Pulse: Snow, school plays and dogeball
From staff and freelance reports March 6, 2013 5:34PM
Deborah Galsper from Westmont, shovels snow along Chicago Ave in Downtown Naperville on Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Galsper is working with Labor Ready, a temp agency, to help clear the snow from the downtown sidewalks. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media
Article Extras
Updated: April 9, 2013 11:04AM
It’s not your — or your back’s — imagination: we got a whole lot of snow on Tuesday. An epic flake dump. A record pileup.
March did indeed come in like a lion a week ago, blanketing the region with almost an inch of fresh flakes. But that clearly was just the big cat clearing its throat, preparing for full roar four days hence.
The official 9.2 inches recorded for the Chicago area by the National Weather Service put Tuesday’s storm in fourth place for most snowfall during March since 1884, when the agency started keeping records. Two of the three dates when more snow came down in March were also in the first week of the 31-day month. But hold onto your shovel: the top March snow on record came when 13.6 inches piled up on March 25, 1930.
You’d best not put those weatherproof boots away just yet.
Make some noise
Central students put on comedy act
Audience members will be making some noise when Naperville Central students take the stage for “Noises Off,” a comedy that premieres this weekend.
Director Tom Ulbrich said he wanted his students to take on this play for a couple of reasons.
“I chose this show because in my opinion, it is one of the funniest and most challenging shows around today,” Ulbrich said. “Each actor has to develop two characters: one that is the ‘actor’ in the play ‘Nothing On’ and the character that he (or she) is playing.”
Written by English playwright Michael Frayn, “Noises Off” is a play within a play. Set in the British Theatre District, the play shows the hilarious scramble that takes place between backstage and center stage of a live theater show.
And while actors may be in the spotlight, more than 50 students are working behind-the-scenes to bring the comedy to life.
“The set is really interesting in that it is a two-story set that has to turn 180 degrees during the show,” the director said. ”
Performances of “Noises Off” take place at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the auditorium. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the door or by calling the theater central office at 630-420-3885.
Sounds of music
Benet Academy puts on musical
The hills are alive with the sound of music, and so is Benet Academy. Members of the Lisle school will bring the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical to life during two matinee and six evening performances.
“It won’t matter whether it is the first time they are seeing the show, or if they are re-discovering a childhood favorite, audiences can expect a fun evening with excellent singing and acting,” said Brian Wand, director of choral music.
Wand said “The Sound of Music” was chosen because of its storyline, that includes “great characters and fun songs.”
“We love telling stories with interesting characters that we can study with our students and discover all the layers and complexities,” he said.
A cast, crew and orchestra of more than 100 students will bring the von Trapp family to life, along with a host of other characters.
The show takes place at 7:30 p.m. March 7-9 and March 14-16 in St. Daniel Hall Auditorium and at 2 p.m. March 9-10. Tickets are $10 each. Call 630-247-1068.
Hello, Dolly
Naperville mom starts radio show
Dolly McCarthy didn’t have enough to do, so she decided to start a radio show.
The CLTV news anchor and Naperville resident thought she’d add one ball to her juggling act. Her life is a constant balance between her five children, broadcasting, making her family chocolate chip pancakes and even housework. Adding another ball to that act wasn’t on her radar, but it gives her a unique opportunity outside the realm of reporting the daily news, weather and sports.
“This radio show takes me back to my early days in broadcasting,” McCarthy said. “I was a DJ at my college’s radio station before I got into television news. I had always enjoyed the flexibility and creativity of my own show back then and decided it was time to tap into that creative side again and start up my own show.”
Her goal is to talk about what’s good.
“This show is fun, informative and entertaining, and I look forward to talking to lots of interesting guests and callers,” she said.
The Dolly McCarthy Show airs from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. every Thursday morning on Blog Talk Radio (www.blogtalkradio.com).
Driving it home
Go-kart event nets $100K for PADS
Now, that’s some real drive.
When 16 teams came together Feb. 24 and hit the road for the third annual six-hour Drive for 75 go-karting enduro, they wound up going even farther than imagined.
In fact, the fundraiser for DuPage Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS) met its $75,000 goal well before the starting flags were waved.
That doesn’t mean the effort was stopped.
During the event, sales of raffle tickets, shirts and home-baked cookies continued to drive money in, bringing the day’s yield to more than $100,000 raised to aid the agency’s work toward ending homelessness.
Maybe they should have named it the Drive for 100.
Teams were creative, with one captain shaving his head as incentive to reach his team’s goal.
Continental LAPS racing team, the organization behind the Drive For 75 idea, was the top fundraising team.
The Drive For 75 has turned into an ultra-competitive race which, during the past three years, has raised more than $250,000 for the services of DuPage PADS.
“We would like to thank the participants, donors and a very special thank you to Continental Motors and Chicago Indoor Racing,” said Carol Simler, DuPage PADS’ executive director, in a press release.
“We are so grateful to all involved in this truly inspiring event.”
Masks for charity
Celebrities sign off
on museum fundraiser
More than 100 masks designed by professional artists and autographed by 65 leading celebrities will be auctioned off through April 13 to benefit the DuPage Children’s Museum.
“The entire museum community is sincerely grateful to have been honored by leading celebrities who have graciously signed masks for the online auction,” said Bri Bromberek, the museum’s marketing manager.
“We are also grateful to have had the support of the enthusiastic and generous artists of the M.A.S.K. Project Artist Network; without these artists, the project would not have been possible.”
Celebrity masks, signed by Oscar and Emmy-winning stars, sports icons from the Bears, Bulls, White Sox and Blackhawks, Olympic gold medalists and top recording artists are yours for the taking.
This is all part of the DuPage Children’s Museum’s M.A.S.K. Project, a yearlong venture to demonstrate the importance of integrating the arts into math and science early learning in young children.
On March 7, the museum hosted a preview reception for the project, but when it comes to the masks, Bromberek wouldn’t play favorites.
“In terms of a favorite mask, it is truly too hard to choose just one,” she said.
View the online mask gallery and learn more about the M.A.S.K. Project at http://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/item/Browse.action?grouping=ALL&auctionId=180948376
Dodge this
No loitering after all
for this Neuqua team
A team from Neuqua Valley High School dodged, ducked, dipped and dove all the way to the championship during the 2013 Naperville Park District All-City Dodge Ball Tournament on Feb. 24.
J.P. Georganas, Eli Tappin, Alex Teresky, Connor Raridon, Bro Putnal, Jacob Eminger, Kiley Czerwinski and Kiran Rehal of the Loiter Squad captured the title during the tournament that included 11 teams from Naperville-area high schools.
“We were pretty confident going into this,” said Tappin, 16.
While they didn’t have dodge ball experience, Tappin said the team members play football, basketball and soccer for Neuqua Valley. While they didn’t practice ahead of time, they did have a strategy: get the best opponents out first and then win.
And they did.
After about 20 games, the Loiter Squad proved victorious in their dodge ball debut. Tappin said it’s not the end for the team.
“We have already signed up for another tournament,” he said. “And we’ll be back to win this one again next year.”
That would make even Patches O’Houlihan (of the movie “Dodge Ball”) proud.
Got Pulse? Email quirky, funny or interesting ideas to hpfundstein@stmedianetwork.com.
Buddha on short girls
Author will talk about books at COD
If you’ve read “Short Girls” or “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner,” then you won’t want to miss this author visit.
Acclaimed author Bich Minh Nguyen will read and discuss her work at College of DuPage at 7 p.m. Monday in the health and science center, room 1234, on the college’s main campus, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn.
Nguyen’s memoir “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner,” released in 2007, received the PEN/Jerard Award from the PEN American Center and was a Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2007, a Kiriyama Prize Notable Book, and an Asian American Literature Award finalist. Her novel
“Short Girls” was released in 2009 and won an American Book Award in fiction and named a Best Book of the Year by Library Journal. Nguyen’s work has also appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Gourmet Magazine and Dream Me Home Safely: Writers on Growing up in America.
Her next novel, “Little Gray House in the West,” will be published in 2014.
Born in Vietnam in 1974, Nguyen was eight months old when her family fled the fall of Saigon. The family eventually settled in Grand Rapids, Mich. She lives in Chicago and West Lafeyette, Ind., with her husband, novelist Porter Shreve, and teaches creative nonfiction, fiction and Asian American Literature at Purdue University.
This event is free. Call 630-942-3291 or email montgome@cod.edu.
