Latest news with #PierogiFest
Chicago Tribune
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Of Notoriety: Children's stage show in Munster inspired by bedtime Mother Goose tales
The young minds of children are as impressionable as a mound of clay. Growing up in the farm cornfields of Starke County in the 1970s, our television channels from our TV tower antennae were limited to about 13 total, including PBS and UHF offerings. Reading was the favorite escape of me and my four older siblings, with comic books to passed along novels and young adult fiction works filling our bedrooms and basement bookshelves. Most of all, as mentioned previously, we had our trusted set of 1954 World Book Encyclopedias. As a bonus from the salesman, the encyclopedias came with a set of 1954 Childcraft bound volumes to inspire the imagination with history, culture, nature facts, crafts and hobbies and most of all, nursery rhymes and fairy tales, the latter of which I grew up with Mom, aunts and older siblings reading to me for story time and bedtime. It was these beautifully illustrated and descriptive pages that inspired me to pen a new children's play to bring favorite characters to life with new and old wisdom to guide both young and older minds in this rapidly evolving world surrounding all of us. Theatre at the Center at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts, 1040 Ridge Road in Munster is presenting this week's world stage premiere of 'Modern Mother Goose,' with performances through Saturday, May 24, giving new life to my favorite storybook and nursery rhyme characters along with timeless learning lessons for audiences of all ages. This week, schools from throughout Porter and Lake counties have made the end-of-school-year pilgrimage to come and see the show. I set 'Modern Mother Goose' in Storybook Land with Pierogi Fest favorite Carolyn 'Buscia' Kruszynski stepping into the narrator role as 'Mother Goose,' guiding guests through familiar bedtime stories and fairytales, each presented with a new twist to fit into today's topsy-turvy, fast-paced world. Kruszynski is reunited on stage with Whiting's Pierogi Fest perennial mascot 'Mr. Pierogi' Tony Panek playing Little Boy Blue opposite WJOB 1230 AM radio personalities cast as silly storybook alter egos, including Region Bandstand DJ Dave Innes as The Giant and sports broadcaster Rob Aguirre as The Prince. Joining the fun are Catherine Dilworth as Little Miss Muffet, Caleb Perez as The Cow and Cara Schmitt as Sleepy Princess Prudence. In addition to writing and directing the production, I'm also featured as a stage cameo playing Humpty Dumpty and providing the vocals for the puppet character of the menacing spider. The play runs 55 minutes and showcases a full set and scenery design to transport families and young audiences to a fantasy world where a giant worries about his height, Miss Muffet longs for the latest breakfast cereal brand and kingdom royalty learns it's more important to rule with fairness rather than flaunt the latest 'apple' watch. Tickets are $10 for adults and children and are available online at or call 219-836-3255. Performances are this week each weekday morning at 9:15 and 11:15 a.m. and one final 10 a.m. Saturday weekend performance. In May 2023, Theatre at the Center returned to presenting Theatre for Young Audiences with the original runs of 'Not Your Grandma's Little Red Riding Hood' followed by the holiday show 'The Year Santa Went on a Diet,' the latter which also starred 'Modern Mother Goose' castmates Kruszynski, Innes, Schmitt and Aguirre. Schmitt, who played the title character of Red Riding Hood during the May 2023 play parody run, reads storybooks to her twins at bedtime, especially the 'Harry Potter' series, and said she enjoys the contrast of blending tradition with the silly, fun parody references woven throughout this new play to appeal to both adults and children. 'Every audience is very different,' Schmitt said. 'Both adults and kids can relate to the references from today's use of artificial intelligence to the new pope's favorite region pizza restaurant and the prince being proud of his new six-horse powered ride.' What I've found the most surprising since the performances began on Monday is the sad factor that so many of today's young minds have never heard of Mother Goose or most of these classic storybook tales and nursery rhymes. However, just as what is emphasized in this new play 'Modern Mother Goose,' what was once old can be revisited, reintroduced and cherished anew by minds eager to be engaged.
Chicago Tribune
19-04-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Convention authority reduces funding for two big festivals because of fees from lawsuit with former CEO
The South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority will reduce funding help for two of the area's biggest festivals because of its ongoing lawsuit with its former CEO. This year's smaller SSCVA sponsorships for two of Northwest Indiana's biggest festivals – Festival of the Lakes in Hammond and Pierogi Fest in Whiting – prompted President and CEO Phil Taillon to consider changing the application process, he told the CVA board during its Thursday afternoon meeting. Having previously paid $20,000 for a high-level Festival of the Lakes sponsorship, the organization will be able to give only $10,000 to it this year and $5,000 to Pierogi Fest, he said. The lesser sponsorship amounts, Taillon said, are directly tied to the SSCVA's lawsuit between it and former President and CEO Speros Batistatos. 'We've had some additional expenses with the lawsuit, attorney fees we're dealing with,' he said. 'It's capacity building, but we're going to have one year where things are normal and another where we can't give as much. But I'm OK – I'm basing the decreases on past events.' Board member Bernie Grisolia asked whether the board would consider giving Festival of the Lakes $15,000 since $10,000 is 'kind of an insult.' Chief Financial Officer Nicole Wolverton concurred with Taillon that the money isn't there right now. '(The sponsorship amount) has been on the budget,' she said. '(The legal bills) are hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been making me nervous.' Taillon said he envisions the new process as having the 19 Lake County municipalities submitting their events for which they want sponsorship by a proposed time each year so the CVA can plan the funding all at once. Because the events are scattered throughout the year, however, he conceded handling the process that way 'won't work perfectly.' 'So you're saying there's only a $20,000 budget?' board member Matt Schuffert asked, to which Taillon said they were talking only about Festival of the Lakes and Pierogi Fest. 'This lawsuit is costing us so much money. Hopefully next year, we'll be past it.' The board then voted unanimously to put Merrillville Board Member Dena Patena in charge of a committee to create a sponsorship process. Schuffert then asked about funding for the Gary Air Show. Chief of Events and Facilities Kristin Taylor said that the air show is different because the CVA runs it while the city of Gary provides money, in-kind donations or both. This year, the city will provide an in-kind donation of security; last year, it provided security as well as a $50,000 donation, she said. With the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds – and its $100,000 price tag — coming back to the event this year, the CVA will need more than the $580,000 it raised in sponsorships and donations last year for 2025, Taylor said. So far, the money isn't coming in as quickly as they hoped. 'It stinks to say, but I think it being the 'Gary Air Show' is deterring it,' Taylor said. The South Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau has spent almost a quarter of a million dollars in its ongoing legal battle with Batistatos — and that only covers one of the law firms involved, the Post-Tribune previously reported. An analysis of some of the legal bills the tourism agency has racked up in the litigation reveals that it's so far paid $237,835.80 between 2021 and November to Indianapolis-based Barnes and Thornburg, which is representing the SSCVA as an entity. For the month of February, the CVA paid Barnes & Thornburg $100.50 in 'February legal services' and Hammond-based attorney firm Westland & Bennett $2,805, according to the CVA's April claims register. Westland & Bennett Principal Dave Westland is representing Board President Andy Qunell, Board Members Brent Brashier, Matt Maloney, Schuffert and former Board member Tom Dabertin individually in the suit. Batistatos sued the SSCVA on August 29, 2022 — a month after it fired him — alleging it violated the law in the handling of his contract renegotiations due to his age as well as misspent federal Payroll Protection Plan funds in violation of the CARES Act, a claim the board disputes. The SSCVA budgeted $150,000 in its legal line item for 2025, though it's able to make appropriations from other funds in its $6,614,250 2025 budget. The entity is not a publicly funded agency, but is funded through casino and hotel tax revenues, according to its website. In other business, the CVA awarded unanimously several contracts for facility repairs, including a $29,889 contract to Hammond-based Gluth Brothers for a new roof; a $11,950 contract to Crown Point-based Bellsom Electronics to replace the center's outdoor flood lighting; a $22,680 contract to Cover-Rite Flooring in Crown Point for new carpeting in the upstairs offices; and $431,800 contract with Tri Electronics in Hammond for AV system upgrades to the center's exhibition hall, theater and boardroom. The projects will be paid for out of a $2 million bond the CVA took out when former CVA President Dave Uran was at the helm.
