Sheila's Sister will perform at Donny's Skybox Theatre on Sundays at 8PM from March 7 to April 18 (7 weeks). Tickets are $10, $8 for students, and $5 for Second City Training Center students. The duo will improvise a 30-minute longform they call Snippets as part of the Sunday Double Header with The Musical Improv House Ensemble (aka Infinite Sundaes). Donny's Skybox Theatre is located at 1608 N. Wells St., Chicago, IL, 60614. For reservations call 312.337.3992 or visit secondcity.com.
Likened to Nichols and May by the Chicago Improv Festival's co-founder, Jonathan Pitts, Dana Allande O'Brien and
Edmund O'Brien have improvised together for 19 years. They met in their college improv group, Off-Off Campus, married each other in their next group, Sheila, and became parents while performing as Sheila's Sister. Sheila's Sister made its debut at the 2002 CIF and made its triumphant return to Chicago at the 2009 CIF while headlining a show at Donny's Skybox Theatre.
Sheila's Sister's current longform format, Snippets, had multiple runs at ACME Comedy Theatre in Los Angeles. Edmund and Dana take 4 audience suggestions and then each perform 2 scene snippets that appear to be character monologues. They then launch into 4, 2-person scenes where these monologues are repeated somewhere within the scenes. The performers love that the format forces them to enter scenes as fully developed characters and the audience loves the "wow" factor when the monologues are integrated into the scenes.
Jonathan Green, musical director for
Drew Carey's Improv All-Stars, sums it up best: "I have been working in the LA improv scene for 18 years and I've seen a lot of improv. One of the most exciting and original acts I've been lucky enough to work with is Sheila's Sister. Edmund and Dana draw from an obvious bedrock of trust and mutual respect to create and inhabit some truly three-dimensional characters, endowing each scene with authenticity and depth. Be prepared to be surprised and delighted."
Edmund and Dana began improvising with Off-Off Campus at the University of Chicago. They then performed weekly in Sheila for 9 years at Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap, as well as on the north side and at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival with shows such as Sheila's Giant Wall of Plot Twists, Sheila's Instant Odyssey and Sheila's Improv-o-rama. They were also members of Glitterball, Netsu Retsu, Sitcom and Land of the Karaoking Improvisers. In 2001 they moved to Los Angeles where Edmund was in ACME Comedy Theatre's main improv company, Zebra, and sketch company, Bravo. Edmund also taught improv at ACME. Edmund's 15 years of writing credits range from You Don't Know Jack to MTV's Undressed. Somewhere in repeats you can still hear him as the announcer for Street Smarts. Edmund currently teaches at The Second City Training Center while Dana teaches at The Baker Demonstration School.
With over 150 performances under its belt, The Musical Improv House Ensemble (aka Infinite Sundaes) is a showcase for some of the best singprov talent in Chicago, including
Edmund O'Brien, and the only ensemble dedicated to shortform musical improvisation.
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