Highland Park Players Staff To Guest On Chicago Radio

On Friday, November 27 at 3 PM Central, Jacob Cohen and Holly Weis of Highland Park Players will be the guests on It's Showtime with Rikki Lee - a weekly half hour informational radio show focused on the entertainment industry that airs on suburban Chicago station 101.5 FM. Those outside the broadcast area can stream the show for free by going to www.HuntleyRadio.com and clicking on the "Listen Live" icon.

Cohen is the Public Relations & Marketing Director for the nonprofit theater company that was founded in 1988. Weiss is the Fundraising Co-Chair for the organization. The duo will join host Rikki Lee Travolta in a discussion about the history of Highland Park Players and the different promotional and fundraising endeavors they've been able to spearhead during the COVID-19 pandemic that has shuttered traditional theater for the time being.

Among the topics of discussion will be Winter Wondergram: The Ultimate Holiday Card Experience, a joint undertaking between Highland Park Players, Big Noise Theatre, and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The program offers personalized video holiday greeting cards featuring costumed characters played by such talent as Cherry Torres (Hamilton National Tour), Sawyer Smith (Joseph Jefferson Award Winner), Jonathan Butler-Duplessis (Joseph Jefferson Award Winner), Alex Bender (Broadway: Bandstand), Patrick Scott McDermott (Les Miserables National Tour), and Rachel Wong (The Spongebob Musical National Tour).

The Winter Wondergram fundraiser is the brainchild of Weis and features direction by Joseph Jefferson Award Winner Scott Weinstein. Weis was also behind The Cabaret Games, another web-based fundraising effort involving Highland Park Players, Big Noise Theatre, Big Deal Productions, and Music on Stage and executed in partnership with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. It too will be a topic of discussion when Weis and Cohen join Travolta on Friday.

It's Showtime with Rikki Lee has been on the air since 2016. Flavored by Travolta's career as a theatrical headliner, It's Showtime with Rikki Lee celebrates the best in stage, film, and television entertainment.

Most recently, Travolta has been highlighting careers in entertainment on the radio show. Recent guests have including Stage Managers of Color co-founder Fredo Aguilar, Set Designer Mason Delman, Heart of Singing Music School, New Works Virtual Festival, Theatre in the Dark, Violence Designer Chloe Baldwin, and Music on Stage Artistic Director Frank Roberts. Notable Broadway guests have included Jimmy Nicholas (The Book of Mormon), Adam Jacobs (Aladdin, The Lion King), and Nathaniel Stampley (The Color Purple, Porgy & Bess, The Lion King, Cats).

It's Showtime with Rikki Lee airs every Friday at 3 PM Central on 101.5 FM WHRU-LP. Past episodes of the show are available as podcasts at: https://huntleyradio.com/hcr/its-showtime-with-rikki-lee/.