BAC Art Exhibits

The Beverly Arts Center ,

BACinema, the popular Wednesday night movie series at the Beverly Arts Center (BAC),

Suzanne Patterson, director of the Tall Grass Art Film discussion series, will facilitate the program which begins with a screening of “I Am Love” starring Tilda Swinton.

The film, an official selection at several film festivals including Toronto, Venice and Sundance, was made in Italy and released in 2009. It dramatizes how the forces of passion and unconditional love spark the fall of a well-to-do family in turn of the millennium Milan .

“I Am Love” was named Best Feature Film at the Boulder International Film Festival and Swinton was named Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival.

Suzanne Patterson’s passion for film began at age 6 when she joined a film club for children in her hometown of Dumfries, Scotland . Today, in addition to directing the film discussion series for the Tall Grass Art Association, she is the director of The Adult Learning Exchange at Governor's State University where she facilitates a cinema studies course.  Patterson also created and facilitates a 'Short Story to Film' series for local libraries as well as conducting various film discussion series throughout the Chicago area.

In November, Patterson will begin a new cinema studies program for the BAC School of the Arts, screening selected international films followed by focused discussion. The Country as Character is the theme for the first four-week session of classes.

 Reel Talk will be held on the third Wednesday of the month, Sept. through May. Films are screened at 7:30 p.m. and the discussion follows. Film admission is $7 ($5 for BAC members) and the discussion is free.

We've heard from the nuns, we've relived growing up Catholic, and now "An Accidental Organist" will give us a view from the choir loft. David Boyle's new solo play offers a funny, sometimes-cynical, sometimes-tender look at the Catholic laity and their relationship with Church. Performing dozens of characters, Boyle takes us "behind the scenes" in the work of a church musician.

David Boyle has written nine plays for young actors, which have been produced by Beverly Arts Center, Children's Theatre of Western Springs, The CAST Program of Oak Park School District and The Metropolis Center for the Performing Arts in Arlington Heights.

After performing David Sedaris's "The SantaLand Diaries" at World Music Company for three years, Boyle decided to write his own solo show. "An Accidental Organist," a fictional account of Boyle’s career as a church musician. The show will run for six Sundays, Oct. 3 through Nov. 7, 6 p.m. at Gorilla Tango Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave. Rob Fagin is the director with Anitra Hutcherson assisting.

Tickets are $12. Visit gorillatango.com or call 773-598-4549 for tickets and information. Adult language: no children please.

Emcee Tim O'Malley, an alum of the Second City Chicago Resident Company and Beverly Hills/Morgan Park neighbor, is also a member of Burning Desires – Chicago ’s hottest recovery-based comedy troupe. Performing with his regular partner stand-up comedian Laura Hugg, a graduate of the Second City Conservatory, the performers have been clean and sober for years. Their wonderfully checkered pasts bring a special quality of honesty, humility and vulnerability to the stage.

Joining Burning Desires for the BAC show are special guests Wiley T. Flowers, a comic who has improvised his way across the country, performed in theater, can be seen in the films “Courage Under Fire” and “The Break,” and appeared in several episodes of “Walker Texas Ranger;” and Michael J. Gellman, a Second City Chicago main-stage alum, director and senior faculty member at The Second City Training Center, who was nominated a Joseph Jefferson Award for direction.  Gellman’s book, “Process: An Improviser's Journey,” was recently published by Northwestern University Press.

The ensemble group Sketch & Sniff was born in the sketch writing program at the Second City Training Center . The writers’ best worked are performed by actors from the Second City Conservatory. The cast includes Derick Lengwenus, Meghan Hillmeyer, Jennifer Cumberworth, Ben Kass, Briana Hansen, Warren Phynix Johnson, Brooke Cusmano, Neil Jacobsen and Skylar Sprague.

Stand-up comedian Beth Stelling performs to sold out audiences at comedy clubs all over Chicago and the mid-west. She was recently The Chicago Reader’s pick for Chicago ’s Funniest Female Stand-up of 2010.  Stelling hosts a successful variety show at The Town Hall Pub every Sunday night and was recently featured on the TBS Just for Laughs festival.

Tim O’Malley wrote and performed in five original revues on the SC mainstage in the 1990s. His original play “Godshow” ran for four years to sold out audiences. He can be seen in the films “Return to Me,” “Bad Meat,” “Shift” and “Black Days.”

Tickets to the Super Funny Comedy Extravaganza II are $18 ($15 for BAC members) and can be purchased through the box office, 773-445-3838 or online at www.beverlyartcenter.org.