Buffalo Theatre Ensemble (BTE), the professional Equity company in residence at the McAninch Arts Center (MAC), returns to live performances for the ensemble’s 2021-2022 three-play season. The season will open with the world premiere of “Stove Toucher,” written and performed by BTE Ensemble Member Kurt Naebig, directed by BTE Managing Artistic Director Connie Canaday Howard (Nov. 26-Dec. 19). The season continues with Mat Smart’s “Naperville” directed by Naebig (Jan. 27-Feb. 27), and Richard Bean’s “One Man Two Guvnors” an English adaptation of “The Servant of Two Masters (Italian: Il servitore di due padroni)” directed by Canaday Howard (April 28-May 29).
“All three plays in our season provide heartwarming looks, sometimes touching and sometimes hysterical, at people on the brink of great change – themes that have never seemed more relevant than now,” says Canaday Howard. “We are especially grateful to our patrons and sponsors for their continued belief and support throughout our 35-year history, but especially during the challenging past year and a half. Their help played a major role in making it possible for us to reengage in in-person performances with our audience once again.”
BTE’s 2021-2022 three-play season will include the following:
World Premiere
“Stove Toucher”
Written and performed by Kurt Naebig
Directed by Connie Canaday Howard
Nov. 26-Dec. 19; Press Opening Friday, Nov. 26
Performances Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 3 p.m.
Performed without intermission
What happens when you achieve the high-rolling lifestyle you always dreamed of…at 13 years old? This is an extraordinary and funny coming-of-age story set during the 1970s skateboard boom, about a semi-pro boarder who opens a successful business, gets interviewed by Charlie Rose, and falls into drugs: all before high school. A little bit “Doogie Howser,” a little bit “Basketball Diaries,” “Stove Toucher” is a high-adrenaline, hilarious, heartfelt recounting about getting everything you ever wanted – and then watching it fall apart.
Related free special events: Pre-show discussion with the designers and director Friday, Nov. 26; and post-show discussion with director, actors and crew Friday, Dec. 3.
“Naperville”
By Mat Smart
Directed by Kurt Naebig
Featuring Ensemble Members Kelli Walker, Robyn Coffin, Nick DuFloth and Robert Jordan Bailey
Jan. 27-Feb. 27; Preview Thursday, Jan. 27; Press Opening Friday, Jan. 28
Performances Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 3 p.m.
Performed without intermission
It is Naperville, 2012. Anne works on a new project, T.C. is captaining the first shift as new manager and Candice and son Howard, back from Seattle, arrive at her favorite coffee spot: Caribou Coffee. What follows is a day full of eccentricity, cups of coffee and affecting conversation creating a turning point that shows how community can add to your life. The New York Times says, “…everyone in this shop has a story, a loss, a regret, and Smart weaves their tales together adeptly.” This funny and moving play is a heartwarming salute to the moment we discover a new definition of home.
Related free special events: Pre-show discussion with the director and designers Thursday, Jan. 27, 6:45-7:15 p.m.; post-show discussion with director, actors and crew Friday, Feb.4.
“One Man, Two Guvnors”
By Richard Bean
Based on “The Servant of Two Masters” by Carlo Goldoni and songs by Grant Olding
Directed by Connie Canaday Howard
Featuring Ensemble Members Bryan Burke, Nick DuFloth, Rebecca Cox, Laura Leonardo Ownby, Lisa Dawn and Norm Woodel
April 28-May 29; Preview Thursday, April 28; Press opening Friday, April 29
Performances Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 3 p.m.
The ever-starving Francis Henshall finds himself working for both a gangster and a criminal in hiding, both of whom are linked in a web of schemes, shakedowns and seductions. To prevent the discovery that he is working for two bosses, Francis must do everything he can to keep his two guvnors apart, while still getting food and the girl. Playwright Bean transports the commedia dell'arte conventions of the 1746 "The Servant of Two Masters" to the seaside town of Briton in 1963. Daily Variety calls “One Man Two Guvnors” “…sheer comic delirium.”
Related free special events: Pre-show discussion with the director and designers Thursday, April 28, 6:45-7:15 p.m.; post-show discussion with director, actors and crew Friday, May 6.
BTE 2021-2022 season performances contain adult themes and language.
Tickets
BTE’s 2021-2022 season performances will take place in the Playhouse Theatre of the McAninch Arts Center located at 425 Fawell Blvd. on the campus of College of DuPage. Tickets are currently on sale by subscription. New for 2021-2022: The Season Flex-Pass for six tickets redeemable any time during BTE’s 2021-2022 Season and eligible for unlimited exchanges (Flex-Pass available online only). For more information visit www.AtTheMAC.org.
Single play tickets are $42 and go on sale Sept. 24. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. For group sales information email kazmierskik@cod.edu. For more information about BTE’s season, visit www.AtTheMAC.org.
2021-2022 Season Protocols
Buffalo Theatre Ensemble and the McAninch Arts Center/College of DuPage value the safety and health of the audience, staff and artists, and are practicing safety guidelines set forth by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, the State of Illinois. For more information visit www.AtTheMAC.org, email the Box Office at themac@cod.edu or call 630.942.4000.
About Buffalo Theatre Ensemble
The mission of Buffalo Theatre Ensemble is to provide a forum in which artists, scholars, writers, students and community members explore new ideas and provocative issues through the production of quality theater for the enjoyment of its audiences. Since 1986 BTE has staged more than 120 productions.
The Ensemble members are Aly Renee Amidei, Robert Jordan Bailey, Amelia Barrett (Associate Artistic Director), Bryan Burke (Business Manager), Robyn Coffin, Rebecca Cox, Lisa Dawn, Nick DuFloth, Jon Gantt, Loretta Hauser, Connie Canaday Howard (Managing Artistic Director), Christopher Kriz, Michael W. Moon, Kurt Naebig, Laura Leonardo Ownby, Galen G. Ramsey, William “Sandy” Smillie, Kelli Walker and Norm Woodel. For more information about BTE, visit www.btechicago.com.
Buffalo Theatre Ensemble is partially supported and funded by generous grants from The DuPage Foundation, Benevity, Choose DuPage, the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program, The Norm Woodel Inspiration Fund, The Illinois Arts Council, and a gift from Dr. Thomas R. Scott and the late Shirley Klein Scott of Glen Ellyn through the College of DuPage Foundation.
About The MAC
The McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage is located 25 miles west of Chicago near I-88 and I-355. It houses three indoor performance spaces (the 780-seat proscenium Belushi Performance Hall; the 236-seat soft-thrust Playhouse Theatre; and the versatile black box Studio Theatre), the outdoor Lakeside Pavilion, plus the Cleve Carney Museum of Art and classrooms for the college’s academic programming. The MAC has presented theater, music, dance and visual art to more than 1.5 million people since its opening in 1986 and typically welcomes more than 100,000 patrons from the greater Chicago area to more than 230 performances each season.
The MAC’s 2021-2022 Season is made possible in part with support by DoubleTree by Hilton Lisle/Naperville, WDCB 90.9 FM and the College of DuPage Foundation. Programs at the MAC are partially supported through a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.