On a few rare occasions, host Silent Marvin didn't have the bandwidth for the Wild Party Variety Show, and we had to rely on some talented people to fill in those really big shoes. Alternative hosts have included Dennis Episcopo and 13-year-old Diego (still grateful to his parents, who didn’t hesitate to support this crazy idea); there were also STC ensemble members Dan Howard, Robin Coffin, Nick DuFloth, and Brendan Balfe, the latter two of whom came in clutch in the particular show you see above.
You see, it was 2010, the Artistic Director was pregnant, and little production was happening. However, grants had to continue to be written, and work had to still be presented and judged by the aforementioned granters, and they were coming to see this particular show. A show that would not feature its star host. A show that was originally getting a fill-in role with Matt Massaro, a brilliant host in his own right, who happened to have a family emergency THE DAY OF THE SHOW. So, Nick and Balfe got together and whipped a through line in a day. The rest of Silent Theatre (including Marvin, who somehow managed to make it to the 10:30 pm start time in the 11th hour) rallied and pulled out all the bits it could from its touring days when the company would meet and create variety bits out of thin air.
Unfortunately, this was in the beginning days of the Wild Party Variety Hour, before we had a steady commitment to film the shows in full with good equipment, and as you can tell, there are some jumps as the footage was pieced together. It’s also missing two whole bits: Da F*ck and The Audition, but the former was remounted in subsequent shows which have already been archived, and the latter was dusted off from a consequent filming shows for the first time here, for your viewing pleasure.
These were the halcyon days of STC. Still so young and brimming with energy. Looking back at all the crazy shenanigans we pulled off, we sure did carve a tiny little corner of the Chicago Theatre scene with our bare hands and more than a few dozen handles of bourbon.
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