A Weekend in Chicago

My mom's 60th birthday was last Friday. Realizing that nothing had been planned for that day, my sister and I decided to take my mom out for dinner. As the week progressed, plans evolved and my Aunt Paula decided to join us. I decided to research performances downtown, knowing that we all enjoy the theater. I found a play called, "The Book of Liz." Here is the synopsis taken from their website:

This comic play, penned by David and Amy Sedaris, follows the adventures of a female cheeseball-making expert with a sweating problem who escapes a religious community and finds work at a family restaurant run by recovering alcoholics.

Any play that revolves around a woman with a sweating problem is worth seeing. I looked at many of the reviews and critics claimed we would be on the floor laughing. And the icing on the cake...tickets were only $15. I couldn't wait!

After taking the train into the city and eating dinner (quickly), we arrived at the Cornservatory, a small, hole-in-the-wall-type theater on the Northside. There were only sixty seats and we arrived late, so everyone watched as we took our seats. There were three seats together in the back row and only one in the very front. My sister volunteered to sit in the front row by herself.

Midway through the play, we realized that it was a bomb. My mom turned to me and whispered, "I'm not following the storyline. Am I looking too deep?" At which point, I burst out laughing. I looked over at my aunt who, apparently, was sleeping. We began giggling and took several minutes to control our laugh attacks. I think we had a total of four.

My poor sister missed out on all of our fun and shared with us later that she felt obligated to laugh at the "funny parts" since the actors were looking right at her. Needless to say, my mom's 60th birthday was memorable, but really a disappointment.

In the photo below, you will see a picture of me with the cheeseball in the background (look very closely). The second photo is of an actress dressed in a Mr. Peanut costume.
Yep, that's right...A Mr. Peanut costume.
Do not ask me how this fit into the story, but I almost wet my pants when it came on stage.

The next day, my mom wanted to redeem our horrible evening by attempting to get tickets to one of her favorite musicals, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." It was ending its run in Chicago last weekend and she had already seen it twice. Since tickets were about $80 a piece, we decided that if we could get discounted tickets we would give it a try. We boarded the train (again) and arrived at the theater several hours before the curtain call. We entered our names in a drawing to win $25 tickets (2 max./winner). The three of us each entered our information thinking it would increase our odds. We were asked to return to the theater lobby at 6:00 pm for the drawing. Winners must be present to win.

We killed some time in the Loop. When we returned to the theater at 6:00, we noticed that we were the only people who had shown up. The theater manager approached us, smirked, and said with an effeminate voice, "Well, it looks as if this will be easy."

He continued to go through the entire spiel, "Should your name be chosen at random, you will have an opportunity to purchase up to two tickets for $25 each. Blah, blah, blah, blah." We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.

He pulled out the first entry. In a loud and clear voice, he said, "Sarah Conroy? Is there a Sarah Conroy here?"

"That's me!" My sister began to jump up and down. He then asked, "Sarah, would you like to purchase one or two tickets?"

And then my sister said something SO profound, I'll never forget it...
"I'll take two...just in case."

As if our names wouldn't be drawn.

He pulled out the second entry. "Karen Beckley? Karen Beckley?" "Yahoo!!!" I couldn't believe it! I never win anything!

He then asked me, "Karen, would you like to purchase one or two tickets?" I told him I'd take one...since Sarah had already covered my mom.

William (the theater manager) looked at my mom. "Would you like me to draw your name, ma'am?"

"No, that's all right. There's really no need since I already have a ticket," she explained. Apparently, he was required to pull her name from the bin anyway.

"Diane Applehoff? Diane Applehoff, would you like your discounted ticket? No? People, let it be known that Diane Applehoff has declined her ticket."

Although the play itself was hilarious, we found the raffle in the lobby beforehand to be more entertaining!

Here is a photo of Sarah crossing her fingers before the drawing....

...and then trying to break into the secured entry box.