March 2008

Three Cat Thursdays

presents

The Cabaret Variety Hour

“Three Cat Thursdays – Cabaret Variety Hour” on March 6th at 8:00pm brings an amazing variety of artists. Matt Griffo presents material from his new one-man musical comedy show. Musical theater performer Clarissa Gregg promises to entertain. Comedian Will Miles presents fresh new material. And newcomer, singing sensation Sarah Allison will bring the house to it’s feet. . This Cabaret Variety Hour promises something for everyone! Hosted by Jason Paul Smith with a special appearance by our special guest Alice Frederickson.

February 2008

Three Cat Thursdays

presents

The Cabaret Variety Hour

On February 7th at 8:00pm, “Three Cat Thursdays: Cabaret Variety Hour” will present an exciting line-up of talent that includes musical theater performer Jamie Szynal and singer songwriter Brent Peterson. The folk noir duo act of House and Bird and the comedic storyteller Kelsie Huff join this talented line-up. Lori Velazquez will present her original dance piece. This Cabaret Variety Hour promises something for everyone! Hosted by Jason Paul Smith with a special appearance by our special guest Alice Frederickson.

About the Performers:

House and Bird
House & Bird is folk noir. Antique children’s piano. Lilting soprano paired with gruff deep vocals. Folk & Other. Occasionally dark. Occasionally historically-minded. For more information, please visit http://www.houseandbird.com.

Lori Velazquez

I got my B.A. from Southern Methodist University with a major in English Literature and a minor in Dance Performance and have performed with Ewert & Company, NOVA and Dancers’ Unlimited in Dallas, and with The Firewalkers Dance Company in NYC. Here in Chicago I have been involved with Village Players Theater for Youth, as well as my first acting gig, You Must Pay, at GTT in the fall of 2007. I am preparing for my upcoming solo show at Links Hall in April.

Brent Peterson
I am originally from upstate new york, near Buffalo, and i moved out here a little over two months ago to pursue music. I’ve been playing guitar for around 7 years and take inspiration from a variety of genres, including Motown, Folk, Alternative, Funk, whatever happens to be playing. I hope to have an album out sometime in the very near future and I am very excited for to play Three Cat Thursdays. For more information about Brent, please visit his website at http://myspace.com/funkyfolk.

Jamie Szynal

Jamie Szynal is a Chicago native. She recently graduated from Illinois State University with a BM in Vocal Performance and a BA in Musical Theatre. She has performed in revues, operas, and musical theatre. Some of her favorite performers are Madeline Kahn, Frank Sinatra, Micheal Buble, Judy Garland and Ella Fitzgerald. She loves watching Law and Order almost as much as performing. Her motto is the thespian motto ,”Act well your part, there all the honor lies.”- Alexander Pope.

Kelsie Huff

After graduating from Columbia College Chicago in 2002 Huff was accepted into the Second City Conservatory where she met Amy Sumpter and formed the two women sketch comedy team Children of the Absurd. Their signature show titled 10% Less Fat focused on the absurdity of female body image and was performed at Second City’s Donny’s Skybox, Frankie J’s, Chicago Sketchfest, The Beverly Arts Center, Neo-Futurarium, Cornservatory, the space, and Kentucky and Indiana State University. During this time Huff also created several solo pieces produced by The Box Theatre Group, an all female theatre company formed by fellow Columbia College Chicago Alumni. In 2005 Huff wrote and produced her acclaimed one woman show Huffs which explored the struggle to find forgiveness in one dysfunctional family tree. The show was staged at the Royal George Theatre and was directed by Jason Madeja (Columbia College Chicago 02′). Huff also co-wrote Don’t Ever Change a story of two high school friends that reunite in their small town only to find that time has changed their once meaningful relationship. The piece has been read at Three Pear Studios and the Theatre Building Chicago. Huff is also the co-creator, director, and writer of an all women solo performance troupe The Muffin Basket Cases, seven women whipping up a new solo show every week. Huff is member of the all female variety show Beast Women under the direction of Jillian Erickson and Michelle Power. Kelsie is currently performing stand up in Comedy Over Coffee an all female comedy tour reaching several coffeehouses and bookstores across Chicago and can be seen the first Saturday of the every month at Comedy At Kate’s presented by Kate the Great’s Book Emporium on the corner of Broadway and Bryn Mawr. http://www.myspace.com/kelsielhuff

January 2008

Three Cat Thursdays presents

The Cabaret Variety Hour

Starting January 3rd at 8:00pm, the “Three Cat Thursdays: Cabaret Variety Hour” presents an amazing mix of talent. From comedians Summer Neville and Will Miles to singer Ren Lara and singer/songwriter Carey Farrell, the Cabaret Variety Hour promises to entertain!

Hosted by Jason Paul Smith with a special appearance by our special guest Alice Frederickson.

About the Artists:

Carey Farrell
Carey Farrell is the quiet girl who sat behind you in history class, scribbling furiously in a battered notebook. Her perceptive, bittersweet songs come from a lifetime of playing Harriet the Spy–and she sings them in a voice as warm and comforting as the perfect cup of strawberry tea.
Growing up in a musical family in suburban Maryland, Carey was surrounded by everything from show tunes to Irish rebel songs to Strawberry Shortcake at the Big Apple Disco, and it wasn’t too long before she was making music herself in community and school choirs, bands, and orchestras. In college, Carey discovered the growing online folk music community, picked up her first pawn shop guitar, and taught herself how to play. It was only a matter of time before she started to share her songs with the world outside her room.
Carey moved to Chicago in 2002, and soon found herself a home at the Old Town School of Folk Music, where she’s studied voice, guitar, and songwriting. She plays regularly in Chicago, at coffeehouses,clubs, open mics, 24-hour knitting marathons, and anywhere that might welcome a girl and her guitar. For more information about Carey, please visit her website at http://myspace.com/careyfarrell.

Ren Lara
Originally from Los Angeles, Ren trained with the Palm Springs Dance Co and the Long Beach Dance Co. Ren has also performed in LA, Palm Springs and toured parts of the US with College of the Desert’s “Celebration” performance troupe. In addition, performing in productions of The Merry Widow and Carousel at the Draiocht Theatre and National Concert Hall of Ireland.

Ren was a singer and dancer with the Disney Co. on the Queen Mary Hotel and Spurce Goose Dome in Long Beach, California, and also The Electrical Parade at Disney Anaheim.

Will Miles
Will Miles was born in the streets of Chicago with 3 legs and a dream. After years of schooling that just didn’t take, Miles moved to Atlanta at 18. There he was asked to speak at college forums all around Atlanta. Without any real knowledge of the forum topics or why he was asked to speak, he resorted to telling jokes. He developed a following, and eventually moved it back up North to his hometown of Chicago to do stand-up. After a year and a half detour doing Chicago improv, he finally started his stand up career in 2007. He has now been performing his stand up act all around Chicago and getting his rocks off onstage.

Summer Neville
A quirky west-coaster raised in Oregon, Summer got her start when she ended up in Chicago on an extended road trip. She got a waitressing job, a place, and decided to study improvising at Second City. She also studied acting, fiction writing and comedic writing. She has burst onto the standup scene in Chicago and performs everywhere they let her.. She was inspired by such comedians as Richard Pryor, Richard Pryor and Richard Pryor. She suffers under the delusion that she was married and working with Richard Pryor(like Ike and Tina, but less violence and more love) Summer’s material varies from sqeaky clean to intellectually blue, with a slight deadpan. She specializes in storytelling She likes/loves/seeks any and every crowd. She is an improvisational pro and that comes in very handy , even in stand up and acting. Summer has written, produced and performed 2 plays to very succesful runs in Chicago(listed below). She has been seen on TVONE on Bill Bellamy’s “Who’s Got Jokes?” this season. She will be featured in in Def Mobile jam(an offshoot of Def Jam) this year. She has also been featured on 190 N along with Jokes and Notes. For more information about Summer, please visit http://www.myspace.com/summerneville.

December 2007

Cabaret Variety Hour - December 6th - 8:00pm
Hosted by Jason Paul Smith

Three Cat Thursdays is proud to present our Holiday Cabaret Variety Hour. Featuring amazing performances by singer Rob Dorn, singer/songwriter Chris Zonada, comedic singer/songwriter Lauren Maul and juggler Brad French.
About the Performers:

Rob Dorn has spent more than twenty years as a vocalist with a wide range of performing credits that span musical theater, concerts, television, radio and recordings.

He spent ten years as creator, artistic director and member of the pop vocal group Three Hits and a Miss, touring throughout the country and Europe.

He has appeared in several stage productions, including Sweeney Todd, The History of the American Film, Candide, Anyone Can Whistle, Pacific Overtures, The 1940’s Radio Hour and the second national touring production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods.

For more information, please visit his website at http://robdorn.com.

Chris Zonada

Chris Zonada is a music artist based in Chicago, IL with two working live music acts and a handful of freelance musician/director/producer credits from around the midwest and parts of the east coast. As a solo acoustic artist, he writes and performs humanistic music with the goal of creating something familar yet still akin to his personal outlook and livelihood. People have said his finger-style guitar work creates sounds that are echoes of Brasilian jazz, americana folk music, and the technique of jazz guitarist Joe Pass. For more information, please visit his website at http://www.myspace.com/chriszonada.

Lauren Maul

“My material is concerned with the questions that concern me about america. I explore different facets of american society through characters, songs, puppets, and, of course, crayon drawings.”

For more information, please visit her website at http://www.myspace.com/laurenmaul.

Brad French

Brad was (and still is) the firstborn son of Jackissimo and Katerina Frenchplautzski, a husband-wife team of traveling performers specializing in musical tableaus. After his parents retired their act, Brad joined and spent a short time with The Fantastical Flingling Brothers, whose legendary gimmick was forming rivers of the world out of pipe smoke. In an attempt to improve his health after all that smoking, Brad (in top hat) tried a season with the Maine Empty Stare, Facial Hair, and Triple A Ball Club but had to leave after he discovered he was allergic to goats. Eventually, Brad (performing inside) put together a fine comedy-juggling act and the rest is history! For more information about Brad French, please visit his website at http://www.thatjugglingguy.com/.

November 2007

The “Three Cat Thursdays – Cabaret Variety Hour” kicks off on November 1st at 8:00pm with an amazing line up of talent. Comedians Cameron Esposito, Summer Neville, and Matt Griffo join singer songwriter Julie Jurgen and performer Laura Korn with a special guest appearance by Alice Frederickson. Hosted by Jason Paul Smith with musical director Jeffrey Roscoe, the show promises an hour of exciting music and entertainment.

About Cameron Esposito:
Cameron Esposito cut her chops doing that improv comedy everyone talks about, as a cast member at the ImprovBoston and Improv Asylum theaters in Massachusetts. She returned home to Chicago in the fall of 2007, took up the art of standup comedy and refuses to look back. Even now if you stand behind her she will not turn around to address you. Since relocating to Chicago, Cameron has performed at venues throughout the city and suburbs, including the nationally booked Zanies, and locally revered Lincoln Lodge and Chicago Underground Comedy Show. She is also a frequent performer at Chicago’s Town Hall Pub and Playground Theater, was a finalist in Edge Comedy $3500 Comedy Competition in June 2007, and was the producer and host of The Spectacular Show standup showcase which played for a six month run at the Gorilla Tango Theater this past winter. She has been featured regularly on popular Chicago comedy blog thebastion.org, was profiled on chillmag.com, and has been compared to Amy Sedaris by Nina Metz of the Chicago Tribune. Cameron has straight, brown hair and very expressive eyebrows. For more information about Cameron, please visit http://myspace.com/cameronsgotasecret

About Summer Neville:
A quirky west-coaster raised in Oregon, Summer got her start when she ended up in Chicago on an extended road trip. She got a waitressing job, a place, and decided to study improvising at Second City. She also studied acting, fiction writing and comedic writing. She has burst onto the standup scene in Chicago and performs everywhere they let her.. She was inspired by such comedians as Richard Pryor, Richard Pryor and Richard Pryor. She suffers under the delusion that she was married and working with Richard Pryor(like Ike and Tina, but less violence and more love) Summer’s material varies from sqeaky clean to intellectually blue, with a slight deadpan. She specializes in storytelling She likes/loves/seeks any and every crowd. She is an improvisational pro and that comes in very handy , even in stand up and acting. Summer has written, produced and performed 2 plays to very succesful runs in Chicago(listed below). She has been seen on TVONE on Bill Bellamy’s “Who’s Got Jokes?” this season. She will be featured in in Def Mobile jam(an offshoot of Def Jam) this year. She has also been featured on 190 N along with Jokes and Notes. For more information about Summer, please visit http://www.myspace.com/summerneville.

About Matt Griffo:
Matt Griffo is originally from Rochester, NY where he studied theatre, music, and dance at The School of Performing Arts in Irondequoit. He then became a graphic designer for a production company in NY before moving to Chicago. He’s an actor that happens to know his way around a piano, acting in “42nd Street”, Shakespeare’s “The Comedy Of Errors”, “The Year Without a Santa Claus” at ComedySportz, his own show he wrote, directed, and performed, “Holy $#!% It’s Christmas!” and many more. Matt is currently an ensemble member of Mon Oeil (Moan-Oy), a hilarious improv and sketch comedy group and trained at I.O. and The Second City. On top of that he has music directed 3 Brownco Revue’s, “Gunsmoke” at Columbia College, for ComedySportz, Actions Speak Louder Than Kurds, and many other shows in Chicago. He writes his own music in his spare time and goes to the gym. Matt is an inspiration to us all. For more information about Matt, please visit http://myspace.com/itsmattgriffo.

About Julie Jurgens:
Julie Jurgens began playing the guitar and writing songs in the spring of her sophomore year of college. A curly haired boy had bruised her ego, and to console herself she bought a guitar, named it Daisy Mae, and her life was never the same again. Julie has played with artists such as Pelusa (Seattle, WA), Jim Frazier (Atlanta, GA), Garrett Lane and Nancy Connelly (Chicago, IL), among others. Her signature song, “The Whisky Song (Expectations)” was a top 20 finalist in the Acoustic/Folk category of the 2005-2006 Unisong songwriting contest. She has released one album, A Small Affair, which is still available on iTunes and other select mp3 sites. She has done shots and broken hearts on several stages in Chicago, including the open mic at Sub-t, the Heartland Cafe, Kitty Moon, Hotti Biscotti, Phyllis’s Musical Inn, and, of course, The Gallery Cabaret in Bucktown. You can learn more about Julie by going to hotjuliej.com. Or, you know, asking her.

About Laura Korn:
Laura Korn is currently a junior in Columbia College’s B.F.A acting program and is a proud winner of the Liberache Scholarship. Her past roles include Madeleine from “Quills”, Angelica Bianca from “The Rover”, Circe from “The Odyssey” and Lady Ann from “Richard III”. She is excited to be performing at Three Cat Thursdays and hopes to show everyone a good time.

October 2007

September 2007