Porchlight Young Professionals Host Their Inaugural Special Event: BROADWAY OPEN MIC at The Understudy

Porchlight Music Theatre’s Porchlight Young Professionals has announced its fall fundraiser, Broadway Open Mic, a live karaoke special event during Porchlight’s Cole Porter Festival: A Celebration of the Man and his Music, Friday, Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. at The Understudy Coffee and Books, 5531 N. Clark St. Broadway Open Mic features Alex Newkirk on piano and is hosted by Producing Artistic Associate Frankie Leo Bennett. Tickets are $30, (entry to event and one song ticket) or $25 (entry to event). All tickets include complimentary beverages and snacks, sponsored by The Hearty Boys and Uvae Kitchen and Wine Bar. Guests may also pay $5 to sing a song or to nominate a friend to sing or pay $10 to get out of singing when nominated to sing! All funds raised support Porchlight Music Theatre's 29th season, including Anything Goes and Porchlight in Concert: Sunday in the Park with George. Tickets are available now at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org.

“This is the Porchlight Young Professionals first special event and we are working to make it a fun and unforgettable experience for everyone,” said Porchlight Young Professionals Chair Cody Czmyr. “We love that guests may sing songs from the Broadway catalog including Cole Porter’s incredible work, have your friends sing or just come to enjoy some of Chicago’s great voices while supporting Porchlight Music Theatre.”

ABOUT PORCHLIGHT YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

The Porchlight Young Professionals (PYP) is an ensemble of young professionals who share a passion for advancing music theatre in Chicago as well as the innovative and transformative art happening at Porchlight.

The PYP inspires the next generation of Porchlight’s theatre patrons and serves as ambassadors through fundraising, event planning and committee involvement.

Current members include Cody Czmyr, chair; Nate Groonwald, vice chair; Rosie Schultz, secretary; Lynn Barlow, Lanie Bayless, Kellie Buffington, August Compton, Jesse Scheinbart, Yessenia Sosa, Becca Sheehan, Lisa Villani-Gale, Alexander Wells and Adam Zaucha.

ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE

Porchlight Music Theatre is the award-winning center for music theatre in Chicago. Through live performance, youth education and community outreach, we impact thousands of lives each season, bringing the magic of musicals to our theatre home at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts in the Gold Coast and to neighborhoods across the city. Porchlight has built a national reputation for boldly reimagining classic musicals supporting new works and young performers, and showcasing Chicago’s most notable music theatre artists, all through the intimate and powerful theatrical lens of the “Chicago Style.” 

Porchlight's 28-year history includes more than 70 mainstage works with 16 Chicago premieres and five world premieres. Porchlight’s commitment to the past, present and future of music theatre led the company to develop the Porchlight Revisits and New Faces Sing Broadway program series, both quickly becoming audience favorites. 

Porchlight's education and outreach programs serve schools, youth of all ages and skill levels and community organizations, most notably the ongoing collaboration with Chicago Youth Centers. Porchlight annually awards dozens of full scholarships and hundreds of free tickets to ensure accessibility and real engagement with this uniquely American art form. 

The company’s many honors include 192 Joseph Jefferson Award (Jeff) nominations and 48 Jeff awards, as well as 44 Black Theatre Alliance (BTA) nominations and 12 BTA awards. In 2019, Porchlight graduated to the Large Theatre tier of the Equity Jeff Awards, and was honored with eight nominations in both technical and artistic categories and won three awards in its inaugural year in this tier, most notably Best Ensemble for Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies.