascals)-Cadillac Palace Broadway in Chicago
• We will Rock You (Queen Musical)-Cadillac Palace Broadway in Chicago
• Midnight Circus
• Smokefall--Goodman
• The Table (puppetry)--Chicago Shakespeare
• Wrecks-Profiles
• Once-Oriental Theatre Broadway in Chicago
• Cyrano--Chicago Shakespeare
• A Year With Frog & Toad at Chicago Children's Theatre
• Old Jews Telling Jokes--Royal George
• North China Lover-Lookingglass

ACT OUT OPENING:
Upcoming Theatre Reviews 

• Port Authority-Writers Theatre (we'll be reviewing at the press opening tonight) 11/6
• Kate & Sam are not Breaking Up-Collaboraction
• Appropriate-Victory Gardens
• Actor's Gym Youth Circus--A'musing Myths
• Hellcab at Profiles
• A Christmas Carol-Goodman
• An Iliad Theatre
• Mikado-Hypocrites (at Steppenwolf)
• Dead Prince-DCASE
• ATC-It's a Wonderful Life
• A Q Brothers’ Christmas Carol
• ONCE UPON A PEOPLE: A DANCESICAL
• The Nutcracker-House Theatre
• Trevor-Red Orchid

and more!   We'll be adding more to this stellar show list as the month progresses.

Game & Toy Related:

**Activision Family Games Summit (this Thurs 11/7) open to the public on line**

• PopCap Plants Vs. Zombies 2--press party

• November 21-24 ChiTAG-Chicago Toy and Game Fair (open to the public)

Foodie Fun:

• Chicago food swap at the Chopping Block
• Pinstripes Restaurant Review
• Plum Market photo feature

Music: 

• PigPen band (alt folk-of Old Man and The Old Moon fame) at Schubas-4 show residency/multiple live shows photo features & ticket giveaways to all shows. *Final show November 18th (21+). 

• Monster Magnet at Bottom Lounge 11/16
• Yakuza at Beat Kitchen 11/22
• Misfits at Concord(live show photo feature)
• Dumpstaphunk at Concord (live show photo feature)
• Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg and Andrew W. K. at Double Door  (live show photo feature)
• Revocation (photo feature/original video interview)

November Movies On Our Radar:

The Hunger Games:  Catching Fire

Thor The Dark World

The Book Thief

That Awkward Moment

Frozen

Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom

The Punk Singer

Bettie Page Reveals All

CIMMfest-call for entries/special screenings

Music Box highlights

Facets features

Prizes/Ticket Giveaways:  As always, our free tickets and events listings are Chicago centered but our giveaways & reviews are for Chi, IL and beyond (nationwide & sometimes Canada too).   We'll have all past winnings coming from us shipped out before the 10th, so if you're still eagerly awaiting CDs, books, toys, etc. thanks for your patience and we've got you covered.   

Some of our prizes come directly from the musicians/distributor/PR peeps etc. and in that case, please wait a month and if you still have not gotten your winnings, shoot us an e-mail and we'll do everything possible to expedite things and get an ETA from them.   Unfortunately we can not replace anything lost in the mail.   It has never happened yet, that I'm aware of, but a few things have gone missing in the lovely Chi-town mail enroute TO me.

Disclaimer:   Thanks to all the generous musicians, toy companies, distributors and PR firms that send us products for our giveaways and for review purposes. As always, all opinions are our own.

The Latest From Our Friends at Actors Gymnasium #agyouthcircus

Winter I Session 

Starts Next Week!

Have you registered for class yet?

Our Winter I session of classes in Circus and Performing Arts begins Monday November 11th and runs through January 26th. (No classes on November 28, 29, December 23 - January 5, and January 20).  

Course offerings for kids and adults of all ages and skill levels include Aerial Arts, Circus Arts, Contortion, Gymnastics, and more. Click here to see our class listings. Classes fill quickly! 

Register Now

Classes fill quickly and limited space is available 

A'Musing Myths

Fall Youth Circus

THIS WEEKEND!

#agyouthcircus

Have you bought your tickets yet? 

  

A young girl who sacrifices love for the sake of the world.  A fierce seamstress who dares flaunt her talents before the goddess of Arts & Crafts. That angry one with the snakes for hair.  The gift of fire and the origin of man himself.  Join us as Prometheus, our favorite Titan, recounts the origins of some of his favorite characters from mythic Greece. 

The Members of The Actors Gymnasium's Fall Youth Circus Ensemble combine skills in circus, dance, clowning, and drama to delight us on adventures that span the heights of Mount Olympus, the depths of the Underworld, and every strange and imaginary place in between.  

  

A'Musing Myths: Fall Youth Circus is written and directed by Chris Mathews with circus choreography by Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi, dance choreography by Topeka Ellis, and assistant directed by David Corlew. Tickets will go quickly - so get yours today!

Tickets are available ONLINE only.  Once online sales are closed, 1.5 hours prior to the show start time, the on-location box office will be open.  For group reservations and general questions call 847-328-2795.  If online sales are sold out, a limited number of tickets will be available at the door.

  

Two Weekends Only! 

November 9 & 10, 16 & 17, 2013

Saturdays at 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm

Sundays at 3:00 pm  

$15 for adult tickets!

$12.50 for children, students and seniors!  

  

Take part in our hashtag contest!  Whoever has the most #agyouthcircus comments on Facebook and/or Twitter before November 19 will win a free black AG jacket OR $50 off their next session of classes (Your choice!).  Posts must be relevant and on-topic. 

Winter Break Circus & Performing Arts Camps

Whether you are a veteran of our summer camps or a novice, our three day camp sessions are for you. Make new friends, catch up with old summer camp friends and learn great new skills. Perfect for young performers who want to strengthen, stretch and flex their creative muscles with circus, drama, and movement. A great alternative to childcare for busy parents. 

Session A: Dec 23, 26, 27, 2013

Session B: Dec 30, 2013 & Jan 2, 3, 2014

Ages: 9 - 14

Register Now!

About The Actors Gymnasium The Actors Gymnasium is dedicated to bringing a new physicality to the American Theatre. Encouraging ground-breaking theatrical exploration, The Actors Gymnasium teaches circus arts, physical theatre and multi-disciplinary performance to children and adults; produces original, daring works of circus-theatre; and serves as a talent resource, providing performance opportunities to our students and innovative professional event entertainment for a wider audience.  At The Actors Gymnasium, people Learn To Fly - physically, emotionally, and creatively.