Raven Theatre Presents George Goetschel & Friends, WIGGERLOVER

Raven Theatre's Evermore Series announces musical performances by George Goetschel & Friends as well as the return of James Anthony Zoccoli in Wiggerlover [white boy+black dad=grey areas].

George Goetschel & Friends
March 18, 7:30 p.m.
Raven Theatre's East Stage, 6157 N. Clark
Tickets are $10 ($8 for Subscribers, students and seniors)

Raven Theatre presents an evening of music featuring an array of Chicago's musicians curated by Chicago jazz musician, George Goetschel. Among his friends are: Robert Baglione, a jazz, funk, fusion, rock, pop, neo soul and ethnic guitarist; James Sanders, a founding member of The Third Coast String Quartet and jazz violinist who has performed with The Chicago Sinfonietta, Symphony II, The Ravinia Festival Orchestra, The Manhattan Transfer, Smokey Robinson, Roberta Flack, Orbert David, Filter and Smashing Pumpkins; Barbara Pool, a improviser, actress and blues/jazz singer who performs with the band "All Chocolate" and has released two CD’s of original songs titled Four by the Pool and The Pool Holidaaaze Sampler.

George Goetschel is a Tony, Grammy, Emmy, & Jeff recognized artist who has played in various countries around the world, including a performance for England’s Royal Family, and was invited to participate in the Uruguayan Jazz festival. His other many credits include performances at the Jazz Showcase, the Brazilian Jazz Festival, and a tour with Marcus Belgrave, to name just a few. He has played with such top names as Larry Coryell, Shunzo Ono, Nestor Torres and Clark Terry. George’s classical credits include appearances with members of the Chicago Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta and Chicago Lyric Opera. He holds additional credits as an actor, conductor, composer and arranger and published poet. One of his most recent projects is the score for the film “The Return of Paul Revere.”

Wiggerlover [white boy+black dad=grey areas]
April 20-21, April 27-28 and May 4-5; all shows at 8:30 p.m.
Raven Theatre’s West Stage, 6157 N. Clark
Tickets are $20 ($15 for Students, Seniors & Raven Subscribers)

It’s the story of one boy’s life in an interracial family in Chicagoland, 1979: part memoir, part editorial, all comedy. Actor/author James Anthony Zoccoli [JAZ] gives a retrospective account of his life growing up as Little Jimmy: a half-Italian, half-Polish kid who wants to be all Black when his White mother gets remarried to an African-American man. 

Then, after devoting his youth to crossing racial boundaries and trying to overcome the cultural divide in his personal life, he encounters the irony of all ironies in his adult professional life: having to play a racist character in a major motion picture. 

With the election of our first African-American president and the backlash, the United States has begun a whole new phase of growing pains in its relatively short history, press notes state. WIGGERLOVER [white boy+black dad=grey areas] is an experiment aimed at proving that laughter is the best medicine…even when it comes to social ills.

The one-man show is accompanied by a live deejay and includes family pictures along with other visual aids. The result is a three-dimensional illustration of the point that investigating our identity as people and as a nation can actually be a little bit fun if you take the time to think about it from another perspective. A post-show discussion is conducted after every performance to allow the audience a chance to ask their questions and tell their own stories.

For more information visit www.jamesanthonyzoccoli.com.