By Angie McMahon
So on my summer Vacation from CIC I have been so lucky as to be cast in a show with another Theater Company. The Factory Theater They have been so kind as to cast me as a SoccerMom Zombie in there summer hit Siskel and Ebert Save Chicago.
Not only am I having a really fun time but opening night we had a huge treat. Roger Ebert the man himself came. He reserved the ticket under a false name, and paid cash for himself and his party. He was the last one to be seated in the house, and of course the cast had no idea he was there. We were told he laughed a lot during the show. After the show the buzz started around our 20 person cast that the man himself was just outside. We all gathered on the side walk to watch him hoping to catch some sign of approval from the man we had come to love over the past three months. He instructed his driver to pull around and he put his arm out of the car and gave the cast a big Thumbs Up!
Later in the Run he would write this in his column:
Q. In the wake of “Jerry Springer, the Opera” comes “Siskel and Ebert Save Chicago,” Factory Theatre’s spoof now playing at Prop Thtr. Along with you and Gene, the play factors in Richard Roeper, Mayor Daley, Oprah, Dr. Phil, talk radio’s Mancow Muller, roller-skating she-devils and a plot to conquer the world. What does the Answer Man have to say about all this?Laura Hunt, Chicago
A. I attended opening night in curiosity mixed with dread but actually enjoyed myself. It’s manic slapstick, heavy on the four-letter words, very physical, with Gene as a James Bond type and me as a movie dork. They’re pretty hard on Richard, too. And Oprah and the mayor — everybody, indeed, but Gene and the Roller Derby she-devils. But the most obvious flaw is that Gene is the hero and has all the best lines, including a closing soliloquy in praise of the movies that is so lyrical and touching, I might have written it myself.
This morning the Cast was invited to the Mancow Show. If I can get the podcast on tape I will add it to this blog later.
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Video in Studio at Mancow
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This has by far been the most exposure I have ever gotten in a show, and I only have 3 lines. But it has been a ton of Fun, and I hope you will make it out to see the show. It runs Fri and Sat at 8pm and Sun at 7pm through the end of July. Check out Factory’s Website for more info.
