Porchlight Music Theatre begins its eighth season of Chicago’s “lost” musicals series with Porchlight Revisits Nunsense, book, music and lyrics by Dan Goggin+ with direction by Michelle Lauto*, musical direction by Kailey Rockwell* and choreography by Jenna Schoppe*. Porchlight RevisitsNunsense is presented for three performances only Wednesday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. and Thursday, Nov. 18 at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. Three-show discounted Porchlight Revisits subscriptions are available with single tickets for $49 at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org or by calling the Porchlight Music Theatre box office at 773.777.9884.
Now in its eighth season, Porchlight Revisits celebrates the rarely seen musical gems of Broadway, off-Broadway and beyond and is the ticket to go behind the scenes with an introduction to the luminaries who created the greatest musicals of all time and an opportunity to discover a new ‘old’ favorite all in one big show. Chicago’s finest music theatre talents dust off these treasures and escort audiences into the world of the art of music theatre’s past for a limited run. In addition to productions from days gone by, each Porchlight Revisits includes the Behind the Show Backstory, an entertaining and informative multimedia presentation, created and hosted by Artistic Director Michael Weber+, introducing the evening’s production including the show’s creative history, juicy backstage stories and much more.
Join the Little Sisters of Hoboken for a wholesome variety show to raise emergency funds for the convent. After 52 of the nuns met an untimely end from Sister Julia – Child of God’s vichyssoise – the surviving sisters need to throw the fundraiser to pay for their burials. This funny foray has blessed theatregoers worldwide for more than 30 years and has had six sequels, three spin-offs and a TV special starring “Golden Girl” Rue McClanahan as “Mother Superior!”
The cast of Porchlight Revisits Nunsense includes: Missy Aguilar* (“Sister Robert Anne”), Cynthia Carter* (“Sister Mary Regina”), Landree Fleming* (“Sister Mary Amnesia”), Rebecca Keeshin* (“Sister Mary Leo”) and Kyra Leigh* (“Sister Mary Hubert”).
Top Row (L to R): Missy Aguilar* ("Sister Robert Anne"), Cynthia Carter* ("Sister Mary Regina"), Landree Fleming* ("Sister Mary Amnesia"), Rebecca Keeshin ("Sister Mary Leo") Bottom Row (L to R): Kyra Leigh* ("Sister Mary Hubert"), Michelle Lauto* (Director), Kailey Rockwell* (Music Director), Jenna Schoppe* (Choreographer)
The production team includes: Michelle Lauto* (director); Kailey Rockwell* (music director); Jenna Schoppe* (choreographer); Rachel Sypniewski* (costume designer); Rachel West* (lighting designer); Matt Chase+ (sound designer); Caitlin Body* (production stage manager, AEA); Andrea Enger= (assistant stage manager), Jennifer Aparicio* (production manager), Rashaad A. Bond+ (producing artistic associate); Alex Rhyan+ (production and operations director) and Michael Weber+ (artistic director).
Pronoun Key: + (he/him/his); * (she/her/hers); ^ (they, them, theirs). = (any with respect)
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT REVISITS
Continuing to forge its role as “Chicago’s Music Theatre,” Porchlight launched the exciting new series Porchlight Revisits in 2013; especially created for the die-hard music theatre aficionado. Each season, Porchlight Music Theatre shares with audiences the rare opportunity to visit musicals that opened on the Great White Way but have since gone “unsung.” Previous Porchlight Revisits productions include:
- (2019/20) Call Me Madam
- (2018/19) 1776, Can-Can, Minnie’s Boys;
- (2017/18) Do Re Mi, They’re Playing Our Song, Woman of the Year;
- (2016/17) The Rink, Little Me, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever;
- (2015/16) Chess, Applause, Babes in Arms;
- (2014/15) Bells Are Ringing, City of Angels, Mack & Mabel;
- (2013/14) Anyone Can Whistle, Golden Boy, Fade Out-Fade In.
ABOUT MICHELLE LAUTO*, director
Michelle Lauto* is an award-winning Chicago actor, singer and educator. She has been seen at Porchlight in In The Heights and Sunset Boulevard. Other credits include: Spamilton: An American Parody (for which she received the Jeff Award for Best Actress in a Revue), HAIR, Oklahoma, Grease, Seussical and more at various Chicago theatres. Lauto’s musical staging work has been seen at Porchlight in 1776 and in youth productions around Chicago.
ABOUT KAILEY ROCKWELL*, music director
Kailey Rockwell* earned a Bachelor of Music in Contemporary, Urban & Popular Music from Columbia College Chicago. Now she works all over the Chicagoland area music directing, performing, arranging and teaching. Notable companies Rockwell has worked with include: Music Theatre Works, Goodman Theatre, Skokie Theatre, Mercury Theater, Highland Park Players, Stagedoor Fine Arts, Glenview Theatre Guild, Music on Stage, Columbia College Chicago, Porchlight Music Theatre, American Theatre Company, Pride Films and Plays and Tiffany Lawson Dance.
ABOUT JENNA SCHOPPE*, choreographer
Jenna Schoppe* is back for another round of Porchlight Revisits, after choreographing Call Me Madam and Do Re Mi. On the Porchlight stage, she has appeared in Sophisticated Ladies, End of the Rainbow, Mack and Mabel and Pal Joey. Other performance credits include Miracle (Royal George Theatre), Dames At Sea (TATC), The Baltimore Waltz (Brown Paper Box Co.), Bye Bye Birdie(Drury Lane Oakbrook), and Hey! Dancin!, Hey! Musical! (Factory Theater). As a choreographer, her work was featured in Yank: a WW2 Love Story (Pride Films and Plays – Jeff Award, Best Choreography 2018), Bobbie Clearly (Steep Theatre) and The Producers (Nightblue Performing Arts- Jeff Nomination).
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE AS RUTH PAGE ARTIST IN-RESIDENCE
Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to be a member of the vibrant Ruth Page Center for the Arts community and an Artist In-Residence. Central to the Ruth Page Center for the Arts’ programming is the Artists In-Residence program, which is designed to serve organizations looking for a home base while they grow or expand their artistic and organizational capabilities. The Center is committed to nurturing and assisting dance and other performing artists, allowing for exchange and collaborative relationships to develop within the artistic community. The Ruth Page Center for the Arts is a destination for quality performing arts, accessible to a wide community regardless of race, gender, age, education or disability. An incubator of artistic energy and excellence, the Ruth Page Center for the Arts carries forward the vision of its founder, legendary dance icon Ruth Page, to be a platform for developing great artists and connecting them with audiences and community.
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
Porchlight Music Theatre is the award-winning center for music theatre in Chicago. Through live performance, youth education and community outreach we impact thousands of lives each season, bringing the magic of musicals to our theatre home at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts in the Gold Coast and to neighborhoods across the city. Porchlight has built a national reputation for boldly reimagining classic musicals, supporting new works and young performers, and showcasing Chicago’s most notable music theatre artists, all through the intimate and powerful theatrical lens of the “Chicago Style.”
Now in its 27th season, Porchlight's quarter-century production history includes more than 70 mainstage works with 15 Chicago premieres and five world premieres. Porchlight’s commitment to the past, present and future of music theatre led the company to develop the Porchlight Revisits and New Faces Sing Broadway program series, both quickly becoming audience favorites.
Porchlight's education and outreach programs serve schools, youth of all ages and skill levels and community organizations, most notably the ongoing collaboration with Chicago Youth Centers. Porchlight annually awards dozens of full scholarships and hundreds of free tickets to ensure accessibility and real engagement with this uniquely American art form.
The company’s many honors include 178 Joseph Jefferson Award (Jeff) nominations and 45 Jeff awards, as well as 33 Black Theatre Alliance (BTA) nominations and 12 BTA awards. In 2019, Porchlight graduated to the Large Theatre tier of the Equity Jeff Awards, and was honored with eight nominations in both technical and artistic categories and won three awards in its inaugural year in this tier, most notably Best Ensemble for Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies.
Through the global pandemic, Porchlight emerged as one of Chicago’s leaders in virtual programming, quickly launching a host of free offerings like Sondheim @ 90 Roundtables, Movie Musical Mondays, Porchlight by Request: Command Performances and WPMT: Classic Musicals from the Golden Age of Radio. For the 2020-2021 season, Porchlight’s fall schedule included all-new ticketed virtual programs including Broadway by the Decade, New Faces Sing Broadway 1987, Chicago Sings Rock & Roll Broadway, New Faces Sing Broadway 1961 and the return of The Ruffians’ Burning Bluebeard as well as collaborations with Hershey Felder and L.A. Theatre Works. Porchlight recently launched its first summer performance schedule including a sold-out performance of New Faces Sing Broadway 1979 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, the premiere of its outdoor music series Broadway in your Backyard, performed throughout Chicagoland this summer and special appearances at Sundays on State and Navy Pier’s Chicago Live Again.
Porchlight Music Theatre is partially supported by generous contributions from Actors’ Equity Foundation; Allstate; Michael Best & Friedrich LLP; Chapman | Spingola, LLP; Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation; Gen Ops Plus; Elegant Event Lighting; Glimpse Vision; James P. and Brenda S. Grusecki Family Foundation; Hearty Boys; A.L. and Jennie L. Luria Foundation; The MacArthur Fund for Culture, Equity and the Arts at Prince; the Pritzker Traubert Foundation; Ryan and Spaeth, Inc.; Daniel and Genevieve Ratner Foundation; The Saints and Dr. Scholl Foundation.
The season program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency, and by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.
Porchlight Music Theatre wishes to thank members of the Matching Gift Corporate Program including abbvie; Allstate; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; Peoples Gas; Pepsico; Polk Bros Foundation and The Saints. Pronoun Key: + (he/him/his); * (she/her/hers); ^ (they, them, theirs). = (any with respect)
Pronoun Key: + (he/him/his); * (she/her/hers); ^ (they, them, theirs); = (any with respect)